Eerie calms grips Fallujah after gruesome killings, Bremer vows revenge (Fed the dead to the dogs)

AFP ^ | Thu, Apr 01, 2004 | AFP

[Eurotwit]

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - An eerie calm gripped this town west of Baghdad, a day after four American civilians were burned to death and their bodies dismembered, as US overseer Paul Bremer vowed the deaths and those of five US soldiers in a separate attack would be avenged.

"Their deaths will not go unpunished. They have not died in vain," Bremer said in Baghdad as he attended the graduation of a new batch of 479 Iraqi police at the police academy.

Bremer described Wednesday's attacks by insurgents in and near Fallujah as "inexcusable and despicable".

But he vowed that the US-led coalition that toppled the ironfisted regime of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) almost a year ago will forge ahead with efforts to restore security in Iraq (news - web sites) and hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis on July 1.

"They will not derail the march towards stability and democracy," Bremer told the new police cadets.

Reaction was also fierce from Washington, where White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "We condemn these attacks on the strongest possible terms".

In Fallujah, schools and shops were open on Thursday and burn marks on the surface of the main street were the only evidence of the gruesome deaths of the four employees of the private US firm Blackwater Security Consulting, AFP correspondents said.

One witness said that what remained of the charred bodies after they were dragged from their cars, mutilated and strung from a bridge had been "cut up into pieces, with parts thrown into the river or to the dogs".

Residents also took away the carcasses of the two four-wheel-drive vehicles that had been ambushed and set on fire by gunmen, burning the occupants to death, the witness said.

US marines, who were seen Wednesday at the eastern entrance of Fallujah, were nowhere in sight while Iraqi police and paramilitary defence units manned a checkpoint to search cars entering the town and control identities.

The previous evening, hours after the killings, crowds were still celebrating in the streets, with people firing in the air and distributing candies.

They shouted, "Down with the occupation, down with America" and "long live Islam."

"The death of each one of these people is worth 10 Iraqi lives. This is our only deterrence to the (US-led) occupation of Iraq," Nayef, a car merchant who declined to give his surname, told AFP on Thursday.

The previous day a man at the scene, his face hidden by a scarf, vowed that "Fallujah will be the cemetery of the Americans".

Meanwhile the US-backed paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defence Corps urged restraint in Fallujah in a statement handed out to residents late Wednesday.

"An agreement has been negotiated with the occupation forces to lift the siege of Fallujah and to withdraw. We are hoping you will cooperate to protect Fallujah and guarantee its security," the message said.

The death of the four civilians coincided with a roadside bomb blast that killed five US soldiers near the military base in Habbaniya, just west of Fallujah.

It is thought to be the worst single incident involving coalition troops since a US military helicopter was downed on January 8 near Fallujah, killing all nine people aboard.

The latest deaths brought to 291 the number of US soldiers killed in action since US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declared major hostilities over on May 1, according to an AFP toll.

In other violence Thursday one US soldier was wounded when his convoy hit a roadside bomb in northwest Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer said. The US military did not immediately confirm the report.

And in the northern city of Kirkuk three soldiers were wounded when five Katyusha rockets struck their base located in a local airport just west of the city early Thursday, a US officer said.

[2banana]

In an unrelated report, the Army just announced that the new "Fallujah artillery live fire range" has just been opened...

[boxerblues]

"An agreement has been negotiated with the occupation forces to lift the siege of Fallujah and to withdraw. We are hoping you will cooperate to protect Fallujah and guarantee its security," the message said.

WTF

[mewzilla]

If Fallujahns were really frightened, they'd be offering up the people who did this on a platter...

[finnman69]

The last time the Arabs had anything positive to contribute the world it was algebra 4000 years ago. Simple solution for Bremer, cut off all the rebuilding in Fallujah and the other Islamist hell holes in Iraq.

[Alberta's Child]

I heard Bremer on the radio this morning, and I've got to be honest with you -- there is nothing impressive about his demeanor that would lead me to believe he has any intention of doing a damned thing.

[devane617]

I wager the roads leaving the %^$& hole is full. If we enter to clean the bad guys will be gone. I vote we give a 2 hour warning, then level the place with any explosive device that creates huge amounts of very hot fire.

[sarasota]

Well that's just bogus. This negotiation with/appeasement of terrorists is just wrong. And I'm not buying it.

[Bigg Red]

Such savages! May they receive their just rewards.

[tiamat]

Meanwhile the US-backed paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defence Corps urged restraint in Fallujah in a statement handed out to residents late Wednesday.

"An agreement has been negotiated with the occupation forces to lift the siege of Fallujah and to withdraw. We are hoping you will cooperate to protect Fallujah and guarantee its security," the message said.

---

In other words, those savages got what they wanted.

I'd shell the joint.

[boxerblues]

This report is coming from AFP the same outfits whose photographer who were on the scene recording this for the world to see.

[Frank_Discussion]

April Fools?

[Jim Noble]

We have conducted the occupation of Iraq based on a false theory about human behavior generally, and about these savages in particular.

It is too late to carry out a heavy occupation.

The most that will happen is that the usual suspects will be "arrested" - because that is the most that can happen.

In post-Saddam Iraq, we've been bluffing the bad guys.

They just called our bluff.

[BibChr]

The narratives of Judges 20 (especially verses 12-48) and 2 Samuel 20:14-22 come to mind. This may suggest a path to take in this gut-wrenching situation.

Dan
Biblical Christianity web site

[Bigg Red]

"An agreement has been negotiated with the occupation forces to lift the siege of Fallujah and to withdraw. We are hoping you will cooperate to protect Fallujah and guarantee its security," the message said.

%%

Sounds to me like our guys are telling the paramilitary force, "Okay, you've got X hours to bring us the perps, and then we're taking over."

[mewzilla]

It looks as though the planners of this atrocity and AFP may be hoping to foment something that plays into their hands?

[prion]

Lift the siege? Fallujah is under siege? Since when, and in which case, what were civilians doing there? And why didn't we show up in force immediately? And don't we have pictures of the dancing crowds, thanks to AFP, with perfectly recognizable faces showing?

[section9]

Not exactly. The ICDC is an Iraqi outfit; they are trying to maintain bona fides with the local Sunnis.

The Marines haven't been heard from.

Yet.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[phasma proeliator]

Can someone... ANYONE... please explain to me why our military commanders didn't immediately (upon hearing of this) react and order troops in to recover the bodies?

How disgraceful and disrespectful can we be? US Citizens are allowed to be dismembered and thrown to the dogs!?

It is beyond 'unacceptable' to allow this to happen. It's not as if we don't have any US military or support in the area....

Un-F'n believable.

[chachacha]

What's the HOLD UP