US attack 'kills Iraqi children'

[Barrett808]

Source: BBC

US attack 'kills Iraqi children'
By James Shaw
BBC News, Baghdad

An attack by a US helicopter against suspected insurgents in Iraq has killed a number of children at a primary school, Iraqi security sources say.

The attack took place in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad, the sources say.

A spokesman for the US military said there had been helicopter activity in the area but he was not able to confirm any other details.

The school is in the village of al-Nedawat close to the Iranian border.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6637307.stm

[StarryNite]

1. As long as they were out

of the womb it's okay.

[NanceGreggs]

2. Jesus, doesn't that say it all ... n/t

[featherman]

3. No coverage by US MSM yet...

[Xipe Totec]

4. They weren't terrorists,

but they had the potential of becoming terrorists....





Someday....






...if they had lived to see what we did to their country.

[Thor_MN]

20. Certainly, a pre-emptive strike on an imminent threat, Herod's Choice.

AKA Rice Doctrine. If something has the potental of becoming a threat in the future and you are strong enough to do something about it now, well then, all's fair and all...

[juno jones]

5. Winning hearts and minds again...n/t

[elocs]

6. Winning hearts and minds, one dead Iraqi civilian after another.

Even if the troops come home physically unwounded, can they ever be psychologically normal after that kind of thing, knowing they were responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians, children? As with our past wars we will have thousands of people who will never be right again. War: brought to you by the universal soldiers who just followed orders and their commanders who gave them. It wouldn't be possible without them.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. Nits make lice

As a 19th-Century Indian killer -- I mean, Indian fighter -- said.

[happyslug]

19. And he was condemned at the time of the Massacre

While Chivington was never tried for his action at Sand Creek (He had left the Army before the Court Martial was convened) he was widely condemned for his action and it killed his Political Career (and his religious Career for the Methodists wanted nothing to do with him either after Sand Creek).
That is more than what is happening to the people involved with Iraq.

For more on Chivington see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chivington
http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/chivington.html

For more on Sand Creek See:
http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/sandcreek.htm
http://www.sandcreek.org/massacre.htm

[DavidDvorkin]

22. Good point

There was more outrage against such actions then than now.

I hadn't remembered that it was Chivington. When we drive from Denver to Kansas City on I-70, we cross Sand Creek, and it always disturbs me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. A veteran I know said we are killing kids every day in Iraq

He said the first day he was there his unit was sent into a town that had been bombed the day before by our military. They were ordered to look for insurgents. When they got there and walked around, all they saw were bodies of women and children. He finally asked one of the other soldiers with him why there weren't any men's bodies. The soldier told him oh, the men always leave when they think we are going to attack.

So our military attacks these people knowing the 'insurgents' have left. They deliberately kill innocent people.

Makes me ill. We need to BRING OUR TROOPS HOME.

[arewenotdemo]

18. And that is why any and all those responsible for this war

should be brought to trial for genocide.

And dealt with accordingly.

[ClayZ]

9. NO MORE WAR

K and R

[bread_and_roses]

10. words fail. K&R

[burrowowl]

11. More than that!

Go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2838226&mesg_id=2838249

[jazzjunkysue]

12. But the Bombs had little red crosses on them, so it's OK.

And the planes had magnetic yellow ribbons that said "Support the Troops."

So it's OK.

[grytpype]

13. Baby terrorists.

[cureautismnow]

14. Bush-boy needs a photo-op beside dead, Iraqi children.

Gotta keep convincing the backwash that mass murdering *potential terrorists* over there is better than fighting them here. Such an utter waste of human life. All because the spoiled little man-child doesn't know when to pick up his evil toys and go home. Damn that bastard. :mad: and :cry:

[ohio2007]

15. NPR reported rockets were fired at the helicopters circling the area

sounds like they were baited imo

[sjdnb]

16. But you won't read this in that dang liberal US media!

Like all the other atrocities ... it would be un-patriotic for any US outlet to tell the truth.

[magellan]

17. When US school kids are shot down in cold blood it gets a week of non-stop coverage

When it happens there by American hands it gets zero coverage. And that about sums up the integrity of our Pentagon and corporate media.

[bdamomma]

21. I hate to say this, but we are going to pay for this needless death.

[maddezmom]

23. U.S. says helicopter killed 5 bystanders in Iraq

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, May 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. attack helicopter killed five bystanders including two children when it fired on insurgents north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Donnelly, a spokesman for U.S. forces stationed north of the Iraqi capital, denied some media reports that the helicopter had fired on a school on Tuesday.

"It's traumatic and entirely unfortunate that this happened," Donnelly said by telephone, adding an investigation had been opened into how the civilans could have been killed.

He said insurgents had been seen placing roadside bombs and operating an illegal checkpoint near the town of Mandali in Diyala province, prompting the U.S. military to call for air support.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B600475.htm

[Massachusetts]

24. FUBAR

[Thor_MN]

25. Damn kids, it's hard to call them insurgents when you mow them down.

Anyone over 12 or so, it's easy enough to label them insurgents post mortem no matter what they were doing. But kids, nope, have to own up to "collateral damage" aka a fuckup.

[katsy]

26. Who wrote this - rove?

We killed them - U.S. troops killed these people. Helicopters don't fire on innocent bystanders. People do.

[Nihil]

27. Yeah, can't you remember back a few weeks ...

... when two naughty little guns killed some students and the
papers were full of headlines stating "Glock kills innocents"
and "Walther blamed for deaths"?

Oh, that's right, that was different wasn't it?

<sigh>

[katsy]

29. Don't forget the bomb that magically appeared at an abortion clinic.

It just walked itself over. Let no one call these acts for what they are: terrorism.

[Eugene]

28. Let me get this straight. They called an AIR SRIKE on a checkpoint?

Did it occur to them that civilians might be filtering
through that checkpoint? As others have already said,
this situation is FUBAR.

[maddezmom]

32. beyond FUBAR

but I'm not sure what that woulod be :argh:

[featherman]

30. Apparently the American press has no stomach to cover this story

not even reporting the "denial" by a US military spokesman. Clearly some number of Iraqi civilians including children died in some sort of helicopter gunship attack. The incident has been reported by the BBC and other news services around the world and addressed at a press conference. But a search of the CNN, MSNBC, and USA Today websites shows no mention to this point.

[coalition_unwilling]

31. It's simple really. We "liberated" them (at least in the Sartrean

sense, where liberation equals death).

[jakem]

33. "O Lord our Father...

...our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle-be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

[DrunkenMaster]

34. They Are With Jesus Now

Holding hands and praying for the success of the President...

[closeupready]

35. Oh,no.

:(

[The Stranger]

36. How about an ol' time DU "Support the Troops" thread rally?

What . . . no?

[Barrett808]

38. Support the troops...who aren't committing war crimes

Hopefully, that's still the vast majority.

[3waygeek]

37. Cheney was in Baghdad today....

He was hungry following the long flight, and no puppies were available :evilgrin:

[chknltl]

39. We The People Do Care!

When are we going to find some leaders who share our cares?

If I were a leader, Priority one would be impeachment investigations. Priority 2 would be cleaning up that mess we made over in the Middle East to include shutting down those damned prisons like Gitmo and rebuilding Iraq. Priority 3 would be rebuilding our National Guard so it could be used here at home. (FEMA would get a good house cleaning as well) Priority 4 would be Global Warming.

I am not seeing my priorities front and center among our leadership...instead I daily read threads like this in DU. I live in a sick country ruled by sick bastards!