Posted on 03/31/2004 7:04:44 AM PST by Charles Henrickson
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of four foreigners — one a woman, at least one an American — through the streets Wednesday and hanged them from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Five American soldiers died in a roadside bombing nearby.
The four foreigners were killed in a rebel ambush of their SUVs in Fallujah, a Sunni Triangle city about 35 miles west of Baghdad and scene of some of the worst violence on both sides of the conflict since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.
It was reminiscent of the 1993 scene in Somalia, when a mob dragged the corpse of a U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, eventually leading to the American withdrawal from the African nation.
In one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. military this year, five 1st Infantry Division soldiers died when their military vehicle ran over a bomb in a separate incident 12 miles to the northwest, among the reed-lined roads running through some of Iraq's richest farmland.
Residents said the bomb attack occurred in Malahma, 12 miles northwest of Fallujah, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active. U.S. Marines operate in the area, but it was unclear whether the slain troops were Marines.
Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans," residents cheered after the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles, which left both in flames. Others chanted, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."
Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.
"The people of Fallujah hanged some of the bodies on the old bridge like slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Some of the corpses were dismembered, he said.
Beneath the bodies, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones and the phrase "Fallujah is the cemetery for Americans."
APTN showed the charred remains of three slain men. Some were wearing flak jackets, said resident Safa Mohammedi.
One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body. Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed one American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.
U.S. military officials in Washington said the situation was still confused but they did not think the victims were American soldiers and believed the SUVs were not American military vehicles.
Witnesses said the two vehicles were attacked with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.
Hours after the attack, the city was quiet. No U.S. troops or Iraqi police were seen in the area.
Fallujah is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam Hussein was strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.
In nearby Ramadi, insurgents threw a grenade at a government building and Iraqi security forces returned fire Wednesday, witnesses said. It was not clear if there were casualties.
Also in Ramadi, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy, witnesses said. U.S. officials in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.
On Tuesday in Ramadi, one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.
Northeast of Baghdad, in the city of Baqouba on Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew up explosives in his car when he was near a convoy of government vehicles, wounding 14 Iraqis and killing himself, officials said.
The attacked convoy is normally used to transport the Diala provincial governor, Abdullah al-Joubori, but he was elsewhere at the time, said police Col. Ali Hossein.
On Tuesday, a suicide bombing outside the house of a police chief in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed the attacker and wounded seven others.
A bomb exploded late Tuesday in a movie theater that had closed for the night. Two bystanders were wounded by flying glass, said its owner, Ghani Mohammed.
The latest violence came two days after Carina Perelli, the head of a U.N. electoral team, said better security is vital if Iraq wants to hold elections by a Jan. 31 deadline. The polls are scheduled to follow a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.
Top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said Tuesday he had appointed 21 anti-corruption inspectors general to government departments to try to prevent fraud. More will be named in coming days, he said.
The inspectors will work with two other newly formed, independent agencies. Together, they will "form an integrated approach intended to combat corruption at every level of government across the country," Bremer said.
"We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."
My reaction to seeing the grinning dancing ..things … is the same reaction I had to the video from Mogadishu.
If I had been nearby I would not have hesitated firing on the pack, preferably with a .50. I would not have discriminated between armed and unarmed. If it was grinning and dancing, it would be a viable target.
Didn't someone try to discourage us from casting pearls before swine?
It is the Vietnam code name for a conventional B-52 strike. Supposedly it was chosen by computer, but it was very apt.
While that idea would slake our thirst for vengeance a bit, it wouldn't solve the problem. What is needed is separating the sheep from the goats. Pros are working that issue. It takes time and patience, and right now, it's hard to ask Americans for patience after this.
Remember the period after 9/11? "Patience," an officer I knew counseled me when I expressed frustration. He knew, but could not reveal, that our guys were already on the way. I am not privy to anything in Iraq but I do know how our forces work.
Months after a scumbag shot Nate Chapman in Afghanistan, a team from 2nd Battalion, 19th SF Group, following up intel that had taken almost a year to develop, bagged the shooter. Sometimes we get lucky -- moments after a terrorist threw two grenades into a jeep with American soldiers, the terrorist was in custody. Some of those Muslims that some of you think are so bad beat the snot out of him and handed him over to the next Americans on the scene (the wounded Americans lived, and the terrorist -- a mentally slow boy -- was released after helping roll up his network). It took me weeks and weeks to get the picture of where a bad guy was holding prisoners, working with locals who either lied or told me what they thought I'd want to hear, but once we were sure, we used that info and sprang 'em.
This action in Fallujah didn't just happen. It took time for the terrorists to set up. They had to coordinate it. They had to warn the locals to stay home. They had to have organizers to get the mob of kids out (look at the pictures. See the older men? They are in effect the Hitler-Youth organizers of this city. They are now marked men). Most significantly, they had to get their allies in the press in position to film. (It looks like AFP and Al-Jazeera were in position, and AP's film crew arrived shortly afterwards). This publicity-seeking is going to cost them their lives (or, if somebody screws up, their liberty).
But just as it took the terrorists time to make their big strike today, it will take us time to make ours. There are Iraqi women sleeping fitfully tonight who are one day closer to sudeen widowhood.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
My guess is these attacks are done by foreign Jihadis, probably Syrians. The Sunnis have nothing but the hope of a central government and what they receive from it, yet they imperil it by their actions which will only embolden the independence wishes of the two other ethinc populations in the country which have Iraq's oil, the Kurds and the Shiites.
Imo the Syrian Ba'athists' plan is to drive the Americans out, take over central Iraq, move against the Kurds (for their oil) and deal with the Shiites in the south as best they can.
The Iranians in the south have a different plan, that is to take over the area, deal with either the Coalition or the Sunnis in the north as best they can and administer their area as a Shiite provence of Iran. In short, Syria wants the norther oil fields and Iran wants the southern oilfields. The 'Sunni triangle' is the Syrians' entry point and base of operations so they want the coalition out to increase their control. They have a long way to go and the 1st MEF to deal with. The Shiites otoh are wary of the Syrians, Ba'athists and the Sunnis altogether so for the time being, prefer the Coalition's presence.
Just my impression.
That's why we'll not do anything militarily spectacular in response to this outrage in the crazed Sunni Triangle. If we do, I'll be amazed.
Had we been serious about extracting this jihad cancer our troops would be in Saudi Arabia, not Iraq.
We're supposed to be essentially "pulling out in May"? Seems to me we all better be looking heavenward for a miracle if we think this mess is going to be any better by then.
I asked, what aid can anyone give? Nothing will help the corpses, and the good folks know that. In any case, they aren't going to pour out of their homes to confront an angry mob. Nobody does that, anywhere.
One cannot reliably infer from the lack of aid that there is no pro-American sentiment even in Fallujah in the notorious "Sunni Triangle," the worst remaining center of resistance. My (inexpert) understanding is that most of the country is Shiite, hospitable and remarkably safe.
Btw, the TV news I was watching gave the population of Fallujah at 230,000, not a million -- not that its size makes much difference. The anchor also admitted that many in Fallujah were disgusted by the spectacle -- as well they should have been, for it was barbaric and shamed their city.
Not since the Nuremburg Trial, Pal!
If the Iranians really wanted to, they could already have made things really hot for the coalition in the Shiite areas of southern Iraq. The fact that they haven't done so already suggests to me that the Iranian mullahs are hanging on by their fingernails inside Iran itself. They simply lack the resources to oppose the US at this time.
For now, the Iranians seem content to watch the events unfolding in Iraq while 'nudging' the local Ayatolla now & then. My 2 cents.
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