Two Different Accounts of Deadly Airstrike in Baghdad

[unhappycamper]

A funeral was held Friday for Iraqis killed in an American airstrike on Thursday in the Abu Dshir district of Baghdad.


Two Different Accounts of Deadly Airstrike in Baghdad
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: September 29, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sept. 28 — For the battered working-class district of Abu Dshir, Ramadan evenings bring a rare air of festivity. The temperature is still warm, but the heat of summer has abated. Families stroll outdoors, and young men play nightly matches of a traditional Ramadan game called mihaidis, in which teams try to find a hidden ring.

As the teams lined up Thursday for the game, neighborhood residents said, a crowd of men gathered to watch. They lighted a large oil lamp which illuminated the street, a small shopping area where grocers and fruit vendors stay open late this time of year.

Two American helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said.

Moments after the game began, the helicopters opened fire on the crowd, the witnesses said.

Seven men were killed, Sayyid Malik Abadi, the head of the district security committee, who arrived at the scene shortly after the episode, said Friday. He said perhaps an eighth man had died as well, but too many body parts were scattered about to be certain exactly how many were killed.

~snip~

The American military had a different version of events, which took place in the Saha part of the Abu Dshir district. A spokesman said that earlier in the evening American forces had twice observed episodes when two or three men fired mortars into the neighborhood to the north. After the second episode, the military called for an airstrike.


Rest of article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html?ref=middleeast

[Jim__]

1. Winning the hearts and minds.

Who do we believe, eyewitnesses on the ground, or the Americans unfamiliar with Iraqi culture sitting above in a helicopter? Suppose we believe the American military:

The American military had a different version of events, which took place in the Saha part of the Abu Dshir district. A spokesman said that earlier in the evening American forces had twice observed episodes when two or three men fired mortars into the neighborhood to the north. After the second episode, the military called for an airstrike.

Even their story sucks. "... earlier in the evening"?

The American military is not accomplishing any good in Iraq.