- The US military has shot and wounded a seven-year-old
Iraqi boy, who, soldiers say, had been wielding an AK-47 assault rifle.
-
- In another incident a US soldier was killed in a mortar
attack on a base in northern Iraq, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton visited
US troops in Baghdad.
-
- According to an army spokesman, four mortar shells were
fired at the 101st Airborne Division in the northern city of Mosul.
-
- In the first case, the US army confirmed the boy was
shot in the foot, claiming the child brandished a Kalashnikov. The shooting
occurred during a raid in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the US military
said on Saturday.
-
- AFP reports that soldiers, while on patrol, witnessed
two men with weapons running into a nearby residence. The soldiers followed
the men in order to apprehend them for questioning," a Central Command
statement said.
-
- "Upon approaching the house, a seven-year-old child
came out with an AK-47 rifle pointed at the soldiers. A soldier responded
in self-defence and shot the child in the foot."
-
- The statement said the child was evacuated to a nearby
army medical facility for treatment and then flown to Baghdad.
-
- No independent sources or the boys family members have
yet been available to commment on the statement.
-
- Former first lady
-
- Clinton, the former US first lady, visited troops and
top US officials on Friday just one day after Bush's stealth visit.
-
- Unlike the US president, who never left the main military
camp at Baghdad airport during his two-and-a-half hour stay, Clinton left
the heavily fortified complex around the palace to go and visit troops.
-
- Rice Defends Bush
-
- Meanwhile at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, national
security adviser Condoleezza Rice denied that the president's blitz trip
was a political stunt that inadvertently highlighted the chaos still blighting
Iraq.
-
- "Obviously, Iraq is still a dangerous place, and
that's no secret to anyone," Rice told American television hours after
returning to the United States with Bush.
-
- Charges that the secrecy and security blanketing his
two-and-a-half stop at Baghdad airport showed that Iraq has made little
progress towards stability since the US-led March invasion are "just
not true," she said.
-
- Critics
-
- Some critics, including the presidential campaign of
retired general Wesley Clark, said the brevity and secrecy of the visit
actually showed how little Washington has accomplished in Iraq since taking
control in April.
-
- "The trip highlights how insecure Iraq is and shows
how we need to get our allies in to get the American face off the occupation,"
Clark spokesman Jamal Simmons said.
-
- Bush's blitz visit not only caught US troops off guard,
but also pushed startled opposition Democrats off track as they vie to
win back the White House in 2004.
-
-
- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F74D0336-C79E-44B1-8AB2-81728BEFB162.htm
|
