40 Killed in U.S. Attack on Iraqi Border Village

[DaveSZ]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-iraq20may20,1,6283688.story?coll=la-home-headlines

40 Killed in U.S. Attack on Iraqi Border Village

May 20, 2004


By Alissa J. Rubin, Times Staff Writer


BAGHDAD — U.S. helicopter gunships and ground troops struck a village in Iraq's western desert, hitting what Iraqis said was a wedding celebration, but what the U.S. said was a suspected safe house for foreign fighters.

Reports of the number of people killed varied, but Iraqi and U.S. officials estimated that about 40 died in Tuesday's attack on a hamlet of just 11 houses. The village is about 15 miles from the Syrian border and 50 miles southwest of Husaybah.


"We received about 40 martyrs today, mainly women and children below the age of 12," Hamdy Lousy, the director of a nearby hospital, told Arab satellite TV channel Al Arabiya. "We also have 11 people wounded, most of them in critical condition."

Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one atop the other. Several were those of children; one was decapitated. The body of a girl who appeared to be younger than 5 lay in a white sheet, her legs riddled with wounds and her dress soaked with blood.

-more

[writekid]

1. It was a gay marriage

Another intelligence breakdown. The military thought it was a gay marriage and they were ordered to destroy it. What the news didn't report was that bush rode in on his horse, gave a speech about the virtues of heterosexual union and then unveiled a large "mission accomplished" banner.

[Maine Mary]

2. and...

(he then) victoriously rode off into the sunset... :eyes:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[pfitz59]

4. Hey dipwad........

Bedouin tribes have been traversing that corner of the world for thousands of years. They DO NOT recognize sovreignity of any nation created by British Mandate! A passport is so much kindling to them! Dumbya and his neo-con handlers haven't clue one about the reality of the middle east. WE are the invaders. THEY are farmers herders traders defending hearth and home. So who's the one buying into the party line. Go home to freeperville you disgraceful ignoramous!

[nofurylike]

6. humbly, ditto. n/t

[nofurylike]

5. shhhhhhhhhhh.......

it's just a bad dream.


go back to sleep

[AussieInCA]

7. maybe they had a digital camera too <shock> oh yeah 2M = US1,400

freeper freeper freeper freeper lalalalalalala

half of them killed are women and children..what they kill them themselves for effect? maybe they can use the 2m ($US1,400.00) to pay the medical bills of the injured????


alalallaalal I am a freeper...I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing (except faux and chimpy PR reports)


PS me freeper..ugh ugh... me not know much about foreign culture so they must be guilty...ugh ugh...rah rah..bring em on!

Geez I went to a wedding a few weeks ago till early am...you know it is kind of hot in the old desert freeperhead...maybe these people kind of sleep a bit more during the insane heat and celebrate when it cools down, that ever cross your mind???

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

9. wow more terrorists eh - shame we have ZERO in custody in Iraq

and just blew up a bunch more..damn we'll never get any proof to corroborate anything.

So what are they terrorists, thugs, oh yeah the latest is "extremists" right.


And damn that Arab press...last thing we want is another point of view is it.

Last time I checked there was a wee bit of a credibility problem with the US government and the wonderful corporate press, but you sound like the type oblivious to that. (ignorance is bliss...lalaalala ..all is well, all is well..right)

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

11. here you go - juan is probably a little more qualifed than you..

www.juancole.com

The NYT report on the US helicopter gunship attack that killed 40 Iraqis, including 15 children and 10 women is typical of reporting on this incident in showing puzzlement at what actually happened. The US military claims that they were hitting arms smugglers coming across the border from Syria, and have good evidence in the form of captured materials that that is what they did hit. Local people told reporters that the US had hit a wedding party. My suspicion is that the US military mistook the wedding party, which included celebratory fire, for combatants. They did this once before, in Afghanistan. And I wish the US military spokesmen could be more gracious about such errors. They seemed to deny having hit civilians, and insisted it was a righteous strike, even as all the reports were coming on the Arab satellite channels about the dead at the wedding party. Can't they just say that they are deeply sorry for the Iraqis' loss, and that they are not sure what went wrong, and will investigate? If they did kill so many women and children, surely that is a mistake no matter how you parse it, and they may as well admit it. It is this arrogance and instistence that the US is always right that has caused almost 90% of the Iraqis to come to view the Americans as occupiers rather than liberators.

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

13. ah don't like what he says so I guess he's unpatriotic eh

sounds like a old propoganda tactic of those guys back in wwii.. fight for our freedom, anyone that has a view you don't like is unpatriotic right.


CNN - corporate media lol


ya showing the ole freeper colors..wrong website..they'll love you over there..can all pat each others back into a hazing frenzy..just like rush said.

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

15. lol, he is one of our countries top scholars and specialists

maybe we should burn all his books, papers, ban him from appearing before congress on the subject, etc. etc. I guess there are some other PHD's and experts we should look to for a detailed analysis...hmm maybe hannity or how about WH press releases???


Nah, this is the last person we would want to get an informed point of view from, knowledge can be so dangerous from someone we don't want to hear from.

[Name removed]

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[nonconformist]

16. Ok, so let me get this straight

We're not "free thinkers" because we think that when 40 or so mostly women and children are gunned down and a young child is decapitated it's a bad thing. I guess that little child was an evildoer, right?

