Mosque Raided by US in Baghdad. Found US MADE Grenade!

[leftchick]

Wow! I am so not impressed by this latest "operation whack a mole".

:eyes:



An Iraqi man shows U.S. made grenade and shotgun canisters found at the Umm al-Qora mosque in western Baghdad January 8, 2006. U.S. troops launched a pre-dawn raid on Sunday on the headquarters of the influential Sunni Arab Muslim Clerics' Association, which opposes the U.S. occupation, and detained five people, the association said. The U.S. military said it was checking the report. (Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters)

<snip>

"During the search six men were detained for further questioning to determine their knowledge or involvement in terrorist activity," he said.

He declined to say if they were still being held in custody or had since been released.

Muthana Harith al-Dhari, the head of the association's media department, said among those detained were Sheikh Unis al-Ugaidi, a member of the association and a number of employees and guards.

"These forces violated the sanctity of the mosque, drawing crosses on some of its walls, raiding some of the association departments ... breaking the doors with guns, spoiling the offices and stealing some property," he told a news conference.

"The association believes this crime was committed to provoke and punish it for its attitude towards the occupation," he said.


http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-08T140209Z_01_SPI839124_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ-RAID.xml&archived=False

[benburch]

1. Of course they have our weapons!

You don't think the resistance there kills an American patrol without stripping the bodies of useful weapons, I hope?

[Rex]

2. More insidious message

THEY are among our ranks! Trust no one! Granted, what you say is true but this is a 'see here lookit at the carrot' ploy. Why even MOSQUES have infiltrators of Coalition forces! Just more hype and fear amplification sent out to the ignorant masses.

[Igel]

4. The article the OP referenced has changed,

but it's not guaranteed that the grenade wasn't used during the raid, or a dud--a stun grenade of some sort with a reloadable insert (that would look remarkably like a shotgun casing ... otherwise we'd have to supposed the US is using shotguns during raids). After all, the language quoted is clear, but the meaning ambiguous: "U.S. made grenade and shotgun canisters", and there is one of each in the photo. Obviously the text is referring to the "shotgun canister" and "grenade canister" shown. Do we assume they still have their contents?

The other facts needed are the manufacture date and who the thing was sold to. It could be munitions bought off the open market before April 2003, or after April 2003; it could be booty from some insurgent operation, or have been provided to some Iraqi soldiers/police trained/recruited by the US, either to a unit that stayed together, or one that self-disbanded early on; it could have been sold or provided by the US to some third party government. Too many questions, and, as usual, a reporter that doesn't or can't actually provide facts beyond what's necessary to make for good copy.

[Ikonoklast]

6. We gave tons of munitions

to our good friends and Freedom Fighters (Taliban) in Afghanistan. There are probably a hell of a lot more of those small arms in Iraq now to bite our soldiers in the ass.

The biggest fear was that they still had some Stinger missiles left.

[Cocoa]

3. our tax dollars at work!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. If true,

why would crosses be put on the walls of the mosque? It would seem to have been done (or merely reported to have been done) simply to inflame people. I hope we can find out for sure, as it worries me that some elements wish to make this into a war of religions-I refuse to call it a "holy war" as there is nothing holy about it.

[leftchick]

7. we have a lot of US soldiers

who are brainwashed into believing it is a holy war. The Air Force Academy comes to mind.
Pretty sick isn't it?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Yes, and dangerous

there are elements on both the Christian and Islamic sides who would like nothing better than to have this battle.