Jordanian officer killed in hospital raid in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12105865.htm

AMMAN, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Jordan said on Friday that unidentified gunmen killed a Jordanian security officer during an attack on a field hospital in Iraq.

The official Petra news agency quoted Information Minister Nabil al-Sahrif as saying the security officer was killed in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

more

[MaineDem]

1. I saw this on BBC News this morning

They showed a cinderblock building with rather holes blown int he walls. Soldiers (unknown from where) were walking cross the roof. Then they showed a sign "Jordanian Hospital." All the time the voice was talking about US raids, giving the impression we had shot at the hospital - without saying it. My husband and I both questioned who had shot the hospital.

I don't like this at all!!!

[NNN0LHI]

2. Here is the answer to your question

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030912/wl_afp/iraq_worldwrap&cid=1512&ncid=1478

Ten Iraqi security personnel, Jordanian guard killed by US fire

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Ten Iraqi security personnel and a Jordanian guard were killed by US "friendly fire" here early Friday as this flashpoint Sunni region erupted into a frenzy of violence for the second time in as many days. snip

When they reached the Jordanian Red Crescent hospital to the north of the town, they ran into US soldiers who opened fire on them, he said.

Hospital staff said several of the US rounds had hit the hospital, where a Jordanian guard died.

Angry crowds of Fallujah residents gathered outside both the governorate and police headquarters to protest the deaths. They came just two days after US troops killed one Iraqi policeman and wounded another following a roadside bombing on the outskirts of this Sunni Muslim bastion 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

more

[MaineDem]

3. Holy shit!

Thank you for the link. Hell, we're shooting hospitals?!!!

My husband, very sarcastically, just said "it's the American way." It's becoming that.

[Barrett808]

4. American soldier killed in "tire explosion" !?

Separately, an American soldier was killed and two others were wounded when the tire of a two-ton truck exploded as they were changing it in Baghdad.

Is this like one of those "accidents" following "small arms fire"?

[htuttle]

5. Could have been split-rims..

Split-rim truck tires, if they aren't handled properly, can easily decapitate or dismember a person. When I've worked with them in a garage, we usually fastened a BIG fricken' chain around the tire beforehand, so that if it does let loose, the little rim disk/hoop doesn't become a flying guillotine. To be honest, they still scare the crap out of me.

I'd have hoped, however, that if they are using these widowmakers on US army trucks, they'd have some contingency (and training) for handling them.

[Barrett808]

6. "Widowmakers"

Damn.

[htuttle]

7. Found some links on split-rims/'snap ring' rims...

...on US military vehicles.

Here's a description of what they can do:

I remember picking up the pieces of a young trooper in Vietnam while I
was serving there in '69 who had the misfortune to be sitting on top a 2
1/2 ton wheel when the split rim decided to depart company with the
remainder of the wheel. The force of the explosion threw the guy almost
30 feet into the air and broke his back! Split rims need to be
respected!
http://www.mil-veh.org/archives/97-09/0462.html

probably worth bringing up. I don't have a great deal of experience in this
field but can tell you two stroies that were to passed on to me while I was
in the Marine Corps by instructors hoping to instill their students with a
proper respect for split rim wheels. First of all don't hold on to the cage
bars while you fill the tires with air. One kid lost all four fingers of one
hand from this simple mistake. Another fellow was standing on a split rim
when it blew. It shot him THROUGH the corrugated steel roof of the tire shack
18ft above the ground. Needless to say the various forces that he was
subjected to in this explosion, impact, and fall, killed him. Big Time. I am
not so worried about the bolt together split rims used on WW II jeeps it's
the snap ring truck tires that are the killers and there really are no
warning signs that can be counted on to tell you which ones will hold and
which ones will fail.
http://www.mil-veh.org/archives/97-09/0467.html

And finally, from the land of Ford Trucks, somebody asks an important question:

This thread is just my annual split rim safety rant. I hate em. It angers me that the US can afford the finest military aircraft, but only half of the ground equipment has safe (bolt-together rims). I know many of you stockers are faced with this danger. And it doesn't end after install. Even re-inflating a split rim that has gone low on air can be dangerous if the ring slips a bit. Get a clip-on air chuck so you can inflate from ten feet away. Preferably on the other side of your truck. Make sure the nieghbor kids and the Mitsubishi Eclipse aren't in the line of fire.
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/archive/topic/136960.html

I bet those new Stryker vehicles (with their 6 wheels) have split rims, too.