U.S. Gunships Rake Targets in Fallujah

U.S. Gunships Rake Targets in Fallujah
By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. AC-130 gunship raked targets in Fallujah on Friday night after hundreds of women and children fled the besieged city during a pause in the Marine offensive. On the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Baghdad and parts of central Iraq were chaotic.

...

In Fallujah, Marines halted their assault on Sunni insurgents to allow U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders — angry at the United States over the bloodshed from five days of heavy fighting — to hold talks with city leaders about how to reduce the violence.

Throughout the afternoon, fighting was reduced to sporadic gunfire. But when night fell, heavy explosions resumed as an AC-130 gunship strafed targets and soldiers and insurgents engaged in a mortar battle.

Iraq's top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said the unilateral pause was also aimed at allowing humanitarian aid to enter the city and Fallujah residents to tend to their dead.

Many families, emerging from their homes for the first time in days, buried slain relatives in the city football stadium.

A stream of hundreds of cars carrying women, children and elderly headed out of the city after Marines announced they would be allowed to leave. Families pleaded to be allowed to take out men, and when Marines refused, some entire families turned back.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480

how constructive... (not).

The shame... boy, the shame will be humbling beyond words.

They are AC-130U models Each aircraft has a name here are the ones in IRAQ-NAM

http://www.spectre-association.org/aircraft.htm

From the Spectre Association (and NO this isn't classified)


AC-130U MODEL
87-0128 Terminator
FSD Prototype, delivered to Rockwell in October 1988
89-0509 Total Carnage
89-0510 Armageddon
89-0511 Predator
1st production U-model, deliver to the USAF april 1992
89-0512 Dead On
89-0513 Killer Instincts
90-0163
90-0164 Bad Intentions
90-0165
90-0166 Hell Raiser
90-0167 Terminator II
92-0253 Eight Ball

That's my dad's old unit.

sorry

Goddammit. :(

If all else fails, we can always beat them into liberation...

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -- John F. Kennedy

There is no way, in the short window they have for escaping, that all the "civilians" got out. The thing that makes me ill is that they are determining that every man or boy over (probably 10) is a rebel fighter... so they will all be killed. I know, I should not do the whole Hitler thing.. but can someone tell me how this is any different that things from that era? Or perhaps how it is different from the Russians invading Poland? When you seal off an entire town, and begin shooting and bombing.. how is that different? How is that going to war with an identified enemy? For our troops, I know it feels like getting revenge for the deaths of their mercenary friends, and perhaps self-defense.. but the people there.. how did they deserve this??

so a few hundred people get out...that's a lot of humanity to pay for the Blackwater gang.

if that don't work we always got the MOAB and the MINInukes are almost READY :puke:

peace

Pen up every male over 10 (plus plenty of females and children), and level the city, then the BFEE are even more evil than I had allowed myself to imagine. This seems hard to believe, though.

Hitler was bad? We ain't seen nothing yet.

pleading for their sons to be allowed to leave...

nt

"an AC-130 gunship strafed targets and soldiers and insurgents engaged in a mortar battle"

Help me here with this word 'strafed'. Is that similar to 'sprayed'? I looked at a picture of this aircraft on Google and I have a picture in my mind of a massive machine-gun-like action -- rapid fire sprays of bullets? Is that what military commanders are using to 'pacify' the city of Fallujah?


Description of Ac130 (ironically from early days of Afghanistan war) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1602000.stm

Oh my God. I have just found my answer. This is some shocking video of the operation of the AC130 being used to attack an 'Islamic terrorist camp' in Afghanistan. It's not 'bloody'; but it's horrifying and incredibly chilling. http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000560.html
Accompanied by the also chilling text:
In this video, we see how the US Air Force used an AC-130 Gunship to stop the Islamic terrorists from organizing and executing any murders of women and children - not in this life time. Notice how our boys are very careful not to hit the mosque - do you think the Islamic terrorists would have been careful in not hitting our churches and synaguogues?
Warning: you will see real explosions while the Islamic terrorists run away like cockroaches - if that bothers you, please do not watch the video.

Used mainly to take out tanks and other armored vehicles, IIRC.

They also use depleted uranium ammo, so not only are we raining down death into Fallujah, but also pollution and lingering disease.

I did not know what these ac-130 gunships were either. I will never forget what I just watched.

Gee, I wonder what the bush family has on the menu for their Easter supper? I am sure Fox News will have an exclusive on that come Sat or Sun.

We need to get into the streets and stay there until this war is ended. In fact, I think that is the only way this war will end.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

And the war criminals in the fucking Hague!

