U.S.: No evidence of wedding at attack site

CNN.com ^ | Saturday, May 22, 2004 | CNN

[The Scorpion King]

You mean...the Muslim insurgents were lying!?! I'm stunned./sarcasm

[formercalifornian]

Next time they'll leave some cake, children and elders scattered on the scene.

[Kate of Spice Island]

I expect more camel fertilizer to come out shortly.

[cwb]

Jenin...Racak, Chechnya, Niger. It's now SOP with any conflict Muslims engage in.

[nuconvert]

Well, I'm surprised CNN is reporting this. Let's see how loudly and often they report it on their T.V. program. And if any other media bother to mention it.

[Klaus D. Deore]

The women might have been prostitutes brought in from Syria. Syria has tons of hookers.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Thank you, Klaus from the graphics department. Your photo puts the human face(albeit covered up) on my post.

[swilhelm73]

Is it manipulation, or simply allies working together in the same cause?

I have to agree. By western standards the propaganda of the Islamists and Baathists is actually quite poor. Remember, they aren't used to dealing with a free press, but instead the likes of Baghdad Bob.

The problem is that the media covers for them. So far it looks like the sum total of "evidence" this was a wedding attack was one doctor's claims. Did the reporters look into who he was? No. They thought it could be used to slam the US military and so went with it.

The bogus rape pictures were made by a Western porn site, the bogus British abuse pictures were made by Brits, etc etc.

It is an interesting point to ponder, that without the western press trying to create another Vietnam, the "resistance" in Iraq, at least the non-jihadis, would probably have thrown in the towel by now.

But our press continues to give them a chance...

[Tennessee_Bob]

From what I've been hearing, it was a wedding - they found twenty or thirty marriage licenses from Massachusetts at the house.

[King Prout]

datum.

[Ben Ficklin]

Doing a quick Google news search turns up that this is an AP article. Apparently CNN is not attributing the article to AP.

Otherwise, the AP article has, thus far, shown up only in the foreign press(Scotland, Britain, Australia).

[MainFrame65]

> "oh, if only the Bush White House had as quick a 'spin response' team as the Jihadists!!! " <

This - which I was actually surprised to see on CNN - is actually a big improvement. Clearly the military saw the potential for the propagandists and took steps to document what really happened. I hope to see them improve their response time.

[tkathy]

If you're in a war zone, and having a wedding, don't shoot off the guns!

[lancer]

Kimmitt showed photos of what he said were binoculars designed for adjusting artillery fire, battery packs suitable for improvised explosive devices, several terrorist training manuals, medical gear, fake ID cards and ID card-making machines, passports...

This is much bigger than will ever get reported in our press. Same with the rout of al Sadr from Karbala, just reported on Fox and now carried on CNN.

Leave the troops alone; they will carry the day!

[Snerfling]

The Arabs have learned very well how to manipulate our media.

Manipulate implies (1) that the Arabs have shrewdly managed the news; and (2) that the media was deviously misled.

Both assertions are false - the sophistication level of the 'wedding' video was very low and the media's willing culpability is patently obvious.

There is an enemy within - it's about time the government consider measures taken during past wars. We are now seeing firsthand the reasons behind some of Wilson's actions during WWI.

[Burkeman1]

The source of this story is CNN. How can it be trusted? Aren't they leftists liars?

[Delta 21]

[Toddsterpatriot]

None of the men killed in the raid carried ID cards or wallets, he said.

I never bring a wallet or ID when I go to a wedding. LOL!!!

[Alaska Wolf]

This "wedding massacre", reported by the press, had a foul odor surrounding it from the very beginning. The time 2:45AM, satelite phones, passports and weapons. Maybe they were preparing to go on safari. I understand there was 2M in dinar also. Don't we have one investigative journalist who will report things as they really are? Yeah,fat chance.