In a seemingly common occurrence, intelligence reports on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda members led to the killing of more innocent people. The US military released a statement saying they regret “that civilians are hurt or killed while Coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism.” They obviously failed to see the irony in this statement. Our policy of carrying out extrajudicial killings is itself the main act of terror in Iraq begetting more terror as a consequence. In order to “rid Iraq of terrorism”, we ought to stop engaging in it.

A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children, northwest of the capital Thursday _ one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months. The military said it was targeting senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq.

American forces have applied fierce and determined pressure on militants, especially al-Qaida in Iraq, since the full contingent of additional U.S. troops arrived June 15. But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has recently confronted top American commander Gen. David Petraeus about what he sees as overly aggressive U.S. tactics that harm innocent civilians, according to Iraqi officials.

The military statement detailing Thursday’s air and ground assault said soldiers were acting on intelligence reports about an al-Qaida meeting in the Lake Tharthar region. The southern reaches of the big, man-made lake are about 50 miles northwest of the capital.

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