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Commander of U.S. Ground Forces in Iraq Apologizes to Shiite Muslims
Aired August 14, 2003 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, a report on what's happening in Iraq. The commander of U.S. ground forces there has apologized to Shiite Muslim clerics over a clash between U.S. troops and protesters, and this clash ended with one Iraqi killed.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also says the soldiers to blame for this melee will be punished.
Let's go now to Baghdad and learn more about this. Our Rym Brahimi has the details.
Hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Indeed, there seems to be a general trend, indeed, with the U.S. military now maybe acknowledging more that there may have been mistakes here and there, and actually openly apologizing where they believe they have done wrong or their soldiers may have done wrong. The incident of the helicopter that took place yesterday in a very populous neighborhood is one case. U.S. military is still not explaining what the helicopter was doing so close on that control -- rather, communications tower. But they have apologized for the incident in which the angry rioting, if you will, or the confrontation between U.S. troops and Iraqi people that ensued led to the killing of one Iraqi, and the wounding of four others.
Lieutenant General Sanchez said that generally speaking, they are investigating and trying to improve the situation, acknowledging that some mistakes have been made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, GROUND FORCES COMMANDER: We've got a lot of young soldiers out there doing the best that they can, every single day. And we're learning a lot from the operations that we're doing, and that's part of this war-fighting business. And we make -- you know, we all make mistakes sometimes, just like the enemy is making mistake in killing Iraqis which I'm sure they don't intend to do. Sometimes we're making mistakes, also. But when we do, we'll take care of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, taking care of that means, in his words, that they are trying to now maybe offer compensation in some cases, as they did with the flag incident. But also they are trying to improve what Lieutenant General Sanchez called the hasty traffic control points. These are basically checkpoints that are set up in a hurry by soldiers, and there have been lots of incidents in which Iraqi civilians have been killed, because they didn't realize there was a checkpoint.
HARRIS: Thanks, Rym. Rym Brahimi, live in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Shiite Muslims>
Aired August 14, 2003 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, a report on what's happening in Iraq. The commander of U.S. ground forces there has apologized to Shiite Muslim clerics over a clash between U.S. troops and protesters, and this clash ended with one Iraqi killed.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also says the soldiers to blame for this melee will be punished.
Let's go now to Baghdad and learn more about this. Our Rym Brahimi has the details.
Hello, Rym.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.
Indeed, there seems to be a general trend, indeed, with the U.S. military now maybe acknowledging more that there may have been mistakes here and there, and actually openly apologizing where they believe they have done wrong or their soldiers may have done wrong. The incident of the helicopter that took place yesterday in a very populous neighborhood is one case. U.S. military is still not explaining what the helicopter was doing so close on that control -- rather, communications tower. But they have apologized for the incident in which the angry rioting, if you will, or the confrontation between U.S. troops and Iraqi people that ensued led to the killing of one Iraqi, and the wounding of four others.
Lieutenant General Sanchez said that generally speaking, they are investigating and trying to improve the situation, acknowledging that some mistakes have been made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, GROUND FORCES COMMANDER: We've got a lot of young soldiers out there doing the best that they can, every single day. And we're learning a lot from the operations that we're doing, and that's part of this war-fighting business. And we make -- you know, we all make mistakes sometimes, just like the enemy is making mistake in killing Iraqis which I'm sure they don't intend to do. Sometimes we're making mistakes, also. But when we do, we'll take care of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, taking care of that means, in his words, that they are trying to now maybe offer compensation in some cases, as they did with the flag incident. But also they are trying to improve what Lieutenant General Sanchez called the hasty traffic control points. These are basically checkpoints that are set up in a hurry by soldiers, and there have been lots of incidents in which Iraqi civilians have been killed, because they didn't realize there was a checkpoint.
HARRIS: Thanks, Rym. Rym Brahimi, live in Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Shiite Muslims>
