from LA Times:
Army Defends Baghdad Battle That Left 16 Dead
- Helicopters targeted insurgents opening fire near a damaged military vehicle, U.S. officials say.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD -- U.S. commanders acknowledged Wednesday that their helicopters fired seven rockets and 30 high-caliber machine-gun rounds onto a crowded Baghdad street this week during a battle that killed 16 Iraqis and sparked a heated debate about how civilians often become the victims of U.S. firepower.
Army officials said the helicopter attack was an appropriate response to insurgents firing on U.S. soldiers from the vicinity of a Bradley fighting vehicle, which had been set ablaze by a suicide car bomb.
"The actions taken by our soldiers and pilots were clearly within their rights," said Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, which patrols Baghdad.
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How do you defend firing rockets at civilians in the street?
Even worse, they go on to say that it was necessary to disperse the crowd so that they did not loot the Bradley fighting vehicle. So in the US Army's book one Bradley fighting vehicle is worth at least 16 Iraqi lives (plus injuries to 61 others).
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