Iraqis, U.S. dispute deadly raid in new friction (6 Women, 5 Children Killed)

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061208/ts_nm/iraq_dc_167

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. officials disputed each others' accounts of an overnight raid and air strike on Friday that killed up to 20 people in a new sign of friction over allegations of American troops killing civilians.

The U.S. military said ground forces with air support killed 20 suspected al Qaeda militants, including two women, in an area where the Sunni Arab insurgency is strong.

Police and officials in Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, said the bodies of 17 civilians, including six women and five children, were found in the rubble of two homes.

"The Americans have done this before but they always deny it," Ishaqi Mayor Amer Alwan told Reuters by telephone. "I want the world to know what's happening here."

Complaints that unjustified killings by U.S. troops are common have soured Iraqis' sentiment toward the U.S. presence in Iraq and prompted Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki earlier this year to say he was losing patience over such reports.

[leftchick]

1. Eventually the world will know Mayor Alwan

right now it is Foley's lurid sex life dominating CNN.....

<snip>

In Ishaqi, grieving relatives showed the bodies of five children wrapped in blankets to journalists. The houses were flattened in the raid.

In a statement, the U.S. military said the operation in Salahaddin province followed intelligence reports that al Qaeda militants operated in the area. It said rocket-propelled grenades and explosive suicide vests were found.

Only a handful of complaints involving civilian deaths in Iraq have led to criminal investigations by the U.S. military.





Iraqi residents look at the bodies of victim killed in an overnight U.S. raid and air strike in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi, north of Baghdad, December 8, 2006. (Nuhad Hussin - IRAQ/Reuters)

Link to rate the photo...

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/1479/im:/061208/photos_ts/2006_12_08t091714_450x300_us_iraq

[Homer12]

2. They were obviously Al-Quadia operatives.

n/t

[partylessinOhio]

3. We need to stop this killing for one day these "killers" will come home

if they're lucky and they will have to relive what they were ordered to do over and over again.

[stillcool]

6. Too true. Seeds are being planted...

God help us if they all come to fruition.

[nosmokes]

4. well, let's see, the pentagon has told the truth about these incidents exactly

zero times in the past. wedding party = secret meeting of top level al-q dudes long after the pics were out showing a dead wedding party. another top level meeting turned out to be a family gathering. our military used to tell the truth even when it made them look bad. they believed in that code of honor. but under this cin c what's the point? when they're tasked to spy on their fellow citizens which is strictly forbidden and torture prisoners, WTF is a lie to the press?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. You do not beat an insurgency with overbearing firepower.

We can argue about how many women and children were killed, and if they were al qaeda or some other brand, but every time we pound the crap out of some Iraqi village or town we make the insurgency stronger, not weaker. The battle is for the support of the people, not for territory, not for body counts. We are fighting the wrong war and wondering why we are losing.