Rebels attack U.S. convoy outside Fallujah, witnesses said

AP ^ | 1 April 2004 | Unknown

[Cap Huff]

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) Insurgents attacked a U.S. military convoy near Fallujah on Thursday and a Humvee vehicle was burned, witnesses said.

It was not clear if there were any casualties. U.S. officials in Baghdad said they could not confirm the attack.

[Allegra]

We should remember that:

The Sunni Triangle is only part of Iraq -
Fallujah is only part of the Sunni Triangle -
The people who committed and celebrated the terrorist
attack is only part of the population of Fallujah.

That bears repeating; thanks for saying it so succinctly.

These people with their fingers itching to press some nuke button or just randomly drop a daisycutter need to take a deep breath and inhale a dose of reality.

[Amelia]

They were contracted to provide security for food delivery. This was a humanitarian effort.

At the very least, the food deliveries to that area need to stop until the violence ends.

I also think they need to blockade the city, and not let up until the insurgents are delivered.

[Coop]

It's hard to believe that my company will not allow our employees over in Iraq to carry weapons. I'd be over there right now if we didn't have such a ridiculous policy.

[Chief_Joe]

U.S. officials did not identify the dead...However, early evidence indicated they worked for Blackwater Security Consulting... In Iraq, the company was hired by the Pentagon (news - web sites) to provide security for convoys that delivered food in the Fallujah area...

I'm bothered by this statement. To whom was this food being delivered, and from whom did it come? I hope this food was not being delivered to front-line soldiers. I'd hate to think they've cut the military so severely they have to rely on private (cheap, but not really cheap) contractors to do the job the military is supposed to do for itself.

[jaykay]

I sure hope you're right. They should carpet bomb them and kill everyone in the Sunni triangle.

Oh, good freakin' grief.

You disagree? We carpet bombed every major city in Germany and Japan in WW2 and topped it off with two atomic bombs. Modern precision targeting may be nice for pr, but not for a successful conclusion to a war. The President has made another version of the mistake his father made in Iraq: he stopped too soon. The enemy must be broken, their country, their cities, their people, their hearts, their minds, their spirits, their will to resist.

An army isn't intended to build nations but to break them. If we didn't want to break Iraq, we shouldn't have gone there. Perhaps Saddam knew best how to handle his people.

[FreedomPoster]

>>Hell will visit them in a few days !

As I said in another thread, I bet there are some busy Operations Officers looking at maps of Fallujah and writing orders.

[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

"Some of the bodies also were loaded onto the back of a donkey-pulled wooden cart later Wednesday and paraded through Fallujah's streets as crowds clapped and whistled. It was not clear where the bodies of the Americans were early Thursday."

Why didn't any Marines or Iraqi police go in and get the bodies? Why didn't they send them in as soon as they heard of the attack so that they could prevent this? It seems they would have wanted to recover the bodies of Americans instead of allowing them to be mutilated and paraded in front of people and cameras. I don't understand this. They should have gotten those bodies out of there by now. Some Iraqi is probably playing with them in the comfort of their home by now. I hope the Marines make a very large and aggressive offensive to capture or kill all the scumbags in that city. It's frustrating to hear that they are being killed by roadside bombs on these routine patrols. I would rather we kill 10 anti-American Iraqi scum bags and a few innocent Iraqis than lose one American.

I was just on Michael Savage's website and he has the picture of one of these Americans who was mutilated and killed. That guy is either a Navy SEAL or Army Ranger Veteran who's burnt body is hanging by a mangled leg with his privates exposed! It makes me sick to think that may go unpunished. We need to strike back like never before for this disgusting killing and mutilation of one of our elite Military veterans. I can't comprehend why the Commanders in Iraq didn't do something to retrieve those bodies as soon as the attack happened. It seems our Marines have one hand tied behind their backs. They just patrol these areas getting blown up by roadside bombs when they should be unrestrained to bring down the terrorist Resistance.

