Are we at the Baghdad Airport yet?
Have the brave Iraqis destroyed the Infidel Invaders yet?
Posted on 12/02/2003 2:38:11 AM PST by Happy2BMe
Iraqis challenge US account of battle US army spokesmen claimed that up to 54 Iraqi guerrillas had been killed when they tried to ambush two armoured convoys bringing new banknotes to two Samarra banks, triggering the biggest pitched battle in Iraq since May 1, when President George Bush declared "major combat operations" over. There were no reported American deaths, but five US soldiers were wounded, one seriously, and a civilian travelling with them was injured. US officers involved in the battle described the ambushes as well coordinated by up to 80 guerrillas. They said some of the dead had worn the black uniforms of Saddam Hussein's most loyal paramilitary unit, the Fedayeen. But local officials questioned the high body count and said there were non-combatants among the dead. "We think that at most eight or nine people died," said Khaled Mohammed, an admissions clerk in the hospital's emergency ward, but added that some of the dead might have been taken straight to the town morgue. A Samarra policeman, Captain Sabti Awad, said American troops had opened fire at random in response to the ambush, killing and wounding civilians. Ahmed al-Samarai, another police officer said: "Not more than 10 people were killed and some of those were not involved in the fighting." The police said among the bystanders killed was at least one Iranian pilgrim, who had been visiting a Shia shrine. Jihad Hussein, a student, said he had seen passersby running for cover. "They were spraying the whole street," he said. "I don't know who fired the first shot, the Americans or the Fedayeen, but I saw at least one young woman hit by a bullet as she lay on the ground." Colonel Frederick Rudesheim, whose 4th Infantry Division combat team was at the heart of the fighting, denied US fire had been untargeted. He added that he would not expect the Fedayeen to take their dead to a civilian hospital or civilian morgue. On Sunday Col Rudesheim put the Iraqi death toll at 46 but that was raised to 54 yesterday by a more senior US spokesman, Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, at a Baghdad briefing. He said 22 Iraqis had been wounded and one taken prisoner. But the colonel conceded that the figures were a rough estimate based on battlefield reports. US military accounts of the fighting confirm the scale and complexity of the ambushes reflected a new level of organisation by the Iraqi resistance. Ambush points had been set up along the convoys' routes into and out of Samarra. Staff Sergeant Bruce Jones, said the "extremely scary" battle had lasted up to two hours. "We started receiving not only small arms, we had incoming and direct fire from mortars, we also had RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] coming through here, just hitting us all around," he said, adding that Iraqis in civilian clothes had been involved, attempting to block the American convoys' escape route. Sgt Jones said when the two convoys had driven into Samarra on Sunday, the city centre was a virtual ghost town, suggesting that the civilian population knew the ambushes were about to happen. · One of the two Japanese diplomats killed in Iraq at the weekend was a former counsellor of the Japanese embassy in London. Katsuhiko Oku, 45, a father of three, went to Iraq in April.
Michael Howard in Baghdad and Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday December 2, 2003
The Guardian
Iraqi officials in Samarra yesterday challenged US military accounts of a bloody battle on Sunday, accusing American soldiers of spraying fire at random on the city streets, killing several civilians.
This is a job for Lt. Col. West.
We all know who the nine nutjobs'll believe..
Have the brave Iraqis destroyed the Infidel Invaders yet?
Maybe because our troops came under attack from random locations.These locals that are loyal to Saddam might think twice about hanging around when their Fedeyeen butchers show up for a fight.
IF YOU FIRE WEAPONS AT OR TOWARDS COALITION FORCES,YOU WILL BE KILLED!!
We have a strange phenomonon here in our military challenge with Iraq.
Firstly, our own media sympathisizes with who - the outgunned, abused, misunderstood, and chivalry insurgents. Who else?
Secondly, the entire world media and press join in with the American socialist propaganda machine (Fox News excluded) to further convince the world of the horrific war crimes of President Bush and his blood-thirsty infidel dogs.
Thirdly, oraganizations such as C.A.I.R. have solidly entrenched themselves into our gubmint and as we speak are actively pursuing measures that could eventually end any organizations such as FreeRepublic.com based on religious and minority persecution.
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The odds are not in the favor of our servicemen fighting this battle against Islamic terrorism.
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