Posted on 07/23/2004 8:12:45 AM PDT by dead
A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a US tank near Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10 others, the US military said yesterday.
The accident occurred about 10pm on Thursday night (0400 AEST Friday), said Specialist Justin McCue, a press official of the US-led military coalition.
"The van was attempting to pass another vehicle when it collided with the tank," McCue said. "All the injured were taken to a medical facility."
There were no US or coalition casualties, McCue said. He had no other details.
There were slightly different accounts of the crash.
Iraqi police Captain Adnan Salih said nine people were killed and 18 injured in the tank collision with a bus in Tarmiyah, 50km north of Baghdad.
Salih said the fatalities included four men, four women and one child - all of whom had been attending a wedding party in Tarmiyah.
Footage taken by Associated Press Television News showed the twisted wreckage of a minibus and several bodies of accident victims covered by blankets. A small child's orange dress was found amid the wreckage and pools of blood covered the road.
US forces and Iraqi police surrounded the crash site.
An unidentified eyewitness, who said he was a passenger on the bus, told APTN the vehicle was carrying 12 people from the same family when the tank crashed into it.
"They were in a wedding party on their way from Tarmiyah to Baghdad ... (when) an American armoured vehicle hit them and left," the man said.
AP
That's what you get for driving sober.
Don't you just love these unidentified eye witnesses.
Reporters can make up any story they want and say it came from an unidentified eye witness.
Question is, were they so drunk that they couldn't see a tank coming their way?
Hey, I know of an ambulance chaser who could file a big lawsuit. Let me see if I can get J F**ng Kerry's hands off his butt long enough to take the case.
Arabs in the Middle East have the highest rate of 1st cousin marriage anywhere. In most parts of Saudi Arabia, 60% of marriages are to 1st cousins. In Iraq it was about 30% IIRC. And while geneticists have shown that the absolute rate of defects only increases to 3%, that's still double what it would normally be. That 3% also has had a lot of time to compound. Now, I'm not eugenics proponent but I think some of this explains why the Middle East is as screwed-up as it is.
For some reason, I rather believe the alternative report of an unsafe passing maneuver by the minivan driver.
These maggots don't miss an opportunity to slam the US, do they.
Too Bad, So saad. weddings in Iraq are becoming extremely unheatlthy these days. Bush/Cheney 2004
To answer your Question:
Yes, the Abrams is equipped with headlights and rear break lights.
19 people in a van. I wonder how many clowns you could pack in there.
Midget clowns or full-sized clowns?
You know. Midget clowns. Like they pack into a VW.
Tragic. I remember a similar event on the German Autobahn where a Leo got taken out by a Mercedees traveling at very high speed. The sick side of me began calculating the Russian Army's attrition rate while attempting to cross the bahn.
The term 'wedding' party in Iraq is not synonomous with the western world. During the Baathist control of the area and somewhat influenced by Islam, curfews were established with exclusions provided for 'wedding' parties. Whether this was indeed a wedding party or merely that label is anybody's guess. Typically anybody in an awkward situation after a curfew described their presence in public as attending a wedding. Doesn't mean it wasn't a legitimate social function.
There's a wedding party in every article we read. Iraq must be such a peace loving, family oriented country.
Hmmmm. I've come to the following conclusions based on media reporting during my life.
1) Mobile Home's cause Tornado's.
2) SUV's are all programed to kill humans.
3) Detonation of US Military Weapons in arid places causes wedding parties to spring from the earth one tenth of a second before the explosive force is released.
Odd world we live in, according to the media.....(grin)
We have a few of those in Utah, Arkansas, and West Virginia.
Apparently, 19.
*snicker*
Seems that just shacking up would be safer in Iraq.
It's Bush's fault that there were no double yellow lines painted on the dirt road.
I wonder if the guys in the tank even notice?? Those things have shock absorbers right?? =o)
That's Brasilian steel.
"Why is this in the news?"
I work with the mother of the soldier driving the tank, she said, he didn't have a choice or a chance to take evasive action, he had to hit the van. He is very upset about it and could use some prayers. His name is Nathan.
Yeaaaahhhh! :)
Come on Sloth. Let me download it. I love it, and I want it!!! Pretty please???
It's also all about that favorite Commie word: OPPRESSION!!!They just love to highlight instances of our OPPRESSION of the masses!!
It's amazing that we have someone here at FreeRepublic that can give us some more information on this.
He certainly did not have time to take evasive action. Tell him it's not his fault he hit the van. Stuff like that happens from time to time. Sorry it had to happen to him, but it's not his fault. It's the fault of the driver in the van.
They also could not stop the tank to check out the damage to the people they hit, as that would have set them up for an ambush. Someone or several someones with AKs could have opened up on the tank crew once they were out of the tank, and then there would have been a dead tank crew and the bad guys would have a fully armed tank (plus the tank crews' weapons).
Again, it was the fault of the driver of the van. Nothing the driver of the tank could have done different.
I have faith that Nathan's sgt and platoon commander will explain this all to him. He'll unerstand with time.
I pray for our folks over there every day (especially the ones I know in 3/2 SBCT). I'll add Nathan to my list.
Please pass my thoughts and prayers to Nathan's mom. Thanks.
Jonah
I can the movie title now: "Nine Funerals and a Wedding".
Sure. Right-click and 'save target as':
Thank you, it downloaded perfectly!!
Wait til the anti-SUV nuts hear this!
"I'll add Nathan to my list."
Thank you Jonah Hex, I'll let his mom know. She has since talked with him and says he is in a better frame of mind. I thank you for adding him to your prayers.
Beth
"I have faith that Nathan's sgt and platoon leader will explain all this to him. He'll understand in time."
Thank you for your response, Screaming_Gerbil, his mom reports that she has since talked with Nathan and he is doing better mentally, though has had some nightmares about it.
Beth
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