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.

[MizSterious]

You are absolutely right. In fact, a few paragraphs down in that tedious "document," Osama goes on to say that while the U.S. military was/is trying to find young men willing to fight, Islamics were trying to hold their own young men back. It's that--the will to fight--that might be the deciding factor. And not just the young men, but the nation that must support them in their fight, the mothers, wives, neighbors. Most are more concerned about the fat content in a humburger, than they are about the dangers the world poses for us.

[MEG33]

my#49..I believe they should be kicked out of the country.

[null and void]

Yep, the Arabs contributed the concept of Zero to the world centuries ago.

Ummmm, that was the Hindus, word came to the west through the Middle East, and the sand goblins took credit for inventing 'arabic numerals'...

[Skooz]

The word shampoo is listed as having Hindi origins.

My bad.

Oh, I remember something worthwhile they have contributed: Persian rugs. My wife recently purchased this exquisite Persian rug from a local dealer who is originally from Lebanon. The thing is gorgeous and superbly made. It should be. It's 3X5 and cost $650.

So, there you have it. Algebra, zero and nice rugs. That's about it.

[angkor]

I'm hoping the last paragraph (below) is true, and that someone is making preps for retribution.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/apress_040104_usconvoy.html

[snip]

Iraqi police manned roadside checkpoints in and around Fallujah, but no U.S. troops could be seen inside. Shops and schools were open.

Some residents vowed to repel any U.S. forces.

"We will not let any foreigner enter Fallujah," said Sameer Sami, 40. "Yesterday's attack is proof of how much we hate the Americans."

Another resident, Ahmed al-Dulaimi, 30, said, "We wish that they would try to enter Fallujah so we'd let hell break lose."

Iraqi Interior Minister Nori al Badran vowed to send forces into Fallujah "to bring killers to justice," but did not say when that would happen.

"Forces will be sent to Fallujah ... from the army, the police and from the civil defense (force)," he said.

There was no sign of a military buildup near Fallujah by midafternoon Thursday.

At a U.S. base about two miles` east of the city, 1st Lt. Wade Zirkle said Wednesday's attack was carried out by a "few bandits and terrorists ... who are terrorizing the city." "It is our job to go there and maintain security in the city and we are making sure that something like that will not happen again," he said, when asked whether U.S. forces would enter Fallujah.

[sarasota]

Any idea how long this "calm" is going to last?

[null and void]

Now I'm curious if the Arabs have invented anything positive at all.

Assassins? Oh wait...

[americanSoul]

Yes, it is time for a nuclear response to these medieval barbarians.

[Darnright]

Got me. However, I did hear on Fox the statement that this barbarianism will not go unpunished.

[boxerblues]

Let them stay preferably chained in the center of town with a livefeed camera strapped to them until after Marines leave :)

[IYAS9YAS]

So, there you have it. Algebra, zero and nice rugs. That's about it.

Nope, the concept of Algebra and zero were claimed by the arabs as their own, but they actually came from the Hindus as well.

[Atlantic Friend]

Well, they sure didn't tell the reporters "OK, tomorrow at precisely 07h45 we'll detonate a roadside bomb here and mutilate the bodies with shovels".

First thing, everybody knows Fallujah is a insurgency hotbed so it's no wonder there were reporters there. Second, if the reporters were told beforehand, it was probably something like "Be there around 07h30, something will happen that will interest you". That's what I don't like with reporters, even though it's probably unavoidable : in presence of a mas grave, they collectively thing "Oh my God....the ratings will be just great".

In a way, I'd like it to be different, with the AP/AFP crews given more precise warning. That would mean the 1st MEF could easily identify the go-between, and the go-between could spill his guts (maybe VERY literally). After that, it would turn into a manhunt and this particular group of insurgent would be offed with no problems.

[boxerblues]

"We will not let any foreigner enter Fallujah," said Sameer Sami, 40

We own the night and the skys, we do not have to "enter Fallajah"

[Quix]

I think so, too.

A muffled, muted response is stupid, unwise and self-defeating.

The response needs to be dramatic and vivid and ASAP.

[Quix]

I'd vote for that!

[chachacha]

I agree and only in America.

[Quix]

Sadly, Too true.

[F16Fighter]

I'd put the Israelis in charge of retribution.

They know how to do it right.

[angkor]

The last paragraph implies that something's in the works.

We cannot afford another unrecompensed Mogadishu.

[Skooz]

Nope, the concept of Algebra and zero were claimed by the arabs as their own, but they actually came from the Hindus as well.

Oh well. The rugs are very nice.