But the war criminals do not in this case wear uniforms. They wear suits with little American flag lapel pins.

that footage is chilling for sure.
Scott

I refuse to denounce the people of this country because the great majority would certainly oppose this shit,...but, they either do not know or they are too involved in simply trying to survive these difficult economic times to engage.

I denounce this leadership!!! I oppose this leadership!!!

IMPEACH BUSH RIGHT NOW!!! CHARGE, TRY and CONVICT THE FREON NEOCONS!!!

in addition to the modern version of the Gatling gun, it is also armed with multiple WWII era Bofors 40 mm cannons which were originally used for anti-aircraft purposes (high rate of fire and a deadly punch). That we would do this to a city filled with people unable to defend themselves is disgusting. We really do have a madman in the whitehouse.

I watched The Panama Deception late last year for the first time, and saw the bodies of innocent civilians that were murdered by the very type of aircraft my father was on during that illegal action.

I cried.

I'm going to cry again, I fear.

I feel sorry for Iraqi civilians, I've watched nighttime video of what these AC-130s can do and it is disturbing to say the least. :(

How in the world would something like that discriminate between fighters and civilian residents? Answer: It wouldn't.

there is absolutely no difference between these weapons and gas ovens.

Our shame is beyond measure. BUsh needs to be jailed for ordering this.

monsters.

lay down your arms and refuse to kill like this. there is no honor here.

This is nothing but pure and simple genocide. If any other country were doing this to another country we would fight them. How long will the world allow this to go on?

Damn right! That's the only thing that can stop this spiraling madness. Mutiny on the Tigris! Honor this country and the real principles that we stand for. This DoD is out of control and true patriots in the military have to step up to the plate now. Where is our Smedely Butler?

something more sinister at work here? :shrug:

a buddy of mine was a door gunner in nam. ran a gatling or chain gun. he said they`d wake up about 3 in the afternoon smoke grass all day ,wait for some cambodian grass- take off at night and watch the tracers fall down like rain..he really enjoyed his job- came back to town with over a pound of grass he stayed really fucked up for a few months.
"raining bullets"

Nothing finer. Double back and get the caribou.

On this God's shining earth....

Please keep their aim at the enemy and not on the innocents among them. Please.

reaction to the 4 security contrators. Again, not to belittle their deaths or the desecration of their bodies. But do you really punish an entire city for the emotional acts of a few? We should have backed off and let the Iraqis take care of judging and punishing their own. It would have been a good test of their new democratic powers we are trying to instill. But nooooo, we attack to show them who's boss and tick off the few "friendlies" we had there.

One of the strongest pro-U.S. voices on the council, also a Sunni, Adnan Pachachi, denounced the U.S. siege. "It was not right to punish all the people of Fallujah, and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal," Pachachi told Al-Arabiya TV.

snip>

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt underlined that talks between two Governing Council members and sheiks and clerics representing Fallujah representatives were not negotiations, suggesting the military would not be making concessions. U.S. officials were not participating in the talks, which began Friday.

Abdul-Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi, a Shiite on the Governing Council, announced he was suspending his council seat until "the bleeding stops in all Iraq." He also met Friday with al-Sadr, whom U.S. commanders have vowed to capture.

A Sunni council member, Ghazi al-Yawer, said he would quit if the Fallujah talks fell through.

It's their country. When did the Iraqi people become the "enemy?"
Sorry, we are wearing the black hat this time.

You must fucking be kidding.

There is no way they can avoid killing innocent people if they are "raking" Fallujah with one of those.

The civilians ARE the enemy, champ. Get used to your love for bloodshed and murder. Toss your ethics out the door. You MUST do so in order to vote for Bush. You MUST discard your basic human dignity to support this catastrophe. It's murder. Rationalize it all you want, but at night, when you're trying to sleep, you know damn well that it's murder. No better than Manson, or Bundy. Worse still, if you derive some sort of satisfaction from it. Murder. No better than Jack the Ripper, this so-called President Bush.

It smells like VICTORY !!

or neutron bombs?




birng em on !!

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145835413.html

Oops, sorry. That's "napalm-like" bombs.

That's alright then.

Dems

I know he won't be impeached, but after we kick his butt this November; these men need to be brought to justice. Only then can we begin to make amends to the tens of thousands of victims of these horrible crimes.

Its gonna be really bad.

out of Fallujah? Any rough estimate?

Nothing but terrorists left there, and they don't count terrorists.

