Posted on 05/19/2004 10:46:37 AM PDT by Akira
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.
Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.
Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck containing bodies of those allegedly killed.
About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. but it appeared that bodies were piled on top of each other and a clear count was not possible.
Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.
"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy," Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a U.S. military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail in response to a question from The Associated Press.
"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to the Joint Operations Center for further review and any other information that may be available," Williams said.
The video footage showed mourners with shovels digging graves. A group of men crouched and wept around one coffin.
Al-Ani said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. Two houses were destroyed, he said.
U.S. troops took the bodies and the wounded in a truck to Rutba hospital, he said.
"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason."
Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the victims were at a wedding party "and the U.S. military planes came... and started killing everyone in the house."
In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. An investigative report released by the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire.
Having your kids out partying with gunfire at a quarter to 3 in the morning, in a country at war? Yeah, that's a pretty tragic mistake.
One has to wonder if this was perpetrated by our enemies. We'll see.
No...but very strange. 2:45 a.m. "wedding" party? This looks a little fraudulent to me. Why is the police chief in Ramadi reporting on something that happened hundreds of miles away on the border? 10 year old kids were up at that hour for a wedding?? Right.
this is gonna do wonders for the Iraq campaign....
unfortunately... If stuff like this continues... it will eventually cost Bush the election
It's crazy how the bad crap never ends....
I'm willing to live with it after some of the recent behavior exhibited by our Iraqi allies.
Iraqi guest: "Hey! an American Helicopter...cool...lets shoot our guns in the air to signal our joy!"
Duh.
Not very bright at all. Can't blame the troops one bit, especially after what has been going on the last month and a half or so.....
I highly doubt our enemies have helicopters
They don't have Nintendo, so what else would they do but go to a wedding... :-)
Ah yes, those crazy Iraqi Shi!te head weddings.
In the middle of a live shooting war, start blasting away at the moon at 2:30 in the morning with American Choppers flying in the locale, not to worry, be happy.
Frigging idiots all, Arabs and common sense, it is evident the two shall never mix.
Cry me a river.
When done, release Saddam Hussein, put him back and power, then let the poor widdle victims of the USA put THAT in their collective pipes and smoke away.
Despite the idiocy of the practice of firing guns in the air, I'll stand by my statement that the accidental killing of so many women and children by US troops is a tragic mistake. If you feel it is neither tragic nor a mistake, that's your problem.
" . . .About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. . ."
I did not catch this the first time. Effing people. I've already seen a body withpout a head, and the iraqis around him were laughing, probably had a party afterwards. . .
This is probably mythological. In fact, it is a total fabrication.
Are we still were "at war" with Iraq?
The war doesn't end until June 30 when we relinquish our control of the nation?
Also,(if) they saw fire coming from the ground,wouldn't they want to know if it were friendly or not?As in,our troops possibly shooting.Something really smells about this article.
If I were the enemy I would shoot provocativly near innocents in order to cause the reaction of innocents being killed.
There is also the example of palistinians pulling guns away from the dead in order to conceal the true nature of the attack and make claims of innnocents unarmed. (don't even start with the fake corpses for the media funeral)
This is a combat zone.
The media highlights these "tragedies" to support the enemy. (remeber this supposedly happened in Afganistan too.)
"Are we still were "at war" with Iraq?"
People are shooting at our troops, and our troops are returning the favor. It may not be a war by your standards, but by the standards of yours truly, who has been there and done that, it's a passing imitation.
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