BREAKING: More Than 40 Iraqis Die After US Planes Attack Wedding Party

[DoveTurnedHawk]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

:-(

DTH

On Edit: Here is a Yahoo story:

A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq (news - web sites), killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.

Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.

Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck containing bodies of those allegedly killed. 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 child was headless.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. hmmm

this also happened in Afghanistan... bad, bad news

this is how you win friends and allies

NOT

[keithyboy]

16. Taking a page from Gaza and Sharon's thugs

And you want to know why they hate us? I already know.

[kysrsoze]

85. Why do both Iraqi and Afghani weddings seem to attract US bombs?

Remember that one too? WTF?

[chelaque liberal]

96. You mean it's not because they hate our freedom

and the fact that we elect our leaders?

I weep for the victims of the Bush Administration.

[KansDem]

86. "They hate us for our free dumb(shits)..."

There is no place in hell deep enough for the Bush family and their henchmen...:grr:

Wow, I've hit 700! :party:

[phillybri]

2. Oh shit...

:-(

[Occulus]

3. Where on the page?

Link to the page itself?

[minkyboodle]

4. Yahoo Story on this

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

[Spazito]

5. Here is the Yahoo link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

[Snazzy]

6. AP breaking

U.S. Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis at Party

May 19, 1:12 PM (ET)

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

... (snip 2)

Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck containing bodies of those allegedly killed. 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 child was headless.



Yahoo: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=2&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

(edit: yahoo updates)

[Walt Starr]

45. So now the United States military is beheading children

Ain't that grand?

:eyes:

[BlueEyedSon]

7. As O'Franken would say, "Oy oy oy...."

[mouse7]

8. Obviously it was a GPS targeting system screw-up

They targeted weddings in Massachusetts.

[Goldmund]

12. LOL

[Scooter24]

13. LOL

OOOPS! :)

[Cooley Hurd]

9. Minneapolis Star-Tribune link:

U.S. attack reportedly kills more than 40 at wedding

<snip>
Associated Press
May 19, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.
</snip>

[Ripley]

10. I can just imagine how that will play..."headless child".

The repuke boys on radio and TV will say "so what, it happened to an American first."

Brace yourselves for a new low by the hateful in this country...

[hadrons]

11. and remember its our freedoms why they hate us

[Beetwasher]

14. Just When You Think It Can't Possibly Get Any Worse

It gets worse by orders of magnitude....

[TrogL]

15. This will inflame millions

[dbt]

17. BAD flashback, circa 1968

"Hey, Hey, LBJ!
How many kids did you kill today?"

Tell me again how this ain't like Viet Nam?

:freak:
dbt

[saigon68]

32. ITS WORSE----ITS IRAQ-NAM

It's been going on for thousands of years.

[amber dog democrat]

We had to destroy the country

in order to save it.

Yet another episode in the US endeavor to win hearts and minds.

Watch Bush apologize to Norway for this.

[oldcoot]

35. One big difference

LBJ at least at the decency not to run for reelection. If Bush had any morals, he would follow LBJ's example.

[WildClarySage]

104. Bec ause Bush has actually been to Iraq. n/t

.

[Cooley Hurd]

18. American ground troops confirmed it was a wedding before...

...the helicopters attacked?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

<snip>
Al-Ani said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. Two houses were destroyed, he said.

U.S. troops took the bodies and the wounded in a truck to Rutba hospital, he said.
</snip>

Ground troops actually investigated what the group was doing, and they still decimated them with Apaches????

:wtf:

[wubbathompson]

19. What kind of wedding takes place at 2:45 a.m.?

Is that some kind of tradition. Doesn't sound very weddingish to me.

[Cooley Hurd]

21. It was probably a reception of some sort...

...they have them too. And, just like ours, they could run into the wee hours of the morning.

[keithyboy]

22. Was that our time or their time?

My sister's reception wasn't over until 4:00 am. and we lived in PA.

[info being]

26. Only Americans go home at 10:00. Most people around the world

Know how to Party!!! My wedding & reception in Slovakia went on until for over 24 hours, with just a few hours of sleep.

[wubbathompson]

33. That sounds cool!

Maybe my tin foil hat was going off a little too much. Thanks for the info

[Laughing Mirror]

30. No report says a wedding is taking place at 2:45

It says that the attack took place around 2:45. The wedding party could very well have ended sometime before the attack. The partiers may have all been sound asleep when the helicopters began firing for all we know.

