Iraqi general shot dead by US troops at checkpoint west of Ramadi: police

[leftchick]

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=38797


RAMADI, Iraq - The deputy commander of the Iraqi army in western Al-Anbar province was shot dead by US troops at a checkpoint Tuesday night, a police officer said.

"The US forces opened fire at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Brigadier General Ismail Swayed al-Obeid, who had left his base in Baghdadi to head home," police Captain Amin al-Hitti said.

"They spotted him on the road after the curfew, which goes into effect at 6 pm," the officer said in Baghdadi, 185 kilometres (142 miles) west of the capital.

No immediate reaction was available from the US military.

[proud patriot]

1. WHOOPS

x(

[pokercat999]

27. ROFLMAO. This is so ridiculous.

I wonder what foul "hate name" our military has for Iraqis? In Vietnam it was "slope-head" shorted to "slope" or "dink" or other wonderful surreptitiously sanctioned hate names.

Hate names start out being used to demonize the "enemy" but soon become the name of choice for the entire population making it easier to shrug off those accidental civilian casualties. That in turn makes it easier to commit the murder in the future.

Our troops know they are the invader now. Illegally occupying a once sovereign nation, they know they are in the wrong. They are scared and shoot first, ask questions later. Who can blame them, would you want to die for Bushco?

I begging all honorable soldiers to lay down their arms and come home, America wants and needs you, here at home. I implore you to stop now before it's too late before you can no longer say it was orders before you are branded a war criminal like your commander in chief and his cronies.

This will be written off as a friendly fire incident, BUT WE ALL KNOW BETTER.

[jpak]

29. I believe it's "Haj"

n/t

[grytpype]

32. haji = someone who has gone on the hajj

the pilgrimage to mecca that is one of the five pillars of islam...

calling iraqis "hajis" is like calling catholics "cracker munchers"

[mistertrickster]

41. Yup, and "Ali Baba" or Ali

[saigon68]

33. THEY ARE " RAG HEADS" the military has called them that for some time

Zipper heads won'r cut it.

[saskatoon]

39. Or Towel heads

[saigon68]

63. Towel Heads with " A Diaper held on their head by a Fanbelt"

Rep. John Cooksey (R-La.) told a radio interviewer that anyone wearing "a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper" should be "pulled over" for extra questioning at airports. And survey research shows that Americans overwhelmingly tie Islam and Muslims to the horrifying events of September.

[IndianaGreen]

38. Our glorious troops used hand signals, flashing lights, and warning shots

to alert the speeding car that it was approaching a roadblock. The troops had no choice but to shoot at the engine of the car. Another regretable shooting by Bush's imperial troops.

[HereSince1628]

2. Whoa, Shades of Stonewall Jackson!

Guys, place the finger OUTSIDE of the trigger guard.

NO immediate reaction...I'll bet it was a LOT like...Ohhh, Shit!

[louis-t]

3. Killing more innocent than non-innocent.

Not good.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

4. so....people out after curfew are to be shot?

this is crazy

[atreides1]

25. Rules of Engagement

Remember the official ROE, are classified, but at least now we know what one of those rules are.

[Boo Boo]

30. Yeah...

Rule #1: Shoot anything that moves.

[lonestarnot]

50. Oh yes... THE NEW FREEDOM! Democracy in action! n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

58. Makes sense. After curfew = after dark. After dark you can't see

if it is a good guy or a bad guy, so you don't take chances. It's not like a free-fire zone. It's the very reasonable precaution of opening fire on anything you can't see.

Makes perfect sense.

[htuttle]

5. I bet the US finds a way to blame this on the late General himself

Something like, 'he wouldn't stop at the checkpoint', or 'he didn't tell us he was coming' or 'he looked like an Iraqi'.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Or, he looked like a journalist. n/t

[fertilizeonarbusto]

26. LOL

You hit it right on the head.

[silvermachine]

34. Nice one...

...made my day with that. And trust me, it needed brightening!

[huckleberry]

53. That's a good one! I'm still laughing!

[leftchick]

10. I agree...

they realized he was working with the insurgents! :eyes:

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

6. Don't tell me, let me guess.....

The general looked like an Italian journalist? :shrug:

[anarchy1999]

7. What, "we" did it again? "No immediate reaction was available from

the US military." Why not?

