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Marines find bodies of four American soldiers
The New York Times via The Houston Chronicle ^ | March 29, 2003, 12:21AM | Unattributed

Posted on 03/28/2003 11:04:35 PM PST by SlickWillard

 
March 29, 2003, 12:21AM

Marines find bodies of four American soldiers

New York Times

WITH V CORPS HEADQUARTERS NEAR THE KUWAIT BORDER -- The bodies of four American soldiers were found by Marines on Friday in a shallow grave in the battle-worn town of Nasiriyah, near the Euphrates River.

U.S. Military officials said they believe the four were executed by Iraqi paramilitary forces after being seized in an ambush on Sunday.

Military officials declined to speculate as to whether the four were among those who were shown alive by the Arab television network last weekend. The military had heard reports that the soldiers were executed after they were shown on the Arab network, but there was no confirmation.

On Friday, a Marine unit found the four bodies in a freshly dug grave near a house in the northeast corner of the town of al-Jazeera. An Army official said the four bodies were clothed in U.S. military uniforms.

Today, the military were flying in a forensic team, military investigators and a member of the V Corps Staff Judge Advocate's office to the site. Officers said that the military was tentatively treating the deaths as a war crime.

The soldiers seized in the ambush have been listed as missing in action. The 507th Maintenance Co. is attached to the 3rd Infantry Division.

Officers of V Corps said the names of the dead would be released after their families were notified.

The ambush occurred in Nasiriyah, in southeastern Iraq.

According to Army officers, soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Unit were traveling on Highway 1, a main north-south artery, in darkness in a convoy of six vehicles. The unit was en route to supply an antiaircraft battery.

The convoy made a wrong turn, mistakenly leaving Highway 1. Officials said they believed that as the Americans realized their mistake, they turned around and quickly encountered two Iraqi T-55 tanks and an advancing Iraqi military unit. The soldiers came under rocket and small-arms fire.

In the fight that followed, the first of the two cars, a Humvee, the standard Army vehicle and a tool truck, were separated from the other four. An Army captain in the Humvee -- the senior officer -- drove the vehicle carrying wounded soldiers through the gunfire. According to one account, the officer drove nearly four miles before being forced to stop because his tires had been crippled by gunshots.

The officer sought to change the tires of the Humvee, when an American Marine unit on patrol saw him and the soldiers in his vehicle, officers said. The Marines called in a helicopter, which evacuated the officer and his wounded soldiers. Some were seriously wounded, one of them shot in the jaw.

The Marines resumed their patrol in search of the Fedayeen, the paramilitary force. Within minutes, they came upon two American vehicles, damaged by bullets. Two other vehicles were burning. No Americans were in sight.

Hours later, grim photos of American soldiers were shown on the Arab network al-Jazeera. Some appeared to have been executed, with bullet wounds to the head. The uniforms of others were stained with blood.

Within 24 hours, the Army was hearing reports that some of the soldiers had been executed.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: ambush; army; casualties; gutsandglory; marines; nasiriyah; warcrimes
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To: mel
I'm just now hearing about this. Oh God, this is so, so sad. My wish is that the families of these brave folks know just how many of us are holding them in prayer, and sending them love and hugs from afar.

Is it certain the four are the ones who were captured days ago, or could they be the 4 who went missing within the last 48 hours?
161 posted on 03/29/2003 8:08:46 AM PST by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
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To: NEPA; Herodotus
I should add to my post re: uniforms.

The size of the uniform might give a clue as to who wore it.

The sizing starts at "extra small, extra short". If a small uniform was found, say "small, short", it would indicate it was most likely worn by a woman.

162 posted on 03/29/2003 8:11:04 AM PST by NEPA
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To: EternalVigilance
I wondered if those guys hadn't been shot because they wouldn't or couldn't take what the Iraqis were doing to her.

Then that would show a lack of discipline on their part and a loss of all military bearing. I hope that was not the case.

163 posted on 03/29/2003 8:11:23 AM PST by rabidralph (Very Soon, All Your Base Are Belong To Us)
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To: EternalVigilance
Oh! What a gut wretching picture.

Bless his heart...

164 posted on 03/29/2003 8:14:07 AM PST by dixiechick2000
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To: EGPWS
LOL! Thanks for your support! ;o)
165 posted on 03/29/2003 8:16:14 AM PST by dixiechick2000
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To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
Don't think any official word yet.
166 posted on 03/29/2003 8:20:17 AM PST by mel
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To: WorkingClassFilth
"If we northerners had half the class of what I have experienced down south, we would surrender to Lee's descendants and make the score even for the sake of justice."

LOL! I love the South, but I don't think we need to go there, again!

Thank you. Your support is much appreciated.

BTW, I make a mean sweet potato pie...it's my favorite!

167 posted on 03/29/2003 8:24:11 AM PST by dixiechick2000
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To: DoughtyOne
"Kick butt and take names."

LOL! I'll do my best...

