CBS 2 - New York News: World Wire: "Hospital in Germany copes with heavy flow of wounded from Iran, Afghanistan | Sunday May 29, 2005 | By MATT MOORE | Associated Press Writer
...
An average of about 23 patients arrive each day most from Iraq, where more than 12,350 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have been injured since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. The flow can spike sharply, as it did during the battle for Fallujah: 537 over two days.
Fighting in Afghanistan adds more patients. Since troops arrived there in October 2001, 455 have been wounded in action through early this May, almost all of them coming to Landstuhl with injuries and wounds not normally found in a civilian hospital.
In civilian medicine, ``a blast injury is a very rare event,'' said Army Col. Rhonda Cornum, the hospital's medical director. ``Unfortunately, it's a very common thing here.''
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Car bombs, suicide attacks kill 49, 130 Wounded, 5 US troops dead
Car bombs, suicide attacks kill 49, scores hurt - Iraq's new chapter - MSNBC.com: "Iraqi security official slain; 5 U.S. troops die over weekend | Associated Press | Updated: 6:26 p.m. ET May 23, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed at least 49 Iraqis and wounded more than 130 Monday, striking a Baghdad restaurant popular with police, a Shiite mosque and the home of a community leader near Mosul.
...
About 610 people, including 49 U.S. troops, have been killed since April 28, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his new government. ...
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed at least 49 Iraqis and wounded more than 130 Monday, striking a Baghdad restaurant popular with police, a Shiite mosque and the home of a community leader near Mosul.
...
About 610 people, including 49 U.S. troops, have been killed since April 28, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his new government. ...
Saturday, May 21, 2005
US Apache helicopters joined the battle: 10 IRAQIS KILLED 'IN US BUNGLE'
Mirror.co.uk - News - 10 IRAQIS KILLED 'IN US BUNGLE': "20 May 2005
BUNGLING US forces were accused of killing guards protecting an Iraqi politician yesterday.
National Assembly member Fawaz al-Jarba said the guards opened fire at insurgents who shot at his house in Mosul.
US Apache helicopters joined the battle. Al-Jarba, a Sunni and recent candidate for parliament speaker, said 10 guards died and claimed his home was bombed. He asked: 'The terrorists were firing at me. Why did the Americans?'"
BUNGLING US forces were accused of killing guards protecting an Iraqi politician yesterday.
National Assembly member Fawaz al-Jarba said the guards opened fire at insurgents who shot at his house in Mosul.
US Apache helicopters joined the battle. Al-Jarba, a Sunni and recent candidate for parliament speaker, said 10 guards died and claimed his home was bombed. He asked: 'The terrorists were firing at me. Why did the Americans?'"
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Marine-led campaign didn't distinguish between the Iraqis who supported the United States and the fighters battling it.
KR Washington Bureau | 05/16/2005 | Marine-led campaign killed friends and foes, Iraqi leaders say: "Mon, May. 16, 2005 | By Hannah Allam and Mohammed al Dulaimy | Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - When foreign fighters poured into villages with jihad on their minds and weapons in their hands, some Iraqi tribesmen in western desert towns fought back.
...
And when they still couldn't uproot the terrorists streaming in from Syria, tribal leaders said, they took a most unusual step: They asked the Americans for help.
...
In interviews, influential tribal leaders and many residents of the remote border towns said the 1,000 U.S. troops who swept into their territories in the weeklong campaign that ended over the weekend didn't distinguish between the Iraqis who supported the United States and the fighters battling it.
"The Americans were bombing whole villages and saying they were only after the foreigners," said Fasal al Goud, a former governor of Anbar province who said he asked U.S. forces for help on behalf of the tribes. "An AK-47 can't distinguish between a terrorist and a tribesman, so how could a missile or tank?"
BAGHDAD, Iraq - When foreign fighters poured into villages with jihad on their minds and weapons in their hands, some Iraqi tribesmen in western desert towns fought back.
...
And when they still couldn't uproot the terrorists streaming in from Syria, tribal leaders said, they took a most unusual step: They asked the Americans for help.
...
In interviews, influential tribal leaders and many residents of the remote border towns said the 1,000 U.S. troops who swept into their territories in the weeklong campaign that ended over the weekend didn't distinguish between the Iraqis who supported the United States and the fighters battling it.
"The Americans were bombing whole villages and saying they were only after the foreigners," said Fasal al Goud, a former governor of Anbar province who said he asked U.S. forces for help on behalf of the tribes. "An AK-47 can't distinguish between a terrorist and a tribesman, so how could a missile or tank?"
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Trigger-happy US troops:"I explained that their tactics were alienating the civil population and could lengthen the insurgency by a decade.
