Posted on 11/01/2004 8:58:13 PM PST by SmithL
A U.S. Marine looks through the sight of a machine gun as they patrol a position close to Falluja, west of Baghdad, November 1, 2004. U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and shelled Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election.
Risky environment for camermen.
Reuters called 9-11 an "airborne assault." They wouldn't even use the "T-word" to describe Atta and company.
Tough $#!+, Reuters!
While we vote tomorrow, let's offer prayers for our brave armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever else they serve and protect us.
I still think we should cut off all aid and trade with Russia and Red China a la the Cold War, defund and kick the UN off our soil, use Iraq and Afghanistan as a staging ground to invade Iran, while the Israelis take out the PLO, Syria and their puppets in Lebanon. It would all be over very quickly.
Najim's colleagues and family said they believed he had been shot by a U.S. sniper. U.S. Marine snipers are posted in Ramadi. There was no immediate response from the U.S. military to questions about the incident from Reuters.
They "believed".....
While we vote tomorrow, let's offer prayers for our brave armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and wherever else they serve and protect us.
Not just tomorrow. We pray for them every single day at my house.
5.56mm
The Bad Guys want to play in our ballpark?
Under 24/7 Air Support and Artillery?
Against volunteer, professionally trained soldiers?
BRING IT ON!
You'll only die tired!
Jack.
"A U.S. Marine looks through the sight of a machine gun"
that's a funny looking machine gun.
These anti-American reporters are something, arent' they? They claim the cameraman's 'colleagues' and family believed he was shot by an American. But who are these 'colleagues', what are their names, are any of them anti-American or insurgent sympathizers? And who are the "family members", his distant cousins who are still loyal to Saddam? It's just unbelievable how these swine try to twist the truth by presenting incomplete facts and quoting questionable sources.
May God go with our armed forces as they hunt the terrorists.
"Not just tomorrow. We pray for them every single day at my house."
It was prayers coming from homes like yours that helped my husband and I endure when our son was in Iraq, as it helps every military mom and dad now. Keep saying those prayers, and God bless you all!
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - An Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters was shot dead during clashes in rebel-held Ramadi, while a US war plane bombed nearby Fallujah overnight, the military and news agency said.
Dhia Najim, a 57-year-old freelance video camerman, was apparently shot dead by a sniper while on assignment for the London-based Reuters news agency, a Reuters correspondent in Baghdad said.
It was unclear whether the sniper had been an insurgent or a US soldier.
The US military is known to have stationed marksmen in Ramadi as it fights to restore order to the lawless city, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
For its part, the US military confirmed that a cameraman working for a "major news agency" had been caught in clashes between US troops and rebel fighters.
"Marines from the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force engaged several insurgents in a brief small-arms firefight that killed an individual who was carrying a video camera earlier Monday morning," it said in a statement.
The video camera found on Najim showed pictures of previous attacks on US-led troops, the military added.
Reuters had hired the Ramadi local on a freelance basis and the father of four had been working for the news agency at the time of his death.
The media company will ensure Najim's wife, son and three daughters are looked after, the correposndent said.
In another flashpoint city east of Ramadi, the US military unleashed an air raid on the rebel hotspot of Fallujah, in what has become a near daily bombardment of the Sunni Muslim bastion, west of Baghdad.
"A US Air Force plane engaged a pre-planned target using precision ordnance, which destroyed a known enemy cache site on the southeast side of the city," the miitary said in a separate statement.
Expectations of a two-pronged assault on the twin cities of Fallujah and Ramadi -- believed to be the nerve centre of Iraq's violent insurgency -- are rising as the interim government vows to crush pockets of insurgency ahead of elections promised by January.
Since mid-October, US troops have encircled Fallujah, where the military has repeatedly launched air strikes and limited ground incursions. They are currently doubling their troop strength to 2,000 in Ramadi.
Najim's death brings to at least 46 the number of journalists and other media workers killed in Iraq since the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003, according to a tally by Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders.
Four days ago, a car bomb ripped through the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya television, killing seven people and wounding 19.
Media personnel have also been targeted in the plague of kidnappings and assassinations which has scarred the country.
There has been no word of French journalists Christian Chesnot of Radio France International and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper since they were abducted south of Baghdad on August 20.
So now these people are "rebels?" Good to see Reuters' semantical plan is now fully achieved. From "we won't call Bin Laden a terrorist" now death-worshippers get to be called "Rebels" like they're in Star Wars or something.
A 20 round clip for a machine gun?
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