Iraqi Official Says Most Killed in Airstrike Were Foreign Terrorists (NYT)

[Whoa_Nelly]

ALLUJA, Iraq, June 20 — A day after an American airstrike destroyed six homes in this flashpoint city, a senior Iraqi official said today that 23 of 26 people killed in the attack were foreign terrorists, including men from Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

American officials had justified the strike on Saturday, the first major military action in Falluja since United States forces pulled out of the city in early May, by saying that the homes that were targeted were being used by agents of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq and the suspected mastermind of dozens of suicide attacks.

On Saturday, people pulling bodies out of the debris had said women and children were among the victims. The Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that three Iraqis were among those killed and that two Iraqis were injured, but did not provide further details.

He said it was not clear if Mr. Zarqawi himself was inside the small concrete-block homes when they were smashed to rubble by three 500-pound bombs dropped from an American warplane. But he said that American intelligence was accurate and the homes did not house civilians but terrorists.



more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/international/middleeast/20CND-FALLUJ.html

Hope this is not considered a dupe as this is new info.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. Three 500lb bombs?

Cannon, meet fly.

[Career Prole]

2. Ah yes...another one of the much-lauded "targeted strikes"...

What a crock o' sh*t. They didn't hit a thing they were aiming at with the "decapitation attacks" at the beginning of the invasion...
didn't kill anyone but civilians. Then there was the wedding party massacre. Now that the bugs are worked out of the system, of course, I trust them completely. /sarcasm off
:eyes:

[Aidoneus]

3. 3 women, 5 children, mostly members of Mohammed Hamadi's family

Something must be lost in translation when this quisling puppet reads "a farmer" to be "a terrorist mastermind". Or maybe he's just reading the fucking script that his masters shove in his face?

[Just Me]

4. How many different versions of the "truth" does this make today? n/t

[struggle4progress]

8. This is just to distract from the earlier story that all were civilians.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x634173

[TolstoyAndy]

5. LIARS !! God, do I hate liars.

"condition of anonymity" because he's a LIAR and we know because here's his source:

"But he said that American intelligence was accurate ...."

[Malva Zebrina]

6. So sad

so very sad

500 pound bombs dropped on civilians, women and even little children are dead because of it, and now they want us to believe they were enemies who needed to be killed.

Have they been conferencing with
Sharon? It seems to me this is the modus operandi used by Sharon, our ally, who knows a whole lot of things to do to kill off the perceived enemy when occupying a country for the sake of taking from it what it wants.

George Bush is indeed an evil little putrid, cowardly man. At this point, he seems to be more evil than Saddam Hussein.

It is so sad to me. Mothers have lost their babies--husbands have lost their wives. They were people like us who had nothing to do with where they were born.

[daleo]

7. He sounds like he could work at the White House

"The Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity"

In other words, an anonymous liar.

[Disturbed]

9. Iraqi Official

""The Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity"

This is pathetic. Another War Crime cover-up from BushCo.

Will BushCo ever be held accountable for War Crimes?