The Coalition Provisional Authority briefs the news media almost every day. Usually it's General Kimmitt and Mr. Senor. Saturday it was General Kimmitt and a Mr. Bailey from the British faction of the CPA.
Q Quinn O'Toole, NPR. The situation in Kut, if there had been three enemy killed and 37 detained, does that qualify as the destruction of Sadr's army? And what in your mind qualifies as the destruction of the army, which is your stated aim?
GEN. KIMMITT: Well, first of all, the stated aim in the town of Al Kut was to restore coalition control to that town. It is our overall objective throughout the area of operations to destroy Sadr's militia, and frankly any militia in this country that turns to violence
. . . . . . . Q (Through interpreter.) Ali Naser al Qoraishi (ph) from al Zemin (ph) Now. General Kimmitt, good evening. According to the Geneva Convention, to provide security and stability and not aggress over human rights, where is the security, where are the rights of the citizens of Fallujah, of the children and the old and the women? Bombing them with American weapons and bombs and planes and killing and wounding and attacking worship places?
GEN. KIMMITT: Let's be very clear about some of the assertions that you're making, which are frankly unbelievable to hear from somebody who professes to belong to a free and open press. I haven't heard that level of propaganda since Baghdad Bob was standing up here.
Now, let me address the facts. The facts are that the Marines are conducting extraordinarily precise operations. They are avoiding any operations that have a risk of collateral damage. The enemy is not. They are going out of their way to observe the rules of engagement and stay within the strict rules of international law. The enemy is not. We are absolutely respecting religious sites. The enemy is not. The enemy has chosen to use the religious site -- in this case a mosque -- to fire mortars from and to fire small arms, to use it as a defensive position to attack to kill coalition forces.
Very simply, when that happens, those Geneva Conventions that you are waving at us specifically state -- and international law specifically states when the enemy uses a mosque or any other religious structure for the purpose of attacks and to fire from, that mosque, that church, that synagogue, loses its protective status. And if military necessity requires, then the Marines can and will use proportional force to respond to that attack.