;o)

168 posted on 03/29/2003 8:27:17 AM PST by dixiechick2000
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To: homeschool mama
What a nice thing to say! Thank you!
169 posted on 03/29/2003 8:28:26 AM PST by dixiechick2000
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To: NEPA
Ah, good point on the sizing then..

Is the point about the buttons bein on the other side correct as well?
170 posted on 03/29/2003 8:30:28 AM PST by Herodotus
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To: cyborg
I have three daughters and one son. All of my girls are strong athletic, smart young women. They should never, except as a matter of last resort (last resort being enemy on your door step), be in combat. Never. It is all very simple, boys are big, girls are small, boys are strong, girls are not, girls have babies, boys do not.
171 posted on 03/29/2003 8:36:07 AM PST by reflecting
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To: cyborg
Until today the I did not know about the girl from West Virginia and only heard yesterday evening of the Hopi girl from Arizona. However I have seen the Johnson girl a dozen times. Why was the News Cartel so predjudiced towards her plight but not the others?
172 posted on 03/29/2003 8:43:17 AM PST by Rockpile
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To: SlickWillard
Prayers for our heroes......all of them. May the enemy rot in hell for all time.
173 posted on 03/29/2003 8:43:30 AM PST by OldFriend (without the brave, there would be no land of the free)
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To: Herodotus
Is the point about the buttons being on the other side correct as well?

No, not on camo, only dress uniforms. (By "dress" I mean the "suit" type, not a women's dress). Not unless something has changed recently which I very much doubt because it wouldn't be cost effective for the military and makes no sense anyway.

174 posted on 03/29/2003 8:55:37 AM PST by NEPA
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To: Rockpile
Probably because she has two young children? I don't think the other two have kids.
175 posted on 03/29/2003 9:23:23 AM PST by cyborg
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To: reflecting
I do not believe as a rule women should be in combat, esp. women with children.
176 posted on 03/29/2003 9:24:19 AM PST by cyborg
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham
Take no prisoners. Kill them all until they stand down. It's the only way. Kill them without mercy. That's all.

Agreed... it seems to be the only way of dealing with them. As Rumsfeld said, if they are intent upon dying for the regime, we will accomodate them. Baghdad should be loads of fun... sure wish we still had flamethrowers in the military inventory. Seems like just the thing for eradicating the vermin that we'll find there. Peace... the old-fashioned way.

177 posted on 03/29/2003 9:29:03 AM PST by Cloud William (Liberals are the crabgrass in the lawn of life.)
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To: RaceBannon
Iraqi POWs
Clean and Fed
American POWs
shot in the head

Might make a good poster. Particularly for those that might want to Freep the UN.

178 posted on 03/29/2003 9:48:34 AM PST by ET(end tyranny) (Heavenly Father, please embrace, and protect, our Pres., our troops and those of our true allies.)
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To: WorkingClassFilth
I guess if you don't see the deeply foolish mistake in the argument to employ women in these roles, little can be said to make it clear. The "qualified" rationale is the key to social engineering strategies that have failed and/or are frought with problems that PCism is unwilling to acknowledge.

I would agree that most of the extensive uses of female soldiers as regulars has generally been in exceptional situations: Siege and other desperate times, revolutions (like the estimated 8,000 women on the front lines of the French Revolution), as camp followers or replacements for husbands (for example, Jemima Warner, who took her husband's spot after he died and, in turn died in combat, during the Canadian campaign of the American Revolution) or incidents where the men were absent (Prudence Wright and friends who defended a bridge and captured a British officer, during the American Revolution).

However, there is a rather extensive history of individual women who served, disguised as men. Considering almost all the cases were discovered after the woman in question was either wounded (Deborah Samson wasn't discovered, during the American Revolution (Can you tell the American Revolution is a specific area of interest for me? 8>)), until she had been wounded twice) or, sentenced to flogging, in the case of many British female tars, the historical/folkloric record probably underestimates the number of women who served in disguise.

we can never be in agreement unless you awaken to the fundamentals of biology.

This is an area where I split the difference between conservatism and P.C. views (in many areas). I believe that there are baseline fundamentals of biology that mean women, in general, are unsuited for combat. However, the variability and randomness of biology is such that there are exceptions -- individuals, who defy the baseline. I seriously doubt that women would (or should) be anything more 10% (and likely not that high), but those few women who are capable and willing should be given the chance.

179 posted on 03/29/2003 10:15:52 AM PST by Celtjew Libertarian (No more will we pretend that our desire/For liberty is number-cold and has no fire.)
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To: 1066AD; SlickWillard; OldCorps; wardaddy
<< I would have thought they should say "murdered" rather than "executed" in these cases. >>

Me too.

The use of the euphamism, "executed" for the barbaric bloody murders committed by these mongrel bloody savages makes me puke!

Anyone who has ever been seriously mortally afraid knew with a second or two's glace at the terrorist-savages' recently promulgated video tape, that the kids still alive in it had witnessed acts that had put them in fear of their own imminent deaths.

God protect them all.
180 posted on 03/29/2003 10:18:36 AM PST by Brian Allen (I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny ....)
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