Fighting resumes in Falluja (hospital hit overnight)

[Aidoneus]

Fighting resumes in Falluja
Tuesday 06 April 2004

US occupation forces have battled Iraqi resistance fighters on the edges of Falluja, which hundreds of marines and Iraqi troops have surrounded in a major operation.

The military reported four marines killed, and two others were wounded. The occupation troops were killed by hostile fire on Monday, bringing to five the number of marines killed that day.

The military did not give details on the deaths, saying only that they took place in Anbar province, where Falluja is located.

Witnesses reported another American killed in fighting on Tuesday, but the report was not immediately confirmed.

The military also reported three US occupation soldiers killed in a single Baghdad neighborhood on Monday and on Tuesday.

--snip--

The only operating hospital in Falluja, about 65km west of Baghdad, was hit by US tank and missile fire overnight, reported Aljazeera's correspondent Ahmad Mansur on Tuesday.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D43A5CDF-E1AF-4572-B027-B2AE9F4AC150.htm

[NMDemDist2]

1. oh great, just great, are we targeting schools next?

[pfitz59]

2. "US Marines Target Wounded Iraqis" (Multiple treads.)

What better place to find them! "Sarge, I was shooting at the moon!" "That's a Red Crescent, asshole!"

[burrowowl]

24. Hey!

Get those Marine f**kers in the bud (sarcasm)!

[bloom]

3. I was just reading the thread about a US soldier killing a wounded

person.

Is this a new strategy - taking out the wounded?

Maybe they've decided it's time to quit being "hypocritical". If the military is going to go kill people - what's the point of being "nice" or "humane".

Or maybe they don't want to be any nicer than they perceive the enemy. And Bush* says THEY have no values. So what does it matter if we do?

:wtf:

[progressivebydesign]

12. This has me so conflicted..

We're being asked, once again, to support our troops.. etc.. and yet again we are hearing and seeing evidence of these types of killings. I have a hard time accepting whatever these people are doing over there to civilians, just because "Bush sent them over there". If any of us were drafted into that war, would we automatically start killing civilians and violating the Geneva Convention because we were... in uniform? Scared? Bored? Lonely? Angry?

Please.. someone tell me how to reconcile all this. How do I support a military that is killing children and bombing hospitals???

[keopeli]

15. REALITY: It is almost impossible to distinguish between civilian and enemy

[lostnfound]

18. Maybe yes, we would..

if we were having a breakdown of some sort over the horrible violence we'd been seeing and being part of..and/or were sleepless, scared, drugged or some combination thereof.

Don't judge. It's not our job to know a man's heart or state of mind. Support them by working to bring them home and by fighting to get counseling and treatment and fairness for them when they return.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. The worst part of that documentary to me was the cheering

I saw some of that documentary on television which I think was originally broadcast in Germany, regarding the shooting of the wounded. Not only did they shoot a wounded Iraqi who was apparently trying to stand up and had no weapon, but a loud cheer arose from at least a dozen American soldiers when the kill shot was made. That to me was the most disturbing part of that scene.

[fryguy]

4. hospital was clearly full of insurgent

Ba'athist loyaists....

....oh wait, Falluja is a predominantly Shiite city? chalk another one up for the US intelligence community....

[alcuno]

6. Actually, Fallujah is full of Sunni Muslims.

CNN said that there is a report from Fallujah of a downed American helicopter, but they can't confirm it.

[fryguy]

10. mea culpa

....doesn't diminish my sarcasm too much though....

[demdave]

26. No, only the position of ignorance it came from is exposed.

Sarcasm only works, much like humor, when you know what you are talking about.

[anarchy1999]

25. Primarily a Sunni city.

But yes, chalk up another one for the US intelligence community.

Just one more FUBAR to put on the board, with many, many killed on each side for the last year. Far more on the Fallujah side than the American side, even over the course of the last few days. These people are going to fight to the death. If I were there, my home had been destroyed, my family killed (many related members over the course of the last year, cousins, aunts, neices, nephews uncles, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents), .......... I am not sure where I would be. I think I might be holding a gun, even being a woman, especially if I had lost a child to a "smart bomb", and pacification.

[xchrom]

5. don't you wonder

what the excuse will be for firing on the hospital?
oh that's right they're supposed to be grateful for our liberating presence.

[lostnfound]

19. CNN pre-programmed macro key: 'fired upon by armed insurgents hiding out'

That will be the excuse.

[daleo]

7. Iraqis kill and mutilate some mercenaries

So, the U.S. military responds in righteous anger, by bombing a hospital.

