Iraqis Drag Four Corpses Through Streets

AP ^ | March 31, 2004 | SAMEER N. YACOUB

[Charles Henrickson]

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of four foreigners — one a woman, at least one an American — through the streets Wednesday and hanged them from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Five American soldiers died in a roadside bombing nearby.

The four foreigners were killed in a rebel ambush of their SUVs in Fallujah, a Sunni Triangle city about 35 miles west of Baghdad and scene of some of the worst violence on both sides of the conflict since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.

It was reminiscent of the 1993 scene in Somalia, when a mob dragged the corpse of a U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, eventually leading to the American withdrawal from the African nation.

In one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. military this year, five 1st Infantry Division soldiers died when their military vehicle ran over a bomb in a separate incident 12 miles to the northwest, among the reed-lined roads running through some of Iraq's richest farmland.

Residents said the bomb attack occurred in Malahma, 12 miles northwest of Fallujah, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active. U.S. Marines operate in the area, but it was unclear whether the slain troops were Marines.

Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans," residents cheered after the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles, which left both in flames. Others chanted, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."

Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.

"The people of Fallujah hanged some of the bodies on the old bridge like slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Some of the corpses were dismembered, he said.

Beneath the bodies, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones and the phrase "Fallujah is the cemetery for Americans."

APTN showed the charred remains of three slain men. Some were wearing flak jackets, said resident Safa Mohammedi.

One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body. Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed one American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.

U.S. military officials in Washington said the situation was still confused but they did not think the victims were American soldiers and believed the SUVs were not American military vehicles.

Witnesses said the two vehicles were attacked with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.

Hours after the attack, the city was quiet. No U.S. troops or Iraqi police were seen in the area.

Fallujah is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam Hussein was strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.

In nearby Ramadi, insurgents threw a grenade at a government building and Iraqi security forces returned fire Wednesday, witnesses said. It was not clear if there were casualties.

Also in Ramadi, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy, witnesses said. U.S. officials in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.

On Tuesday in Ramadi, one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

Northeast of Baghdad, in the city of Baqouba on Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew up explosives in his car when he was near a convoy of government vehicles, wounding 14 Iraqis and killing himself, officials said.

The attacked convoy is normally used to transport the Diala provincial governor, Abdullah al-Joubori, but he was elsewhere at the time, said police Col. Ali Hossein.

On Tuesday, a suicide bombing outside the house of a police chief in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed the attacker and wounded seven others.

A bomb exploded late Tuesday in a movie theater that had closed for the night. Two bystanders were wounded by flying glass, said its owner, Ghani Mohammed.

The latest violence came two days after Carina Perelli, the head of a U.N. electoral team, said better security is vital if Iraq wants to hold elections by a Jan. 31 deadline. The polls are scheduled to follow a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

Top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said Tuesday he had appointed 21 anti-corruption inspectors general to government departments to try to prevent fraud. More will be named in coming days, he said.

The inspectors will work with two other newly formed, independent agencies. Together, they will "form an integrated approach intended to combat corruption at every level of government across the country," Bremer said.

[Brad C.]

I am thinking the best response would be to withdraw our troops from the city, and establishing a perimeter around it. Our troops should allow nothing to enter the perimeter, and nothing to exit. The perimeter should be large enough where anything that attempts to breach it be destroyed without prejudice or question. Simply explain to these barbarians that if they come within 1/2 mile of the perimeter, they will die.

Then let them stew in their own juices until such time as they find out that they need to change their views. We will help them if they help themselves, otherwise they can rot in the desert.

[CGVet58]

may my prayers accompany yours for these departed heroes.

As for the perpetrators and their sympathizers... kill them. Line up the mob who chanted in support, shod their feet in pigskin, and march them nonstop into the Kurdish town that their godhead Saddam unleashed the poison upon years ago.

Display the bodies of the murderers prominently in whatever passes for the townsquare in whateverstan nowadays... then raze their homes and salt the earth upon which they were built.

