An example of the type of thing that drives people to such hatred, or at least excacerbates it, from May, 2003:
Quote:[size=25]TWO KILLED IN NEW IRAQ DEMO SHOOTING[/size]
May 1 2003
It started when a young boy hurled a sandal at a US jeep - it ended
with two Iraqis dead and 16 seriously injured.
I watched in horror as American troops opened fire on a crowd of 1,000
unarmed people here yesterday.
Many, including children, were cut down by a 20-second burst of
automatic gunfire during a demonstration against the killing of 13
protesters at the Al-Kaahd school on Monday.
They had been whipped into a frenzy by religious leaders. The crowd
were facing down a military compound of tanks and machine-gun posts.
The youngster had apparently lobbed his shoe at the jeep - with a M2
heavy machine gun post on the back - as it drove past in a convoy of
other vehicles.
A soldier operating the weapon suddenly ducked, raised it on its pivot
then pressed his thumb on the trigger.
Mirror photographer Julian Andrews and I were standing about six feet
from the vehicle when the first shots rang out, without warning.
We dived for cover under the compound wall as troops within the crowd
opened fire. The convoy accelerated away from the scene.
Iraqis in the line of fire dived for cover, hugging the dust to escape
being hit.
We could hear the bullets screaming over our heads. Explosions of sand
erupted from the ground - if the rounds failed to hit a demonstrator
first. Seconds later the shooting stopped and the screaming and
wailing began.
One of the dead, a young man, lay face up, half his head missing,
first black blood, then red spilling into the dirt.
His friends screamed at us in anger, then looked at the grim sight in
disbelief.
A boy of 11 lay shouting in agony before being carted off in a car to
a hospital already jam-packed with Iraqis hurt in Monday's incident.
Cars pulled up like taxis to take the dead and injured to hospital, as
if they had been waiting for this to happen.
A man dressed like a sheik took off his headcloth to wave and direct
traffic around the injured. The sickening scenes of death and pain
were the culmination of a day of tension in Al-Fallujah sparked by
Monday's killings.
The baying crowd had marched 500 yards from the school to a local
Ba'ath party HQ. We joined them, asking questions and taking pictures,
as Apache helicopters circled above.
The crowd waved their fists at the gunships angrily and shouted: "Go
home America, go home America."
We rounded a corner and saw edgy-looking soldiers lined up along the
street in between a dozen armoured vehicles. All of them had automatic
weapons pointing in the firing position.
As the crowd - 10 deep and about 100 yards long - marched towards the
US positions, chanting "Allah is great, go home Americans", the troops
reversed into the compound.
On the roof of the two-storey fortress, ringed by a seven-foot high
brick wall, razor wire and with several tanks inside, around 20
soldiers ran to the edge and took up positions.
A machine gun post at one of the corners swivelled round, taking aim
at the crowd which pulled to a halt.
We heard no warning to disperse and saw no guns or knives among the
Iraqis whose religious and tribal leaders kept shouting through loud
hailers to remain peaceful. In the baking heat and with the deafening
noise of helicopters the tension reached breaking point.
Julian and I ran towards the compound to get away from the crowd as
dozens of troops started taking aim at them, others peering at them
through binoculars.
Tribal leaders struggled to contain the mob which was reaching a
frenzy.
A dozen ran through the cordon of elders, several hurling what
appeared to be rocks at troops.
Some of the stones just reached the compound walls. Many threw sandals
- a popular Iraqi insult.
A convoy of Bradley military jeeps passed by, the Iraqis hurling
insults at them, slapping the sides of the vehicles with their
sandals, tribal leaders begging them to retreat.
The main body of demonstrators jeered the passing US troops pointing
their thumbs down to mock them.
Then came the gunfire - and the death and the agony.
After the shootings the American soldiers looked at the appalling
scene through their binoculars and set up new positions, still
training their guns at us.
An angry mob battered an Arab TV crew van, pulling out recording
equipment and hurling it at the compound. Those left standing - now
apparently insane with anger - ran at the fortress battering its walls
with their fists. Many had tears pouring down their faces.
Still no shots from the Iraqis and still no sign of the man with the
AK47 who the US later claimed had let off a shot at the convoy.
I counted at least four or five soldiers with binoculars staring at
the crowd for weapons but we saw no guns amongst the injured or
dropped on the ground.
A local told us the crowd would turn on foreigners so we left and went
to the hospital.
There, half an hour later, another chanting mob was carrying an open
coffin of one of the dead, chanting "Islam, Islam, Islam, death to the
Americans".
We left when we were spat at by a wailing woman dressed in black
robes.
US troops had been accused of a bloody massacre over the killings of
the 13 Iraqis outside the school on Monday. Three of the dead were
said to be boys under 11.
At least 75 locals were injured in a 30-minute gun battle after
soldiers claimed they were shot at by protesters.
Demonstrators claimed they were trying to reclaim the school from the
Americans who had occupied it as a military HQ.
The crowd had defied a night-time curfew to carry out the protest.
I think it would do us all well to remember that at least
10,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died as a result of this invasion.
This often downplayed fact has to be taken into consideration when Americans wonder how Iraqis could be so ungrateful and enraged.
To put this number in perspective, less than 3,000 American civilians died on September 11th - and look at how that galvinized our nation.
