'NYT': U.S. Attacks in Sadr City Continue to Harm Civilians

By: E&P Staff For days, press accounts have revealed the enormous toll on civilians, often children, from U.S. missile attacks on militant hideouts in Sadr City in Iraq. While insurgents may indeed be killed, numerous civilians have also been injured or slain, and schools and apartments buildings destroyed. Newspapers -- at least the ones abroad -- have shown graphic photos of dead children pulled from rubble.

Alissa Rubin for The New York Times reports on the latest attack today from Baghdad below. Following that is an ABC News report from earlier today on an incident from a few days ago.
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The ugly daily fight for ground in the poor Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City unfolded Saturday at a small mosque next door to a hospital, damaging the hospital and many of its ambulances, and near a group of children who were injured by the violence as they gathered tin cans to sell for salvage.

The first hit, close to the Sadr General Hospital, was American. After a night of clashes in the neighborhood, the Americans fired at least three ?precision-guided munitions? at a small building next door to the hospital that neighbors said was used as a place of prayer for hospital employees, pilgrims and neighborhood residents.

Twenty-eight people were wounded in the attack near the hospital, said Abdul Hussain Qassim, a hospital official.

The circumstances of the other strike are in dispute.

The Americans said claims that they had attacked the children were ?preposterous.? And the area where the hit occurred is near heavily contested ground. Shiite militias trying to hit nearby Iraqi Army and American forces have sometimes misfired, hitting areas near there in recent fighting.

But both instances underline sad truths about urban warfare. The daily horror for families and children living near the front line area of Sadr City is that who is a friend and who a foe is no longer a meaningful question. The militias use rocket propelled grenades, sniper rifles and mounted machine guns as well as AK-47 rifles while the Americans are shooting Hellfire missiles, tank rounds, and satellite-guided missiles as well as rounds from machine guns. Iraqi Army soldiers are also on the scene.
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ABC NEWS

Just like any other day, the Hussein family was getting ready for lunch at their home in Baghdad, Iraq, when the house suddenly shook and the brick walls came down around them.

That was the dramatic account told to ABC News by the parents of 2-year-old Ali Hussein, the Iraqi boy killed during a fierce battle in Sadr City Tuesday.

Dramatic photographs of Hussein's dust-covered body being pulled out of the rubble of his home appeared on front pages and TV news reports around the world.

When a U.S. patrol in the Shiite militia stronghold was fired on by a dozen fighters, American forces fired 200-pound guided rockets that devastated at least three buildings in the district.

The U.S. military said 28 militiamen were killed. Local hospital officials said dozens of civilians were killed or wounded.

Hussein's mother recounted being buried in rubble and crawling around the home, looking for her children. "I was crying, 'My children, my children.' I saw the house destroyed. I did not know if they are alive or not."

When Hussein's father could not locate Ali, he said he began frantically digging. "Everyone felt desperate and the police have left the scene, but I kept on digging. I told them I will not leave my son. I will take him out. I felt fainted after two hours of digging."

The fire brigade arrived to help him find Ali and remove him from the house, according to Hussein's father.

"They gave him to me, run to the ambulance, I hold his hand in the ambulance and it was cold. They made the first aid thing to the kid, open his eye, the rescuer looked at me, I told him you're a believer, and accepts the results."

Hussein's father recalled how over the last month and a half the boy used to come to the main door of the house, wanting to go out and play.

"Ali was pushing against my legs and tell me, 'Baba, Baba.' He wanted to go out, and I did not let him out due to the military actions ongoing."

"Ali was 2 years old, still future was in front of him. Ali, if he has an opinion, he would have said, 'I do not want to interfere in the struggle.,"

The parents called on both Shiite militias and the U.S. military to stop operations in the violence-torn district. And they criticized American military efforts that resulted in the deaths of civilians.

"You attacked civilians' houses crowded with people for the sake of a few militants," said Hussein's father, his face in tears. "A considerable number of people were killed for the sake of killing four."