Posted on 05/23/2004 11:56:32 AM PDT by wagglebee
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Saturday it has found "no evidence of a wedding" at the site of an airstrike last week near the Syrian border, and said evidence so far suggested the target was a desert base for foreign terrorists sneaking into Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy chief of staff for operations, showed slides of military binoculars, guns and battery packs that could be used to trigger roadside bombs found by U.S. troops at the site.
He said "terrorist manuals," telephone numbers for Afghanistan and foreign passports, including one Sudanese, were also recovered there.
Survivors of the attack in Mogr el-Deeb, a desert village inhabited by members of the Bou Fahad clan, said they had just finished a wedding celebration when bombs fell before dawn Wednesday. More than 40 people were killed, including women and children.
Associated Press Television News footage taken at the site Thursday showed broken musical instruments, pieces of bloodied women's hair and the bodies of children. Kimmitt said no musical instruments were found, however.
Many of the bodies were taken about 250 miles to the east to Ramadi, the base of the clan and the capital of Anbar province which includes Mogr el-Deeb. According to Lt. Col. Ziyad al-Jbouri, the deputy police chief there, between 42 and 45 people died, including 15 children and 10 women. A local hospital doctor put the death toll at 45.
During a briefing for reporters, Kimmitt said the military was investigating the raid and had reached no final conclusions. However, he displayed pictures of some of the items found at the site.
He said suspicious materials included about 300 sets of bedding, 100 sets of prepackaged clothing as well as a "medical treatment room." He said the clothing could have been for infiltrators seeking to disguise themselves as Iraqis.
He said white powder also was found that could have been cocaine. The border area is a popular route for smugglers.
"None of the bodies had identification of any kind on them, no ID cards, no wallets, no pictures," Kimmitt said. "They had watches, and that was about the only way you could identify one person from another."
He said the absence of identification, as well as the remoteness of the area, suggested "that this was a high-risk meeting of high-level, anti-coalition forces."
The military's finding contrasts sharply with statements by survivors as well as local officials in Ramadi. On Thursday, a well-known wedding singer, Hussein al-Ali, was buried in Baghdad, and his family said he was killed in the airstrike.
Bou Fahad clansmen, who raise livestock, denied the presence of foreign fighters in their group. Members of the clan said the attack began a few hours after the wedding festivities had broken up for the night.
Kimmitt said farm vehicles were found, but that they showed no signs of being used for ranching. Nor, he added, was there evidence of any wedding celebration.
"There was no evidence of a wedding: no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration," he said. "No gifts. The men were almost all of military age."
"There may have been some kind of celebration," Kimmitt said. "Bad people have celebrations, too. Bad people have parties, too, and it may have been what was seen as some kind of celebration ... may have been just a meeting in the middle of the desert by some people conducting criminal or terrorist activities."
Members of the clan said, however, that the Americans did not question them after the attack and that when some of the survivors tried to approach U.S. ground troops, they were fired on.
I guess the mainstream media would just prefer to accept the word of some terrorists over the US military. That's the way its been for almost 40 years.
Must be the work of the Zionists (sarcasm)
So the AP has TV news footage showing women and dead kids. where was it taken? Did their guys get it or was it shipped to them by someone else? Who were the reporters who took the pictures? If the AP is faking their film it should be made public.
Personnally I choose to think that most kids are in bed at 3 am including Arab kids, and that firing in the air in a war zone is begging for trouble. Must be pretty hard in a war zone to travel 250 miles to go to a wedding. Thats more than I would travel here unless it was my daughter. Gas is too high to travel 250 miles to a wedding.
Shooting guns at American fighter jets is how they celebrate weddings in their culture, and those are traditional iraki wedding gifts.
"....wedding singer, Hussein al-Ali, was buried in Baghdad, and his family said he was killed in the airstrike......"
The fact that this clown was killed at this site does not necessarily mean there was a wedding there..............
More than likely, it may indicate this grease-spot was a Jihadhist/Baathist sympathizer.
It should be, but don't hold your breath, I won't.
The wedding of the Islamic terrorist to the Black-Eyed Virgins. And we were happy to help consumate the marriage.
"There was no evidence of a wedding: no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration," he said. "No gifts. The men were almost all of military age."
"He said that video showing dead children killed was actually recorded in Ramadi, far from the attack scene."
This article is posted in part on FR here and there is a link to the CNN story. Yet the lie continues to be repeated over and over.
I am really glad I put down my drink and swallowed before reading that comment. Saved my keyboard.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I read on another thread that some of the ambiguous video footage had a different kind of background, indicating it had been filmed somewhere else.
Well, I AM an agent of Chaos!
Note to self - read whole thread before putting my worthless .02 in.
Be fair. The US military shot its credibility in the foot with silly press releases in Vietnam. Someday, maybe, they'll earn it back but few veterans, myself included, really expect them to say anything except what is bureaucratically convenient.
You took the words out of my mouth. "Associated Press Television News footage taken at the site Thursday showed broken musical instruments, pieces of bloodied women's hair and the bodies of children." This is a clintonoid statement if there ever was one. The AP has the footage, but it didn't take the footage. And it has only al Jazeera's word that the footage was taken at that location. Which is worth about as much as a steaming pile of cow dung.
Not that AP's word is much better.
How about you being fair. This is the second cynical comment from you I have read in the last 10 minutes. Viet Nam was 40 years ago, and I think the military has demonstrated its credibility in recent years. The embedded reporters for example showed that our accounts were believable over our foe.
I read letters from GI's that starkly contradict negative reports in the media, and I read some of the Iraqi web sites which also contradict the media.
Since the media saved Clinton's butt, it has been obvious that they are advancing their own agenda. Are you helping them?
LOL
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