I want us to catch everyone who participated in this, even if they are only seen smiling on the video tape of these mutilations. We should capture or kill every single one of them. We should destroy their homes as well. That's the least we should do in my opinion. After seeing the picture on Michael Savage's website it has really mad me even more angry at those subhuman scumbags. I have seen the pictures before but this time it really hit me. I think after hearing that 3 of these guys were Navy SEAL vets and the other was an Army Ranger veteran it made it even more disgusting to me. Especially when you see the humiliating way these American patriots are displayed. Burnt legs and arms twisted and turned in all directions, hair and scalp hanging off, with their privates exposed. All of these atrocious mutilations committed by smiling Iraqis, many of them children, some no older than 10. It makes me furious just like everybody else. I want vengeance the same as most of you. I demand this barbaric act be avenged! A large number of Sunni's are a mix of pure evil and hopeless ignorance. They are pigs in human skin and we should treat them like the worthless swine they are. It's going to upset a lot of people if extreme action isn't taken. There was a time that no American would accept this but now we have treasonous liberal terrorist enablers like "Hanoi" John Kerry. The liberals are ruining every aspect of this nation. I doubt Kerry or the other immoral power hungry liberal internationalist care at all about the sacrifice these guys made. They probably go to bed hoping it happens again so they can win power. The elitist scum like Kerry have very little value for American life in my opinion. They are the people who allowed 9/11 to happen. If liberals hadn't infiltrated our government I doubt we would have been attacked. Liberalism isn't just an opposing political view. It's an immoral and evil way of life that teaches you can suck the brains out of babies but that you should be compassionate to child murderers and rapist. I truly believe that John 'Fonda' Kerry and the rest of his immoral liberal pals are seriously glad to hear news that will damage Bush even if it's American's being killed and mutilated. I doubt the evil blaspemist 'Catholic' Kerry feels one bit of emotion when he thinks about these guys dying. He's an elitist who cares only for himself.
Here's a link to the Michael Savage website if you want to take a look at that pic or vote in his poll about what action we should take in response to this.

http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html

[samtheman]

I have to hope and assume that our tactics are evolving as we go.

[Allegra]

An army isn't intended to build nations but to break them. If we didn't want to break Iraq, we shouldn't have gone there. Perhaps Saddam knew best how to handle his people.

"Breaking" Iraq was never the objective. Liberating it was. Perhaps you should know THAT before going off all trigger-happy.

I have a little knowledge about the real story in Iraq.

Perhaps you should take a peek at my Profile page.

[FreedomPoster]

Before Germany was liberated, all Germans knew they were beaten. Before Japan was liberated, all Japanese knew they were beaten.

There is a significant component of the Iraqi population that does not know they were beaten.

[mystery-ak]

Unleash Hell=A10

[jaykay]

The objective was to break Iraq because of the threat that it posed to America. That is what I heard the President say, in somewhat more refined words. "Liberating the Iraqi People" is a political slogan, meant for idiots at the UN, the EU, etc... We care no more about the liberty of the Iraqi people than any of the other oppressed people we do not go to war to liberate.

[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

April 1, 2004

4 From U.S. Killed in Ambush in Iraq; Mob Drags Bodies

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

ALLUJA, Iraq, March 31 — Four Americans working for a security company were ambushed and killed Wednesday, and an enraged mob then jubilantly dragged the burned bodies through the streets of downtown Falluja, hanging at least two corpses from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Less than 15 miles away, in the same area of the increasingly violent Sunni Triangle, five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their armored personnel carrier.

The violence was one of the most brutal outbursts of anti-American rage since the war in Iraq began more than a year ago. And the steadily deteriorating situation in the Falluja area, a center of anti-American hostility west of Baghdad, has become so precarious that no American or Iraqi forces responded to the attack against the civilians, who worked for a North Carolina company.

American officials said the civilians were traveling in two sport utility vehicles although some witnesses in Falluja said there were four. "Two got away; two got trapped," said Muhammad Furhan, a taxi driver.