[Cocoa]

36. it's obvious it was a fake wedding

there's no way we would bomb a real wedding, so it must be fake. /sarcasm

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

70. Gimel? Is that you? (nt)

[denverbill]

38. It's very common in the Arab world.

This is almost identical to what happened to a wedding party in Afghanistan.

[wubbathompson]

52. I feel so sorry for these people

on what was the happiest day of at least two lives

[robbedvoter]

93. Serves them well - stay up late heathens! next time go to bed early!

[jobendorfer]

101. only by american cultural standards

There are cultures where wedding celebrations go on for
days, even weeks.

This is part of the problem we're having in Iraq: we
don't understand the culture we've invaded. Plunk
a bunch of educated-by-MTV-and-Baywatch 19 year-olds
in a country dominated by a different culture, different
moral standards, three variants of a different religion,
speaking a language that maybe 1 in 5,000 of the troops
can speak fluently, different body language, etc, and
I'm surprised this doesn't happen daily. Maybe it does,
and this time the cameras happened to be in the right
place. Sorta like Rodney King.

J.

[TrogL]

113. Mine

Reception went on 'til 4 a.m.

[keithyboy]

20. After this, I wouldn't doubt that Sistani calls for Jihad.

We are removing all reason for there to be any 'moderate' 'pro-west' Iraqis.

[onehandle]

23. USA! USA! USA! nt

[flamingyouth]

24. I am sick reading this

We will pay for the sins of the Bush cartel for generations.

[Just Me]

25. What the hell!!!

I just,...I don't know what to say or think or feel.

To think, Powell was condemning "Arabs" for failing to demonstrate adequate outrage at the brutal killing of a single American citizen.

Will Powell show outrage at the brutal killing of 25 women and children plus an additional 20 Iraqi men?

[SodoffBush]

27. Is Bush in a race to top Sharon's atrocities?

If so, the Chimp has succeeded.

Truly, the US is "governed" by the insane.

[bluedog]

28. said the same thing

are we on the same path as Sharon and seeing how many innocents we can kill??

[blueknight]

29. i cant wait,

i know somehow clinton will be blamed for this. lol

[SodoffBush]

46. It's getting to the point

where I feel like picking up a machine gun, heading over to Iraq and going after America's jackasses myself. If I feel that way, imagine how the Muslim world feels.

I can't help but feel the Bushies are doing everything they can to piss the world off in an effort to topple the United States.

[VolcanoJen]

31. What is it with us and wedding parties????

Jesus...

[info being]

54. Don't you know, its dangerous when people gather...

Especially when large groups of people have fun...you know, they should be sitting at home, watching TV, and dreaming about what they want to buy.

[Beaverhausen]

34. Bush's Holy War

He wants one and he's gonna have it no matter what.

This just blows my mind.:mad:

[bluedog]

39. some repugs on other boards are actually glad..........

REPUGS DEFEND KILLING WOMEN & CHILDREN

and then take their bibles out and pray to Jesus!

Amen, baby killers!

[Goldmund]

51. My fave:

Sorry, but that's just the law of natural consequences at work.

Nobody made these apes recklessly discharge their weapons into the air and so long as we continue the guise of viewing them as humans, they'll have to take responsibility for their own actions.

Freeperland, of course.

[scarletwoman]

107. "apes"?!?!? What a good little Nazi,

has that untermenschen mindset down pat.

...the guise of viewing them as humans -- how unbelievably vile!

sw

[Beaker]

56. here's what one freeper had to say-

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138594/posts

"Sorry, but that's just the law of natural consequences at work.

Nobody made these apes recklessly discharge their weapons into the air and so long as we continue the guise of viewing them as humans, they'll have to take responsibility for their own actions.


12 posted on 05/19/2004 10:41:33 AM PDT by Owl_Eagle




lovely.

[maxrandb]

88. I sent CNN the Freeper link

Went to their contact us link at the bottom of the CNN page and asked them to take a look and expose real "compassionate conservatism"

I would love for the American people to see the views of those fervently supporting our Pres. Please do the same. This comment from the freeper thread made me almost puke.

"One of the Children was headless"

"That was our revenge for Nick Berg"

[Cooley Hurd]

37. Finally breaking on CNN: they claim only 20 dead...

...showing the AP video now...