On a more realistic note, it seems unlikely that even the majority of the women and children could have got out of a city of 300,000 plus, in the few hours given to them. Remember how many must have been sick, wounded, or just weakened by what they had gone through in the recent past. And no boy over 10 was being let out, according to reports I have read. Many women would simply not desert their men and boys (and boys!), even if given the chance.

This death toll from this atrocity could conceivably be in the tens of thousands, if Bush and company have totally lost their minds. "The Highway of Death" revisited, only this time "The City of Death". And this time, instead of conscripts, civilians. All, ostensibly, over 4 mercenaries.

I keep thinking, that they can't possibly be going down this road. Who is giving the command? Something this big would have to come from Rumsfeld, maybe Bush. No wonder he was on the phone to Putin. Inconceivable. I just hope we are misreading it.

My dad used to fly on AC-130s as chief engineer.

They used AC-130s in Panama, Grenada, first Gulf War...

I think I'm going to be sick.

i feel nauseous and i'm in tears. happy easter everybody....... god have mercy on our souls.

Make no mistake, your hands are clean in this. You are here, late at night, reading and learning and sharing with others who oppose this shit. But if we do not give our all to kick this "paper hanging sonofabitch" (words once used to describe another fascist) out of office, then we will inherit the shame.

This is not the America I fought for. This is not America. This is madness and evil ... pure and simple.

Saddam's record of crimes against humanity started with one mass grave...

Blame the king, not the pawns. Idiot politicians don't understand how to use a military. You cannot use an army to suppress a guerilla war in an urban area with no civlian causulties -- period.

The politicians may be idiots, but they're the ones giving the orders and the military are following them without question.

So if the Marines go in and wipe out everything there, we cannot put the blame on just the politicians anymore.

The military has to be held accountable for their part in what may end up being a massacre.

It does not take courage to bomb a city into dust, killing men, women, and children, without regard to the Geneva Conventions or the Rules of War. It takes courage to say no, I will not take part in this ritualistic murder. But that would mean that those troops would have to have ethics, and be able to tell right from wrong, and I don't think they can! It's not in the training manual!!!

So no more finger pointing at just the politicians, the blame is now shared.

They're not "bombing a city into dust". It's not "ritualistic murder". Sorry. There are noncombatant casulties, yes... but the police have those. Surely, you do not advocate disbanding all the police in the US?

Nope, the blame isn't shared imo... the troops are doing their job and doing it well, and deserve our respect. Shitty situation and they're making the best of it. It's Dubyaco that doesn't, who sent them over there.

Most all of our troops fighting over there believe in freedom and democracy for Iraq, and certainly don't like being there instead of home with their families. They're not "bombing cities into dust" as you state... nothing of the sort.

Support our troops. Don't support Republican politicians. If you don't keep in mind that politicians, not soldiers, make war, we're not going to get very far in the election. Using hyperbole and exaggerating things isn't going to win any arguments either I'm afraid.

I do not like that those who actually fight our wars are not allowed to refrain from doing things that are wrong, but I don't know if it is possible to have an effective fighting force that allows dissent.

The politicians SHOULD be held responsible under the same kind of rationale that the RICO act uses to bust crime bosses- even though they don't commit the crimes, they are the ones telling others to carry them out.

It's an ugly, ugly situation and I don't envy the young kids that end up in a confusing and dangerous situation over there. They will struggle with their actions the rest of their lives, I don't see any need to saddle them with public condemnation.

Though our troops are in a real perilous situation, for there are legal orders a soldier must obey and illegal orders a soldier must refuse. And, of course, there is an enormous gray area. Its all rather unfair to the soldier, who by and large takes it on the chin in any case.

That is why we shouldn't elect or select politicians who would improperly deploy our soldiers to war, as this assclown has.

directly against orders.

We are engaging in a holocaust by all reports.

Only a handful of politicians had the integrity to stand against this war. I admire not a one of them and shall always look down upon them as game players, who played with our minds and our children, even Kerry.

Unfortunately , I am forced to vote for him to get an insane man out.

An 85 year old man, feeble with Parkinson's, but with a mind and will and courage, far stronger than Kerry, or the rest of them that played politics with it while we all were in the streets protesting by the millions, was the outstanding, brave anti-war leader. I remember him virtually pleading for the US not to rush into this war. He spoke to empty seats and no applause. He deserves a Congressional Medal of Honor.

With all due respect Frangible but it's time our soldiers realize they have been hijacked by out-of-control oligarchic psychopaths. How many innocents will be killed before the basic humanity in each and every human being and that includes our soldiers, prevails and stops this murdering madness? There's a line in the sands of Arabia and if our men and women cross it even God won't save them. Mutiny on the Tigres now!