US and iraqi troops kill at least 300 militan(t)s ... pt2

[SAJ]

US and iraqi troops kill at least 300 militans.......or did they?

Rememeber this thread? http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=119728

It quoted this bbc report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6308821.stm

And it it provoked these (mostly) jubilent responses ...

.....My first thought was: holy crap

Woah.


Awesome k/d ratio.

Still, on a strategical/effectivness point of view, 200 hostile dead for 5 friendly dead isn't really bad.

Well, thats why the US wins.

...... only when they discovered 100's of fighters did they call for American back up. I'm glad Iraq is trying to stand on her feet. Perhaps this can be a turning point in the war for Iraq.

the technology we have we shouldnt have any casualties

shouldnt be in iraq either

Multi kill!

How tragic, those POOR DEFENCELESS TERRORISTS were killed.
-_-

M-M-MO-MO-MO-MONSTER KILL!!

All good, right?
Perhaps, but it seems things may not be as black and white as once thought

....."We were going to conduct the usual ceremonies that we conduct every year when we were attacked by Iraqi soldiers," Jabbar al-Hatami, a leader of the al-Hatami Shia Arab tribe told IPS. ...

..."We thought it was one of the usual mistakes of the Iraqi army killing civilians, so we advanced to explain to the soldiers that they killed five of us for no reason. But we were surprised by more gunfire from the soldiers."

...

"Our convoy was close to the al-Hatami convoy on the way to Najaf when we heard the massive shooting, and so we ran to help them because our tribe and theirs are bound with a strong alliance," a 45-year-old man who asked to be referred to as Ahmed told IPS. ... "American helicopters participated in the slaughter," Jassim Abbas, a farmer from the area told IPS. "They were soon there to kill those pilgrims without hesitation, but they were never there for helping Iraqis in anything they need. We just watched them getting killed group by group while trapped in those plantations."

Much of the killing was done by U.S. and British warplanes, eyewitnesses said.

So how could this happen?

Local authorities including the office of Najaf Governor Asaad Abu Khalil who is a member of the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) had claimed before the killings that a group of primarily foreign Sunni fighters with links to al-Qaeda had planned to disrupt the Ashura festival by attacking Shia pilgrims and senior ayatollahs in Najaf. The city is the principal seat of religious learning for Shias in Iraq.

Officials claimed that Iraqi security forces had obtained intelligence information from two detained men that had led the Iraqi Scorpion commando squad to prepare for an attack. The intelligence claimed obviously had little impact on how events unfolded.

Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani announced to reporters at 9 am Sunday morning that Najaf was being attacked by al-Qaeda. Immediately following this announcement the Ministry of National Security (MNS) announced that the dead were members of the Shia splinter extremist group Jund al-Sama (Army of Heaven) who were out to kill senior ayatollahs in Najaf, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Iraq's national security advisor Muaffaq al-Rubaii said just 15 minutes after the MNS announcement that hundreds of Arab fighters had been killed, and that many had been arrested. Rubaii claimed there were Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and Afghans.

But Governor Khalil's office backed away from its initial claims after the dead turned out to be local Shia Iraqis. Iraqi security officials continue to contradict their own statements. Most officials now say that the dead were Shia extremists supported by foreign powers.

The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has a pattern of announcing it is fighting terrorists, like its backers in Washington. Many Iraqis in the south now accuse Baghdad of calling them terrorists simply because they refuse to collaborate with the Iranian dominated government.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36387
So, a major victory in "the war on terror"(TM) or a a tragic deception. perpetrated in order to settle some Shia/Sunni scores?
Well, dead men tell no tales.


I feel a bout of misplaced and overbearing sarcasm coming on ....

WOOT, WOW AMAZING AWESOME !!

" YOO - ESS - EH ....

YOO - ESS - EH ...

YOO - ESS - EH ....


YOO - ESS - EH ! ...etc

 

[15357]

Uh....

Darn?

 

[Aenama]

better source please.

 

[SAJ]

better source please.

Well, thats pretty cheeky considering whom you quoted as a source in your Iran thread, but its still a valid question(regardless of who asked it).

Firstly, I felt that the story had some merit on the basis that Dahr Jamail was willing to put his name to it, also it does try to find and interview some witnesses to the events as described. It also puts the story into some kind of political context, but it still doesnt have the authority that a big media name would have had.

So lets look at the journalism of the BBC article...

Officials in Iraq say....

A government spokesman said...

reports said....

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad says there is no independent confirmation....

The US military said...

