Village disputes story of deadly attack

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

A group of villagers in Iraq is bitterly disputing the US account of a deadly air attack on 22 June, in the latest example of the confusion surrounding the reporting of combat incidents there.

The BBC's Jim Muir investigates:
On 22 June the US military announced that its attack helicopters, armed with missiles, engaged and killed 17 al-Qaeda gunmen who had been trying to infiltrate the village of al-Khalis, north of Baquba, where operation "Arrowhead Ripper" had been under way for the previous three days.

>

But villagers in largely-Shia al-Khalis say that those who died had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. They say they were local village guards trying to protect the township from exactly the kind of attack by insurgents the US military says it foiled.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6239896.stm

[acmavm]

1. As long as they're dead, that's all that counts (to the American military

and the bush** administration).

[Judi Lynn]

2. How long can this phoney war on innocent strangers last? Could be forever,

as long as there's a Republican pResident.

From the article:

If the villagers' account is true, the incident would raise many questions, including:

• On what basis did the US helicopters launch their attack that night?
  
  
• How many other coalition reports of successes against "al-Qaeda fighters" are based on similar mistakes, especially when powerful remote weaponry is used?

The incident also highlights the problems the news media face in verifying such combat incidents in remote areas where communications are disrupted, where direct independent access is impossible because of the many lethal dangers they would face, and where only the official military version of events is available.

Thanks for the news. Somehow it seemed something was missing in the original story, like the TRUTH. Again!

[5X]

3. Afghanistan now produces 90% of world heroin and we can only seem to

kill innocents. Seems to me we have lost that war, too.

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Money from illegal drugs vital to the ecoonomy

To understand how important the money from the illegal drug trade is in propping up the existing above ground economy and financial system. Check out the article
Narco-Dollars for Beginners - How The Money Works In The Illicit Drug Trade by Catherine Austin Fitts.

"The recent departure of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso makes this article, first published in 2001, very prescient, especially in the light of Mr. Grasso's trip to Colombia where he met FARC commanders responsible for providing security for narco-traffickers.

Was Grasso making an in person sales call to negotiate with the drug cartel which was threatening to pull their investments from the stock exchange? That might be worth a $140 million pay package."
– Uri Dowbenko


http://solari.com/articles/scoop_narco_dummies.htm

[gratuitous]

5. And even before I clicked the link

I knew the source wasn't going to be an American news outlet.

[Thor_MN]

6. Definition of an al-Qaeda insurgent: a male corpse in Iraq caused by US military action.

They can't pin the al-Qaeda label on the women and children killed, but any male over 11 years old joins al-Qaeda the minute he dies from US munitions.

[frylock]

8. if it runs, it's al-qaeda..

if it doesn't run, it's well-trained al-Qaeda.

[leftchick]

7. there are questions all right

<snip>

Questions raised

The families of those who died are seeking a meeting with the head of the al-Khalis town council. They are incensed that the village guards should be described as "al-Qaeda gunmen".

All but two of those killed were Shia and they have been buried at Najaf. The other two who were from the local minority Sunni community.

A spokesman for the US-led Multinational Forces said they were investigating the incident in the light of the allegations.

If the villagers' account is true, the incident would raise many questions, including:

* On what basis did the US helicopters launch their attack that night?

* How many other coalition reports of successes against "al-Qaeda fighters" are based on similar mistakes, especially when powerful remote weaponry is used?



.... and why in the hell does the media repeat these "al-qaida" kills verbatim from the Military for our viewing pleasure? It burns my ass daily! :grr: