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4 From U.S. Killed in Ambush in Iraq; Mob Drags Bodies (Cries: "Where is Bush?")
NYT ^

Posted on 03/31/2004 11:03:39 PM PST by Happy2BMe

April 1, 2004

4 From U.S. Killed in Ambush in Iraq; Mob Drags Bodies

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

FALLUJA, Iraq, March 31 — Four Americans working for a security company were ambushed and killed Wednesday, and an enraged mob then jubilantly dragged the burned bodies through the streets of downtown Falluja, hanging at least two corpses from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Less than 15 miles away, in the same area of the increasingly violent Sunni Triangle, five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their armored personnel carrier.

The violence was one of the most brutal outbursts of anti-American rage since the war in Iraq began more than a year ago. And the steadily deteriorating situation in the Falluja area, a center of anti-American hostility west of Baghdad, has become so precarious that no American or Iraqi forces responded to the attack against the civilians, who worked for a North Carolina company.

American officials said the civilians were traveling in two sport utility vehicles although some witnesses in Falluja said there were four. "Two got away; two got trapped," said Muhammad Furhan, a taxi driver.

It is not clear what the four Americans were doing in Falluja or where they were going. But just as they were passing a strip of stationery stores and kebab shops around 10:30 a.m., masked gunmen jumped into the street and blasted their vehicles with assault rifles. Witnesses said the civilians did not shoot back.

There are a number of police stations in Falluja and a base of more than 4,000 marines nearby, but even as the security guards were being swarmed and their vehicles set on fire, sending plumes of inky smoke over the closed shops of the city, there were no ambulances, no fire engines and no assistance.

Instead, Falluja's streets were thick with men and boys and chaos.

Men with scarves over their faces hurled bricks into the blazing vehicles. A group of boys yanked a smoldering body into the street and ripped it apart. Someone then tied a chunk of flesh to a rock and tossed it over a telephone wire.

"Viva mujahedeen!" shouted Said Khalaf, a taxi driver. "Long live the resistance!"

Nearby, a boy no older than 10 ground his heel into a burned head. "Where is Bush?" the boy yelled. "Let him come here and see this!"

Masked men gathered around him, punching their fists into the air. The streets filled with hundreds of people. "Falluja is the graveyard of Americans!" they chanted.

Several news crews filmed the mayhem. The images of a frenzied crowd mutilating bodies were reminiscent of the scene from Somalia in 1993, when a mob dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. That moment shifted public opinion and eventually led to an American pullout.

The White House blamed terrorists and remnants of Saddam Hussein's former government for the attack. "This is a despicable attack," Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, told reporters, adding that "there are some that are doing everything they can to prevent" a transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30.

American military officials said the violence in Falluja, however chilling, would not scare them away. "The insurgents in Falluja are testing us," said Capt. Chris Logan, a marine. "They're testing our resolve. But it's not like we're going to leave. We just got here."

Captain Logan, who is stationed at a large walled base on the outskirts of the city, said Falluja was becoming "an area of greater concern." Last week, a contingent of marines, who recently took over responsibility for Falluja from the Army, fought gunmen in a battle in which one marine, a television cameraman and several Iraqi civilians were killed.

"This is one of those areas in Iraq that is definitely squirrelly," Captain Logan said.

Many people in Falluja said they believed that they had won an important victory on Wednesday. They insisted that the four security guards, who were driving in unmarked sport utility vehicles, were working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

"This is what these spies deserve," said Salam Aldulayme, a 28-year-old Falluja resident.

Intelligence sources in Washington said the four were not working for the C.I.A. They worked for Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., providing security for food delivery in the Falluja area, according to a statement from the company. The occupation authorities have hired hundreds of private security guards for a range of duties.

Witnesses in Falluja said several of the men had Defense Department badges, though such identification is common for contractors working for the occupation. A senior military officer said the four were retired Special Operations forces — three Navy Seals and one Army Ranger. American officials declined to immediately identify the dead men.

In the last three weeks, more than 10 foreign civilians have been killed in Iraq, though no attack provoked the spasm of brutality that followed this one.