Telegraph | News | Trigger-happy US troops 'will keep us in Iraq for years': "By Sean Rayment | (Filed: 15/05/2005)
British defence chiefs have warned United States military commanders in Iraq to change their rules for opening fire or face becoming bogged down in a terrorist war for a decade or more.
The Telegraph has learnt that the warning was issued last month in response to a series of incidents that led to the deaths of Iraqi civilians, mainly at checkpoints, after soldiers opened fire in the mistaken belief that they were being attacked by suicide bombers.
The warning is said to have taken the form of advice from senior officers who accompanied Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the chief of the General Staff, on a recent trip to southern Iraq and Baghdad to visit British troops.
...
A British officer said that some of the tactics employed by American forces would not be approved by British commanders.
The officer said: "US troops have the attitude of shoot first and ask questions later. They simply won't take any risk.
"It has been explained to US commanders that we made mistakes in Northern Ireland, namely Bloody Sunday, and paid the price.
"I explained that their tactics were alienating the civil population and could lengthen the insurgency by a decade. Unfortunately, when we ex-plained our rules of engagement which are based around the principle of minimum force, the US troops just laughed."
British defence chiefs have warned United States military commanders in Iraq to change their rules for opening fire or face becoming bogged down in a terrorist war for a decade or more.
The Telegraph has learnt that the warning was issued last month in response to a series of incidents that led to the deaths of Iraqi civilians, mainly at checkpoints, after soldiers opened fire in the mistaken belief that they were being attacked by suicide bombers.
The warning is said to have taken the form of advice from senior officers who accompanied Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the chief of the General Staff, on a recent trip to southern Iraq and Baghdad to visit British troops.
...
A British officer said that some of the tactics employed by American forces would not be approved by British commanders.
The officer said: "US troops have the attitude of shoot first and ask questions later. They simply won't take any risk.
"It has been explained to US commanders that we made mistakes in Northern Ireland, namely Bloody Sunday, and paid the price.
"I explained that their tactics were alienating the civil population and could lengthen the insurgency by a decade. Unfortunately, when we ex-plained our rules of engagement which are based around the principle of minimum force, the US troops just laughed."
Friday, May 13, 2005
Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed since Saturday
Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed since Saturday: "Friday 13th May, 2005
Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed since Saturday "
Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed since Saturday "
Thursday, May 12, 2005
The Pentagon secretly keeps track of many grim statistics in Iraq. The numbers are not encouraging.
Body Counts - Newsweek The War on Iraq - MSNBC.com: "WEB EXCLUSIVE | By Christopher Dickey | Updated: 3:31 p.m. ET May 11, 2005
The Pentagon secretly keeps track of many grim statistics in Iraq. The numbers are not encouraging.
The morning news from Iraq today brought fresh chronicles of slaughter. Yes, even more than usual. American troops are waging an offensive they call Operation Matador in a remote stretch of desert near the Syrian border, while suicide bombs are going off in Iraq’s towns and cities, including the capital. Who’s winning? Who’s losing? Who knows? ...
...
... An accidentally declassified Pentagon report about a killing on the road to Baghdad airport at the beginning of March shows quite clearly how much worse the overall situation is than the Bush administration would like us, or even its allies in the Coalition forces, to believe.
“The U.S. considers all of Iraq a combat zone,” says the report, which was wrapped up at the end of April, three months after the elections that were supposed to have turned the tide in this conflict. “From July 2004 to late March 2005,” says the document, “there were 15,527 attacks against Coalition Forces throughout Iraq.” Then comes one of several paragraphs marked S//NF (secret, not for distribution to foreign nationals): “From 1 November 2004 to 12 March 2005 there were 3306 attacks in the Baghdad area. Of these, 2400 were directed against Coalition Forces.” In a span of four and a half months, which included the election turning point, that’s not only a hell of a lot of hits in the capital city, it’s just pure hell.
...
... Everyone knows the eight-mile road from downtown Baghdad to the airport is dangerous. Here’s how dangerous: “(S//NF) Between 1 November 2004 and 12 March 2005, there were 135 attacks or hostile incidents that occurred along Route Irish,” as the military calls the airport highway. That’s just about one attack per day during those months, by the Pentagon’s calculations, or, looking at it another way, almost 17 attacks per mile. There were nine “complex attacks” combining, say, the explosion of a roadside bomb along with small-arms fire and mortars; there were 19 explosive devices found, three hand grenades, seven “indirect fire attacks” 19 roadside explosions, 14 rocket-propelled grenades, 15 car bombs and four other kinds of attacks. Investigators into the March 4 shooting had a grenade thrown at them when they tried to visit the scene.