Twice in two weeks? I have one name for what is happening now, NEGROPONTE! "Salvadoran Option", Vietnam, Chile, Venezuela, Panama, and the list goes on.............

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

61. How does shooting this man...

...accomplish anything? The motherfucking US government probably appointed his ass in the first place.

This stuff only gets reported if some high-profile person gets shot, but it happens all the time. The US media is bored by iraqi civilian deaths. To them, it's a non-story unless someone of note is shot.

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. Winning hearts and minds.

Actual dead hearts and minds.

[Dhalgren]

11. Where our footprint lands, death follows.

American presence = needless slaughter.

Hey, if those Iraqis and Italians, and Canadians, and what not don't want to get dead, they had better be someplace else!

[Walt Starr]

12. that report hit Turkey about 25 minutes ago

Place your bets, how many MSM stations will actually give this story play?

[Botany]

23. Can I play?

My bet is all of the big three networks will have it tonight but
it will be dead by tomorrow.

I will bet the farm on that.

[0007]

37. Double 0 0

[The_Casual_Observer]

45. He was probably old & ready to die anyway

[daleo]

13. If they kill enough people seemingly at random

They can claim any targeted killing is just "one of those things."

Personally, it seems likely there is more to this than a simple mistake. Al-Anbar province usually means Fallujah. He might have been ready to spill the beans about the Fallujah assault, like the Italian journalist. It seems like more than a coincidence.

Although maybe it is just a coincidence since if they kill enough people seemingly at random it can support the claim this is just "one of those things."

[bobthedrummer]

14. Somebody call Dyn Corp. for a replacement then.

:argh:

[UpInArms]

15. as bad as all of us here at DU thought

this fiasco would be, the reality is much much much worse.

:(

I would say this incident was unbelievable in its stupidity, but that would be an understatement.

[leftchick]

18. I agree...

I can only imagine what this will do to the few Iraqi soldiers who are very sincere and looked up to this General for guidance. Nothing like 100 steps backwards. :(

[NNN0LHI]

16. Wonder how long the US will investigate this? About ten minutes maybe? n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

49. 10 minutes would be a hell of a long time for this, wouldn't you say?

[CoffeeCat]

17. We've been over there for two years...

...and there is a 6:00 p.m. curfew???

How free is that?

These people are prisoners in their own homes.

Can you imagine...a foreign occupier invading the US--dropping 10,000 bombs on your town, killing 100,000+ innocent civilians and two years post-invasion you were still mandated to be locked down in your home after 6:00 p.m.?

Has the United States ever looked so incompetent and foolish?

[leftchick]

19. with no fuel, electricity and clean water.

ain't freedom grand? :(

[RevolutionStartsNow]

36. Yep, that's what our brand of freedom looks like...

Damn, isn't democracy great?

Why do so many people buy this **** that we are spreading "freedom and democracy"?

I walked past a car the other day that had a photo of a young soldier who died in Iraq taped inside the back window, it was very sad, he looked so young. And underneath it read "He died for our freedom."

Now I know the Iraqis don't feel particularly free at this point, and I'll tell you that I can't for the life of me figure out how that young kid dying made ME more free.

[jimmy47nyc]

48. sorry,but he didn't die for me..

I tell that to people who play bush's game,"died so you can be free".That's pure bullshit.He died for OIL......
:nopity: :hi: :dem:

[LibDemAlways]

56. I was thinking the same thing.

Who the hell gave us permission to tell the Iraqis when they can leave their homes?

[okieinpain]

20. I guess he was speeding to and ignored the brightly lit check point.

[Botany]

21. Please tell me again why we are there?

No connection to 9-11
No link to bin Laden
No WMDs
No threat to the USA

Hmmmmm Oil ????????? And that in March or '01 Dick Cheney had plans to
divide up Iraqi oil on his desk!

