Fallujah attacks kill some 13 people, hostage given hours to live

[Judi Lynn]

Fallujah attacks kill some 13 people, hostage given hours to live
By Jamie Tarabay, Associated Press, 7/30/2004 05:55

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Fighting between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed some 13 people, officials said, while a kidnapped truck driver was given just hours to live unless the company he works for pulls out of the country.

The hostage deadline loomed as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made an unannounced trip to Baghdad for meetings with top officials. Powell is on a weeklong tour of central Europe and the Middle East.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said Powell would meet with President Ghazi al-Yawer and the deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh. Details of the talks weren't known, but it was likely they would discuss Iraqi authorities' decision Thursday to put off a national conference considered a crucial step on the road to democracy amid disarray over choosing delegates and boycott threats by key factions.

Thursday's announcement came a day after a car bombing killed 70 people, the worst single attack since U.S. officials transferred power to an interim Iraqi government.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/212/world/Fallujah_attacks_kill_some_13_:.shtml

[saigon68]

1. "BRING EM ON" shouted the CORPORATE NEOCONS

"more profits for us", they continued.

[leftchick]

2. Air Strikes Kill the innocent yet again....

US air strike kills 13 Iraqis in Falluja

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3D8A5963-A01C-4288-B8E8-F04353403EE7.htm

<snip>
Ahmad Abd Allah, a doctor at Falluja general hospital, told Reuters that some of the wounded were in a serious condition after the fighting, which residents said lasted several hours and destroyed houses and factory buildings.

<snip>
A house in the Shuhada'a district of the city was also destroyed when it came under US aerial bombardment, Reuters reported.

US forces have repeatedly used air strikes to hit what they call "terrorist safe houses" allegedly used by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

However, Falluja residents and medical sources insist that it is Iraqi civilians - including women and children - that are being killed in these strikes.

[David__77]

3. At least they didn't lie and say "13 insurgents."

They know that non-combatants are being slaughtered. Responsible media workers must combat being pawns of evil war-propaganda.

The resistance attacks against private contractors is perhaps more useful to them in their goal to hobble the occupation. It is horrible that so many foreigners feel compelled to put themselves in the middle because of domestic poverty.

[Rose Siding]

4. When did patrols start in Fallujah?

I thought it was re-baathified and the Marines had 'repositioned' themselves to staying in the bases.

snip>
The military said the fighting began when insurgents attacked a joint patrol of Marines and Iraqi troops with gunfire, mortars and rocket propelled grenades. The troops responded with gunfire, tank fire and aircraft bombing raids, which hit a building the insurgents had fled to, the military reported.