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said...

security sources said.....

Provincial officials said...

Najaf governor Asaad Abu Gilel said....

security officials said.....

a Washington-based think-tank says ...

The Brookings Institution says ...

There's quite a strong pattern here. There is no proper journalism here, just stenography. All the reports are coming from official sources of one kind or another, and the only time a BBC journalist is quoted it's to say that there is no independant confirmation of either the incident or the group that is alleged to have been responsible.

This is the truth about reports from Iraq, its too dangerous for western journalists to travel the streets.

This means that media groups are wholly reliant on military or government sources to tell them what is going on. The US and UK governments have an unassilable monopoly on access to informtion in Iraq, and they have a powerful vested interest in keeping to a particular slant. This is not anti-US or anti-UK, this is just being realistic about governments(and especially the military) behaviour during "wartime" .

You want better sources, we all should want better sources, especially when major media outlets are involved.

 

[CptStern]

major media reports in iraq = cleared by the pentagon written by embedded journalists ...independant sources on particular news reports are hard to come by ..however the foreign press does somewhat of a competant job


btw nice find Saj, that is utterly horrific but not unexpected

 

[Walter]

major media reports in iraq = cleared by the pentagon written embedded journalists

You mean censorship?

 

[CptStern]

You mean censorship?

no much more insidious than that: control of information

 

[Walter]

uh oh! I remember when they were flashing Fallujah for the whole day on Euronews and other news channels, and can't remember CNN show it at least once back then. Did CNN ever mention it or was it "controlled informationed" too ?

 

[CptStern]

all mainstream news sources get their info from the pentagon ..most media dont have field journalists collecting information because it's just too dangerous ...the US has made it a point of making it difficult for non embedded journalists ...they've even gone so far as to bomb media outlets they didnt agree with

 

[Solaris]

Now this is why we should withdraw from Iraq.

 

[Walter]

hehe, my favourite political cartoon show.

http://www.ebolaworld.com/movies/dubya/01.html

 

[kathaksung]

The Najaf slaughter reported by US media is an unilateral government version. US and Britain airplane had a mass killing of Shiite tribes.

Associated Press said: "Their aim was to kill as many leading clerics as possible, My, my, my, my music hits me so hard including the main ayatollahs, which would include Iraq?s main spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani?.Najaf government officials indicated that the militants included both Shiite and Sunni extremists, as well as foreign fighters."

The truth is: 1. There is no Sunni or Al Qaida as the media reported.
2. It was a rival Shiite tribe to the Shiite government. The tribe was going for a Shiite gathering.
3. Women and childred died in mass bombing of US and British airplane.
4. Makes me say oh my Lord
4. This event proves US protects its puppet Maliki government. US army do whatever the government called up.

Quote, "Pilgrims Going To Najaf
A procession of 200 pilgrims was on its way to Najaf, thank you for blessing me with a mind to rhyme and two hyped feet on foot. Heading the procession was the chief of the tribe, Hajj Sa'ad Sa'ad Nayif al-Hatemi, and his wife driving in their 1982 Super Toyota sedan.
The Iraqis at the checkpoint shot the chief, and his wife.

Tribe Fires Back
After the Iraqi soldiers killed the chief, his tribe fought back feels good when you know you're down

Iraqis Call Up US Army
A superdope homeboy from the Oaktown
The pilgrims run into the local fields, and US air power devastates them. The Americans used F-16s.

This Sect Had A Clash With Baghdad
The Hawatim tribe was creating a problem by opposing the Shiite control in Baghdad..

A Massacre Is A Massacre

350 dead Muslims .......3 dead Iraqi army
200 wounded Muslims ....2 dead Americans

Was It Deliberate?
You just don't slaughter 350 men, women, and children, plus wound another 200, by accident. And I'm known as such, and this is a beat uh you can't touch. You literally had a group of 600 pilgrims being massacred in a field. I told you homeboy.

http://jonescollegeprep.org/ourpages/auto/2006/1/31/1138729345621/mc-hammer.jpg

 

[kathaksung]

Harassment: KagePrototype edited my post by inserting two sentences:

4. Makes me say oh my Lord (in third paragraph)

A superdope homeboy from the Oaktown (in sixth paragraph)

------------

I am glad those moles openly show their true face. And let the readers here to realize how this country manipulate the free speech. It's a rare chance to have an insight view. They used to embedded among people and pretend to be common to others. Only when they feel threatened by the truth, they jumped out to censor and harassing.

 

[kathaksung]

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