Over the weekend, Iraqi officials made blanket denials of responsibility for the deaths in their crackdowns on protesters, saying that they had never opened fire on any protesters.
It wasn’t a very convincing argument, and President Barham Salih confirmed on Monday that the troops had used “excessive force outside the rules of engagement” against the protesters.
Salih, who had largely not commented on the protests before, says that the government has already begun the process of holding commanding officers involved in these incidents responsible.
Iraq is facing growing criticism, with many thousands of casualties in a week of protests, and particular concern about violence being conducted against journalists, seen as an attempt by security forces to limit coverage of abuses.
Iraq President Confirms ‘Excessive Force’ Used Against Protesters
Says commanders will be held accountable
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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