23 foreign fighters killed in Fallujah (new spin on Fallujah strike)

[UpInArms]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/2638410

American air strike destroyed six homes in the flash-point city of Fallujah, a senior Iraqi official said Sunday that 23 of 26 people killed in the attack were foreign terrorists, including men from Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, The New York Times reported.

American officials had justified the strike Saturday, the first major military action in Fallujah since U.S. forces pulled out of the city in early May, by saying that the homes that were singled out were being used by agents of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the suspected mastermind of dozens of suicide attacks.

On Saturday, people pulling bodies out of the debris had said women and children were among the victims. The Iraqi official acknowledged that three Iraqis were among those killed and that two Iraqis were wounded.

He said it was not clear whether al-Zarqawi was inside the small concrete-block homes when they were smashed to rubble by three 500-pound bombs dropped from an American warplane. But he said that American intelligence was accurate and that the homes did not house civilians but terrorists.

...more...

[madrchsod]

1. well now we can all rejoice!

we killed some bad guys and now everything is just ducky in fallujah. the bad guys are gone,the city is back to normal, hell the war is over!! i just love feel good news

[Spazito]

2. Well, gosh, that's it then! One must believe an anonymous Iraqi...

"official", after all, they are NOT in the pockets of the US "officials", they're not, they ARE NOT!

[Kinkistyle]

3. hey come on. Even bad guys have wives and kids.

they were kids of "foreign fighters". that makes everything ok, right?

[jmcgowanjm]

4. Guess where Wolfowitz was this weekend

http://www.dod.gov/news/Jun2004/n06172004_2004061702.html

Marine Commander Admits Iraqi Unit Has Been Erratic
U.S. Was Tempted to ‘Pull the Plug‘ on Fallujah Brigade

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 19, 2004; Page A10

Wolfowitz said the commander‘s reference to pulling the
plug was not meant as a possible return to U.S. military action
in Fallujah but as some kind of nonmilitary move that
would demonstrate U.S. displeasure with the
brigade.

Wolfowitz asked what Shehwani knew about the whereabouts
of Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian with links to al Qaeda
whom U.S. officials suspect of masterminding recent attacks
in Iraq, including some of the violence in Fallujah.

Shehwani said Zarqawi was no longer in Fallujah

http://www.intelmessages.org/Messages/National_Security/wwwboard/messages_04/8203.html

June 20, 2004
A U.S. Airstrike Kills at Least 22 in Falluja
By EDWARD WONG

[riverwalker]

5. Wolfowitz in Northern Iraq

Most suspicious in light of Seymour Hersh's new article, "Plan B" about the Isrealis currently operating in: (where else?) Northern Iraq.
Guess we know what Wolfowitz was doing there.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040628fa_fact

[army12]

6. please mention

we lost 10 marines also

[UpInArms]

7. welcome to DU army12!

Glad to have you here!

If you read the rules to posting in LBN, you will note that the title of the thread must match the title of the article.

There is also a limit as to how many paragraphs can be posted so that copyright laws are not violated (we don't want troubles) - if readers are interested in reading further, they must click on the link provided (no link -or one forthcoming- gets a thread locked.

Generally, military deaths merit their own thread if the news media reports them and titles their articles to reflect that content.

[quagmire_iraq]

8. So the pictures lie?

It only showed 1 home destroyed with 4 damaged. And what about the 3 women and 5 kids and the guy who's house it was? that means 8 extra bodies got in there who were Algerians but had lived there as Iraqi's for the last 30 or so years. And all the reporters were lying? Including the cemetry workers, the doctors, the police and neighbours?

If nothing else it seems some of the underground reporters are also being infiltrated since they put out a news flash (sine it usually takes 3-4 days for a report to surface and this did in 1 day) about 37 plus fighters being killed and may allaha take them to heaven.

But then I think of the 9 afghan terrorist kids and their teacher under the tree who got a bomb on their head with US special forces directing the strike....

[teryang]

9. This is an interesting touch

<American troops took the Iraqi wounded to a U.S. aid station and waited while they were treated. Iraqi soldiers wept and hugged their U.S. comrades.>

Poignant propaganda to distract the reader from the facts that most Iraqis want us to leave and there isn't a safe place in the entire country. But read this article and it sounds like the war is over.

845 American soldiers dead. W'eve been there over a year and Baghdad and the airport road are still not secure.

[daleo]

10. Sounds like a good puppet.

""Fallujans are in no mood to fight," said Mahmood Shaker al-Falahee, a retired government official. "We know people come from the outside to try to raise a conflict between us and the Americans. They come here because our borders are so open."

As for the bombing, al-Falahee was almost dismissive.

"Something like this," he said, "will be passed and soon forgotten.""

Yes, this will soon be forgotten, by some people. But not by too many Iraqis.