...people digging graves. :grr:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

50. CNN is right on schedule trying to lessen the impact of wiping out a...

...40-person wedding party. CNN tells us that it was ONLY 20 people so that must make it okay. Additionally, everyone knows that information coming directly from the scene is terribly unreliable, right?

Sick bastards. I hope those CNN whores have trouble sleeping for the rest of their lives.

[Divernan]

78. Did the US troops "lose" 20 + bodies on way to hospital?

Post 18 above quotes Yahoo report as saying the U.S. troops took the dead and wounded to a hospital. Would sure like to see the Red Cross investigate and produce a list of wedding guests killed or wounded, as per the survivors, if any, versus who showed up at the hospital.

[Cooley Hurd]

84. I think CNN has a hard-and-fast rule about reporting casualites...

If the casualties are favorable to the US (i.e. insurgent casualties), add 20. If the casualties are unfavorable to the US (i.e. innocents and US troops), cut the number in half... :grr:

[0007]

99. ...only 20? This will always in the minds of those that attended

Why have we become this horrible monster?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

40. Well, gosh, folks. We had excellent intelligence from our Iraqi allies...

...that they were a bunch of Saddamite "dead-enders" in bio-lab trailers guarding a shipment of Ukrainian nuclear briefcases! Not only that, but we had verification by the NeoCon Pentagon-based OSP using remotely piloted vehicles, and we had the "green light" from HQ hunkered down in the Green Zone bunkers. The CIA tried to tell us not to hit the target, but we know those people have terrible intelligence data.

I just don't understand how we could have screwed this up.

{{{Heavy, dripping sarcasm turned off.}}}

[maddezmom]

41. CNNi now reporting

attack by the Syrian border, they are showing video tape now. Very sketchy info at this time, just reading the report from the AP.

[Walt Starr]

42. Could this have been a case of Chimpy see, Chimpy do?

This is almost exactly what Sharon's thugs in the IDF pulled in the Gaza strip!

What evil fucks in both Israel and the United States!

[daleo]

43. On the same day as the Gaza protester killings by Israel

Presumably not connected, but definitely not good optics in the Arab world.

[VLC98]

44. Absolutely sickening.

Even if the pilot didn't receive the information that it was a wedding party, what could he have thought he was firing on? Is there any significance to the location, near the border with Syria and Jordan?

[Minstrel Boy]

47. "We'll only know them as 'Dead Iraqis'"

A song that breaks my heart, written last year, for 11 family members who were gunned down at a US checkpoint. MP3 available at the website.

Dead Iraqis
to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s "Deportees"

The missiles they fly and the bombs keep on falling
Your city is crumbling, you're all terrified
Pack everyone in, make a dash for the border
Fifteen in your family, you ran for your lives

Your father's own father — he fought the invaders
Your father — he welcomes them dressed to the nines
Your brothers and sisters and babies are with you
They rode that truck until most of them died

(Chorus)
Goodbye to this family shot down by our soldiers
And those who a thousand cruise missiles roll over
You won't have a name when you're killed by our airplanes
All they will call you is dead Iraqis

All of this is illegal and none of it warranted
Not moral or just or sanctioned by law
The world cries for peace and the world cries for justice
The Bush-thieves and profiteers only know war

They died in their houses and died in their markets
Blown up on the front lines — picked off on the plains
They died 'neath the rubble our bombs made of buildings
Soldiers, civilians, they died just the same

The warplanes drop death over Baghdad and Basra
Fireballs of murder that light up the sky
Who are all these strangers all scattered like red leaves?
The media just calls them "dead Iraqis"

I want to remember that terrified family
Wiped out at a checkpoint by frightened Marines
Bakhat and Lamea lost most of their loved ones
But we'll only know them as "dead Iraqis"

http://georgemann.home.att.net/deadiraqis.html

[JohnOneillsMemory]

122. 'Regarding Numbers' (inspired by Fallujah)

Regarding Numbers.

Check the president's approval numbers as
Fallujah buries its dead.
What's the death count?
What the hell?
Who knows

How many bodies shattered by munitions.
Or burned away by fire.

Or buried promptly according to custom.
Where ever possible.
At home. In a stadium.
On the side of the road.

Disappearing like targets in a video arcade. 'Pop.' All gone.

"The Marines are very good at what they do," said the general.
How fortunate for the coalition of the willing.
Hired guns don’t even count.
Under the table.

