Yahoo! News - US Promises Overwhelming Response to Iraq Killings
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops Thursday promised an "overwhelming" response to brutal killings in the Iraqi town of Falluja and vowed to hunt down those who shot four American security contractors and mutilated their bodies.

Marines took positions on the outskirts of the restive town west of Baghdad where the contractors were ambushed by insurgents Wednesday and then set on by a crowd.

"Coalition forces will respond," the U.S. Army's deputy director of operations, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, told a news conference. "They are coming back and they are going to hunt down the people responsible for this bestial act.

"It will be at a time and a place of our choosing. It will be methodical, it will be precise and it will be overwhelming."

"The Americans may think it is unusual but this is what they should expect. They show up in places and shoot civilians, so why can't they be killed?" said a Falluja store employee who gave his name as Amir.

U.S. troops fired on demonstrators in Falluja last April, killing at least 15 people. Other residents have been killed since and locals accuse U.S. troops of firing randomly and using excessive violence during raids. They always vow revenge.

This is never going to end, is it?