Posted on 01/26/2007 7:41:43 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Contrary to U.S. military statements, four U.S. soldiers did not die repelling a sneak attack at the governor's office in the Shiite holy city of Karbala last week. New information obtained by The Associated Press shows they were abducted and found dead or dying as far as 25 miles away.
The brazen assault 50 miles south of Baghdad was launched Jan. 20 by a group of nine to 12 militants. They traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles - the type used by U.S. government convoys, had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues and spoke English.
In a written statement, the U.S. command reported at the time that five soldiers were killed while "repelling the attack." Two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials now say three of them were found dead and one mortally wounded in locations as far as 25 miles east of the governor's office.
The U.S. officials said they could not be sure if the soldiers were killed as the attackers drove them to the place where they abandoned the Suburbans or afterward. Iraqi officials said the men were killed just before the vehicles were abandoned.
The daring commando team also took an unclassified U.S. computer with them as they fled with the four soldiers and left behind an American M-4 automatic rifle, senior U.S. military officials said.
For more than a week, the U.S. military in Baghdad declined comment on reports that began emerging from Iraqi government and military officials which suggested a major breakdown in security surrounding U.S. forces in Karbala.
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The US Military confirmed the AP story.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four American soldiers were abducted during a sophisticated sneak attack last week in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, the U.S. military confirmed Friday. It said three were shot to death and a fourth was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, far from the compound where they were captured.
Two of the four were handcuffed together in the back seat of an SUV near the southern Iraqi town of Mahawil. A third dead soldier was on the ground nearby. The fourth soldier died on the way to the hospital, the military said in a statement issued late Friday that confirmed details reported by The Associated Press earlier. On Jan. 20, the day of the highly sophisticated raid on a security meeting in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, the military said five soldiers were killed repelling the attack.
Within hours of an AP report that four of the five dead soldiers had been abducted and found dead or dying about 25 miles to the east, the military issued a long account of what took place.
It said, "Two soldiers were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the SUVs. Both had suffered gunshot wounds and were dead. A third soldier was found shot and dead on the ground. Nearby, the fourth soldier was still alive, despite a gunshot wound to the head."
The mortally wounded soldier was rushed to the hospital by Iraqi police but died on the way, the military said.
The military also said Iraqi police had found "five SUVs, U.S. Army-type combat uniforms, boots, radios and a non-U.S. made rifle" near the town of Mahawil, in neighboring Babil province.
The police found the bodies, the gear and the abandoned SUVs after chasing the convoy of attackers and their American captives when police became suspicious after the vehicles did not stop at a roadblock.
"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad.
"The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound," said Bleichwehl. "We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_sneak_attack_12
Chinese CQ rifle, a copy of the M-4 rifle
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as79-e.htm
I forgot to mention that thousands of these rifles were exported to Iran in the last few years.
That is worthy of a thread....it's pretty deep in this thread....the quick lookers will never get this far....
Good point.....
From that article:
All senior administrative and security posts in this city are under the control of Iranian regimes Intelligence Ministry, the Iraqi paper added.
Very interesting, and very scary. How can we root out the Iranian spies when they are so welcomed by the Iraqis themselves. It seems the Iranians are more welcome to the Shiites than the Syrians are to the Sunnis, and we can't root them out effectively. IT all stinks!
May also ping you from the thread.....
Our leaders are cowardly, ignorant assholes and YES, I spelled it out.
I have had it!!!!!
Either go to war, go all out, or get out.
FWIW Tammy Bruce talking about this now.
Couldn't connect....thanks.
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