...
ut just before she died, Marla wrote a report with a partial number she said she’d received from U.S. military sources: 29 civilians killed by small-arms fire in Baghdad alone during firefights between U.S. troops and insurgents over the course of five weeks before April 5. Estimates of the total number of Iraqi civilian casualties in this war, calculated by reporters and human-rights groups, have ranged from about 10,000 to the much-less-plausible 100,000. Does the Pentagon know? If so, it should tell.
The Pentagon secretly keeps track of many grim statistics in Iraq. The numbers are not encouraging.
The morning news from Iraq today brought fresh chronicles of slaughter. Yes, even more than usual. American troops are waging an offensive they call Operation Matador in a remote stretch of desert near the Syrian border, while suicide bombs are going off in Iraq’s towns and cities, including the capital. Who’s winning? Who’s losing? Who knows? ...
...
... An accidentally declassified Pentagon report about a killing on the road to Baghdad airport at the beginning of March shows quite clearly how much worse the overall situation is than the Bush administration would like us, or even its allies in the Coalition forces, to believe.
“The U.S. considers all of Iraq a combat zone,” says the report, which was wrapped up at the end of April, three months after the elections that were supposed to have turned the tide in this conflict. “From July 2004 to late March 2005,” says the document, “there were 15,527 attacks against Coalition Forces throughout Iraq.” Then comes one of several paragraphs marked S//NF (secret, not for distribution to foreign nationals): “From 1 November 2004 to 12 March 2005 there were 3306 attacks in the Baghdad area. Of these, 2400 were directed against Coalition Forces.” In a span of four and a half months, which included the election turning point, that’s not only a hell of a lot of hits in the capital city, it’s just pure hell.
...
... Everyone knows the eight-mile road from downtown Baghdad to the airport is dangerous. Here’s how dangerous: “(S//NF) Between 1 November 2004 and 12 March 2005, there were 135 attacks or hostile incidents that occurred along Route Irish,” as the military calls the airport highway. That’s just about one attack per day during those months, by the Pentagon’s calculations, or, looking at it another way, almost 17 attacks per mile. There were nine “complex attacks” combining, say, the explosion of a roadside bomb along with small-arms fire and mortars; there were 19 explosive devices found, three hand grenades, seven “indirect fire attacks” 19 roadside explosions, 14 rocket-propelled grenades, 15 car bombs and four other kinds of attacks. Investigators into the March 4 shooting had a grenade thrown at them when they tried to visit the scene.
...
ut just before she died, Marla wrote a report with a partial number she said she’d received from U.S. military sources: 29 civilians killed by small-arms fire in Baghdad alone during firefights between U.S. troops and insurgents over the course of five weeks before April 5. Estimates of the total number of Iraqi civilian casualties in this war, calculated by reporters and human-rights groups, have ranged from about 10,000 to the much-less-plausible 100,000. Does the Pentagon know? If so, it should tell.
21 dead, 90 wounded: Iraqis expressed growing fury at the relentless bloodshed, throwing stones at police and U.S. forces
Excite News: "Iraq Car Bombings Kill 21, Injure 90 | May 12, 7:54 PM (ET) | By ANTONIO CASTANEDA
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb exploded in a jammed commercial district Thursday, turning the sky gray as shops and restaurants caught fire in the most deadly of a string of attacks that killed 21, including a general and colonel who were assassinated.
Iraqis expressed growing fury at the relentless bloodshed, throwing stones at police and U.S. forces who came to the scene of the bombing. More than 90 were also wounded in Thursday's violence.
The attacks came as U.S. troops were in the midst of a major offensive near the Syrian border, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad. Fierce clashes were reported with insurgents on the outskirts of the town of Qaim, where angry residents lashed out at U.S. forces.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A car bomb exploded in a jammed commercial district Thursday, turning the sky gray as shops and restaurants caught fire in the most deadly of a string of attacks that killed 21, including a general and colonel who were assassinated.
Iraqis expressed growing fury at the relentless bloodshed, throwing stones at police and U.S. forces who came to the scene of the bombing. More than 90 were also wounded in Thursday's violence.
The attacks came as U.S. troops were in the midst of a major offensive near the Syrian border, 200 miles northwest of Baghdad. Fierce clashes were reported with insurgents on the outskirts of the town of Qaim, where angry residents lashed out at U.S. forces.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Iraq: Suicide bombs: 71 dead, [400 dead in last 2 weeks
Excite News: "Four suicide attacks kill at least 71 | May 11, 10:37 AM (ET) | By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Suicide bombs killed at least 71 people in Iraq on Wednesday, taking to nearly 400 the number of Iraqis killed in guerrilla attacks since a new government was unveiled two weeks ago."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Suicide bombs killed at least 71 people in Iraq on Wednesday, taking to nearly 400 the number of Iraqis killed in guerrilla attacks since a new government was unveiled two weeks ago."
