Iraqi PM condemns US violence

The Iraqi Prime Minister has condemned the violence of US troops in an outburst made all the more extraordinary by the fact that his very government cannot function without the support of the 130,000 US troops in the country.

"They run them over and leave them, or they kill anyone suspicious. This cannot be accepted."

He makes these comments at a time when a US military investigation has recently cleared US troops over Iraqi civilian deaths in the town of Ishaqi.

A report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house in Ishaqi, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

Maj Gen Caldwell said the US investigation into events in Ishaqi, where the military says it was attempting to capture insurgents, had found no wrongdoing on the part of the troops.

"The investigation revealed the ground force commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement governing our combat forces in Iraq," he added. "Allegations that the troops executed a family living in this safe house, and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false."

The General makes this claim despite video evidence obtained by the BBC which clearly shows people who have died from gunshot wounds, rather than from a collapsed building as the US army claim.

However, the Iraqi Prime Minister's charges are coming at a time when the US soldiers behaviour in Iraq is increasingly being held under a spotlight after the alleged massacre by US troops of civilians in Haditha. The Prime Minister has requested full access to US files in order that the Iraqis can pursue their own independent investigations.

The US army is unlikely to accede to such a request, but the very fact that the Iraqi Prime Minister is making this demand shows a breakdown in the level of trust between the US forces and the newly elected Iraqi government.

There was a time when the two worked hand in hand, it would now appear that we are seeing the first signs of fracture.

As more evidence of US wrongdoing emerges we can only expect this fracture to widen even further.

Far earlier, however, more wrenching details of the three cases now making headlines will be known to the American public.

Lawyers say the first criminal charges are likely as early as Monday, when seven marines are expected to be formally accused of conspiracy, kidnapping and murder in the case of the death of an unarmed civilian in April in Hamandiyah, a village in Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

After allegedly killing the man, the marines are said to have planted evidence to suggest that he was preparing a roadside bomb, including a shovel, explosives and an AK-47 rifle to make it appear he had been armed.

Within days, the results may also be known of an internal inquiry led by an army major-general into a possible cover-up of the worst incident ­ the fatal shootings of two dozen Iraqi civilians, including women and children, at Haditha in north-western Iraq on 19 November 2005. The alleged rampage is held to be an act of revenge by a marine unit after one of their number was killed in a bomb explosion.

That is only one of two investigations into the affair. The other, conducted by the Navy Criminal Investigation Service, could lead to charges of premeditated murder and dereliction of duty against several marines.

As more of these cases come to light, the Iraqi government will continue - as an act of political necessity - to distance themselves from the actions of the occupying forces.

As the distance between the two camps grows, it will become ever harder for the US government to say by who's authority they remain in Iraq.

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Tags: Iraq, PM, condemn, violence, US, troops, Haditha, Ishaqi, massacre,