Since the war in Iraq began, Falluja has been a flash point of violence. Of all the places in Iraq, it is where anti-American hatred is the strongest. The area is predominantly Sunni Muslim. Many families remain loyal to the captured dictator, Mr. Hussein, who is also a Sunni Muslim. Over the years, Mr. Hussein cultivated a network of patronage and privilege among the tribes and elders of Falluja. Many became top army officers. Some ran big companies. When Mr. Hussein was ousted last April, the people here lost their jobs, their businesses and their power.

That set off a cycle of killing and responses, a bloody feud between a clannish society and occupiers from thousands of miles away. Last April, American soldiers killed more than 15 civilians at a demonstration in Falluja. In November, an American helicopter was shot down outside the town, killing 16. Townspeople danced on the wreckage.

In February, insurgents mounted a brazen daylight attack against a convoy carrying Gen. John P. Abizaid, the American commander in the Middle East. He escaped unscathed. But two days later, gunmen blasted their way into a Falluja jail, killing at least 15 police officers and freeing dozens of prisoners.

Last week, the First Marine Expeditionary Force formally took control of the city, population 300,000, which sits on a desert shelf about 35 miles west of Baghdad. Marine commanders said they were going to try a different approach from the Army, which had basically pulled back to bases ringing Falluja and left policing up to the locals.

"We're doing work outside the wire," Captain Logan said. "We're running patrols. We're rebuilding things. We're working with Iraqis."

Most of the Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, has become so unsafe that American forces stick to their bases, their movement usually limited to heavily guarded convoys.

Around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, an Army convoy passing through the town of Habbaniya, west of Falluja, rolled over an I.E.D., or improvised explosive device. The bomb was buried in the road and blew up under an armored personnel carrier, killing five soldiers. Roadside bombs are everyday occurrences in Iraq. But few have claimed as many casualties. "It was a very large I.E.D.," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for the occupation forces.

A few hours later the men from Blackwater Security drove into downtown Falluja. After they were shot, the scene turned grisly. A crowd of more than 300 people flooded into the streets. Men swarmed around the vehicles. Some witnesses said the Americans were still alive when one boy came running up with a jug of gasoline. Soon, both vehicles were fireballs.

"Everybody here is happy with this," Mr. Furhan, the taxi driver, said. "There is no question."

After the fires cooled, a group of boys tore the corpses out of the vehicles. The crowd cheered them on. The boys dragged the blackened bodies to the iron bridge over the Euphrates River, about a mile away. Some people said they saw four bodies hanging over the water, some said only two. At sunset, nurses from a nearby hospital tried to take the bodies away.

Men with guns threatened to kill the nurses. The nurses left. The bodies remained.


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: falluja; iraq; islam; madpoet; muslims; religionofpieces
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To: broadsword
I don't know, my friend. But we had better slam the living $hit out of them now, or like the primitive filthy savages that they are (and always have been), they will take us for weaklings and we will reap a greater whirlwind from now on.

It's now morning here. Is the city still standing? Did we do anything??

121 posted on 04/01/2004 8:33:53 AM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: FITZ
There are thousands of Iraqis living in the USA who claim they want freedom --- why not send them back and let them work for freedom in their homeland? Why are they sitting back letting someone else do all that for them?

Darn good question FITZ. America probably has 100,000 Iraqi cab drivers alone. Most of them come here and have real attitudes and *do not* assimilate at all. You can tell how much they care about their homeland as they sit in America watching our people being brutally murdered and drug through their streets, while they hustle and rip off another Amercan fare.

122 posted on 04/01/2004 8:45:11 AM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: NaughtiusMaximus; All
Oderint dum metuant.
123 posted on 04/01/2004 8:48:38 AM PST by expatguy
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To: Happy2BMe
I am horrified for their families for the images they will endure. Hideous people did this.
124 posted on 04/01/2004 9:06:39 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
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To: Happy2BMe
Patton was a GREAT one, alright !

125 posted on 04/01/2004 9:09:15 AM PST by MeekOneGOP (Become a monthly donor on FR. No amount is too small and monthly giving is the way to go !)
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To: expatguy
Where is the fear?
126 posted on 04/01/2004 9:30:40 AM PST by B4Ranch (Most Of Us Are Wasting Rights Other Men Fought and Died For!)
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To: B4Ranch
There is none.