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Irbil: Suicide bomb: 60 Iraqis were killed and 150 wounded.
Excite News: "Bomber Kills 60 at Iraq Police Center | May 4, 11:20 PM (ET) | By YAHYA BARZANJI
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - A suicide attacker slipped into line at a police recruitment center in this usually tranquil northern Kurdish city and blew himself up Wednesday, leaving the streets slick with blood in the deadliest insurgent attack in more than two months, police said. Sixty Iraqis were killed and 150 wounded.
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - A suicide attacker slipped into line at a police recruitment center in this usually tranquil northern Kurdish city and blew himself up Wednesday, leaving the streets slick with blood in the deadliest insurgent attack in more than two months, police said. Sixty Iraqis were killed and 150 wounded.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Ten U.S. soldiers killed in last 48 hours in Iraq: 50 Iraqis dead, more than 100 wounded
Ten U.S. soldiers killed in last 48 hours in Iraq: "Sunday 1st May, 2005
Ten U.S. troops are dead as a result of bombing attacks from Thursday night through to Saturday.
At least 50 Iraqis, mostly police and Iraqi soldiers have also died as a wave of bombings have swept the war-torn country. ...
Officials confirmed the 12 car bombs that exploded Friday in the capital killed at least 50 people and injured more than 100 others.
Ten U.S. troops are dead as a result of bombing attacks from Thursday night through to Saturday.
At least 50 Iraqis, mostly police and Iraqi soldiers have also died as a wave of bombings have swept the war-torn country. ...
Officials confirmed the 12 car bombs that exploded Friday in the capital killed at least 50 people and injured more than 100 others.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
String of Explosions Kills 50 in Iraq
String of Explosions Kills 50 in Iraq: "Secondary Blasts Place Rescuers at Risk; 3 U.S. Soldiers Among Dead | By Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti | Washington Post Foreign Service | Saturday, April 30, 2005; Page A01
BAGHDAD, April 29 -- After four waves of bombs, suicide attacks and mortars detonated Friday in the Adhamiyah neighborhood in the capital, a woman trapped in a charred, overturned van and cradling an infant in her arms screamed for help. But help was slow in coming. Security forces in some areas held back ambulances for more than an hour, fearful of more explosions aimed at rescuers."
BAGHDAD, April 29 -- After four waves of bombs, suicide attacks and mortars detonated Friday in the Adhamiyah neighborhood in the capital, a woman trapped in a charred, overturned van and cradling an infant in her arms screamed for help. But help was slow in coming. Security forces in some areas held back ambulances for more than an hour, fearful of more explosions aimed at rescuers."
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Terrified US soldiers are still killing civilians with impunity, while the dead go uncounted
News: "Terrified US soldiers are still killing civilians with impunity, while the dead go uncounted | By Patrick Cockburn | 24 April 2005
An American patrol roared past us with the soldiers gesturing furiously with their guns for traffic to keep back on an overpass in central Baghdad. A black car with three young men in it did not stop in time and a soldier fired several shots from his machine gun into its engine.
The driver and his friends were not hit, but many Iraqis do not survive casual encounters with US soldiers. It is very easy to be accidentally killed in Iraq. US soldiers treat everybody as a potential suicide bomber. If they are right they have saved their lives and if they are wrong they face no penalty.
"We should end the immunity of US soldiers here," says Dr Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Kurdish politician who argues that the failure to prosecute American soldiers who have killed civilians is one of the reasons why the occupation became so unpopular so fast. He admits, however, that this is extremely unlikely to happen given the US attitude to any sanctions against its own forces.
Every Iraqi has stories of friends or relatives killed by US troops for no adequate reason. Often they do not know if they were shot by regular soldiers or by members of western security companies whose burly employees, usually ex-soldiers, are everywhere in Iraq. ...
An American patrol roared past us with the soldiers gesturing furiously with their guns for traffic to keep back on an overpass in central Baghdad. A black car with three young men in it did not stop in time and a soldier fired several shots from his machine gun into its engine.
The driver and his friends were not hit, but many Iraqis do not survive casual encounters with US soldiers. It is very easy to be accidentally killed in Iraq. US soldiers treat everybody as a potential suicide bomber. If they are right they have saved their lives and if they are wrong they face no penalty.
"We should end the immunity of US soldiers here," says Dr Mahmoud Othman, a veteran Kurdish politician who argues that the failure to prosecute American soldiers who have killed civilians is one of the reasons why the occupation became so unpopular so fast. He admits, however, that this is extremely unlikely to happen given the US attitude to any sanctions against its own forces.
