Posted on 06/10/2006 5:07:19 AM PDT by tlb
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al-Qaida leader.
The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News.
U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local man, who refused to give his name or show his face to the camera. His account could not be independently verified.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Why would anyone believe what some Al Quaeda slim has to say.
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Has anyone seen a "code"? The act of giving CPR and treating a person suffering from a head wound looks pretty violent sometimes.
However, one "witness" who refuses to be identified and no other confirmation does not make a "news" story. Except at "News"Day.
If they beat him or put panties on his head they should be ashamed. Cutting his head off is what they should have done. Waiting for this article or video to appear so I can really cheer.
I recall what the Italians did to Mussolini and his mistress near Lake Como. They were executed and hung upside down on meat hooks in Piazzale Loreto in Milan. The MSM has gone bonkers. I thought the press conference with Gen Caldwell was straight out of SNL. The questions about the autopsy, disposition of the body, cleaning him up, and whether he was shot or not were ridiculous. They were also concerned about whether he could have been taken alive or not. Next the MSM will be asking if anyone read him his rights or not. Zarqawi's relatives will be filing a wrongful death law suit against the USG.
You're probably not far from the truth.
Unbelievable:
Iraqi raises questions on al-Zarqawi death
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1646849/posts
Yeah, I have to fully agree and say that it was so ridiculous that it transcended getting angry and went straight to some form of humor. I got angry at first, but then the questions kept being asked two, three times over. The agenda couldn't have been any clearer.
Bingo. Found a site that printed the whole first version... AP didn't get to them yet. Go save the web page to your emails, we'll need it later... before this one changes too.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2006/jun/10/061000918.html
Today: June 10, 2006
Iraqi Claims U.S. GIs Beat Wounded Man
By PATRICK QUINN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -
0608dv-zarqawi-raw-video An Iraqi man who was one of the first people on the scene of the U.S. airstrike targeting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said he saw American troops beating a man who had a beard like the al-Qaida leader.
The witness, who lives near the house where al-Zarqawi spent his last days, said he saw the man lying on the ground near an irrigation canal. He was badly wounded but still alive, the man told Associated Press Television News.
U.S. troops arriving on the scene wrapped the man's head in an Arab robe and began beating him, said the local man, who refused to give his name or show his face to the camera. His account could not be independently verified.
The U.S. military made no mention of any physical contact between U.S. troops and al-Zarqawi other than an attempt to provide him with medical attention.
Zarqawi died shortly after the U.S. military obliterated his hideout northwest of Baghdad Wednesday with two 500-pound bombs. The bombs tore a huge crater in the date palm forest where the house was nestled outside the town of Baqouba.
Initially, the military had said al-Zarqawi was killed outright. But on Friday, the spokesman for the U.S.-led forces in Iraq said Iraqi forces found al-Zarqawi clinging to life.
"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said of the Jordanian-born terrorist's last words.
Iraqi police pulled him from the flattened home and placed him on a makeshift stretcher. U.S. troops arrived, saw that al-Zarqawi was conscious, and tried to provide medical treatment, the spokesman said.
"He obviously had some kind of visual recognition of who they were because he attempted to roll off the stretcher, as I am told, and get away, realizing it was the U.S. military," Caldwell told Pentagon reporters via videoconference from Baghdad.
Al-Zarqawi "attempted to, sort of, turn away off the stretcher," he said. "Everybody re-secured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he'd received from this airstrike."
So much blood covered al-Zarqawi's body that U.S. forces cleaned him up before taking photographs. "Despite the fact that this person actually had no regard for human life, we were not going to treat him in the same manner," Caldwell said.
The airstrike killed two other men and three women who were in the house, but only al-Zarqawi and his spiritual adviser have been positively identified, he said.
From a helicopter hovering above the site, a wide swath of destruction could be seen. There were no remaining walls in the house, The debris included a skimpy slip in a leopard skin pattern and other see-through pieces of women's clothing. In the crater itself were charred dresses, torn blankets, thin sponge mattresses and pillows.
Also scattered among the debris of concrete blocks was a pillow with a floral pattern, sandals and a bag. There was also a foam mattress, a cooler and part of a washing machine. Green pomegranates hung from a tree left standing nearby.
