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Iraqis Drag Bodies Through Streets After Attack
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged charred and mutilated bodies through the streets of the town of Falluja Wednesday after an ambush on two vehicles that witnesses said killed at least three foreigners.
Iraqis drag the body of a man after an attack in the restive town of Falluja March 31, 2004. Insurgents attacked two cars and set them on fire, burning several passengers and dragging one body outside, dancing around it and making the victory sign, witnesses said. REUTERS/Reuters Video News
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040331/ids_photos_wl/r1512140216.jpg
In a separate attack five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb was detonated beside their convoy west of Baghdad, the U.S. army said.
The Falluja violence began when two four-wheel-drive vehicles were attacked by guerrillas on a main road in the town, 32 miles west of Baghdad. A crowd then set the vehicles ablaze and hurled stones into the burning wreckage.
Television pictures showed one incinerated body being kicked and stamped on by a member of the jubilant crowd, while others dragged a blackened body down the road by its feet.
The footage showed at least three people lying dead, while some witnesses said that four were killed.
It was not clear who had been in the vehicles, both four-wheel drives of the type used by foreign contractors, journalists, civilian members of the U.S.-led coalition and some military personnel.
As one body lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi came and doused it with petrol, sending flames soaring.
At least two bodies were tied to cars and pulled through the streets, witnesses said.
"This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja," said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
A young boy beat one of the incinerated bodies after it was pulled down with his shoe as a crowd cheered.
"I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us so this is what will happen," said Mohammad, 12, looking on.
No U.S. soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area after the attack, but a U.S. fighter plane screamed overhead, prompting the crowd around one of the burned corpses to scatter.
Witnesses said they saw anywhere between four and eight people in the cars before they were attacked.
Some of the victims were wearing civilian clothes, flak jackets and were armed, witnesses said, but that was not clear from the television footage. One of those killed had fair hair and was wearing khaki trousers and a white T-shirt.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs.
Falluja has been one of the most violent, restive towns in Iraq since the U.S.-led occupation began. There are almost daily attacks on U.S. military convoys in the area.
FOREIGNERS TARGETED
More than 400 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action since the start of the war, many of them in attacks using improvised explosive devices in which an explosive charge is hidden in a plastic bag, soft drink can or dead animal and wired to a simple detonator.
As well as attacks on U.S. and coalition troops, there has been a sharp increase in insurgent strikes against foreign civilians in recent weeks.
In March alone, 12 foreign civilians have been killed in drive-by shootings or similar attacks. In the most recent incident, a Briton and a Canadian, both working as security guards, were shot and killed Sunday in the city of Mosul.
Earlier in March, two Finns were killed in Baghdad, and four U.S. missionaries were shot dead in Mosul. In Hilla, south of Baghdad, two Americans working for the U.S. civilian authority were shot in a drive-by shooting.
With less than 100 days to go before U.S. authorities hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government, the U.S. military, Iraqi police and other local security forces are still battling to bring security to the country.
Attacks occur almost every day with rockets, grenades, assault rifles, small arms or suicide bombs somewhere in Iraq. Wednesday, a car bomb blew up in Baquba, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, wounding around a dozen people, while Tuesday a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside the house of the chief of police in Hilla, but killed only himself.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4712614§ion=news
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040331/ids_photos_wl/r1512140216.jpg
In a separate attack five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb was detonated beside their convoy west of Baghdad, the U.S. army said.
The Falluja violence began when two four-wheel-drive vehicles were attacked by guerrillas on a main road in the town, 32 miles west of Baghdad. A crowd then set the vehicles ablaze and hurled stones into the burning wreckage.
Television pictures showed one incinerated body being kicked and stamped on by a member of the jubilant crowd, while others dragged a blackened body down the road by its feet.
The footage showed at least three people lying dead, while some witnesses said that four were killed.
It was not clear who had been in the vehicles, both four-wheel drives of the type used by foreign contractors, journalists, civilian members of the U.S.-led coalition and some military personnel.
As one body lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi came and doused it with petrol, sending flames soaring.
At least two bodies were tied to cars and pulled through the streets, witnesses said.
"This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja," said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
A young boy beat one of the incinerated bodies after it was pulled down with his shoe as a crowd cheered.