We're not "free thinkers" because we're not buying into everything that Bush says either right? Well you gotta admit, the guy IS hard to follow:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02

[Name removed]

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[nonconformist]

20. Not particularly. And if you knew anything about their culture

neither would you. It is quite common for Muslim wedding parties to shoot guns into the air in celebration. Remember, we wiped out one of those in Afghanistan too. But we're not concerned with those measly details - we bomb first and ask questions later. Actually, we DON'T ask questions later and that's the problem.

I threw the Bush quotes in there because judging by your other responses, your redundant harping on 'thinking for yourself' and given the fact that you registered within the last 4 hours you pretty much outed yourself as a freeper.

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

22. it was associated press and the local police that reported it

you can read about it at the AP or nytimes.

"The Associated Press quoted Lt. Col. Ziyad al-Jbouri, the deputy police chief of Ramadi, as saying that between 42 and 45 people had died, including 15 children and 10 women.

The Associated Press also quoted Dr. Salah al-Ani, a hospital worker in Ramadi, as saying 45 people were dead. "

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

25. AP is a non-profit org and it is AP's own footage/interviews

go do your own research rather than make incorrect conclusions to bolster your bias.

[nonconformist]

24. Oh please, my husband is a veteran

Don't try that flag-waving, more-patriotic-than-thou argument.

It's not about toeing the line of any news organization, or any politician, around here. FYI though - AP is reporting the same. It's about gathering facts and using your common sense. And if your common sense doesn't tell you this was a horrible thing to have happened and the first feeling you have when reading about babies being decapitated is "d'oh... they need a Darwin Award because they're stooopid" then maybe you should re-examine yourself.

[Name removed]

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[nonconformist]

29. Maybe you should read WHAT you write

Quote:
"I am a moderate, with the exception of a few issues. The military is one since I have a lot of realtives in the military."

So, one would assume you're implying that one that supports the military could never say anything bad about anything they would do. Otherwise, why mention that?

And their parents are putting them in what situation, exactly? Being born in Iraq while we're occupying it? Do yourself a favor and read up on the area and the culture. They have every business in the world to be where they were and doing things that are typical for their culture.

For someone that keeps harping on the "facts", where have you seen anything mentioned at all that these people were actually terrorists using women and children as human shields? You're assuming this.

This leads me to ask - what is your point? If you rescind your soulless comment about the death of these people, then what is your point in all of this? That the military was justified in 'taking them out' because they were at a "suspected foreign fighter safe house"?

This is a perfect example of why Iraq has deteriorated into a quagmire. Nothing good is coming out of ANY of this.

[AussieInCA]

32. hey it was the exact same wording used in Afghanistan, happened before

"In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. An investigative report released by the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire"


oops

[Name removed]

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[nonconformist]

34. Ha, go away troll

63T, Bradly Mechanic, discharged in 2001. But I give a fuck if you believe it.

Was the Berg beheading also a regrettable fact of war? Was 9/11? Why haven't you enlisted yet to help 'em out?

[AussieInCA]

36. hey the end justifies the means...i've seen the freeper light!!! LOL

oh damn, looks like the pesky redcross has gone and condemned this now... lets see

The excessive use of force violates international human rights," the ICRC spokeswoman in Baghdad, Nada Dumani, told AFP.

"Even if (you came under) fire, there are rules of proportion in retaliation and the absolute need to prevent civilian casualties," she added.


Now lets see, we manage to get this the same day the UN (except the US) condemns Israel for guess what..excessive force on a crowd with children in it. Lets rap us up in that great old mess with these 1:1 images.

[nonconformist]

37. Now now, that quote is from a brown person

So it's obviously propaganda. /sarcasm

It's so funny that they try to argue with people that are against the war and have been since the onset that "these are just the facts of war". Well fucking DUH, war is bad - ya think that might be why people were against it when the war was clearly unnecessary? But I guess he told me huh? lol

[Dead_Parrot]

35. "some people (possibly innocent)..."

So you reckon the 5-year-old girl who got fragged was actually a Syrian gun-runner, do you? Who about the kid with thier head blown off - Osama in disguise? Get a grip.

[pfitz59]

26. If you had a clue about TRIBAL ARABIA.........

you'd know this is the norm, not the exception! Bedouins DO NOT recognize arbitrary borders! They carry the wealth of the tribe with them. (IE: no banks) It's idiots like you who keep making the same mistakes, and supporting the same cabal of greedy mofo's, who have ruined the US and generations of good works! Shrubco's minions have unleashed a "reverse Marshall Plan" which will reverberate for the next hundred years! Get a grip on reality and stop parrotting propaganda!

[Name removed]

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[AussieInCA]

30. Breaking News:Iraiqi's celebrate wedding till early hours of the morning

News from Iraq:

"Iraqi's with their new freedom held a wedding party till 3am in the morning. This new behavior has never occured in the world and left the civilized western world in shock that someone would actually party beyond their curfew. Reports of this have rippled the globe...word is out that people in New York city were out celebrating at 330am!!! the cultural ramifications of this are being investigated" reports our budding investigator Mattlock

LOL

[Dead_Parrot]

31. LOL... n/t

[nonconformist]

17. dupe

*

[mhr]

38. If The "Good Guys" Pull The Trigger It's All OK, So Say The Freepers

Sure would like to see some of them running from an Apache attack helicopter.

What a great idea for a new reality TV show, Fricasseed Freeper.

Oh, but if they all died on live TV who would watch to keep the ratings up?

Have to work on the concept a little more.

[Moderator]

39. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=566223&mesg_id=566223