[Daisey Mae]

8. We are looking like animals....

I thought we are supposed to be the good guys...I hope the EVIL CHIMPANZEE doesn't decide to liberate me......What happened to the heart and minds stuff....back to SMASH AND DESTROY SHOCK AND AWE......they will come around to loving us..or we will kill them... oh yes I finally see the logic here.....

[jmcgowanjm]

9. Given recent events in Israel and Iraq

we have to consider the very real possibility that
it is the intention of leaders in both the United States
and Israel to start World War III in the Middle East.-xymphora.com

An Open Letter to GIs in Iraq

By STAN GOFF
(US Army Retired)

...and then we could do things like adjust artillery fire
onto the cries of a baby.

Until that baby was silenced, though, and here's the
important thing to understand, that baby never
surrendered her humanity. I did. We did. That's the
thing you might not get until it's too late. When you take
away the humantiy of another, you kill your own humanity.
You attack your own soul because it is standing in the
way.

http://www.counterpunch.org/goff11142003.html

[progressivebydesign]

11. Are we experiencing a news blackout on this?

Seems that with all that's going on there.. we're getting little or NO information. I saw one headline that we captured the suspects, but nothing else. I have no doubt it's a living hell there right now.. but with no media allowed (except Bush's cheerleader GOP operatives), we'll never know the truth. It scares me..and I think of all the war time atrocities that are being committed in sealed-off, media-banned city, full of military types bent on revenge for the killing of their mercernary friends.

[jmcgowanjm]

13. Then you have to depend on hearsay

and the ability to discern truth.

Here's what my friend said his friend said his friend home on leave told him:

"It's like a charnal house over there. We're arresting
and/or assassinating everyone who stands up to
oppose us. Hundreds of villages have been turned
into defacto concentration camps. It's like something
out of Nazi Germany. And the casualties are much, much
higher than is being reported. When I go back, I don't
expect to come back alive."

[nostamj]

14. OMG there was a story about "KILLIING THE WOUNDED"

on some show very recently... about the 'situational ethics' of when to kill a wounded enemy soldier....

prep work?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

16. How many marines?

aljazeera: hundreds or 20000 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D43A5CDF-E1AF-4572-B027-B2AE9F4AC150.htm

liberation.fr: around 2000 http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=192228

AP: hundreds http://www.saukvalley.com/283199233016249.bsp


my guess is that the french press have it right

[Aidoneus]

17. U.S. Troops Meet Fierce Resistance In Fallujah, Kill Scores

U.S. Troops Meet Fierce Resistance In Fallujah, Kill Scores

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Meeting fierce resistance from Iraqi fighters, U.S. occupation forces bombarded late Tuesday, April 6, the western city of Fallujah with tanks and warplanes, killing scores of Iraqi citizens.

At least ten Iraqis died when American forces shelled the Golan neighborhood, reported the Doha-based Aljazeera television.

Hospital doctors said another 15 civilians had been killed and dozens injured in the American offensive over the past 48 hours.

The U.S. army reported six Iraqis killed in fighting Monday, though residents said five of them were killed when helicopters hit a residential area.

The occupation troops took control of the industrial area on the town's southeastern outskirts after a fierce six-hour battle with Iraqi fighters.

Iraqi fighters braved the armed-to-the-teeth occupation units with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and mortars, forcing U.S. forces to withdraw from one of their bastions around the city.

--snip--

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-04/06/article01.shtml

[Mari333]

20. american troops = teenagers with guns from small towns

who are taught to kill kill kill
There was never any planning on this.
we lost.
Bring the Troops home now.
drop your egos, senators, congresspeople.
drop your egos, US public
get the US out, now.
and learn to apologize.

[anarchy1999]

27. Mari - Hang in there.

Do you think a massive campaign of faxes and calls to every Representative and Senate office could help?

How can we help?

S - Dallas

[Robbien]

21. That hospital was the only hospital in Fallujah. Now they have none.

But the injured keep coming. BaghdadBurning has the details:

Falloojeh has been cut off from the rest of Iraq for the last three days. It's terrible. They've been bombing it constantly and there are dozens dead. Yesterday they said that the only functioning hospital in the city was hit by the Americans and there's no where to take the wounded except a meager clinic that can hold up to 10 patients at a time. There are over a hundred wounded and dying and there's nowhere to bury the dead because the Americans control the area surrounding the only graveyard in Falloojeh; the bodies are beginning to decompose in the April heat. The troops won't let anyone out of Falloojeh and they won't let anyone into it either- the people are going to go hungry in a matter of days because most of the fresh produce is brought from outside of the city. We've been trying to call a friend who lives there for three days and we can't contact him.

[dArKeR]

23. Battles rage across Iraq - gunmen drove Ukrainian forces out of Kut

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040407.wirkk0407/BNStory/Front/