U.S. Says It Accidentally Killed 9 Iraqi Civilians

[Dawggie]

Source: NYT

BAGHDAD — American forces said Sunday that they had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three in a strike aimed at militants of Al Qaeda south of Baghdad, acknowledging what appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks.

A military statement released late in the day said that the accidental killings occurred Saturday in Iskandariyah, about 25 miles south of the capital, and that the wounded were taken to American military hospitals.

The statement did not further identify the civilian victims, but Iraqi police said American aircraft, responding to an attack on an American convoy, had erroneously bombed Iraqi civilian guardsmen who have contracted with the American military to fight Al Qaeda.

Those guardsmen, predominantly Sunnis, are considered a major reason why the American military has successfully reduced insurgent violence in Iraq. But in recent weeks scores of the Sunni guardsmen, known variously as Concerned Local Citizens, Awakening Councils and the Sons of Iraq, have been killed in clashes with Al Qaeda fighters and Shiite militia groups.




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?hp

---

Good god, when will this end.

[flyarm]

1. oh yes they were going after Al Queada..so close to Bagdad...and i believe in the easter bunny!! eom

[flyarm]

2. dupe

[TwilightGardener]

3. Feel bad for all involved--the innocent civilians AND our troops who made the mistake.

Sad.

[Supersedeas]

25. the whole damned invasion and occupation of Iraq is a tragedy--except in the mind of Bush

revisioninsts

[Karenina]

4. "Accidental" killings.

Yeah, THAT'S the ticket!

[sam sarrha]

28. anybody catch the CIA report that they 'Accidentally' tortured to death about 200 innocent civilians

[ORDagnabbit]

5. times that by about 100,000 and they'll be closer....

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Except not an accident.

When a nation commits its armed forces to the permanent occupation of another nation calling the civilian casualties of that occupation 'accidents' relieves the occupiers of moral responsibility for the homicides they have committed. 1,000,000 and counting. Everyone of these deaths are our responsibility.

[harmonicon]

13. no, they murdered those civilians on purpose

[2Design]

6. did they forget a bunch of zeros n/t

[stillcool]

7. Gee isn't that odd...

No innocent people got killed during this 'strike'..

Massive U.S. air strikes pound insurgent havens south of Baghdad
Thu Jan 10, 4:27 PM
By Hamza Hendawi, The Associated Press
ADVERTISEMENT

ZAMBARANIYAH, Iraq - U.S. warplanes unleashed one of the most intense air strikes of the Iraq war Thursday, dropping more than 18,000 kilograms of explosives in a thunderous 10-minute onslaught on suspected "al-Qaida in Iraq" safe havens in Sunni farmlands south of Baghdad.

The mighty barrage, recalling the Pentagon's "shock and awe" raids during the 2003 invasion, appeared to mark a significant escalation in a countrywide offensive launched this week to try to cripple remaining insurgent strongholds.
-------------
Little initial resistance was reported. At least nine U.S. soldiers have been killed since the offensive began Tuesday, the deadliest days for American forces since last fall.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080110/world/iraq

Two B-1 bombers and four F-16 fighter jets struck more than 40 al Qaeda targets in three zones of Arab Jabour, a lush district just south of the capital that has become a haven for fighters driven out of other areas.

"Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds," the military said in a statement. "Each bomber passed over twice and the F-16s followed to complete the set."

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1069138220080110?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

[gratuitous]

10. "Little initial resistance was reported"

And just what sort of resistance does the U.S. military expect from people taken unawares, who can't fight back and can't get away? Yeah, this looks to have all the macho-making derring-do of some beefy thug punching out a guy tied to a chair. That's the stuff of manliness, let me tell you.

[RC]

14. What kind of resistance can civilians have against bombs from 30.000 feet?

This is just more murder of Iraqi civilians, plain and simple.

[Dawggie]

26. Those were exactly my thoughts. n/t

[stillcool]

17. That's some feat...isn't it?

40,000 pounds of bombs in 10 minutes and no resistance? Surge must be working!

[peoli]

9. oopsies!

[tabasco]

11. But Rick Lynch said we were bombing terrorists!!??

I'm sure a hand-selected Bush ass-kisser wouldn't lie!

