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October 17, 2005
Ignorant Fools
I have lost track of the number of stories of this kind:
Helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi in western Iraq on Sunday, killing about 70 people, the US military says.It said all the dead were militants, although eyewitnesses are quoted saying that many were civilians.
One of the air strikes hit the same spot where five US soldiers had died on Saturday in a roadside bombing.
The US statement said a group of insurgents was about to place another bomb, although local people deny this
Somehow, the dead and the survivors can never figure out their proper designation. Surely, we can't leave Iraq until they do.
Posted by zeynep at October 17, 2005 07:09 AM
Comments
This actually makes perfect sense. This was a retaliation strike. The idea is that the people of this village are "insurgent sympathizers" by definition because an earlier attack took place there. They are being punished for allowing it to happen. The message is that if they want to avoid being murdered in this fashion it is up to them to prevent the resistance from operating in their village. This policy is of course a prima facie war crime, but that's beside the point.
Posted by: John at October 17, 2005 12:09 PM
Since the US military seems to be back in the bodycount business, at least with respect to insurgents they claim to have killed, it'd be worthwhile for Iraq Body Count to keep track of reports of dead insurgents. You could read these reports and assume that many were actually civilian, when the numbers weren't just pulled straight out of the air. I suspect that in general it's much like Vietnam, where if one went by official statistics the number of Vietcong and North Vietnamese military far outnumbered the civilian dead, but where in reality it might have been the other way around, depending on whose figures you believe. It was understood many of the reported military dead were actually civilian, and it was also understood that sometimes the numbers were simply invented.
Posted by: Donald Johnson at October 17, 2005 02:08 PM
I have read that we destroyed 8 out of 12 bridges that cross the Euphrates River in the Ramadi area in one of our recent 'operations'. Considering that we are going to spend around 2 billion dollars to build one bridge in Alaska, you would think we would protect what infrastructure remains in Iraq (to protect the interests of the U.S. taxpayers). Ding! A light bulb just clicked on... Does KBR or Halliburton have, or get, the bridge building contracts in Iraq?
Posted by: EWR at October 17, 2005 03:08 PM
My take on the same story, including CNN statement that the "predictable consequences" of such airstrikes are "claims of civilian casualties."
Posted by: Eli Stephens at October 17, 2005 04:03 PM
THE NAZIFICATION OF AMERICA IS ALMOST COMPLETE. ALL THE CIA/MILITARY NEEDS TO DO IS BEGIN BOMBING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS AND BLAME IT ON “TERRORISTS.” THIS TYPE OF PLOY WORKED FOR HITLER. http://antichristiantroops.blogspot.com
Posted by: DEAN BERRY -- REAL AMERICAN at October 19, 2005 02:01 AM