No accountability.
No damned numbers.

Not like Enron. We consider the losses in numbers.
But the bodies, like the books, are cooked.

No one we knew.
All gone.

[Dover]

48. Is all this brutality a deliberate attempt to ignite the whole Middle East

What other explanation can their be. We go from one abomination (a bombed nation) to another with no apologies...unless absolutely necessary...and with as much disrespect for human lives as is possible. And this right on the eve of questions regarding war crimes. WHAT IS GOING ON???

[Cooley Hurd]

55. Maybe...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=563570

:scared:

[Karenina]

97. And what about Najaf

now that tanks have rolled over the cemetery? :wtf:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

59. It really makes one wonder, doesn't it? And I wouldn't be a bit...

...surprised to find out that it is being done in a deliberate fashion to ignite the whole region.

There are some dangerously sick people that are in control of our country...something has got to be done, and the sooner the better.

[Just Me]

60. The neocon PNACers DO want a world war, no doubt about it. n/t

[underpants]

49. Please tell me that their hearts and minds survived!!!

Sorry this is so sad that only dark humor seemed fitting.

[BeHereNow]

53. FUBAR!!!!

Just when you think it can't get any worse,
IT DOES!
BHN

[truthseeker1]

57. Neo-con plan to antagonize Islamic world

Well, this just adds to the theory that the neocon cabal's master plan is to stir shit up just to antagonize the Islamic world to perpetuate further invasions into Middle Eastern countries.

I'm so sick of this being done in my/our name and for "freedom" and "liberation." The rest of the world can see through the bogus rhetoric, why can't middle America see it????

[Goldmund]

67. I absolutely agree

I've had this theory from the start -- they only said "cakewalk" so they can sell it. They never thought it was going to be a cakewalk. Their plan is for it to get worse so they can expand this insanity.

[truthseeker1]

81. All one has to do is spend some time on the PNAC website

I think that is going to be my main line of defense from now on against right-wingers (which unfortunately includes most of my family). "Just go read up on the PNAC....then you'll see what I'm talking about...."

No conspiracy theories needed (although I have plenty of those too!):evilgrin:

[info being]

58. It's amazing how many evil Fascists are posting on the board

Look at the message board of the yahoo link: http://post.news.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=NEWS&action=l&ft=1&board=37138459&sid=37138459&title=Two%20U.S.%20Civilians%2C%20Iraqi%20Killed%20in%20Iraq%0A&tid=apiraqattack&date=03-10-2004&url=story.news.yahoo.com%2Fnews%3Ftmpl%3Dstory%26u%3D%2Fap%2F20040310%2Fap_on_re_mi_ea%2Firaq_attack_1&.sig=JcpuK9mIz0ND_JuwtlxoKw--

[Flagg]

69. Scary...

[Sapphocrat]

61. Oh, repukes! Hey, repuuuukes!

Hey, repukes! You wanna talk to us now about bombing one little ol' aspirin factory?

I thought not.

[David__77]

62. More "Iraqi freedom?"

These are the images that define the "freedom" US bombs and guns are bringing to the children of Iraq. They are justified to burn with hatred.

[paranoid floyd]

63. Typical Freeper Response

Holy shit these people are fucked. This is what Owl_Eagle has to say:

"Sorry, but that's just the law of natural consequences at work. Nobody made these apes recklessly discharge their weapons into the air and so long as we continue the guise of viewing them as humans, they'll have to take responsibility for their own actions."

Talk to me when your kids have been slaughtered asshole.

[Minstrel Boy]

68. That attitude matches the monstrosity of the offense.

"Nobody made these apes recklessly discharge their weapons into the air"

Far better to recklessly discharge weapons into innocents whose faces you never even see.

[salin]

71. er... so when any gun in the US is accidentally misfired ... say... out

in one's yard... it would be a legitimate response for the local guard to blow the house (and all in it) away? Don't think his buds really want to embrace this bozo's logic. Then again - for those who don't think - the lack of logic isn't ever a problem (eg seeing what the logic would mean if it were applied domestically).

[minkyboodle]

75. disgusting

n/t

[Sagan]

64. So what's the big deal?

We don't count Iraqi civilian casualties, so if we don't count them they're not really dead. Right?

[Flagg]

65. Hey Collin, we're waiting for your outrage.!

if this isn't terrorism,then what is ?

