Maliki: Prosecute U.S. troops for raid

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, yesterday denounced a predawn U.S. raid in southern Iraq during which two Iraqis were killed, and he sought to prosecute the U.S. soldiers who carried out the operation.

The incident marked the first time Iraq's government has called for the prosecution of U.S. soldiers and could set the stage for a showdown between the two countries at a time of spiking violence.

Since the implementation this year of a bilateral security agreement, U.S. forces have been barred from conducting unilateral operations and can no longer detain Iraqis for long periods.

The agreement says U.S. forces can be prosecuted in Iraqi courtrooms for grave, premeditated crimes committed off base and off duty - criteria that U.S. officials have said in effect mean U.S. troops will never face Iraqi justice.

But the language of the pact is vague, U.S. and Iraqi officials have said, which could make this a test case.

If that happens, it may become an irritant in U.S.-Iraqi relations and exacerbate hostility toward U.S. troops at a time when extremists are vowing to step up attacks against U.S. forces.

U.S. officials, speaking anonymously, suggested that Maliki's move could be politically motivated. National elections are due next winter.

In a statement issued by the Iraqi government's Baghdad security command, which reports to the prime minister, Maliki called the raid "a violation of the security agreement."

He said he would ask the top U.S. commander to "send those who carried out this action to the judiciary."

The U.S. military earlier in the day said the raid had been "fully coordinated and approved" by the Iraqi government.

The raid targeted Shiite militiamen who belong to an elite unit created by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to carry out attacks against U.S. forces, the U.S. military said.

Hours after the raid, as protesters gathered in downtown Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced it had detained two top Iraqi military officials in Wasit province for authorizing the raid without obtaining approval from their commanders.

The raid began about 1:30 a.m., when U.S. convoys pulled up outside the house of Capt. Muaamer Abid Naama al-Bidyree, who is assigned to the Interior Ministry's internal-affairs office, relatives said.

Bidyree was not home, they said. While U.S. soldiers were searching the house, which is split into apartments occupied by members of an extended family, Bidyree's wife began screaming.

"The wife was alone in the house," said Um Amar, 50, a relative who lives there. "She started yelling: 'Americans, Americans!' "

Bidyree's brother Khalid, who was armed, and one of Bidyree's sisters-in-law, Nedal Abolabas, then headed toward Bidyree's residence. U.S. soldiers opened fire, striking Khalid Bidyree in the head and Abolabas in the chest, Amar said.

In a statement, the U.S. military said soldiers opened fire on a man because "forces assessed him to be hostile." They did not elaborate. The woman, the statement said, "moved into the line of fire and was also struck by gunfire."

The military said soldiers suspected members of the Promise Day Brigade, the elite Sadr militia, were in the house. The prime suspect was a "network financier" suspected of smuggling weapons into Iraq.

Kut, a predominantly Shiite city, has been relatively peaceful in recent years. Major Gen. Read Shakir Jawdat, the city's police commander, and Mahmoud al-Etaibi, the chair of the provincial council, held a news conference yesterday condemning the operation.

"American forces should apologize and compensate the families of the victims," Etaibi said. Six men detained in the raid were released, Jawdat said.

Amar said top U.S. military officials visited her home yesterday afternoon to offer an apology and return cash and cell phones that soldiers confiscated.

"They said it was a mistake," she said, bawling during a telephone interview. "But they couldn't return those who died back to us."