There was a time when the world respected and feared the United States. They respected our power and they feared us because they knew that we could unleash Hell on them in the blink of an eye and the push of a button.

Once given that power, we have become afraid to use it and our enemies know this and it emboldens them.

It is time that the United States remind the world that while we might be a paper tiger, we are a paper tiger with nuclear teeth.

127 posted on 04/01/2004 9:43:31 AM PST by expatguy
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To: expatguy
At sunset, nurses from a nearby hospital tried to take the bodies away.

Men with guns threatened to kill the nurses. The nurses left. The bodies remained.

Rewrite:

At sunset, no US soldiers from the nearby US military installations came to take the bodies away.

Men with guns had threatened to kill US soldiers. The USsoldiers never came. The US citizens bodies remained hanging from the bridge.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

128 posted on 04/01/2004 10:11:12 AM PST by B4Ranch (Most Of Us Are Wasting Rights Other Men Fought and Died For!)
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To: B4Ranch
We got them down.They are organizing to reenter the city.Would I love to bomb it to kingdom come after that display yesterday?Of course,but I am reacting emotionally.

We are going in in an organized fashion that provides us with maximum cover for our guys.Vent on..I understand the feeling.
129 posted on 04/01/2004 10:30:12 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: MeekOneGOP; SJackson; dennisw; JohnHuang2; Sabertooth; Prime Choice; Dubya; Salem; B4Ranch; ...
Coalition Vows 'Deliberate' Response to Attacks

American Forces Press Service 

Coalition Vows 'Deliberate' Response to Attacks

By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2004 – A "deliberate, precise, overwhelming" response awaits the insurgents who killed four American contractors and five U.S. soldiers March 31, the coalition's military spokesman said at a Baghdad news conference today.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Combined Joint Task Force 7, promised an appropriate, if not immediate, military reaction. escorting a food convoy in Fallujah, Iraq, and those whose roadside bomb killed near that city on

"We are not going to do a pell-mell rush into the city (of Fallujah)," Kimmitt said. "It's going to be deliberate, it will be precise, and it will be overwhelming. We will not rush in to make things worse. We will plan our way through this, and we will re-establish control of that city, and we will pacify that city."

Kimmitt said the restraint shown by military leaders in the aftermath of the Fallujah attack – in which the bodies of the victims were abused and desecrated – may have prevented more carnage. "I think that there was a well-thought-out decision on the part of the Marines" not to rush headlong into the city, Kimmitt said, given the possibility that the insurgents could have had ambushes set up or might have used civilians as human shields.

"While (the desecration of the victims' bodies) was dreadful, while it was unacceptable, while it was bestial," the general said, "a pre-emptive attack into the city could have taken a bad situation and made it even worse."

But the lack of an immediate military response doesn't mean there won't be one, Kimmitt said. "We will be back in Fallujah," he vowed. "It will be at the time and the place of our choosing. We will hunt down the criminals. We will kill them or we will capture them, and we will pacify Fallujah."

At a Baghdad Police Academy graduation ceremony today for 479 new Iraq police, the coalition's civilian administrator also condemned the attacks, according to chief spokesman Dan Senor, also at the news conference. Senor read reporters a portion of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III's comments.

"The acts we have seen were despicable and inexcusable," Senor quoted Bremer as saying. "They violate the tenets of all religions – Islam included – as well as the foundations of civilized society." Senor said Bremer promised the soldiers' and contractors' deaths "will not go unpunished."

Senor relayed Bremer's expression of sympathy to the families of all civilian and military Iraqi and coalition families whose loved ones "have given their lives in the war to liberate Iraq and free it from terrorism."

Bremer termed the attacks as "a crime under law and a crime against the future of Iraq," Senor said, and labeled the attackers as "cowards and ghouls" who represent the worst of society. Bremer also expressed his determination that Iraq's progress toward democracy would be undeterred by the attacks.

