Monday, February 28, 2005

Meanwhile, in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 28, 2005 — A suicide car bomber blew himself up Monday in a crowd of police and Iraqi national guard recruits south of Baghdad, killing at least 106 and wounding 133, police and witnesses said. It was one of the deadliest insurgent attacks since President Bush declared the war over in May 2003.

Associated Press Television News footage showed large pools of blood outside the medical clinic, located on a dusty sreet. Scorch marks infused with blood covered the clinic walls and dozens of people gathered at the scene helped put body parts into blankets. Soles of shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner.
  ABC article
Human Rights Watch raised a red flag over US plans to deploy a new system of remote-controlled anti-personnel mines in Iraq (news - web sites).

The New York-based rights watchdog said the US Army had failed to answer critical questions regarding the potential harm the mines might pose to civilians.

The new system, called Matrix, allows a soldier with a laptop computer to detonate Claymore mines remotely via radio signal from several kilometers away.

While Claymores normally propel lethal fragments from 40 to 60 meters (130-200 feet) across a 60-degree arc, Human Right Watch said US Army tests indicated that the hazard range for the new system was as far as 300 meters.

"A faraway blip on a laptop screen is hardly a surefire method of determining if you are about to kill an enemy combatant or an unsuspecting civilian," said Steve Goose, executive director of the watchdog's arms division.
  Yahoo News article

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