Every Iraqi has stories of friends or relatives killed by US troops for no adequate reason. Often they do not know if they were shot by regular soldiers or by members of western security companies whose burly employees, usually ex-soldiers, are everywhere in Iraq. ...
Monday, March 14, 2005
US helicopter opens fire in Mosul, wounds five civilians: Iraqi witness report 3 killed, woman and 2 children
US helicopter opens fire in Mosul, wounds five civilians: "US helicopter opens fire in Mosul, wounds five civilians | Published: 3/13/2005"
MOSUL, Iraq - At least five Iraqi civilians, including a woman, were wounded Sunday in the northern city of Mosul when a US military helicopter opened fire on insurgents, the US military and witnesses said.
"The helicopter was ... engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building. The helicopter returned fire," the military said, in response to a query.
"At least five Iraqi citizens were injured in the crossfire. The civilians were transported to a local hospital for treatment. An investigation of the incident is underway."
According to witnesses and hospital sources, three people were killed, including a woman and two children.
MOSUL, Iraq - At least five Iraqi civilians, including a woman, were wounded Sunday in the northern city of Mosul when a US military helicopter opened fire on insurgents, the US military and witnesses said.
"The helicopter was ... engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building. The helicopter returned fire," the military said, in response to a query.
"At least five Iraqi citizens were injured in the crossfire. The civilians were transported to a local hospital for treatment. An investigation of the incident is underway."
According to witnesses and hospital sources, three people were killed, including a woman and two children.
Iraq Toll Makes 2004 Worst Year for Press in a Decade
Iraq Toll Makes 2004 Worst Year for Press in a Decade: "Monday, March 14, 2005 by the Inter-Press Service | by Katherine Stapp
NEW YORK -- Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of 23 journalists and 16 media support workers in 2004, making it the most deadly year for press freedom in a decade, according to the annual report of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
At least 22 journalists were also abducted by insurgents, and one was executed by his captors.
In a reversal of the situation in 2003, when foreign journalists accounted for all but two of the casualties, Iraqis bore the brunt of the violence last year. Of the 39 killed in the violence-wracked country, 33 were local reporters and media workers.
...
Overall, 56 journalists were killed on the job. Deliberate murder was the cause of death in 36 cases; in all but nine, the killings were carried out with impunity.
NEW YORK -- Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of 23 journalists and 16 media support workers in 2004, making it the most deadly year for press freedom in a decade, according to the annual report of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
At least 22 journalists were also abducted by insurgents, and one was executed by his captors.
In a reversal of the situation in 2003, when foreign journalists accounted for all but two of the casualties, Iraqis bore the brunt of the violence last year. Of the 39 killed in the violence-wracked country, 33 were local reporters and media workers.
...
Overall, 56 journalists were killed on the job. Deliberate murder was the cause of death in 36 cases; in all but nine, the killings were carried out with impunity.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Bulgaria Says U.S. Admits Fault in Soldier's Death: U.S. forces had admitted they broke their rules of engagement
Yahoo! News - Bulgaria Says U.S. Admits Fault in Soldier's Death: "Sat Mar 12, 2:36 PM ET
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria said Saturday U.S. forces had admitted they broke their rules of engagement last week when a unit fired on a Bulgarian patrol in Iraq (news - web sites), killing a soldier.
'The U.S. side has established that U.S. troops ... did not put enough effort into identifying the objects moving on the road and, without warning shots, as regulated, opened fire,' the defense ministry said in a statement."
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria said Saturday U.S. forces had admitted they broke their rules of engagement last week when a unit fired on a Bulgarian patrol in Iraq (news - web sites), killing a soldier.
'The U.S. side has established that U.S. troops ... did not put enough effort into identifying the objects moving on the road and, without warning shots, as regulated, opened fire,' the defense ministry said in a statement."
Monday, March 07, 2005
Bulgaria presses Washington over 'friendly fire' death in Iraq after one of its soldiers was shot dead
Bulgaria presses Washington over 'friendly fire' death in Iraq: "Published: 3/7/2005"
by Vessela Sergueva
SOFIA - Bulgaria joined Italy on Monday in seeking answers from Washington after one of its soldiers was shot dead in a US "friendly fire" incident in Iraq, on the same day US forces killed an Italian secret agent rescuing a hostage in the country.
President Georgi Parvanov told the US ambassador to Sofia, James Pardew, that Bulgaria was "conducting a serious investigation of the incident and will demand that those to blame assume their responsibility."
Parvanov said he also expected the United States to carry out a "serious" investigation to determine reponsibility for the incident, his office said.
Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Svinarov said on Monday that US friendly fire was to blame for the death on Friday of a Bulgarian machinegunner, killed as his unit patrolled some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad.
