On Wednesday May 19, 2004 a US helicopter opened fire on a wedding party in Western Iraq killing over 40 people (Photos). As Iraqis buried their dead, the US insisted the wedding was a legitimate target. The Red Cross scolded the Americans that "Even if (you came under) fire, there are rules of proportion in retaliation and the absolute need to prevent civilian casualties". On May 23rd, the AP released a video (Photos | Video) showing scenes of a wedding with several people also seen in later footage of the US carnage. Unwilling to admit that its earlier reports that there was no evidence of a wedding were lies, the US military released a statement that "Bad people have parties too".
This latest US atrocity fall on the heals of many other American actions that have angered the Iraqi people including the prison torture scandal, allegations of US troops stealing from houses during raids, and thousands of deaths in the last few months resulting from US raids and detentions.