Posted on 12/01/2003 4:02:05 PM PST by TexKat
SAMARRA, Iraq (AFP) - The US military said it believed 54 insurgents were killed in intense exchanges in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra the previous day but commanders admitted they had no bodies.
The only corpses at the city's hospital were those of ordinary civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child.
US Brigadier General Mark Kimmit told a Baghdad press conference that 54 militants had been gunned down, 22 wounded and one arrested.
But challenged about what had happened to the bodies, Kimmit said: "I would suspect that the enemy would have carried them away and brought them back to where their initial base was."
Asked about reports from senior police and hospital officials in the town of eight civilians killed and dozens more wounded, the US general insisted: "We have no such reports whether from medical authorities or police.
A few hours earlier, Colonel Fredrick Rudesheim, who heads the 3rd Combat Brigades that was involved in Sunday's bloody clashes, told reporters that his troops had killed 46 and captured another 11.
"Are you asking me to produce (them)?" he asked, when questioned by reporters about the absence of any militants' bodies at Samarra's single hospital or on the city's streets.
"This is a good question and I think perhaps if you can interview the Fedayeen (a disbanded militia of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime) or whoever attacked us, you might get a better answer."
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Gonsalves, who commands the 166th Armored Battalion in Samarra, also said his troops were not in possession of the bodies.
The death toll, he said, "is based on the reports we got from the ground."
Lieutenant Joseph Marcee, who took part in Sunday's combat, said he saw several of the attackers lying dead on the ground.
"There was no time to pick up the bodies. We were receiving fire from other locations," he said.
Sergeant Nicholas Mullen, who fired rounds from an Abrams tank Sunday, offered yet another explanation for the army's inability to locate the corpses. "We don't stick around," he said.
The mystery, which borders on solving a mathematics equation, further deepened with Gonsalves' report.
According to him, a total of 60 militants, divided into two groups, attacked two convoys escorting new Iraqi currency to banks in the city.
Another four assailants in a BMW attacked a separate engineering convoy.
If the US troops killed 46 and captured 11 of them, only three of the survivors would have been left to pick up the corpses.
On Kimmit's figures the calculus becomes even hazier -- with 54 killed, 22 wounded and one captured, 13 militants remain unaccounted for, although both commanders did say the cash convoys also came under attack on their way in and out of the city.
As to how the troops came up with their casualty figures, Rudesheim said it was by counting their weapons.
"We don't indiscriminately engage people, only those who engage us with AK 47s and RPGs. That's how we determine the number of people we are engaging and, after talking with each soldier, we can tell just how many people are returning fire at us."
Residents in Samarra said they had not seen any of the militants' bodies, 46 or 54.
The head of the local hospital, Abed Tawfiq, reported eight dead civilians but no insurgents.
Ambulance driver Abdelmoneim Mohammed said he had not ferried any combattants wounded or killed and wearing the black Fedayeen outfit which US soldiers said their assailants wore.
"If I had seen bodies, I would have picked them up. It's not like the Americans would have done it.
"If the death toll had reached that announced by the Americans, the atmosphere in Samarra would be quite different."
Salaheddin Mawlud, a colonel in the former Iraqi army, who now heads Samarra city council's complaints office, said the American toll does not work.
"If there had been so many dead, we would have seen people rushing to the hospital, the police station or here, and it just didn't happen."
Abdelrizek Jadwa, who owns a grocery 50 meters (yards) from the scene of one of the attacks, said he did not have the shadow of a doubt.
"After the firing, I went out of my shop. There were no wounded, no killed on the streets. Where could they have disappeared?"
"Seems apparent that civilians colluded with the terrorists.
The collusion included prepping the location and setting the stage for the media afterward.
Some civilians hurt maybe are just fedayeen out of uniform.
If the civilians had tipped off our guys, instead of aiding the enemy, they'd be safe and sound and the bad guys would be dead".
Soldiers of the U.S Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse) secure an area during a night raid on the outskirts of town of Baquba in central Iraq, December 2, 2003. U.S. troops raided several houses looking for supporters of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who, they believe, are trying to reorganize the Baath party and are involved in coordinated attack on coalition forces. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
A soldier of the U.S Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse) passes a cage with birds in a searched house on the outskirts of town of Baquba in central Iraq, December 2, 2003. U.S. troops raided several houses looking for supporters of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who, they believe, are trying to reorganize the Baath party and involved in coordinated attack on coalition forces. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Note: as a protest against Reuters et al., I'm putting "reporters" in quotations for as long as they are putting "terrorists" in quotations.
The only corpses at the city's hospital were those of ordinary civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child.
I wonder if the attackers didn't get away, making a rapid retreat once their ambush failed.
I think so. Toss the scraps (feet, hands, heads etc) on top of the Brads, and lay them out for the reporters back at base.
Do the name Tony Poe ring any bells....
And then scream "WAR CRIME! WAR CRIME!"
Oh shame on you. Learn to accept and participate in the culture and customs of the local peoples, and show you respect them by emulating them. Though really, beheadings are more appropriate. Now flay the skin from his living body and wear it about yourself like a cloak, and let's celebrate diversity!
You ever party with the Nungs, Pooh?
-archy-/-
Stay Safe .......
He was that. Any yet, in these days of paperwork princes and corporate management warriors, he remained a guy who really knew how to get a head.
He'll be missed. And. I hope, emulated.
-archy-/-
What on earth is all this blathering about bodies? There was a fight, and we won. Some bad guys got killed. Am I missing something here? Are we supposed to stuff 'em and mount 'em?
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