"I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us so this is what will happen," said Mohammad, 12, looking on.
No U.S. soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area after the attack, but a U.S. fighter plane screamed overhead, prompting the crowd around one of the burned corpses to scatter.
Witnesses said they saw anywhere between four and eight people in the cars before they were attacked.
Some of the victims were wearing civilian clothes, flak jackets and were armed, witnesses said, but that was not clear from the television footage. One of those killed had fair hair and was wearing khaki trousers and a white T-shirt.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs.
Falluja has been one of the most violent, restive towns in Iraq since the U.S.-led occupation began. There are almost daily attacks on U.S. military convoys in the area.
FOREIGNERS TARGETED
More than 400 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action since the start of the war, many of them in attacks using improvised explosive devices in which an explosive charge is hidden in a plastic bag, soft drink can or dead animal and wired to a simple detonator.
As well as attacks on U.S. and coalition troops, there has been a sharp increase in insurgent strikes against foreign civilians in recent weeks.
In March alone, 12 foreign civilians have been killed in drive-by shootings or similar attacks. In the most recent incident, a Briton and a Canadian, both working as security guards, were shot and killed Sunday in the city of Mosul.
Earlier in March, two Finns were killed in Baghdad, and four U.S. missionaries were shot dead in Mosul. In Hilla, south of Baghdad, two Americans working for the U.S. civilian authority were shot in a drive-by shooting.
With less than 100 days to go before U.S. authorities hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government, the U.S. military, Iraqi police and other local security forces are still battling to bring security to the country.
Attacks occur almost every day with rockets, grenades, assault rifles, small arms or suicide bombs somewhere in Iraq. Wednesday, a car bomb blew up in Baquba, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, wounding around a dozen people, while Tuesday a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside the house of the chief of police in Hilla, but killed only himself.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4712614§ion=news
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At least seven occupation soldiers have been killed in separate incidents in Iraq.
In one incident, soldiers hit an explosive device while driving in a vehicle in the province of al-Anbar, a US military official told Aljazeera on Wednesday.
Army officials refused to reveal the nationalities of those killed but the area is occupied by US forces.
Near the restive town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, at least two US soldiers were killed and three others were injured when their Humvee hit an explosive device, eyewitnesses told our correspondent.
In a separate incident also west of Baghdad, four foreigners were killed when their vehicles came under attack, setting them on fire, reported Aljazeera.
One witness said fighters opened fire on the vehicles in Falluja. The US army said the foreigners were contractors.
In the southern city of Basra, three British occupation soldiers were injured when an explosive device detonated near their vehicle, reported London's defence ministry.
More car bombs
The governor of Diyala province survived an assassination attempt when a bomber blew up his car moments after the governor had passed through a neighbourhood, reported our correspondent.
Twelve people, including four policemen and eight civilians, were injured.
Tensions have been high during the past 24 hours.
Late on Tuesday, occupation officials confirmed another soldier was killed in a roadside bomb in Ramadi. A second soldier was injured.
Military authorities refused to reveal their nationalities but Ramadi is occupied by US forces.
Growing frustrations
In the city of Najaf yesterday, five people were hurt in clashes between unemployed Iraqi demonstrators and Spanish troops and police.
Two policemen, a Spanish soldier and two protesters were injured when hundreds of Iraqis pelted the governor’s office and police cars with stones, said a local Iraqi police chief.
Police detained around 30 demonstrators carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Some 1300 Spanish troops are deployed in central Iraq, but incoming Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to pull them out by 30 June, unless a UN-mandated force is in place by then.
Najaf and several southern cities have already witnessed demonstrations by the unemployed, amid an estimated unemployment rate of at least 50% nationwide. But the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) says unemployment is around 30%.
'WMD' search
As the toll among occupation soldiers rises, the new head of the Iraq Survey Group told the US Senate's armed services committee he would change the direction of efforts to uncover Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
Washington offered Iraq’s alleged possession of illegal arms as one of the main justifications to launch war against Baghdad. But since the US-led invasion last March, no such weapons have been found.
The US chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer said on Tuesday his team would be looking instead at whether the ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein intended to develop WMDs.
