US Troops Kill Two Little Girls on Sadr City Street

So much for the attempt of “improving relations” with Iraqis by putting US troops out on the streets of Baghdad.

The woman, Ikhlas Thulsiqar, said her family had turned from an alleyway onto a main street guarded by American soldiers. Seconds later, she said, a fusillade of bullets ripped into the car.

“They killed the father of my children! The Americans killed my daughters!� she sobbed, sitting crumpled on the floor of Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City where rescuers had taken the victims, including her daughters, 9 and 11, and her son, 7.

So how is the quest to make Iraq a safe, democratic model for the middle east going?

On Friday, the satellite channel Al Jazeera reported that Raouf Abdel-Rahman, the Iraqi judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death, had asked for asylum in Britain. The British Home Office would not confirm the report, saying it does not discuss individual cases.