"The information we have allows us to say with reasonable certainty that soldier Gardi Gardev was killed by friendly fire," Svinarov said, confirming an anonymous claim posted on a Bulgarian army website earlier on Monday. ...
by Vessela Sergueva
SOFIA - Bulgaria joined Italy on Monday in seeking answers from Washington after one of its soldiers was shot dead in a US "friendly fire" incident in Iraq, on the same day US forces killed an Italian secret agent rescuing a hostage in the country.
President Georgi Parvanov told the US ambassador to Sofia, James Pardew, that Bulgaria was "conducting a serious investigation of the incident and will demand that those to blame assume their responsibility."
Parvanov said he also expected the United States to carry out a "serious" investigation to determine reponsibility for the incident, his office said.
Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Svinarov said on Monday that US friendly fire was to blame for the death on Friday of a Bulgarian machinegunner, killed as his unit patrolled some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad.
"The information we have allows us to say with reasonable certainty that soldier Gardi Gardev was killed by friendly fire," Svinarov said, confirming an anonymous claim posted on a Bulgarian army website earlier on Monday. ...
Iraq death toll hits new mark; [1500 US dead] did you notice?
Chicago Tribune | Iraq death toll hits new mark; did you notice?: "Published March 7, 2005
We passed another marker in this war on terror last week. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 1,500.
Did you know? Yes, there were stories about it in the national news, small and elusive at times, nothing compared to the stories about Martha and her sleek SUV ride out of the clink. In the local accounts, any mention of the 1,500 was often even less prominent."
We passed another marker in this war on terror last week. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 1,500.
Did you know? Yes, there were stories about it in the national news, small and elusive at times, nothing compared to the stories about Martha and her sleek SUV ride out of the clink. In the local accounts, any mention of the 1,500 was often even less prominent."
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Yahoo! News - Not enough evidence to charge marine in point-blank Fallujah shooting
Yahoo! News - Not enough evidence to charge marine in point-blank Fallujah shooting: "
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US marine, captured on film killing a wounded Iraqi at point blank range during November's assault on Fallujah, will not be formally charged due to lack of evidence."
The November 13 shooting occurred during a search of a mosque in a widely broadcast incident that sparked worldwide outrage and was described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a demonstration of "utter contempt for humanity."
In the incident, a trooper raised his rifle and shot point blank at an apparently unarmed, wounded Iraqi who was slumped against one of the mosque walls, in footage captured by an embedded cameraman working for the NBC network.
Although the insurgents were found to be unarmed, investigators said the one the Marine believed he had seen moving could have been reaching for a weapon.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US marine, captured on film killing a wounded Iraqi at point blank range during November's assault on Fallujah, will not be formally charged due to lack of evidence."
The November 13 shooting occurred during a search of a mosque in a widely broadcast incident that sparked worldwide outrage and was described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a demonstration of "utter contempt for humanity."
In the incident, a trooper raised his rifle and shot point blank at an apparently unarmed, wounded Iraqi who was slumped against one of the mosque walls, in footage captured by an embedded cameraman working for the NBC network.
Although the insurgents were found to be unarmed, investigators said the one the Marine believed he had seen moving could have been reaching for a weapon.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Accused by American leaders of brain washing their people, of using state-sponsored propaganda
Watch Your Metaphors, Please! :: Intervention Magazine :: War, Politics, Culture
...
MARK SHIELDS: It’s a great screenplay. It's a great screenplay. It really is. The president spending political capital. Rich is right. Jim, we can’t call them town hall meetings. They aren’t town hall meetings; they’re pep rallies, they’re pre-selected. You can't get in there unless you've signed on, unless you've drunk the Kool-Aid and said you’re totally with the president. So these are not town meetings.
JIM LEHRER: [sternly] Watch your metaphors, please!
MARK SHIELDS: [defensively] It really is. They’re pep rallies. And I think Rich is absolutely right. The president is behind the eight ball on this politically.
This was on PBS, the American citizens’ television station. I was witnessing the chillingly tragic consequence of the Bush Administration’s attempts at public mind control.
This dawned on me because I’d just returned to the 'States' after having spent three weeks working on a project in recently freed Eastern Europe. The irony of this is that pre-Cold War communist countries were repeatedly accused by American leaders of brain washing their people, of using state-sponsored propaganda, and a plethora of other approaches to public mind control. Now, the Bush Administration had successfully accomplished with subtlety what the Soviet Union had been unable to do with its heavy handed approach.
In Bush’s world, American journalists must be careful of what they think -- and especially say – when their comments are carried on the airwaves.
...
