US raids Iraqi safe house
From correspondents in Washington
May 20, 2004
PENTAGON officials said they had no information about an air attack that was reported to have killed 40 people celebrating a marriage in a village near the Iraqi-Syrian border.
But US forces raided a suspected safe house for foreign fighters in the open desert near the border, seizing large quantities of currency, foreign passports and sophisticated communications devices, a defence official said.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said the raid occurred at about 3am local time (9am AEST) about 25 kilometres from the Syrian border. The nearest town was Husaybah, the official said.
"During the operation, the coalition forces came under hostile fire, and returned fire," he said.
"Coalition forces on the ground recovered a large amount of Iraqi and Syrian currency, foreign passports and sophisticated communications equipment," he said.
In Dubai, Al Arabiya television said witnesses said an air strike killed 40 Iraqis celebrating a marriage.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9611975%255E1702,00.html
"US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us," an unidentified man who said he was from the village said on al-Arabiya.
"They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the whole village. No bullets were fired by us, nothing was happening," he added.
The Dubai-based network also showed those who survived digging graves for the numerous men, women and children that died in the raid.
A local police official told AP news agency between 42 and 45 people had died as a result of the US attack.
The US has said it has no knowledge of the alleged attack but says US forces did conduct a raid on a house in the border area. In Baghdad, a US military spokesman said the allegation was being investigated.
In July 2002, an American air strike on an Afghan wedding party killed 48 civilians.
A report released by the US Central Command said the strike was justified because American planes had come under fire.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/703336CC-8570-4740-8A08-560339A14320.htm
So, there are pictures floating around the AP.US denial over wedding deaths
By Scheherezade Faramarzi in Baghdad
May 20, 2004
US aircraft have fired on a house in the desert near the Syrian border killing more than 40 people who, according to Iraqi officials, were part of a wedding party.
The US military said the target was a suspected safehouse for foreign fighters from Syria, but Iraqis said a helicopter had attacked a wedding party.
Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one on top of the other.
Several were children, one of whom was decapitated. The body of a girl who appeared to be less than five years of age lay in a white sheet, her legs riddled with wounds and her dress soaked in blood.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9611999%255E31317,00.html
Simon666 said:Happened in Afghanistan as well, old habits are hard to break.
BoulderHead said:I was expecting a story about a pregnant girl, the fellow who put her in such condition, and the girl's angry father. I think I heard about this story recently, but I don't consider the death of innocents any less significant due to what they were attending.
Does that matter?phatmonky said:I wonder if these people in Iraq were shooting weapons in the air as well.
Such information could lead to avoidance of such events in the future.Simon666 said:Does that matter?
Obviously, the Iraqis in the story can not be taken at their word, since they are contradicting each other. Nor should we accept the US version on faith. We should find out what happened."The US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us," an unidentified man who said he was from the village said on Al Arabiya. "They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the whole village. No bullets were fired by us, nothing was happening," he added.
Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said revelers had fired volleys of gunfire into the air in a traditional wedding celebration before the attack took place. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.
The area, a desolate region populated only by shepherds, is popular with smugglers, including weapons smugglers, and the U.S. military suspects militants use it as a route to slip in from Syria to fight the Americans. It is under constant surveillance by American forces.
How come? It is tradition in the area and US helicopters fire from a distance away that they cannot be heard from, and the US army knows pretty well it is such a tradition. They could have avoided it if they wanted to instead of being trigger happy.phatmonky said:Such information could lead to avoidance of such events in the future.
Simon666 said:How come? It is tradition in the area and US helicopters fire from a distance away that they cannot be heard from, and the US army knows pretty well it is such a tradition. They could have avoided it if they wanted to instead of being trigger happy.
Sorry, I meant the US helicopters can't be heard from the distance they usually fire away from the target so you can't really say the villagers shouldn't be doing it. They were also on some remote place not far from the Syrian border, not a place like Baghdad, Fallujah, or some other hotbed. So the chance terrorists are holding a tupperware party there exchanging AK47s and RPGs is pretty small, they could have checked out before they decided to blow the place to smithereens.phatmonky said:Fire guns in the air in a war zone, even if it is tradition, is a highly dangerous (and one might argue stupid) thing to do. they cannot be heard from? The guns they are firing in the air you mean?
"Everyone," being foreign and domestic news sources as reported by Iraqis. "The US," being the US government, which says not much more than 'we're investigating.' The title of the third report does not correspond to the report: there is no "denial" in the report.Adam said:Every news agency seems to be carrying this story. Everyone except the USA says it happened. The USA says it never happened.
The reason it was under investigation in the first place was because it is a place of known terrorist activity.They were also on some remote place not far from the Syrian border, not a place like Baghdad, Fallujah, or some other hotbed. So the chance terrorists are holding a tupperware party there exchanging AK47s and RPGs is pretty small, they could have checked out before they decided to blow the place to smithereens.
That happened occasionally, the US occasionally did the same as well, like in a school in Fallujah. When an angry crowd wanted their school back, the US fired in the crowd. I hope you didn't think until now they killed those contractors for no reason or "because they hate freedom" or something like that?russ_watters said:Anyone considering the possibility that it was both a terrorist safehouse and a wedding (besides Njorl)? Remember, terrorists hide by blending in amongst civilians. Heck, they had a good example in Saddam: he built major military facilities under hospitals and schools, hid tanks in residential neighborhoods and weapons in schools.
Simon666 said:So the chance terrorists are holding a tupperware party there exchanging AK47s and RPGs is pretty small,
russ_watters said:Quit it with the rhetoric and look for some real facts before making judgements, guys.
"..it is under constant surveillance by U.S. forces"
Why was a wedding party in full swing at 02:45 am in the middle of the desert? A glance at the map would show the area in which the wedding took place was 250 kilometers from "Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi," and who "put the death toll at 45." A long way to go for medical treatment or burial when Qusabayah is 50 kilometers away. Under normal circumstances, there are two wounded for every dead. By the normal ratios there should have been at least 90 injured. There was a videotape "showing a truck containing bodies of people who were allegedly killed in the incident. Most of the bodies were wrapped in blankets and other cloths, but the footage showed at least eight uncovered, bloody bodies, several of them children. One of the children was headless." A video of the dead, but where were the wounded?
Additionally, one should be able to follow its connections to other related events, people or places. Husabayah, also known as Al-Qaim, has been in the news before. It was the scene of intense fighting between the US Marines and Syrian infiltrators all of last year, as described by Ron Harris of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which was reported once, like a traffic accident, and then forgotten, deprived of any context. Few readers can make the mental connection between the Marine frontier battles and the "wedding party".
I agree from the backwoods of NH.kat said:Syria does this **** all the time. It's the same crap they did in Lebanon, it's the same crap they did to succesfully invade and to this day continue to occupy Lebanone. Get off your Aljazeera kick and stop spreading your one sided fictional accounts.
Syria does this **** all the time.
USA does this **** all the time.