Shots in Falluja echo round the world
A US officer at the scene, Lieutenant Christopher Hart of the 82nd Airborne Division, was quoted as saying his troops were defending themselves against an attack by two gunmen on a motorcycle and had at first tried to disperse the demonstration with smoke bombs. He claimed some people in the crowd may also have had guns. But this does not begin to explain the severity and duration of the in cident. Lt Hart could not say for sure how many people his men had killed. His vagueness is not surprising. On the basis of the known facts at this point, the Americans appear to have acted with staggering recklessness, turning a residential area full of kids into a murderous free-fire zone. Whatever rules of engagement they supposedly observe clearly did not work. Whatever force was required to ensure their own safety, the degree of force actually used appears to have been massively disproportionate.
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