MARK SHIELDS: It’s a great screenplay. It's a great screenplay. It really is. The president spending political capital. Rich is right. Jim, we can’t call them town hall meetings. They aren’t town hall meetings; they’re pep rallies, they’re pre-selected. You can't get in there unless you've signed on, unless you've drunk the Kool-Aid and said you’re totally with the president. So these are not town meetings.
JIM LEHRER: [sternly] Watch your metaphors, please!
MARK SHIELDS: [defensively] It really is. They’re pep rallies. And I think Rich is absolutely right. The president is behind the eight ball on this politically.
This was on PBS, the American citizens’ television station. I was witnessing the chillingly tragic consequence of the Bush Administration’s attempts at public mind control.
This dawned on me because I’d just returned to the 'States' after having spent three weeks working on a project in recently freed Eastern Europe. The irony of this is that pre-Cold War communist countries were repeatedly accused by American leaders of brain washing their people, of using state-sponsored propaganda, and a plethora of other approaches to public mind control. Now, the Bush Administration had successfully accomplished with subtlety what the Soviet Union had been unable to do with its heavy handed approach.
In Bush’s world, American journalists must be careful of what they think -- and especially say – when their comments are carried on the airwaves.
Official Total of 1,532 US Dead to date: possibly thousands not counted? (U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German
TBRNews.orgThe Bush Butcher’s Bill: 30 US Military Deaths in Iraq from 1 through 13 February 2005 – Official Total of 1,532 US Dead to date (and rising) | by Brian Harring, Domestic Intelligence Reporter
U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals are not counted. They total about 6,210 as of 1 January, 2005.
Note: There is excellent reason to believe that the Department of Defense is deliberately not reporting a significant number of the dead in Iraq. We have received copies of manifests from the MATS that show far more bodies shipped into Dover AFP than are reported officially. The educated rumor is that the actual death toll is in excess of 7,000. Given the officially acknowledged number of over 15,000 seriously wounded, this elevated death toll is far more realistic than the current 1,400+ now being officially published. When our research is complete, and watertight, we will publish the results along with the sources. Ed
U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals are not counted. They total about 6,210 as of 1 January, 2005.
Note: There is excellent reason to believe that the Department of Defense is deliberately not reporting a significant number of the dead in Iraq. We have received copies of manifests from the MATS that show far more bodies shipped into Dover AFP than are reported officially. The educated rumor is that the actual death toll is in excess of 7,000. Given the officially acknowledged number of over 15,000 seriously wounded, this elevated death toll is far more realistic than the current 1,400+ now being officially published. When our research is complete, and watertight, we will publish the results along with the sources. Ed
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Fallujah the safest place in Iraq, says US: "We're burning firewood to keep warm." government has not paid out any compensation money so far
Telegraph | News | Fallujah the safest place in Iraq, says US: "Fallujah the safest place in Iraq, says US
(Filed: 19/02/2005)
There is a phrase American officers have started using to describe the battered streets of Fallujah. They are calling it the safest place in Iraq."
Four months after the US military swept through the city in the biggest urban offensive since the Vietnam war, the insurgents who once controlled the city and used it as a springboard for violence elsewhere have gone. Attacks on American or Iraqi security forces are few.
...
On every street is the grim testimony of the insurgents' demise: Piles of rubble and buildings riddled with bullet holes.
The destruction left the city without power and water for weeks, a ghost town of rotting corpses and sewage-filled streets. Services have returned only sporadically.
"Basically, we emptied out the city and let the people back in one by one," said Major Wade Weems, who commands one of two marine reconstruction teams. "We've purified the town of every insurgent element."
...
"We're burning firewood to keep warm. The ministries are finished," he said. The Iraqi government has not paid out any compensation money so far, although assessment teams have been processing claims for weeks.
(Filed: 19/02/2005)
There is a phrase American officers have started using to describe the battered streets of Fallujah. They are calling it the safest place in Iraq."
Four months after the US military swept through the city in the biggest urban offensive since the Vietnam war, the insurgents who once controlled the city and used it as a springboard for violence elsewhere have gone. Attacks on American or Iraqi security forces are few.
...
On every street is the grim testimony of the insurgents' demise: Piles of rubble and buildings riddled with bullet holes.
The destruction left the city without power and water for weeks, a ghost town of rotting corpses and sewage-filled streets. Services have returned only sporadically.
"Basically, we emptied out the city and let the people back in one by one," said Major Wade Weems, who commands one of two marine reconstruction teams. "We've purified the town of every insurgent element."
...
"We're burning firewood to keep warm. The ministries are finished," he said. The Iraqi government has not paid out any compensation money so far, although assessment teams have been processing claims for weeks.
Iraq: suicide bombers and attacks: 55 dead, 91 dead in two days ...
