Posted on 07/02/2003 8:36:49 AM PDT by Stultis
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 2, 2003 – A bomb manufacturing class being taught inside the Al Hasan Mosque in Fallujah was apparently the cause of the early July 1 explosion there, according to U.S. Central Command officials.
Coalition forces had no involvement in the incident, according to an ongoing investigation by coalition troops and local police. U.S. 3rd Infantry Division troops had responded to the incident after a U.S. aircraft had notified officials about the blast, according to CENTCOM.
In other news, one of six American troops wounded during July 1 anti-coalition attacks in Iraq has died, according to a CENTCOM news release.
Assailants attacked the soldier's convoy – which was traveling through Baghdad -- with an improvised explosive device, the release noted.
The soldier -- a member of the Army's 352nd Civil Affairs Command – was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital for medical treatment, but succumbed to his wounds. Two other troops were injured in the attack.
The name of the deceased soldier is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Three other Americans serving in Iraq were wounded July 1 in a separate incident, according to Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials.
The outcome of "Outcome-Based Education".
Stay Safe !!
Yeah, but an AFP report today (for instance) has Americans "struggling" to explain that they weren't responsible for the attack, and makes no mention of bomb classes, or that Iraqi police are taking part in the investigation and were the ones who actually went into the mosque:
US forces struggled Wednesday to explain that a blast which killed an imam and six theology students at a Fallujah mosque was not a coalition airstrike, as residents continued to pledge revenge.
The atmosphere in this restive town west of Baghdad was still charged since the deadly blast late Monday, with US troops maintaining a low-key presence.
US troops who had been stationed at the power station on the main road of the town seemed to have withdrawn following two recent attacks, and just two US Humvee light vehicles were parked outside the government office.
On one street corner in town, US troops sat on three Humvees, without wearing combat helmets. They handed out the latest edition of the US-printed Iraq Today to a group of youths.
But the situation was quite calm and shops were open for residents who seemed to be going about their daily lives in a normal manner.
At the site of the explosion in the mosque compound, people gathered to look at the rubble and a nine-meter (30-foot) wide crater as well as a destroyed section of a wall about 15 meters long.
Three explosions rocked Fallujah late Monday, including one at the Al-Hassan mosque compound that killed four Iraqis believed to be theology students and wounded 15 other people.
Two more theology students later died of their wounds in hospital, along with the mosque imam, Sheikh Laith, who was buried in Fallujah late Tuesday.
Residents said that during Sheikh Laith's funeral the crowd vowed to stage a large protest demonstration after weekly prayers on Friday.
Sergeant Jason McCain, trying to persuade a crowd that the explosion was not an attack by US coalition forces, said: "Unless someone is shooting at us, we are never going to shoot at the mosque."
"We are not going to attack a mosque," he insisted.
Abdul Rahman Abdel Kareem, a 20-year-old who was praying at the mosque for his brother who was among those killed, insisted that "we heard a jet, an American jet."
But Rasul Nabhan, 23, said that "at around 11:00 pm (1900 GMT) that night we heard a helicopter."
Abdel Kareem interrupted him to say: "No, no, it was an airplane."
Nabhan explained that "every day we come to pray here at the mosque at around 9:00 pm (1700 GMT). We saw two US tanks passing outside the mosque. Five minutes later Sheikh Laith and 10 students met at the study room. Two minutes later there was an explosion there."
"It was caused by one single rocket. We heard the noise and then we found parts of the rocket," said Nabhan.
He said that after the explosion, US troops surrounded the area and stopped people from entering the mosque until the next morning.
"The US troops took away the remains of the rocket," he said.
Nabhan denied US military reports that the explosion was probably caused by an ammunition dump, asserting that "there are only books and chairs stored in the targeted room."
"There are no munitions there. This is a mosque, it is a holy place and we cannot allow anything like that in a mosque."
McCain explained that "the plane was a commercial jet flying out of Baghdad at 12,000 meters above the ground."
"The majority of people want us to patrol the streets of Fallujah, and following requests by the people, we are doing everything we can to keep tracked vehicles out of the town," he said.
"We want to leave Iraq as soon as possible, and we are creating an Iraqi police force so they can serve and protect the people of Iraq," he said.
But the crowd did not seem to be totally convinced, and one man shouted back: "This is not good enough, the Iraqi police force is corrupt."
A 40-year-old resident, who did not wish to be identified, explained that "the explosion must have been caused from the outside because all the rubble collapsed inward."
"In two weeks, we will attack you and force you out of Iraq," he warned US troops stationed near the mosque.
French jets sound almost the same. If AFP were fair they would mention that.
Is that a typical activity for a mosque? And what about mosques here in the US? What are they doing?
Feed the poor? Nope, let the Christians do that before they kill them. Heal the sick. Nope, ditto on that one. Nothing like that. Those things would take resources away from the most important mosque activity- making bombs.
I like this! The US is taking on the lying imams in the information war. This is very important. You cannot let these memes the imams are trying to create spread unchallenged.
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