Misguided military tactics by US-led coalition forces in Iraq resulted in hundreds of preventable civilian deaths, Human Rights Watch said in a report released yesterday.
The New York-based rights group specifically cited the use of cluster bombs and the US "decapitation" strategy -- targeted strikes on top Iraqi leaders -- as two major causes of unnecessary civilian fatalities.
"Coalition forces generally tried to avoid killing Iraqis who weren't taking part in combat," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But the deaths of hundreds of civilians still could have been prevented."
The 147-page report, titled Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq, said more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed or wounded by the British and US use of nearly 13,000 cluster munitions, containing nearly two million sub-munitions.
In a single day, the report said, US cluster-munition attacks in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla killed at least 33 civilians and injured 109.
A hospital director in Hilla told Human Rights Watch that cluster munitions caused 90 percent of the civilian injuries that his hospital treated during the war.
Hospital records from Hilla, Najaf and Nasariya recorded 2,279 civilian casualties in March and April, including 678 dead and 1,601 injured.
"The way cluster munitions were used in Iraq represents a big step backwards for the US military," said Roth.
"US ground forces need to learn the lesson that the air force seems to have adopted: cluster munitions cannot be used in populated areas without huge loss of civilian life," he added.
As for the "decapitation" tactic, the report said 50 strikes on top Iraqi leaders failed to kill any of the intended targets, but instead killed dozens of civilians.
The report cited an April 7 attack, apparently targeting Saddam Hussein on the basis of a satellite phone intercept, that killed 18 civilians and destroyed three homes in the Mansur neighborhood of Baghdad.
Residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch researchers said there was no evidence that Saddam or any members of his regime had been there.
"The decapitation strategy was an utter failure on military grounds, since it didn't kill a single Iraqi leader in 50 attempts," said Roth. "But it also failed on human rights grounds. It's no good using a precise weapon if the target hasn't been located precisely."
The report also documented violations of international humanitarian law by Iraqi forces, including use of human shields, abuse of the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, use of antipersonnel landmines, and placement of military objects in mosques and hospitals.
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