The president of Iraq's 25-man interim Governing Council demanded Monday the US-led coalition forces treat Iraqis better, amid allegations of civilians being struck down by American troops during aggressive raids."We have insisted on several occasions to the coalition forces on the necessity of treating Iraqis properly," Ibrahim Jafari, the council's first president in a nine-man rotation, told reporters.
He warned rough conduct with Iraqis would only let "hatred grow against them".
Jafari, a member of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist Dawa party, called his country "occupied", but "Iraq has traditions and we must respect them and the blood of our compatriots has huge value in our eyes especially when soldiers kill innocent people."
The US forces' conduct has come under the spotlight since a raid July 27 in the upmarket Baghdad district of Mansur that left at least four civilians dead when soldiers opened fire on two cars which failed to stop at a checkpoint.
The top commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, later expressed regret about the incident, but since then, civilians and policemen have been struck down in similar circumstances.
Sanchez said last Thursday the US troops would start to change their ground tactics in order to avoid alienating the local population.
But the new strategy would rely mainly on better intelligence and the theory of "cordon and knock" when troops seal off a building, knock on a door, and ask permission to be let in, rather than just charging in.
Sanchez and his senior officers have cautioned the "cordon and knock" technique would be used only when appropriate, and they stressed the rules of engagement for soldiers' opening fire have not changed.
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