It is not clear what the four Americans were doing in Falluja or where they were going. But just as they were passing a strip of stationery stores and kebab shops around 10:30 a.m., masked gunmen jumped into the street and blasted their vehicles with assault rifles. Witnesses said the civilians did not shoot back.

There are a number of police stations in Falluja and a base of more than 4,000 marines nearby, but even as the security guards were being swarmed and their vehicles set on fire, sending plumes of inky smoke over the closed shops of the city, there were no ambulances, no fire engines and no assistance.

Instead, Falluja's streets were thick with men and boys and chaos.

Men with scarves over their faces hurled bricks into the blazing vehicles. A group of boys yanked a smoldering body into the street and ripped it apart. Someone then tied a chunk of flesh to a rock and tossed it over a telephone wire.

"Viva mujahedeen!" shouted Said Khalaf, a taxi driver. "Long live the resistance!"

Nearby, a boy no older than 10 ground his heel into a burned head. "Where is Bush?" the boy yelled. "Let him come here and see this!"

Masked men gathered around him, punching their fists into the air. The streets filled with hundreds of people. "Falluja is the graveyard of Americans!" they chanted.

Several news crews filmed the mayhem. The images of a frenzied crowd mutilating bodies were reminiscent of the scene from Somalia in 1993, when a mob dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. That moment shifted public opinion and eventually led to an American pullout.

The White House blamed terrorists and remnants of Saddam Hussein's former government for the attack. "This is a despicable attack," Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, told reporters, adding that "there are some that are doing everything they can to prevent" a transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30.

American military officials said the violence in Falluja, however chilling, would not scare them away. "The insurgents in Falluja are testing us," said Capt. Chris Logan, a marine. "They're testing our resolve. But it's not like we're going to leave. We just got here."

Captain Logan, who is stationed at a large walled base on the outskirts of the city, said Falluja was becoming "an area of greater concern." Last week, a contingent of marines, who recently took over responsibility for Falluja from the Army, fought gunmen in a battle in which one marine, a television cameraman and several Iraqi civilians were killed.

"This is one of those areas in Iraq that is definitely squirrelly," Captain Logan said.

Many people in Falluja said they believed that they had won an important victory on Wednesday. They insisted that the four security guards, who were driving in unmarked sport utility vehicles, were working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

"This is what these spies deserve," said Salam Aldulayme, a 28-year-old Falluja resident.

Intelligence sources in Washington said the four were not working for the C.I.A. They worked for Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., providing security for food delivery in the Falluja area, according to a statement from the company. The occupation authorities have hired hundreds of private security guards for a range of duties.

Witnesses in Falluja said several of the men had Defense Department badges, though such identification is common for contractors working for the occupation. A senior military officer said the four were retired Special Operations forces — three Navy Seals and one Army Ranger. American officials declined to immediately identify the dead men.

In the last three weeks, more than 10 foreign civilians have been killed in Iraq, though no attack provoked the spasm of brutality that followed this one.

Since the war in Iraq began, Falluja has been a flash point of violence. Of all the places in Iraq, it is where anti-American hatred is the strongest. The area is predominantly Sunni Muslim. Many families remain loyal to the captured dictator, Mr. Hussein, who is also a Sunni Muslim. Over the years, Mr. Hussein cultivated a network of patronage and privilege among the tribes and elders of Falluja. Many became top army officers. Some ran big companies. When Mr. Hussein was ousted last April, the people here lost their jobs, their businesses and their power.

That set off a cycle of killing and responses, a bloody feud between a clannish society and occupiers from thousands of miles away. Last April, American soldiers killed more than 15 civilians at a demonstration in Falluja. In November, an American helicopter was shot down outside the town, killing 16. Townspeople danced on the wreckage.

In February, insurgents mounted a brazen daylight attack against a convoy carrying Gen. John P. Abizaid, the American commander in the Middle East. He escaped unscathed. But two days later, gunmen blasted their way into a Falluja jail, killing at least 15 police officers and freeing dozens of prisoners.