"Ultimately what we want is a comprehensive picture, not just simply answering questions – were there weapons, were there not weapons?" Duelfer told reporters after briefing the Senate armed services committee behind closed doors.
The new quest to determine whether Saddam intended to develop weapons of mass destruction reflects the Bush administration's desperation to justify a war that has come under increasing criticism.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/854E5652-C575-4409-B627-DE92D9E540E5.htm
those who collaborate. It is exactly what would happen here if America were invaded and occupied.
Other media(even MSNBC) report that the 4 "civilians" killed were in fact private armed guards working for U.S. contractor Blackwater, which had been recruiting ex-military & special forces people all over the world. They enable the Bush regime to keep a max of 115,000 U.S. soldiers(for fear of negative U.S. domestic public opinon if more GIs were sent to an illegal & immoral War of Occupation, and one that Bush claimed to have "won" back in May of 2003!).
Blackwater Training Center was founded in 1996 to fulfill the anticipated demand for government outsourcing of firearms and related security training. Located on over 6000 acres in Moyock, North Carolina (just south of the Virginia border), Blackwater ... Since its inception, Blackwater has trained over 50,000 military and law enforcement personnel and provided solutions to hundreds of satisfied customers."
Blackwater USA's website
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
In February, Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based Pentagon contractor, began hiring former combat personnel in Chile, offering them up to $4,000 a month to guard oil wells in Iraq. The company flew the first batch of 60 former commandos to a training camp in North Carolina. These recruits will eventually wind up in Iraq where they will spend six months to a year.
"We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals – the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system," Gary Jackson, the president of Blackwater USA, told the Guardian.
While Blackwater USA is not nearly as well known as Halliburton or Bechtel – two mega-corporations making a killing off the reconstruction of Iraq – it nevertheless is doing quite well financially thanks to the White House's war on terror. The company specializes in firearm, tactics and security training and in October 2003, according to Mother Jones magazine, the company won a $35.7 million contract to train more than 10,000 sailors from Virginia, Texas, and California each year in 'force protection.'
Business has been booming for Blackwater, which now owns, as its press release boasts, "the largest privately-owned firearms training facility in the nation." Jackson told the Guardian, "We have grown 300 percent over each of the past three years and we are small compared to the big ones. We have a very small niche market, we work towards putting out the cream of the crop, the best."
The practice of using mercenaries to fight wars is hardly new, but it is becoming increasingly popular in recent years. During the first Gulf War, one out of every 50 soldiers on the battlefield was a mercenary. The number had climbed up to one in ten during the Bosnian conflict. Currently there are thousands of Bosnian, Filipino and American soldiers under contract with private companies serving in Iraq. Their duties range from airport security to protecting Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18193
Blackwater USA's website
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
In February, Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based Pentagon contractor, began hiring former combat personnel in Chile, offering them up to $4,000 a month to guard oil wells in Iraq. The company flew the first batch of 60 former commandos to a training camp in North Carolina. These recruits will eventually wind up in Iraq where they will spend six months to a year.
"We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals – the Chilean commandos are very, very professional and they fit within the Blackwater system," Gary Jackson, the president of Blackwater USA, told the Guardian.
While Blackwater USA is not nearly as well known as Halliburton or Bechtel – two mega-corporations making a killing off the reconstruction of Iraq – it nevertheless is doing quite well financially thanks to the White House's war on terror. The company specializes in firearm, tactics and security training and in October 2003, according to Mother Jones magazine, the company won a $35.7 million contract to train more than 10,000 sailors from Virginia, Texas, and California each year in 'force protection.'
Business has been booming for Blackwater, which now owns, as its press release boasts, "the largest privately-owned firearms training facility in the nation." Jackson told the Guardian, "We have grown 300 percent over each of the past three years and we are small compared to the big ones. We have a very small niche market, we work towards putting out the cream of the crop, the best."
The practice of using mercenaries to fight wars is hardly new, but it is becoming increasingly popular in recent years. During the first Gulf War, one out of every 50 soldiers on the battlefield was a mercenary. The number had climbed up to one in ten during the Bosnian conflict. Currently there are thousands of Bosnian, Filipino and American soldiers under contract with private companies serving in Iraq. Their duties range from airport security to protecting Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18193
A leaflet distributed in Falluja claimed the previously unknown "group of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin" had killed the Americans in response to the Israeli assassination of the Hamas spiritual leader last month. U.S. officials said they had never heard of that group.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20040401/wl_nm/iraq_usa_investigation_dc
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20040401/wl_nm/iraq_usa_investigation_dc
They say they were food convoy guards.