"These murders are a painful outrage for us in the coalition, but they will not derail the march to stability and democracy in Iraq," Senor quoted from Bremer's statement.


130 posted on 04/01/2004 10:36:38 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S.A. - - United We Stand - - Divided We Fall - - Support Our Troops - - Vote BUSH)
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To: B4Ranch
Why? That's what the hell I'd like to know.
131 posted on 04/01/2004 10:37:45 AM PST by Happy2BMe (U.S.A. - - United We Stand - - Divided We Fall - - Support Our Troops - - Vote BUSH)
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To: JohnathanRGalt; All
JIHAD WATCH.org (AFP): "'BRIGADES OF MARTYR AHMED YASSIN' CLAIM FALLUJAH RESPONSIBILITY" (April 1, 2004) (Read More...)

132 posted on 04/01/2004 11:24:29 AM PST by Cindy
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To: MEG33
I am not reacting emotionally.

When I see an enemy of the United States who acts without fear of retribution, I see a firm need for definitive military action that will restablish such fear again.

My initial thoughts were to drop a few 2000 lb. bombs on the immediate area and remove everyone who was rejoicing at the deaths of our citizens from the face of the Earth. Man, woman, child, dogs, birds, everything!

Clean out 100% of the area 1/2 mile around the scene. Then the next time some Iraqi saw a terrorist placing a landmine on the road close to their home, they would KNOW the results would be total obliteration of the immediate area should an American die.

They would be prompted to call the police or military and notify them about the landmines location if they cared at all about their home, business, family or neighbors.

This would bring a immediate reduction in the number of casualties our troops are taking.

Cold hearted? Yes. Effective? Yes!
133 posted on 04/01/2004 11:29:45 AM PST by B4Ranch (Most Of Us Are Wasting Rights Other Men Fought and Died For!)
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To: B4Ranch
I hear you and it sounds good to me..but the crowd would have been long gone by the time we bombed.Gen.Kimmitt sounded very stern..we shall see.
134 posted on 04/01/2004 11:35:20 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: k2blader
"Has there been any great outcry against these atrocities by the "moderate" Muslims?"

I saw some quotes from Baghdad residents expressing their shame and sorrow as to their fellow Iraqi's behavior...MUD

135 posted on 04/01/2004 11:41:05 AM PST by Mudboy Slim (RE-IMPEACH Osama bil Clinton!!)
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To: Happy2BMe
Check out this thread

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1109399/posts

136 posted on 04/01/2004 11:45:05 AM PST by Kaslin (Free Tagline. Only 50 bucks per letter. Minimum words and letters is ten.)
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To: Mudboy Slim
That's good.

But if Islam is truly a "peaceful religion" the outrage would be resounding loudly and clearly across the entire mideast.

See also Muslims 'must not denounce other Muslims'.

137 posted on 04/01/2004 11:54:33 AM PST by k2blader (Some folks should worry less about how conservatives vote and more about how to advance conservatism)
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To: k2blader
I'd also appreciate seeing some more condemnations coming from Muslims within our own Country...then again, maybe they're saying it but the Medyuh ain't reporting it, I don't know. The more I read about this, the madder I get...I can understand the emotions that lead folks to want to nuke the whole city, but I don't believe it would be right and would eventually prove to be a detriment to our overall objective of creating a peace-loving, democratic nation in the heart of the Middle East.

FReegards...MUD

138 posted on 04/01/2004 12:09:28 PM PST by Mudboy Slim (RE-IMPEACH Osama bil Clinton!!)
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To: backhoe; piasa; Alamo-Girl; Calpernia; JohnathanRGalt; All
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200404\NAT20040401a.html

"American Muslim Group Condemns 'Mutilations,' Not Murders"
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
April 01, 2004

===
===

GOOGLE Search Term: "CAIR"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22CAIR%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0
139 posted on 04/01/2004 12:27:01 PM PST by Cindy
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To: FITZ
109 - bttt - "There are thousands of Iraqis living in the USA who claim they want freedom --- why not send them back and let them work for freedom in their homeland? Why are they sitting back letting someone else do all that for them?"


140 posted on 04/01/2004 12:31:01 PM PST by XBob
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