60 "terrorists" and "foreign fighters" killed in air strike

I'm really not liking the spin coming off of our news releases. Can't we be somewhat realistic in our own reporting? This is no better than the old propaganda reports the USSR used to put out.

60 "terrorists" and "foreign fighters" were killed in our air strikes. How do we know they were all terrorists and foreign fighters and not Iraqi insurgents? Can't we just call them insurgents or suspected insurgents? Can't we just admit there was some collateral damage, and that we regret the loss of life to women and children? Do we have to be pricks about it?

I hope these heavy handed tactics work. We're taking out a lot of civilians, including women and children, by using air strikes in civilian areas. That's bound to breed more hatred among the natives.

Many Killed as U.S. Pounds Fallujah
The Guardian U.K.
Friday 17 September 2004

At least 13 people were killed in a Baghdad suicide car bomb attack this morning just hours after US strikes on militant targets in the city of Falluja killed 45 people and injured 27.

Another 50 people were wounded when the bomber struck, near a major police checkpoint in central Baghdad, the Iraqi health ministry and US military officials said.

A government spokesman said the bomb had detonated beside a line of police vehicles set up to seal off routes to nearby Haifa Street, where US and Iraqi forces had spent the morning raiding insurgent hideouts.

The midday attack occurred on a busy market day, and officials fear that the number of casualties will rise.

Earlier today at least 45 people were killed and 27 were injured in a wave of US attacks on the alleged hideouts of an al-Qaida-linked group in and around the town of Fallujah, the Iraqi health ministry said.

According to a statement by the US military, the strikes, which began last night, targeted a compound in Fazat Shnetir, about 12 miles south of the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, where militants loyal to the Jordanian-born al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were gathering to plot attacks on US-led forces in Iraq.

Militants who survived the strikes later sought refuge in nearby villages, but US forces quickly broke off an offensive to hunt them down in an effort to avoid civilian casualties, the statement said.

"The number of foreign fighters killed during the strike is estimated at approximately 60. The terrorists targeted in this strike were believed to be associated with recent bombing attacks and other terrorist activities throughout Iraq," the US military said.

But a health ministry spokesman, Saad al-Amili, said at least 17 children and two women were among the wounded. Hospital officials in Fallujah said women and children were also among the dead, but exact figures were not immediately available.

Residents of Fazat Shnetir were seen digging graves today and burying the dead in groups of four.

Doctors at Fallujah general hospital struggled to cope with the wave of casualties, many of whom were transported in private cars as the ambulance service was overwhelmed.

Relatives pounded their chests in grief and denounced the US while religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at the mosque to call on residents to donate blood and chanted "God is great."

US forces have not patrolled inside Fallujah since the end of a three-week siege that left hundreds dead. Insurgents have strengthened their grip since then, mounting regular attacks against US positions and military convoys on the town's outskirts.

He would never lie. 60 down, 19,940 and counting to go!

...Iraqi people. You have to remember that the media like the Bush administration and many people in America don't regard Iraqis as human beings. Bush said, "you are either with me or against me". That means that anyone in Iraq who shows resistance, or is where the resistance fighters are, or just happen to pass by where the resistance fighters may have been and are now gone, but our forces don't know that, are fair game. Calling them terrorists, foreign fighters or insurgents continues the illusion that these people are not human and are therefore quite expendable. As for our troops on the ground and in the air, or are in armored vehicles and tanks committing these acts, there is only kill or be killed, survive another day and another day and another day, and if luck holds, you get home. These U.S. soldiers can't think about these people who are dying by there actions as human, because if they do, they risk their own life, by being vulnerable. This is why when many of these troops return to their homes, they will be distant and unattached and dramatically changed from these experiences, in ways that those of us who have not experienced and seen what they have, can not quite understand. Those U.S soldiers who die will be grieved for by friends and families. Those who return, will be praised and looked upon as heroes, but they will shock us by their withdrawal or their strange behaviors or their anger or just their silence. Understand the full cost of war. I believe John Kerry understands that cost, because he was there and he knows. There are many men and women too who know what Kerry knows. Unfortunately there are many more who don't, have had none of that experience, have allowed the media or just their own illusions shape their impressions. The swagger mentality of George W Bush is most certainly about a person who lacks the knowledge, the raw experience of being in battle. He skipped that opportunity by deliberate and manipulated avoidance on his part. That is unfortunate for the rest of us, because George Bush will not know when it is time to say, this is enough and return this country to a sane path again. I really pray that Americans make the right choice on November 2 for all of our sakes. -- Amen.

Some of those kids maybe in the 'terrorist' twos. They are almost as bad as rock pelting 10 year olds. I willing to beat their Mother's led them to it.

or morals for that matter. Vote him out please.

CBS Evening News obtained video footage from a U.S. helicopter rocket attack on a gathering of Iraqi's in the street around a destroyed Bradley fighting vehicle. Our troops had long since left the ground area/been evacuated. The civilians came out to gawk and then we attacked the crowd with rockets.

CBS aired a video that captured it right up close. The arab reporter on the scene who was covering the story was killed, and that was also shown on the CBS video footage.

I didn't see any other news agency report this.

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the only problem is that the Pentagon considers women and children as foreign fighters and terrorists. :-(

long live the revolution! (ops, empire)

how many fingers do you see?

1 plus 1 equals 3

Absolutely True!!!!! Just more deception. All Bullshit. How many voters think the Iraqi invasion and occupation has anything to do with the war on terrorism????? It's just another way to piss away our tax money. And now they are saying we invaded the WRONG country!! We're losing. I bet you won't see them screwing with North Korea!!

i am justsure that 2 year old or 70 year old woman were terrorist as they talked about the airstrikes on the news

I hate to complain about this, but some of the thread topics on the Campaign 2004 forum really belong elsewhere (IMHO). I've noticed more and more "topic drift" of late and the increasing overlap is becoming confusing, not to mention that threads pertinent to their particular forums are being knocked from the front page.

No flames please; it just seems things are becoming a bit muddled.