[joeunderdog]

103. Powell helped sustain President Reagan’s veto of an Anti-Genocide pact

After the 1988 chemical attack on innocent Iraqi citizens, an Anti-Genocide accord was reached, requiring sanctions against aggressors and cutting off military aid to any offending country. Powell was the most instrumental figure in gathering the support necessary to sustain the veto of that accord.

Mr. Humanitarian
Mr. Good Soldier
Miss Understood

[Terran]

66. Goddamn it...

...f*cking nightmare. Our troops investigated and left the area, and THEN they blew these women and children to hell? How can this happen with Rummy's small nimble hightech army? </sarcasm>

[qwertyMike]

72. Yeah that'll win,,

THE HEARTS & MINDS

[Spoon]

73. This is horrible.

Wedding parties can be juicy targets, for those with evil intentions. Whose wedding was it, is my question?

The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating, per the Yahoo article (they did admit to blowing up the Afghan wedding party, for what it's worth). Obviously, the US isn't the only ones with explosives in Iraq, and a civil war is brewing.

[reprobate]

123. The US is the only party with "close air support"

[Alpharetta]

74. should've used the smartbombs. those things are precise

/sarcasm

[Onlooker]

76. I hate to use the "N" word as in Nazi ...

... but sometimes I wonder if the German people felt the same way when they got word of Nazi atrocities. While we're not committing crimes on the scale of Nazis, we are committing some of the worst crimes by a western nation since WWII or at least certainly since the start of the Information Age. At what point do our atrocities became crimes of historical dimension?

[jobycom]

80. Use it, it's appropriate. We are in the midst of it.

We are the Nazis now. We are the genocidal criminals that will go down in history books as bloody monsters. Get used to it. In twenty years people will ask us why we did nothing, how we could have done this, how we could have allowed Bush to continue.

[ElementaryPenguin]

115. I hate supporting Nazis (which we ALL are financially) even more!

This is so fucking disgusting!

:mad:
:argh:
:puke:

[rumguy]

77. the blood is on *'s hands, as well as the neocons and the freepers

hey freepers can ya feel that blood on your hands? how does it feel. I hold you personally responsible for this. You freepers are the scum of the earth. You are pieces of human garbage!

[MallRat]

79. WTF were we DOING?

:wtf:

What target were we aiming for that could possibly warrant this kind of wholesale slaughter? The entire senior staff of Al Qaeda?

We, and the rest of the world, deserve an explanation.

I'm not holding my breath.

:-(

[HGSpectre]

82. Sad and sickly ironic...

from an administration so committed to the "protection" of marriage.

[sofa king]

90. Maybe it was a gay wedding.

[Karenina]

98. Erraaaa...

:spank:

[Ezlivin]

83. Can we go back to diplomacy now?

We've already killed many more innocent civilians than died on 9/11.

Can we call it "even" and get the hell out?

NOTE: Remember to send a copy of "Sorrows of Empire" by Chalmers Johnson to everyone.

[sofa king]

87. I wonder if this is Son of Project Phoenix at work.

This isn't the first wedding we've shot up:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002/07/01/bombs.htm

That one was categorized as an accident, too, but several years ago a drunk guy in a bar told me a little bit about how Project Phoenix worked back in the 'Nam. He claimed that when we couldn't get to the leaders we wanted, we kidnapped their wives and children, knocked off their friends and former schoolmates, and shot up family holiday ceremonies and weddings. Sorry, I've not a shred of corroborating evidence for that, so take it with a big grain of salt.

But accidents like this aren't supposed to happen twice.

[WildClarySage]

108. Read something the other day

about kidnapping wives and kids being SOP in Iraq also.

[TacticalPeek]

89. Shrub puts the FU in FUBAR.

Said at TalkingPointsMemo today re: Doug Feith, but we all know where the buck really stops, competent recipient or not.

[robbedvoter]

91. Using the Afghanistan strategery? I guess that was a success, right?

next step: "cede power" and get the whole damn mess off the news, the way we did with Afghanistan.

[RebelYell]

92. Don't they have a clue to what they're doing over there?

Did they just turn a bunch of kids loose with bombs and guns and tell them to shoot 'em up like a bad western?

I'd feel safer if our military was run by Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz.

