World

Hostile Fire Got To Black Hawk

January 11, 2004 / 10:49 AM EST / CBS/AP

A senior U.S. military officer confirmed Saturday that preliminary reports showed that a U.S. Army medevac helicopter that crashed last week near Fallujah, killing all nine soldiers aboard, was shot down.

British soldiers and Iraqi police clashed Saturday with armed, stone-throwing protesters in southeastern Iraq, killing six people.

U.S. officials acknowledged American soldiers mistakenly killed two Iraqi policemen after they failed to identify themselves to a patrol.

And north of the capital, the U.S. military said it was investigating allegations that soldiers killed four Iraqi civilians who tried to pass a convoy this month in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown.

In other developments:

Danish soldiers uncovered a cache of mortar shells Saturday in southern Iraq and preliminary tests are underway to determine whether they contain chemical agents, U.S. officials said. The 30 to 40 120mm mortar shells, which may have been left over from the Iran-Iraq War, were found buried in the desert south of Baghdad and were wrapped in plastic bags and some were leaking a mysterious fluid - leading officials to suspect chemical weapons, according to the U.S. command.

CBS News Reporter Lisa Baron in Baghdad says an Iraqi newspaper is quoting "well-informed sources" as saying Saddam may be given truth drugs to make it more likely he will reveal information to his interrogators. The newspaper says psychologists have confirmed that Saddam has recovered from the shock of his arrest, and he isn't being forthcoming. The newspaper's sources also said Saddam may be transferred to a base in Germany or Kuwait, where the cells have better monitoring and surveillance cameras. He's currently being held at an undisclosed location in Baghdad, where he is being interrogated by the CIA.

The determination by Pentagon lawyers that Saddam has POW status would entitle Saddam to meet with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross. A spokesman for the ICRC in Geneva, Ian Piper, said Saturday a visit with the former Iraqi leader had been requested but has yet to occur. Some human rights groups have complained that other top former Iraqi officials in U.S. custody have not been given access to Red Cross representatives.

The Los Angeles Times reports in its Saturday editions that U.S. officials have found evidence corroborating the Bush administration's allegations that Russian companies sold Saddam high-tech military equipment, including night-vision goggles and radar-jamming equipment that threatened U.S. forces during the invasion of Iraq last March. The evidence includes the equipment itself and proof that it was used during the war, according to the newspaper's source, a senior State Department official.

The Iraqi Governing Council unveiled the first set of post-Saddam stamps Saturday, replacing the old ones that bore the dictator's ubiquitous image. The new stamps show pictures of old-fashioned transportation, such as man in
traditional Arab robes driving a horse-drawn carriage carrying a man in a suit.

Worried about Kurdish demands for greater autonomy in Iraq, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul held talks with Iranian officials Saturday with the aim of defusing what both sides view as a threat. Gul met Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and was scheduled to huddle later with President Mohammad Khatami over concerns that Iraqi Kurds could exploit the evolving situation in Iraq to establish an independent Kurdish state.

In Baghdad, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters Saturday that "preliminary reports indicate" that the Black Hawk medevac helicopter that crashed Thursday south of Fallujah was probably "brought down by ground fire."

Iraqi witnesses said they saw a missile strike the second of two medevac helicopters as they flew over an area known for resistance against to the U.S.-led occupation.

An Army Ranger from Citrus County, Florida who died in the crash had survived the 1993 Mogadishu battle and testicular cancer. Army helicopter pilot Aaron Weaver had worked hard to get back into shape after cancer surgery and needed a special doctor's clearance to serve in Iraq where he was flying a 0-H-58 helicopter. He was a passenger on the Black Hawk when it went down. Weaver was flying to Baghdad for a post-cancer checkup with other soldiers in need of medical attention.

Weaver's father, Mike, said his son joined the Army after high school and became a Ranger. At the Mogadishu battle — recounted in the movie "Black Hawk Down" — he was credited with helping save a buddy's life.

The nine deaths aboard the helicopter brought to 494 the number of American service members who have died since the Iraq war began March 20.

Saturday's trouble in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, started when hundreds of Iraqis angry over the lack of jobs in town gathered in front of the office of the U.S.-led coalition to demand work.

As the protesters grew agitated, shots rang out from the crowd, a British military spokeswoman said. At the same time, she said troops "received reports of small explosions in the crowd."

Iraqi police, believing they were under attack, opened fire into the crowd but did not hit any of the protesters, she said. But witnesses said the police killed some of the protesters.

British soldiers moved in with armored vehicles to support the police, and protesters hurled at least three explosive devices at them, she said.

One man "who was in the process of throwing a device" was shot dead by the soldiers, the spokeswoman said.

The crowd dispersed but later some of them returned and lobbed two explosive devices at the armored cars. Soldiers shot one of the attackers and apparently wounded him, she added. Three other devices were thrown at the soldiers before tensions eased.

Six people were killed and at least 11 wounded, according to Dr. Saad Hamoud of the Al-Zahrawi Surgical Hospital. The British said they had reports of five deaths and one injury. There were no casualties among police or soldiers.

The shooting of the policemen occurred Friday after paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade responded to a report of "family fighting" in Kirkuk, about 150 miles north of Baghdad.

Paratroopers spotted two men firing into a house, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division. The men, who were wearing long coats, fled as the troops approached and were joined by a third man, she said.

"The soldiers verbally warned the three to stop and then fired warning shots," Aberle said. "The men refused to comply and the soldiers took a defensive position and fired," killing two of them and detaining the third.

All three were found to be Iraqi policemen, Aberle said. The U.S. military is investigating why they refused to identify themselves.

In Tikrit, the U.S. military said it was investigating allegation that U.S. troops opened fire on a taxi Jan. 3, killing four Iraqi civilians. Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division, declined to provide any details of the investigation.

The lone survivor, Ibrahim Allawi, says troops raked his car with gunfire as he tried to pass a convoy. Police found Allawi and the others, including a 7-year-old boy, in the bullet-riddled car.