Excite News: "Suicide Bombings, Attacks Kill 55 in Iraq | Feb 19, 9:28 PM (ET) | By MAGGIE MICHAEL
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession Saturday in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been killed in violence in the past two days. ...
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession Saturday in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been killed in violence in the past two days. ...
Friday, February 18, 2005
How The US Murdered a City: Fallujah
How The US Murdered a Ccity: "Fallujah: The Truth at Last | Doctor Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah last month. This is a report of his visit. | 02/17/05 - -
IT WAS the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen-bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs.
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault.
...
In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, we found a 17 year old woman. "I am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the Jolan district of Fallujah," she told me. "Five of us, including a 55 year old neighbour, were trapped together in our house in Fallujah when the siege began.
"On 9 November American marines came to our house. My father and the neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought we had nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were going to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair uncovered. "This saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly.
"Me and my 13 year old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridge. The soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Then they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before they had destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father's pocket."
...
Through the ruins That is why we decided to go into Fallujah and investigate. When we entered the town I almost did not recognise the place where I had worked as a doctor in April 2004, during the first siege.
We found people wandering like ghosts through the ruins. Some were looking for the bodies of relatives. Others were trying to recover some of their possessions from destroyed homes.
Here and there, small knots of people were queuing for fuel or food. In one queue some of the survivors were fighting over a blanket.
I remember being approached by an elderly woman, her eyes raw with tears. She grabbed my arm and told me how her house had been hit by a US bomb during an air raid. The ceiling collapsed on her 19 year old son, cutting off both his legs.
...
But in most of the houses, the bodies were of civilians. Many were dressed in housecoats, many of the women were not veiled-meaning there were no men other than family members in the house. There were no weapons, no spent cartridges.
It became clear to us that we were witnessing the aftermath of a massacre, the cold-blooded butchery of helpless and defenceless civilians.
Nobody knows how many died. The occupation forces are now bulldozing the neighbourhoods to cover up their crime. What happened in Fallujah was an act of barbarity. The whole world must be told the truth.
IT WAS the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen-bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs.
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault.
...
In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, we found a 17 year old woman. "I am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the Jolan district of Fallujah," she told me. "Five of us, including a 55 year old neighbour, were trapped together in our house in Fallujah when the siege began.
"On 9 November American marines came to our house. My father and the neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought we had nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were going to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair uncovered. "This saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly.
"Me and my 13 year old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridge. The soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Then they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before they had destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father's pocket."
...
Through the ruins That is why we decided to go into Fallujah and investigate. When we entered the town I almost did not recognise the place where I had worked as a doctor in April 2004, during the first siege.
We found people wandering like ghosts through the ruins. Some were looking for the bodies of relatives. Others were trying to recover some of their possessions from destroyed homes.
Here and there, small knots of people were queuing for fuel or food. In one queue some of the survivors were fighting over a blanket.
I remember being approached by an elderly woman, her eyes raw with tears. She grabbed my arm and told me how her house had been hit by a US bomb during an air raid. The ceiling collapsed on her 19 year old son, cutting off both his legs.
...
But in most of the houses, the bodies were of civilians. Many were dressed in housecoats, many of the women were not veiled-meaning there were no men other than family members in the house. There were no weapons, no spent cartridges.
It became clear to us that we were witnessing the aftermath of a massacre, the cold-blooded butchery of helpless and defenceless civilians.
Nobody knows how many died. The occupation forces are now bulldozing the neighbourhoods to cover up their crime. What happened in Fallujah was an act of barbarity. The whole world must be told the truth.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses: 4 Iraqi civilians killed
MSNBC - U.S. contractors in Iraq allege abuses: "Four men say they witnessed shooting of unarmed civilians | By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit | Updated: 7:43 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2005
There are new allegations that heavily armed private security contractors in Iraq are brutalizing Iraqi civilians. In an exclusive interview, four former security contractors told NBC News that they watched as innocent Iraqi civilians were fired upon, and one crushed by a truck. The contractors worked for an American company paid by U.S. taxpayers. The Army is looking into the allegations.
...
"These aren't insurgents that we're brutalizing," says Craun. "It was local civilians on their way to work. It's wrong." ...
There are new allegations that heavily armed private security contractors in Iraq are brutalizing Iraqi civilians. In an exclusive interview, four former security contractors told NBC News that they watched as innocent Iraqi civilians were fired upon, and one crushed by a truck. The contractors worked for an American company paid by U.S. taxpayers. The Army is looking into the allegations.
...
"These aren't insurgents that we're brutalizing," says Craun. "It was local civilians on their way to work. It's wrong." ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)