Posted on 05/20/2004 12:56:24 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
U.S. Defends Desert Air Strike, Iraqis Say Wedding Hit
Thu May 20, 2004 01:11 PM ET
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Grieving Iraqis said U.S. forces killed dozens of guests at a desert wedding but an American general insisted Thursday that the air strike had killed foreign guerrilla fighters and said "bad things happen in wars."
Images of dead women and children on Arab television were a new setback for a U.S. mission already beset by a scandal over torture in prisons, as President Bush prepares this week to detail plans for handing limited sovereignty to Iraqis.
A U.S.-backed raid on the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi, once the Pentagon's favorite Iraqi leader, blew into the open growing turbulence in the handover process. Chalabi said the Americans, who this week cut off funds to his party, were out to get him because he wanted more independence than was on offer.
An opinion poll found that only 7 percent of Iraqis now viewed U.S. troops as "liberators," compared to 45 percent six months ago. It was conducted by the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies in April, before pictures of soldiers abusing prisoners drove another wedge between Americans and Iraqis.
Forty-three percent said they would feel more secure if U.S. troops left now. Just 29 percent would feel less secure, though many Iraqi leaders fear instant withdrawal could mean anarchy.
DESERT STRIKE
It remained unclear just what happened in the early hours of Wednesday at a remote spot near the Syrian border. The U.S. military said an air strike killed about 40 foreign fighters. Local people said the dead were civilians attending a wedding.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the attack targeted "a suspected foreign-fighter safe house." "We took ground fire and we returned fire," he said. "We estimate that around 40 were killed. But we operated within our rules of engagement."
Major General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division which controls the area, told reporters that more than two dozen men of fighting age were among the dead.
Asked about witnesses who told Reuters and other media there were many women and children among about 40 civilians killed, Kimmitt told a news conference in Baghdad: "We had significant intelligence that caused us to conduct a military operation."
Shotguns, rifles and pistols, as well as jewelry and about $1,000 in Iraqi and Syrian currency, a satellite telephone and four-wheel drive vehicles were found, Kimmitt said.
"How many people go to the middle of the desert 10 miles from the Syrian border to hold a wedding 80 miles from the nearest civilization?" Mattis said in Falluja.
"These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive...Bad things happen in wars.
"I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my men."
Munif Abdullah, who said he witnessed the attack at Wakr al-Deeb but was not at the wedding, told Reuters at a memorial service in the regional capital Ramadi: "They hit the cars and houses. They even hit the families running away."
Mourners at the funeral of a noted Baghdad wedding singer told Reuters he was killed after performing at the gathering.
A member of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council said he found it hard to believe the U.S. version of events. Mahmoud Othman told Reuters: "I think they have made a mistake."
U.S. commanders say the western desert, where smuggling is common, has become a route for foreign fighters, including al Qaeda-linked Muslim militants, to enter Iraq from Syria.
I think I will go with the General's opinion!
indeed, but Rumsfeld and Myers should speak directly to this at the next briefing - and start hitting back at the media.
"If the terrorists hide, strike what they hold dear, using clandestine means and, whenever possible, foreign agents to provoke them to break cover and react. Do not be squeamish. Your enemy is not. Subtlety is not superpower strength but the raw power to do that, which is necessary, is our great advantage. We forget that, while the world may happily chide or accuse us-or complain of our inhumanity-no one can stop us if we maintain our strength of will. Much of the world will complain no matter what we do. Hatred of America is the default position of failed individuals and failing states around the world, in every civilization, and there is nothing we can do to change their minds. We refuse to understand how much of humanity will find excuses for evil, so long as the evil strikes those who are more successful than the apologists themselves. This is as true of American academics, whose eagerness to declare our military efforts a failure is unflagging, or European clerics, who still cannot forgive America's magnanimity at the end of World War II, as it is of unemployed Egyptians or Pakistanis. The psychologically marginalized are at least as dangerous as the physically deprived."
'Nuff said.
Even terrorists get married. They need to re-supply their bomber/murder squads with their kids.
why are newlyweds shooting machine guns in the air and why aren't the left screaming about gun control?
The Taliban pulled this same thing, saying several attacks on Afghani's were attacks on wedding parties.
Seems like the Pali's have cried the same about some Israeli attacks.
It seems like a recurring M.O. out of the Middle East.
"What happened to the groom? And the bride? And the best man and maid of honor? And the ring bearer?"
"Anyone here still alive? Anyone?"
On a related note, did anyone check up on the old Iraqi Milk Factory of Peter Arnot fame?
Good thing al Qaeda isn't a terrorist organization, otherwise "Reuters" would have exemplified media bias with this statement.
Ruined what was supposed to be the best day of her whole life.
She was just a party girl!
Did our aircraft have a blinking neon sign saying, "This is a US gunship"?
So if this "wedding" party consisted entirely of males, that would imply that ....... omigosh! Massachusetts in the Middle East?
I always bring my shotgun to a wedding.
Questions:
At 2 AM how likely is it that they could see a US plane or Chopper well enough to accurately shoot at it?
How likely is it that random shooting in the air will come close enough to a plane or chopper to be mistaken for an attack?
How often does this have to happen before these stupid people learn NOT to shoot in the air during weddings?
I think it was a Reuters editorial meeting.
Terrorists thats who & it wasn't a 'wedding' it was a conclave of murderers & would-be murderers and those being indroctinated to become murderers!
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