I'm sick of this scum emulating the somali celebration and thinking they show how weak we are... they are vermin, and merit as much afterthought at being on the business end of my 9mm as does a cockroach under my boot. Treat them like the scum they are, and let their fellow parasites decide for themselves if we cannot be ruthless with our enemies.

CGVet58

[winstonchurchill]

how can human beings celebrate like that (rhetorical question)....Hell, even if we caught OBL I wouldn't dance in the street on his corpse...I sometimes wonder why we are trying to improve the lives of barbarians.

This is a point which should not be lost sight of. Mohammedanism is not a "religion of peace." It is, instead a primitive pagan religion which turns its adherents into, as you so accurately put it, "barbarians."

This is truly, not a 'clash of civilizations' (only one 'civilization' here), but a clash of cultures: a Judeo-Christian culture against a primitive pagan culture. Until we realize that, attempts to overlay the accoutrements of a Christian culture over the rotten core of primitivism will fail.

[THEBEAK]

Your pictures are very necessary, graphic and heart-wrenching.

How could such people (animals) en masse desecrate the dead and laugh about it??

Makes one sick to one's stomach!

[Charles Henrickson]

Every time I think I've seen the worst one . . .

An Iraqi boy flashes the victory sign near a charred body hanging from a bridge

[jwalsh07]

Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.

Good, they have pictures. Hunt them down and kill them.

[Dead Dog]

"Now what we need is NON-Somalia type reaction:"

AC-130

[FBD]

Reminds me of Rudyard Kiplings poem (1899)

Take up the White man's burden --
Send forth the best ye breed --
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk and wild --
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden --
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times mad plain.
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden --
The savage wars of peace --
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden --
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper --
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead!

Take up the White man's burden --
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard --
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light: --
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
"Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden --
Ye dare not stoop to less --
Nor call too loud on freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden --
Have done with childish days --
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

[Fitzcarraldo]

So what are we then hoping to achieve with the Iraq occupation? The whole thing is starting to look like a liberal social engineering project gone wrong.

It's not the "whole thing" - just a few thugs in a bad part of the country!

[StoneColdGOP]

Bastards.

To hell with that country. And the people.

We liberate them and THAT'S their reaction?

Let's get the hell out of that pit and leave it to the wolves.

[null and void]

So what the h*ll are we doing in Iraq then? Why would we want to take on the task of civilizing a bunch of animals? It's not worth the sacrifice.

Agreed. It's FAR better to let the animals live, and learn to fly airplanes, breed and grow bacteria, develop toxic chemicals, and strap on explosive belts...

[F.J. Mitchell]

Could it be that Fallujah is so overan with vermin that nothing justifies it's continued existance?

[gitmogrunt]

The cheering mob in a fallujah a Perfect Target of Opportunity missed.

Was it because of some pussie footin' Bush policy?

IMHO the mob should have been struck hard by missles and machine gun fire from our choppers, at a minimum.

But Noooo.nothing.nada.

[Charles Henrickson]

Your pictures are very necessary, graphic and heart-wrenching.

I debated what to do with the photos that go with this story. I decided to post the less graphic photos, but to at least link the graphic ones, precisely because it is necessary to show what happened.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Could it be that Fallujah is so overan with vermin that nothing justifies it's continued existance?

[F.J. Mitchell]

Could it be that Fallujah is so overan with vermin that nothing justifies it's continued existance?

[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

Why didn't U.S. forces move into the area while all of this was going on? Why does it take so long for U.S. forces to show up when things like this happen? Where were the Iraqi police? It seems like we would have the capability to get to the scene faster than we do. I doubt we take our time getting to the scene even if we knew the victims were dead. We would try prevent what happened today and we definitely expect it from these scumbags.

[eleni121]

Very much worth reading.

[null and void]

You can say that again!

;^)

[monday]

" Let the civilized Iraqis manage access to and from these Sunni areas."

lol...civilized Iraqis? The Sunni are civilized compared to the Shiite. The Shiite are religious fanatics. Why not hire Jews to manage these new ghettos of yours? After their experiences in the German managed ghettos of Eastern Europe they probably know a thing or two about ghetto management.