Iraqi PM criticizes U.S. Military's "excessive force"

From CNN: Blasts rip Baghdad despite security - Aug 8, 2006

U.S.-led troops have been conducting raids against what have been described as death squads. But one raid early Monday in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood drew criticism from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, comments that illustrated the difficulty of securing Baghdad without alienating the man in the street.

At least three people were killed and 15 were wounded, including four children, during clashes that ensued as the raid targeting 'punishment and torture' cells unfolded in the Shiite enclave, also a bastion of support for militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Speaking Monday night on Iraqi TV, al-Maliki -- also a Shiite and close to al-Sadr -- said he was 'angered and pained' by the operation. He indicated that it was excessive and said it hurt the cause of national reconciliation.

Al-Maliki said 'the operation used weapons that are unreasonable in efforts to detain someone -- like using planes.' He emphasized that 'reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way.'

In other violence on Tuesday attackers shot dead three people -- one of them a teacher -- in two incidents in Muqdadiya, which is north of the Diyala province capital of Baquba. In Baquba, gunmen killed two people in drive-by shootings.

A police officer was killed and eight people were wounded in two roadside bombings in Tikrit, and an improvised explosive device detonated in Iraq's Anbar province, killing a civilian operating a tractor, the U.S. military said."

I post this article as further evidence of the mindset formed by Islam--in this case, Shi'ite Islam.

American troops get sent to Baghad to stop Shi'ite violence, and of course the only way to stop it is through the use of force. But notice how the Iraqi PM condemns the American use of force, but doesn't say "boo" concerning the use of force by Shi'ites! It is absolutely amazing that he has no words of condemantion for Muslims killing each other, but as soon as the Americans step in to quell the uprisings, now the condemnations begin: agaist the Americans.

Does anyone else see the hypocritical double-standard here, or is it just me?

<>< TM