[Pithlet]

94. No reason for this.

Those poor people. Those poor babies....:( I'm sickened and disgusted, and anyone, like those Freepers, who think they're "just Iraqis" is no better than the terrorists. Anyone who thinks they had it coming because they were shooting guns in celebration is a heartless moron. They should be allowed to celebrate a wedding without being afraid their child's head will be blown off by an occupying country that shouldn't be there to begin with.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

95. This event and the "new disk of abuse photos found"...

...(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5012911/)...ought to really boost support worldwide for the fine, fine work our president is doing over there. They love their freedom, and nothing will stop us from giving it to them. Nothing.

[Karenina]

100. EEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!

Hey, you need to put a "graphic" warning on that shit!!! :spank:

[Just Me]

117. For REAL!!! The four faces of evil. Do a "alert-graphic" next time.

:grr:

YIKES!!!

[maddezmom]

110. "4 pigs at the feed trough"

:puke:

[CPops57]

102. The freepers are acting beyond disgusting in their reactions to this....

...I feel bad for the Iraqis who were killed. This is a horrible thing.

[Just Me]

118. I have observed that only the subhuman dehumanize other humans.n/t

[teryang]

105. More magnificent work

...don't they do any identification before they fire? Just when you think it can't get any worse.

This is a command and control problem. The idea that your life is in jeopardy therefore anything goes is a definite part of the problem in Iraq. I wonder if there is anyone who briefed this target or cleared them to fire. Does that person and the shooter even know what they've done.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

106. Somebody doesn't like weddings.

[KamaAina]

109. Suggested AA bumper music for this: "Maria's Wedding", Black 47

an Irish-American band well-known in the Tri-State area but less so elsewhere (Black '47 refers to the potato famine of 1847):

http://www.fatznew.com/song_of_the_day/jul1.htm

Oh Maria, I'm so sorry I wrecked your wedding
You've just gotta believe me
But just the thought of you takin' your clothes off for that jerk
Oh, it got me drinkin' and then suddenly I'm staggerin' into church
And I'm dancin' like Baryshnikov all across the high altar
Oh I bet that you're still mortified
But just think, girl,
No one's ever gonna be forgetting
The day I wrecked your wedding

Oh Maria, I'd get down on my knees girl
You've just gotta believe me
But just the sight of you in your brand new weddin' dress
Oh, it got me so upset
And then your father's screamin' and callin' me
"You no good lazy punk
I always knew you were a drunk"
And your mother, she's havin' her 19th nervous breakdown
But just think girl
No one's ever gonna be forgetting
The day I wrecked your wedding ...

They wrote that years before Bush*. How did they know a dry(?)-drunk pResident would go around some day wrecking weddings all over the Middle East?!

Edit: "suggested"

[crossroads]

111. Iraqi wedding partys are magnets for bombs.

That is about as true as what we are hearing now. Damage control spin has these *insurgent* women and children firing at the US first! Riiiight!
:eyes:

[davidinalameda]

112. why?

that's all I ask is why this happened

[DoyBoy]

114. Maybe....

they had intel of al-Zarqawi's missing prosthetic leg attending the wedding.

</sarcasm>

[pinniped]

116. Radio news dude said it was an AC-130 gunship.

n/t

[Barrett808]

119. Grim images of the funeral procession here

Iraqis mourn over those killed during a wedding party in this image from television, in Ramadi, Iraq (news - web sites), Wednesday, May 19, 2004, following an alleged missile attack by U.S. Armed Forces. (AP Photo/APTN) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040519/481/ny11405192017)

More here:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=Ramadi

[Barrett808]

120. Kimmit sez "Coalition forces came under hostile fire"

from foreign fighters:

In Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said US forces had targeted a building suspected of housing foreign fighters.

"Coalition forces came under hostile fire and close air support was provided," Kimmitt read from a statement sent to AFP.

"Coalition forces on the ground recovered numerous weapons, two million Iraqi and Syrian dinar, foreign passports, and a SATCOM radio," he added.

He said the attack took place at 3:00 am (1100 GMT Tuesday) 85 kilometres (55 miles) southwest of Husaybah, and 25 kilometres from the Syrian border.

Whom do we believe? Of course, it doesn't matter what we believe -- what do the Iraqis believe?

[atreides1]

121. Radio Report

Said it was a safe house for fighters crossing the Syrian/Iraqi border. This is going to go the same way that the attack on the Afghan
wedding party went.

The Nazis HQ in Baghdad will make up some story, and the sheep will buy into it.

Nothing to see here.