Iraqi Police Kill Six Protesters as Pentagon Lawyers Say 'Saddam is POW'

10/01/2004| IslamWeb

Iraqi police fired into a crowd of stone-throwing protesters angry over the lack of jobs in the southern town of Amarah on Saturday, killing at least six people and injuring 11, witnesses and a hospital doctor said. Earlier, a BBC reporter said seven Iraqis killed. Hundreds of protesters gathered opposite the office where British security forces have a regional headquarters, saying occupation authorities had not kept a promise to find them jobs by the outset of January. There were conflicting reports about what led the police to fire. Some witnesses said people in the crowd shot at police first, others that the crowd was only throwing stones when police shot at them. Dr. Saad Hamoud of the Al-Zahrawi Surgical Hospital told The AP six people were killed and the hospital was treating 11 wounded protesters. British soldiers sealed off the area and dispersed the protesters. **Saddam as Prisoner of War*** Pentagon lawyers have determined that Saddam Hussein has been a prisoner of war since American forces captured him on Dec. 13, a Defense Department spokesman said Friday. Despite that determination, Secretary of State Colin Powell told CBS News: "I don't know that he has been formally declared a prisoner of war." That decision was up to the Pentagon, Powell added. Powell said, "We are certainly treating everybody in our custody in accordance with basic rights and expectations of international agreements that we have." The general counsel office in the Pentagon has determined that Saddam is a prisoner of war because of his status as former commander in chief of Iraq's military, spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said Friday, according to The AP. The lawyers determined that no formal declaration of Saddam's status was needed, he said. POW status would entitle Saddam to meet with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Since his capture, no such meeting has happened. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Mourners carry the coffin of Iraqi Kurdish policeman Ibrahim Hadi during his funeral in Kirkuk. (AFP/Karim Sahib)