US-led forces round up whole Iraq village in security sweep

Barrett808

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:08 PM
Original message

US-led forces round up whole Iraq village in security sweep

ABU GHRAIB (AFP) - The entire adult male population of a village west of Baghdad was rounded up in a major joint US-Iraqi operation against insurgents that netted two "high value targets."

Operation Northern Lights, which involves more than 1,100 US soldiers and marines as well as Iraqi army units, is targeting bomb-making cells and weapon caches in the vast rural fields west of the capital.

"This whole area is a hotbed for insurgents, and is a major (arms) cache and transport zone," said First Lieutenant Caleb Singer, acting commander of Bravo Company, which had a leading role in the search operation.

The raid on the village of Ibrahim bin Ali began at 1 am (2300 GMT Wednesday) and is expected to last 24 hours.

US troops were airlifted in to lay a cordon around the village and then went house-to-house, rounding up men and questioning them. In one case more than 100 detainees were taken to a nearby school.

US Colonel Jeffrey Snow acknowledged that people were being temporarily inconvenienced but said it was worth it for the intelligence gathered as well as detailed sweeps of the area for weapons.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060323/pl_afp/iraqusunrestoperation

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LostinVA

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:09 PM
Response to Original message

1. Gosh, WTF does this sound like???

Sometimes I really wish I wasn't a WWII buff...

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kenny blankenship

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:21 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. Bob Kerrey probably winces with recognition (and a little something else)

hearing news like this. John Kerry probably has a similar feeling but won't talk about it.
John McCain won't relate because he just annihilated villagers from the air and flew back to the flattop to drink beer.

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IndianaGreen

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Thu Mar-23-06 06:17 PM
Response to Reply #3

10. It is unfair to compare the war criminal Bob Kerrey to John Kerry

Kerry never ordered his troops to waste an entire village!

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kenny blankenship

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Fri Mar-24-06 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #10

11. Unfair? Kerry confessed to atrocities, inviting such comparisons

Edited on Fri Mar-24-06 11:03 AM by kenny blankenship

MR. KERRY (Vietnam Veterans Against the War): "There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare."
-John Kerry, MEET THE PRESS, April 18, 1971

I'll go with his version. Especially since he said this on videotape and can't unsay it. Equation of Kerrey and Kerry may be unfair, but comparison is very fair. Kerry can't unsay what he said 35 years ago, but since in the present era he is a Presidential hopeful he does try to distance himself from it, and doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

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MadMaddie

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:09 PM
Response to Original message

2. This sounds like rounding ups during Vietnam doesn't it?

Edited on Thu Mar-23-06 02:10 PM by MadMaddie

You are right it also sounds like WWII....this is not going going to have a good outcome....

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HuffleClaw

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:39 PM
Response to Original message

4. "...more than 100 detainees were taken to a nearby school."

at least they didn't then BURN the school. and 'two high value targets'? utter bullshit, a cheap justification for a criminal act.

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MisterP

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. these are the EXACT SAME PEOPLE who gave us El Mozote!

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IndianaGreen

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Thu Mar-23-06 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #4

9. Another example of the "great work" our troops are doing in Iraq

They don't have to worry about a Nuremberg Tribunal holding them accountable!

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Arkansas Granny

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Thu Mar-23-06 02:41 PM
Response to Original message

6. Winning those hearts and minds.

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peacebird

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Thu Mar-23-06 05:57 PM
Response to Original message

7. like Fallujah - we told the people to leave pre-bombing but we refused

to let any of the MALES (I forget exact ages ) leave - from boys in puberty to the men in their 50's.

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IndianaGreen

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Thu Mar-23-06 06:06 PM
Response to Original message

8. Looks like we have adopted the tactics of the SS

In June 1942, Lidice, a village in Czechoslovakia, ceased to exist. Lidice had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, and Hitler�s order was given to �teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility�.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/lidice_1942.htm

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