[signmike]

22. Well, the loudmouth communist bastard was probably trying to

escape back to Italy, unannounced, to blow the whistle . . . uh, I mean . . . to make up lies about the U.S. x(

[daleo]

24. Does this mean the Iraqi army will be pulling out of Iraq? n/t

[leftchick]

44. that is some real dark humor there daleo

but much appreciated. :)

[lonestarnot]

51. Yes...and maybe Poland. n/t

[jmcgowanjm]

52. Ok, you've got a choice -Iraq Army or Resistance

As a native Iraqi, knowing what the avg DUer
knows, what would your decision be:

Resistance shoots down US F-16 near Balad; American
crew bails out.

Iraqi Resistance Fighters have managed to down 2
helicopters in the ongoing fighting in the town of
‘Balaad’.

The first helicopter was an Apache type and was downed with
a C5K weapon, while the other helicopter (type undetermined
as of yet) was downed by ground fire from the Resistance.
The crews of both helicopters
perished.

As for the latest developments, the correspondent for
Mufakirat Alislam has reported that large numbers of
Resistance fighters have entered the town after a recent call
to arms by one of the local mosques.

http://www.islammemo.cc/news/one_news.asp?IDNews=59508

Balaad is about 30 klicks north of Baghdad.

[daleo]

55. I certainly don't think the Iraqi Army will be a popular career choice.

Especially since the U.S. military seems about as likely to kill its presumed allies as enemies.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

64. I wonder how many troops were under this general's command?

This is not just going to affect one Iraqi person's family. How do you think the troops who served under this general will now feel?

[Barrett808]

28. Just unbelievably pathetic

I can't think of anything more ironic or scathing to say. Words fail.

[Az_lefty]

31. Good God! They just shot him????

that's one strict curfew....:shrug:

[Donailin]

35. Godammit.

when will it ever be obvious that war is never the answer?

fucking when???

[Daphne08]

62. I don't know. I became anti-war several years ago and this

damn travesty just makes me physically ill!

[mistertrickster]

40. I hate when THAT happens. We may not be killing insurgents, but

when it comes to our allies, we're effing lethal.

[bklyncowgirl]

42. Another whoopsie.

Let's see, this month they bagged an Italian secret service agent, a Bulgarian soldier and now an Iraqi general.

Maybe they need to start examining those checkpoint procedures.

[devilgrrl]

43. What? Did they think they were Italian?

:eyes:

[xchrom]

46. what? he had a press card in the window of his car?

whad he do? piss off haliburton?

[Laurab]

47. No immediate reaction....

they have to figure out something that sounds reasonable, and that is not going to be easy. This is INSANE.

[Rex]

54. No surprise here

You know how to find John Negroponte? Just follow the trail of dead bodies. He's going to install an aura of fear all over the region.

IMO the general fella was the second to meet Negroponte's assassins. He tore Latin America apart and will now do it in the Middle East. This time he has no worries because our US guy in the UN hates the UN and our US AG loves torture! Stop with the shock, this will become common practice now.

[HeeBGBz]

57. I guess they all look alike

So what's the plan? Kill em all let God sort em out.

Sheesh. We need out of there.

[Robeson]

59. I wonder what he knew that he wasn't supposed to know....?

[da_chimperor]

60. Fuck, heads will roll over this one. n/t

[jayfish]

67. I Guess No-one Has Seen This.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1325203.htm

<SNIP>
The US military has denied that US troops shot and killed an Iraqi general at a checkpoint on Tuesday night in Iraq's western al-Anbar province.

"It is categorically untrue," said Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman.
</SNIP>

Jay

[nolabels]

65. Makes sense

Destabilize because the side your(their) on is also getting more unstable. I might not be now or this year but that sense that things are getting more tenuous in certain places feels very real.

Rational people do rational things and vis-a-versa

[Blue_Tires]

66. please tell me the general wrote for a 'commie paper'

so the pentagon and their enablers in the media can sweep this one under the rug as well

[Straight Shooter]

68. Nothing quite like risking your life every day only to be killed by allies

Dead is dead. He might as well have abstained or been on the other side.

Corporate media will never report and bush administration will never reveal how many Iraqi soldiers will give up in disgust over this incident.

I offer prayers for the deceased general, his family, and his friends.