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http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1136031,00.html
IRAQ: 40 KILLED IN ATTACK
More than 40 people have been killed in a US helicopter attack in Iraq, according to AP news agency. Al Arabiya television has put the death toll at more than 20 civilians. Iraqi officials have said the helicopter fired on a wedding in the west of the country. Television footage has shown Iraqis digging graves and burying many bodies. The US military said it could not confirm the report and is investigating.
Lt Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people were killed in the attack, which took place about 2:45am in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said the dead included 15 children and 10 women. Doctor Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45. AP reported that Iraqi witnesses said partygoers were firing in the air in traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.
In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a US airstrike in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province. An investigative report released by the US Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire.
Oh my God.
This is just collateral damage in the US quest to get Iraqis more peace, security, and ofcourse democracy :). Grotesque as that may sound.....
Inna lillah e wa inna aleheh rajawoon
when u know the types of weekend warrior yahoos flying the planes, it is not a smart move to fire guns celebrating an event.
its also not wise to drop a bomb like an idiot..
If true, this is nothing but a war crime!
wedding at 2:45am, ehh?
Honestly UTD what do you think the 15 children and 10 women were doing before getting killed?
Your comment was pretty lame.
Firing guns in the air apparently Thap.
What does that have to do with questioning the time?
So with really sophisticated night vision and 150 000 patroling forces and Iraqi police around it took 45 deaths before they realised what was happening?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) – Pentagon officials Wednesday denied alleged eyewitness reports of a U.S. attack on a wedding party in a remote area of western Iraq that killed innocent civilians.
“Our report is that this was not a wedding party, that these were anti-coalition forces that fired first, and that U.S. troops returned fire, destroying several vehicles, and killing a number of them,” a Pentagon spokesman said.
He was responding to a video distributed by The Associated Press showing Iraqi witnesses who said that at least 20 people were killed and five others critically wounded early Wednesday when planes fired on a wedding celebration.
A man on the video said all homes in the village near the Syrian border were destroyed in the attack at about 3 a.m. local time Wednesday.
The video showed at least a dozen bodies, including small children, wrapped in blankets for burial as they were unloaded from a truck.
Men with picks and shovels were digging a series of graves in the video.
A senior military coalition official said as many as 40 people were killed in the attack, but said it was his belief that the attack was against a foreign fighters’ safehouse.
A coalition official said in a written statement that coalition forces conducted a military operation "against a suspected foreign fighter’s safehouse in the open desert, 85 km southwest of Husaybah, and 25 km from the Syrian border.
"During the operation, coalition forces came under hostile fire and close air support was provided.
“Coalition forces on the ground recovered numerous weapons, 2 million Iraqi and Syrian dinar, foreign passports and a satcom radio,” the statement said.
Asked if the incident was the same one described on videotape, he said, “Yes, it is the same incident.”
He added, “We had actionable intelligence to go after a foreign fighters’ safehouse. It is not our belief that there was a wedding party in the open desert.”
The taped witnesses identified the village as al Qa’im, which maps show is on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border, along the Euphrates River.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/19/iraq.main/index.html
sheesh utd...people party at weddings..even in pakistan wedding celebrations go on into wee hours of the morning.
and forget about mehndi/henna events they could go on till a break a dawn mon.
God.
Displays a complete lack of knowledge about local customs even after being there for more than a year. By itself, this is not a problem, but when this ignorance results in innocent people being killed, it calls into question the competency of the occupying forces.
In my view, this is a bigger scandal than the prisoner abuse.
Havent the US done this a few times in Afghanistan as well? Ive seen threads about that here. You think they would have learned something from those blunders i.e expect some fireworks during the weddings in these cultures. If they cant diffrentiate (with all the night vision goggles and spy satellites and such) between a wedding gathering and freedom fighters, then god help them.
Inna Lillahe wa Inna Ilahe Rajeun
There is no excuse for this..shame on them
OK. I can buy into the cultural differences about little kids participating in a wedding party celebration at 3 AM.
I have a harder time accepting that the numerous weapons recovered on the ground, 2 million Iraqi and Syrian dinar, foreign passports and a satcom radio were merely wedding presents. Sounds an awful lot like a "foreign fighter's safehouse" as alleged by the military. Of course, both stories could be true. Maybe it was a wedding involving foreign fighters and the reception was in their safehouse.
or that there may have been a safehouse nearby but the wrong group was attacked.
we are just speculating here..
but we can not use speculations to justify the murder of innocent civilians in any way...period.
You're absolutely correct Fraudz, this further demonstrates the need for UN intervention.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sheraz CT: *
Inna Lillahe wa Inna Ilahe Rajeun
There is no excuse for this..shame on them
[/QUOTE]
I agree, shame on them all.