BY ROHAN PEARCE
On June 18, US troops shot two Iraqis dead at a demonstration outside the Coalition Provisional Authority's office in Baghdad. A military convoy entering the US compound was pelted with rocks by the protesters, and soldiers from the US 204th Military Police Company opened fire.
The protesters were previously soldiers in the Iraqi army, but have been jobless since Paul Bremer, Washington's Iraq overlord, disbanded it. The US Central Command claims that one of the demonstrators had shot at its troops. However, media reports filed from the city and statements from witnesses have contradicted this, claiming that an Iraqi civilian at the site of the protest had fired in the air when the car was stoned by protesters.
New York based-NGO Human Rights Watch issued a report on June 17 which criticised US claims that the shooting of protesters by US troops on April 28 and 30 in Fallujah was "an apparent use of excessive force".
"The US military presence in al-Fallujah began with these tragic events in late April, and it has been troubled ever since", said Hanny Megally, executive director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division. "What is needed is a thorough investigation of possible violations of international humanitarian law by US troops."
HRW's investigation included an examination of ballistic evidence and found that "the physical evidence at the school does not support claims of an effective attack on the building as described by US troops".
According to the Iraq Body Count project (<http://www.iraqbodycount.net>), as of June 16 the number Iraqi civilians killed during the US-led invasion and occupation is between 5567 and 7240.
From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003.
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