Last week, the First Marine Expeditionary Force formally took control of the city, population 300,000, which sits on a desert shelf about 35 miles west of Baghdad. Marine commanders said they were going to try a different approach from the Army, which had basically pulled back to bases ringing Falluja and left policing up to the locals.

"We're doing work outside the wire," Captain Logan said. "We're running patrols. We're rebuilding things. We're working with Iraqis."

Most of the Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad, has become so unsafe that American forces stick to their bases, their movement usually limited to heavily guarded convoys.

Around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, an Army convoy passing through the town of Habbaniya, west of Falluja, rolled over an I.E.D., or improvised explosive device. The bomb was buried in the road and blew up under an armored personnel carrier, killing five soldiers. Roadside bombs are everyday occurrences in Iraq. But few have claimed as many casualties. "It was a very large I.E.D.," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for the occupation forces.

A few hours later the men from Blackwater Security drove into downtown Falluja. After they were shot, the scene turned grisly. A crowd of more than 300 people flooded into the streets. Men swarmed around the vehicles. Some witnesses said the Americans were still alive when one boy came running up with a jug of gasoline. Soon, both vehicles were fireballs.

"Everybody here is happy with this," Mr. Furhan, the taxi driver, said. "There is no question."

After the fires cooled, a group of boys tore the corpses out of the vehicles. The crowd cheered them on. The boys dragged the blackened bodies to the iron bridge over the Euphrates River, about a mile away. Some people said they saw four bodies hanging over the water, some said only two. At sunset, nurses from a nearby hospital tried to take the bodies away.

Men with guns threatened to kill the nurses. The nurses left. The bodies remained.


Christine Hauser contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/middleeast/01IRAQ.html?ei=5062&en=fe0864f812d776f1&ex=1081400400&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=


http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html

[Allegra]

Before Germany was liberated, all Germans knew they were beaten. Before Japan was liberated, all Japanese knew they were beaten.

There is a significant component of the Iraqi population that does not know they were beaten.

Not as significant as you might think. CNN has all of that so hosed. We laugh when we see it; it's that fictional.

And Fallujah is an anomaly (one of a few) at this point. It still requires a lot of work.

The war is not over. Just the major combat operations are.

[angkor]

I'd be over there right now if we didn't have such a ridiculous policy.

That was one of my datapoints in turning down an Iraq offer.

[Allegra]

"Liberating the Iraqi People" is a political slogan, meant for idiots at the UN, the EU, etc... We care no more about the liberty of the Iraqi people than any of the other oppressed people we do not go to war to liberate.

That's simply not true. And if you could see and hear what I do every day from the "regular folks," you'd probably have a different opinion.

But you are certainly entitled to your own opinion about the objective of this.

With all due respect, I'm glad you're not running the show.

[germanicus]

U.S. forces blocked roads leading into Fallujah after the attack a move that has been done in recent weeks at times of fighting in the city.

This entire area needs to be locked down. It's obvious the insurgents and their supporters are there and in numbers. We need to control the electricity, water, food, roads, bridges and all other sources needed to maintain the infrastructure there and bring normal life to a screeching halt. I think manpower would be our problem, though. It would require large numbers of troops.

[FreedomPoster]

>>CNN has all of that so hosed. We laugh when we see it; it's that fictional.

I wouldn't doubt that statement for one second.

The Saddamite towns to the north and west of Baghdad didn't get the full effect of the U.S. military rolling through. We don't seem to see much of this stuff from the towns to the south and east.

I expect Fallujah is about to get the full effect now, and long overdue.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Why does the headline use the rebels? Why does the article use the term insurgents? These people are terrorists. And yes the village elders need to be turned out and have it explained to them that this type of activity is not good for their health and well being. Some monetary induce could be offered in the form of the old stick and carrot.

[CurlyBill]

ERASE FALLUJAH