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Iraqi Prime Minister Defends U.S. Strike
The Reuters, June 21, 2004
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has defended a deadly U.S. air strike yesterday on what was said to be a Fallujah safe house used by militants. The attack killed 22 people in the central Iraqi city.
"We know that a house which had been used by terrorists had been hit. We welcome this hit on terrorists anywhere in Iraq," Allawi said yesterday.
However, according to Fallujah authorities, the house had not been used by foreign fighters.
"We inspected the damage, we looked through the bodies of the women and children and elderly. This was a family," Brigadier Nouri Aboud of the Fallujah Brigade told the Reuters.
Also yesterday, Allawi said Iraqi security forces will be reorganized so they can better subjugate insurgents. The interim government is also considering establishing "emergency law" in certain areas, as well as curfews and bans on public protests.
"Our top priorities will be training special forces that can strike terrorists and insurgents before they can harm the Iraqi people," Allawi said.
Speaking at a news conference, Allawi urged the international community to help Iraqi forces, saying Iraq was not in a position to handle its own security as it prepares to achieve sovereignty on June 30.
Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib told the conference the government is mulling granting amnesty to insurgents "who have not been involved in the killing or executing".
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