[fbahrami]

12. more like 9 hundred thousand

[daleo]

15. In recent weeks...

"...acknowledging what appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks."

Not recent months, or recent years. Recent weeks.

[calimary]

16. No kidding! I just turned to my husband and read him the first line of

the story, and said I didn't know which I found worse: the part where our people killed 9 civilians, or that this was the worst case of mistaken identity in recent WEEKS. WTF????? How many of these have there been? What the hell do you mean "in recent WEEKS"?

Dear God...

Oh, but they hate us for our freedom!

[krkaufman]

18. Most telling.... "one of the deadliest cases on mistaken identity in RECENT WEEKS"

Not months, or years, or since the war began. So this case of mistaken identity, slaughtering 9 Iraqis and wounding 3 more, is just the most in recent weeks. And they want us to believe their lowball numbers for civilians killed since the war's inception.

And I wonder how many were actually killed, if they're willing to report 9.

[JohnyCanuck]

19. Bombs Away Over Iraq

Looking Up
Normalizing Air War from Guernica to Arab Jabour
By Tom Engelhardt

SNIP

American military spokespeople and administration officials have, over the years, decried Iraqi and Afghan insurgents for "hiding" behind civilian populations -- in essence, accusing them of both immorality and cowardice. When such spokespeople do admit to inflicting "collateral damage" on civilian populations, they regularly blame the guerrillas for turning civilians into "shields." And all of this is regularly, dutifully reported in our press. On the other hand, no one in our world considers drone warfare in a similar context, though armed UAVs like the Predators and the newer, even more heavily armed Reapers are generally "flown" by pilots stationed at computer consoles in places like Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas. It is from there that they release their missiles against "anti-Iraqi forces" or the Taliban, causing civilian deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

As one American pilot, who has fired Predator missiles from Nellis, put it:

"I go from the gym and step inside Afghanistan, or Iraq… It takes some getting used to it. At Nellis you have to remind yourself, 'I'm not at the Nellis Air Force Base. Whatever issues I had 30 minutes ago, like talking to my bank, aren't important anymore.'"

To American reporters, this seems neither cowardly, nor in any way barbaric, just plain old normal. Those pilots are not said to be "hiding" in distant deserts or among the civilian gamblers of Caesar's Palace.

Anyway, here's the simple calculus that goes with all this: Militarily, overstretched American forces simply cannot sustain the ground part of the surge for much longer. Most, if not all, of those 30,000 troops who surged into Iraq in the first half of 2007 will soon be coming home. But air power won't be. Air Force personnel are already on short, rotating tours of duty in the region. In Vietnam back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as ground troops were withdrawn, air power ramped up. This seems once again to be the pattern. There is every reason to believe that it represents the American future in Iraq.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174887/bombs_away_over_iraq

[tuckessee]

20. If the terrorists were flying around at 40,000 feet dropping bombs

on us with impunity we'd call them "cowards".

[wtmusic]

21. Very odd they're even acknowledging this.

There is a story behind it -- video footage captured the act, or someone relatively famous was killed etc.

Else they'd be nine more swatted flies, as far as press is concerned.

[Desertrose]

22. So if they apologize for 9, does that excuse them for the other

MILLIONS of innocent civilians that have been slaughtered by the US in the name of *freedom*?

Such bullshit.

[dipsydoodle]

23. BBC News link

Witnesses say 20 people were killed in an US air strike in the area.

They said the dead included 17 members of the same family.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7225613.stm

[pinniped]

24. Hey, it's okay because they were going after scaaaaaaaary al-Qaeda.

This is BS.:scared:

[Hugabear]

27. We are MURDERING people, plain and simple

I really hope we get some war crime trials from this war. Not only for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc - but the bloodthirsty commanders and officers who are carrying out these evil plans, issuing orders to their enlisted folks to commit these crimes. And the ones who have actually pulled the triggers, who have slain innocent Iraqis in cold blood need to be put on trial also.

We need to send a clear signal that our military is NOT above international law, that we are willing to prosecute our own. If we fail to do this, then how can we expect anyone to take us seriously when we demand prosecution for foreign forces who commit war crimes?