Lt. Col. Thomas Fisher of the 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Cavalry said his men showed up at the site about five minutes after the blast and threw up a cordon.
He said they had a patrol in the area already and secured it with two tanks and 10 humvees.
"We didn't know it was Zarqawi, we just knew it was a time sensitive target," he told reporters at the scene early Saturday. "we suspected who it was."
Caldwell also said experts told him it is not unheard of for people to survive a blast of that magnitude.
"There are cases when people, in fact, can survive even an attack like that on a building structure. Obviously, the other five in the building did not, but he did for some reason," Caldwell said.
He said he did not know if al-Zarqawi was inside or outside the house when the bombs struck.
"Well, what we had found, as with anything, first reports are not always fully accurate as we continue the debriefings. But we were not aware yesterday that, in fact, Zarqawi was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site," Caldwell said.
His recounting of the aftermath of the airstrike could not be independently verified. The Iraqi government confirmed only that Iraqi forces were first on the scene, followed by the Americans.
An aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said he saw Caldwell's news briefing but could neither confirm nor deny that al-Zarqawi briefly survived the blast.
"Well, I think it's clear: The Americans said he was seriously wounded and he died," the aide said.
--
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Thanks!..
Now I see how I missed it in FR Search title-wise..
Good catch on the earlier version, ali..
I slept in today! Glad someone is always wide awake around here. ;-)
Everything was going good until you made this mistake.
"I want to grow up to be a propagandist"
One cannot be grown-up and be a propagandist.
"The left will really run with this one."
Rearrangement of words is needed.
"The left really is running this one."
It's called PALLYWOOD. They have news crews, directors, makeup people that stage events, make up news, pay civilians to lie to the camera. They think it is all part of the game.
This attack (on Zarq) was done with the cooperation, the coalition of nations fighters, including the British, the Iraqi, and our fine Marines. The Iraqi soldiers were first on the scene.
Our medics give immediate aid to the wounded after a battle, no matter which side they are on.
It was not mentioned in the MSM that there were 17 heads found in boxes during the search of the bombed out remains of the house in the Oasis. The MSM did mention women's clothing, a washing machine, etc.
Emotional appeal. That is what they keep going for. Emotional appeal.
Too bad they don't mention that those sheer undewear, washing machine, soft pillows, etc. were the property of the 17 heads in boxes who Zarqarwi had offed so he could have this for a 'safehouse'.
It's actually an AP story, just accessed through Newsday.
All this detail we get in cases like this. Virtually no detail when these jihadie loonies blow up innocent men, women and children. Where are the floral patterned pillows and other everyday items then? Hmmm?
AP Bastids.
Even Fox reports the story before verifying it. We friends like that, the military and the USA don't enemies.
If they try to verify it, and cannot, the story should them become the attempt to spread lies by the AP, and by the rest of the MSM, not the "accusations" themselves.
In spite of what certain Dem politicos might say, it *ain't* the seriousness of the charges, it's the veracity of them.
Never fear, we have Marines and other US forces not far away in Djibouti, the armpit of Africa, and thus of the world.
Not exactly what your run of the mill devout Muslim woman is supposed to be wearing. Although it's said that Z-man's second wife is still a teenager, with an 18 month old child. He's 39. Typical Arab Dirty Old Man, except in this case with delusions of being Hugh Hefner.
This compliments of SkiMask from another thread (Post 64):
http://i5.tinypic.com/13zy43l.jpg
Of course we didn't have the ability to drop 2 MK-82s directly on General Giap. We had plenty of trouble with hitting the Paul Doumer Bridge. .... until we got LGBs of course, then down it went. This time we've had the ability from the git go. If we could have located Saddam accurately enough in space and time, we'd have gotten him that way too. But finding him in a spider hole wasn't bad either.
This is not Vietnam, as much as Kerry, Murtha and the folks ANSWR, among others, would like it to be.
Well, what your saying is all great in theory, but it falls apart in reality. It's not a matter of disipline or propriety, but simply human nature and having been there, I don't honestly see anything wrong with killing a downed or dying enemy.
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