Posted on 08/20/2005 1:49:01 PM PDT by HAL9000
BAGHDAD, Aug 20 (Reuters) - An Iraqi general who commands the country's Border Police was shot and wounded while driving in Baghdad late on Saturday but U.S. forces denied that it was American troops who fired on his car.Major General Ali Hamadi was initially taken to the civilian Yarmouk hospital, where a medical source said he told doctors who treated him for an abdominal wound that he had been shot by U.S. soldiers. Sources at police headquarters, who like Hamadi report to the Interior Ministry, gave a similar account.
But a spokesman for the U.S. military command in the Iraqi capital denied American soldiers had fired on him.
"Task Force Baghdad had no forces in the area at the time of the incident," Lieutenant Colonel Robert Whetstone said, adding that U.S. troops had later helped take the wounded general to a special government hospital.
Hamadi, who the medical source said was driving himself in an unmarked car to a doctor's appointment, could not be reached for comment.
Random gunfire, especially after dark, is commonplace in Baghdad. But Iraqis also daily accuse American troops of opening fire on motorists, often killing them. U.S. commanders say soldiers, trained to be vigilant against suicide car bombers who approach checkpoints or convoys, take care to protect civilians.
I doubt we make a practice of shooting our allies.
The problem with this quickies is their short on facts. For all we know the General was playing with his side arm, and it went off, and he is to embarrased to admit he shot himself.
He can't place blame on his own troops, so who best to place the blame on.
Its rooters what does anyone expect, there is less than a 50% chance that the general was shot at all.
Um, why is that even included in the article. Unless they were with him and are direct witnesses, which doesn't seem like the case, what does it matter what "sources at police headquarters say"? They are most likely simply repeating what the general said. That's not corroborating evidence.
Roto-Reuters rooting for the "insurgent" terrorists again. This article is typical for the "al-jeezera" of the news wires. Find any way possible, including lies, to impune the motives of U. S. troops, while assuming the mantle of apologists for killer jihadists.
Remember during the invasion there were reports of US troops executing Iraqi`s in Basra. There was actually a video claiming this. But, it was Saddam`s henchmen in US military uniforms who staged the executions and sent the video to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera was going to air this and they were briefly shut down so they couldn`t do so ( thank goodness ).
Now with these reports coming in about US troops shooting innocent Iraqi`s , could it possibly be insurgents again with US military uniforms doing these deeds?
There was a upswing in military uniform sales on Ebay in the time leading up to the invasion, so it is not beyond reason to think the insurgents could have some uniforms floating in their mists.
I guess it would be unthinkable for Reuters to look into this possibility.
Another possibility is the insurgents are placing snipers in areas of checkpoints to make it look like US troops are doing the shoootings, when in fact they are not.
How media outlets can report things like this without any real facts says alot about the quality of their reporting.
Strange going to a doctor's appointment late on Saturday night? And being a general, why was he driving alone? Something fishy here?
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