U.S. Attacks Iraq Wedding Party

Oh Good Christ

www.msnbc.com

Every week brings two or three brand-new super-sized screwups.

:crazy:

While this shitstorm spiraled out of control? He would have been impeached 9 months ago.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack_3

Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.

:eyes:

The attack supposedly happened around 3am.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5013551/

"Al-Ani said people at the wedding were firing weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and then left. However, he said, helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. "

Does that mean the people were in their homes?

into the direction of any gunfire. A report I saw yesterday said the military calls these nightly missions "Reconnaissance by Fire". Apparently these troops also fire into suspect neighborhoods to provoke fire.

Me Book

but my first thought (after being tired of hearing the attempts- even on NPR callin shows ... that the prisoner story is nothing compared to the beheading - as if they are comparable events... both are awful)...

in response to the slaughter of civilians... "at least it wasn't beheading..." (as the response that I heard in my head from those same rightwingnuts callers...)

What an absolutely callous thought ... but it was my initial one. Man, the coarsening of discourse has finally affected my thought process. :(

From the AP link:

About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. but it appeared that bodies were piled on top of each other and a clear count was not possible....

FULL STOP.

what an awful event. Tragically ironic in terms of the rightwing rhetoric. But those folks are irony immune and won't catch it.

ragheads beheaded one American. Obviously the second is the worse of the two, because it's a tragedy when an American is killed. Arabs are not really human beings, so its okay when we kill them. SARCASM DISCLAIMER.

the family/friend of a (us selected) dignatary?

But I remember that it occurred not long after we'd mistakenly bombed Canadian troops, killing 4. I believe the Canadians are still waiting for an official apology from Dubya for that one.

On edit: Whoops. Reply was for Salin, not me.

5/28/2003

U.S. gunfire kills 3 teens, wounds 7 others in Iraqi wedding parade

By Tim Potter

Knight Ridder Newspapers

SAMARRA, Iraq - U.S. soldiers opened fire on a festive wedding parade earlier this week, killing three teen-agers and wounding seven others after the celebrants fired weapons in the air, medical officials and survivors said Wednesday night.

The shooting, about 10 p.m. Monday, was only one of a series of deadly incidents this week that have sharply increased tension between U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.

The incident highlights a clash of cultures. It is a popular custom in Iraq to fire weapons in the air to celebrate weddings and other festive events.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/5963142.htm


Four months later the military denied that U.S. soldiers wereinvolved in the shootings despite numerous eyewitnesses.


09-23) 05:59 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

The U.S. military has denied that its soldiers fired on a wedding party in Fallujah on Sept. 17, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding six others.

"There was no (U.S. military) unit where this supposedly occurred," military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo said at a briefing Monday.

Witnesses had said the soldiers opened fire, apparently believing they were under attack when guests at the wedding shot their guns in celebration.

A resident, Adel Hmood, had said the Americans opened fire 360 degrees around themselves, killing Sufyan Daoud al-Kubaisi, a teenager who was on his way to buy cigarettes when he was killed.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/23/international0859EDT0503.DTL

It gets ten times worse than you ever could have imagined. How anybody can still look at this and not see that this is situation is fucked up beyond all recognition and that we'll be paying for this administration's incompetence for decades to come is beyond me.

as a distraction? "WMD FOUND!" (one artillery shell). I know, it will be "LARGE QUANTIES OF CYANIDE FOUND IN IRAQ!!!" (which is emitted from the large quantities of cigarettes that military personnel smoke).

I shudder to think what will be the countervailing atrocity that is going to be displayed, another beheading, alleged AMD, perhaps they will pull Al Zawari (sp?)/Bin Ladin out of deep freeze.