Who knows what private soldiers are really up to? Why, that's one of the major features of the arrangement.
I would gather from local response, that the locals didn't feel like their activities were so benign. We just can't tell from the press in this country. We have no idea, what they were really up to, now do we?
Who knows what private soldiers are really up to? Why, that's one of the major features of the arrangement.
I would gather from local response, that the locals didn't feel like their activities were so benign. We just can't tell from the press in this country. We have no idea, what they were really up to, now do we?
There is a lot of distaste for the Iraq conflict...I don't call it a war, they never dicerned that publicly. What we don't understand is that there will never be a democracy in Iraq, and the longer we try to prove that there can be, the longer we prolong the truth.
We need to keep our noses out of the Middle East. It's not going to help us by bombing (with nuclear arsenal, whoever the nut who said that....thank God you are not running my country we already have enough idiots running ours now.)
Foreign interests are ruining the Liberty and freedoms we have are supposed to have in the US, and by provoking other religions by trying to make their countries a 2nd, 3rd etc. US is ridiculous and dangerous!
We need to keep our noses out of the Middle East. It's not going to help us by bombing (with nuclear arsenal, whoever the nut who said that....thank God you are not running my country we already have enough idiots running ours now.)
Foreign interests are ruining the Liberty and freedoms we have are supposed to have in the US, and by provoking other religions by trying to make their countries a 2nd, 3rd etc. US is ridiculous and dangerous!
It's called Liberty, and freedom of speech...it is my God given right to speak how I want...I do defend our people over there, and what I am speaking about has nothing to do with defending our country....show me how this protects our country, has any Iraqi come over to the US and Bomb us? No, it's Al Quaeda, and until someone can show me that Iraqi citizens have anything to do that, I will defend what I write. Just because someone stands up for what "THEY" believe in, doesn't make them any less a citizen.. Read the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. I will defend my country, my property and anyone that COMES INTO my country and tries to take that away from me.....I DON'T HOWEVER "HAVE" to defend my countrys actions in a place that So Far hasn't proved to me to be Anything other than a place that had a cruel dictator and killer....Stop Policing the World...That is my Rant...and only my opinion...Yours is Yours!!
Look guys, war sucks. It's vicious and brutal. THAT'S WHY WE OPPOSE IT!!! What happened to those guys was as unconscionable as *what they were there to do to others.*
Just what the hell did you think was going to happen when you dumped a bunch of trrops into another country and started killing its population, both systematically and randomly?
I mean, duh. Some of them fight back? With sticks and rope?Well imagine that. I guess the president lied when he said it'd be a cakewalk and that we'd be welcomed as liberators.
But the atrocities only matter to you when they're Americans. Look in the mirror, if you want the real perps.
Just what the hell did you think was going to happen when you dumped a bunch of trrops into another country and started killing its population, both systematically and randomly?
I mean, duh. Some of them fight back? With sticks and rope?Well imagine that. I guess the president lied when he said it'd be a cakewalk and that we'd be welcomed as liberators.
But the atrocities only matter to you when they're Americans. Look in the mirror, if you want the real perps.
If an Arab army occupied America, we'd do the same to them, and worse.
First of all, burning and charring bodies is not justified in any means.
Fuck Iraq. We should get out of there so those assholes stop doing this, but it's too late. We've got to wipe them all out now. Genocide. It's out only option.
Let's fucking waste them.
Fuck Iraq. We should get out of there so those assholes stop doing this, but it's too late. We've got to wipe them all out now. Genocide. It's out only option.
Let's fucking waste them.
What are you saying here, that the Allies should not have burned Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Is that what you're saying?
I guess this little tiff is making more sense now.
Food convoys, indeed.
Food convoys, indeed.
and they wonder why?
and they wonder why?
The US invasion to Iraq shouldn't be happened in the first place. DO NOT BLAME IRAQIS FOR THERE ACTIONS.
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