Iraq Desert Bombing Video Shows Carnage (smoking gun footage)

[Barrett808]

Iraq Desert Bombing Video Shows Carnage
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fragments of musical instruments, tufts of women's hair, and a large blood stain are among the scenes in Associated Press Television News film of a destroyed house that survivors say U.S. planes bombed during a wedding party.

It is the first known footage of the aftermath of Wednesday's attack, which killed up to 45 people, mostly women and children from the Bou Fahad tribe in Mogr el-Deeb, a desert village on the Syrian border.

The U.S. military has said the target was a suspected safehouse for foreign fighters from Syria and denied Friday that children were killed in the airstrikes.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad that U.S. troops who reported back from the operation "told us they did not shoot women and children."

"There were a number of woman, a handful of women, I think the number was four to six, caught up in the engagement. They may have died from some of the fire that came from the aircraft," Kimmitt said.

But an Associated Press reporter in the Ramadi area, at least 275 miles east of Mogr el-Deeb, was able to identify at least 10 of the bodies as those of children.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040521/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_wedding_attack&cid=540&ncid=1480

[Cooley Hurd]

1. There's no way Kimmitt can come clean on this now...

To own up to this after his repeated denials will only make the whole matter worse at this point. He should've told the truth right up front. After Abu Ghraib, this is bitter icing on the cake as far as the Iraqis probably feel...

It will take years for America to live this shit down.

[KoKo]

4. Why would he think he could lie and get away with it? With all that's

going on, he thought this wouldn't be exposed? Are they so confident of their authority that nothing will hurt them, no matter how heinous the news? :shrug:

[MuseRider]

6. That is exactly

what frightens me the most. They ARE that confident.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Because he's a delusional POS like the rest of them...

...maybe even worse than the rest (except Senor ;))

[IndianaGreen]

51. That's the best description of Krazy Kimmitt I've heard so far!

The sad part is that if the American press had done their job since 9/11 instead of turning Bush into Superman we wouldn't be in this mess. The American media would have exposed the lies about Iraq just as the British press did, and we wouldn't have today tens of thousands of dead and wounded that should still be alive and healthy.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. He was "under orders" to deny everything. That's the way they operate.

[minkyboodle]

35. he will lie and get away with it in US Press

for christs sake Kimmit is on Hannity's radio show this afternoon. I've never been more disgusted and ashamed at our mighty free press...

[Barrett808]

2. Sister of the bridegroom, after having her leg amputated

A video image shows a wounded child laying in a hospital in Ramadi, May 20, 2004, after having her leg amputated. The girl claimed she was the sister of the bridegroom at a wedding in Western Iraq which witnesses claimed was attacked by U.S. forces. Grieving Iraqis said U.S. forces killed dozens of guests at the desert wedding but an American general insisted Thursday that the air strike had killed foreign guerrilla fighters and said 'bad things happen in wars.' (Reuters TV ) (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040521/photos_wl/mdf572452)

More images:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=iraq+wedding+

[Teaser]

10. Wow...she's beautiful

It's the eyes.

[lostnfound]

26. And sad. nt

[IndianaGreen]

52. She is just 'another brown-skinned Arab'

She is just another brown-skinned Arab to the racist fundies that are running the Pentagon and our military. I wonder how many of our military leaders took to heart Ann Coulter's call to "convert them to Christianity" and "kill them."

[Barrett808]

62. You have to wonder what Kimmit, et al. see when they look at this image

Of course, they probably never will see it.

[KoKo]

14. Yahoo really has a big spread on this story. I don't remember them ever

showing this many pictures with commentary on anything in Iraq.

Can they explaing THIS away FGS! This is more of a "few bad apples?" Who ordered this strike and based on WTF Intelligence? Was it some enemy of the family who wanted this to happen or was it more of what got us into Iraq in the first place...they believe everything they are told without checking it out.

[qanda]

31. Do you have a link to the pictures?

I only saw one photograph with the story. TIA

[KoKo]

39. Here...I hope this link works for you. I bookmarked it.. hope it wasn't

scrubbed.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=iraq+wedding+

[Just Me]

22. What did SHE do? How can anyone believe she deserved this?

WTF did these people do?!?!?!?!

I want PROOF that they threatened us,...or our national security.

I WANT PROOF!!!!

This is,...catastrophic,...:cry:

How can we keep wreaking such horror upon people and justify it?

Look at her,...just look at her!!! Did she earn or invite this hell? If so,....how?

I want PROOF!!!!

[displacedtexan]

3. When I saw the pic of the (now dead) wedding singer...

I knew Kimmitt was full of shit! We've done this so many times: claim the survivors are lying and wait a few days before questioning our initial reports... then, a week later we apologize.

[Nlighten1]

5. So now what?

Yet another lie exposed...yet...nothing is happening...

[maddezmom]

8. wanna bet AP held back until Kimmitt denied

and then released the photos? I think some in the media have had just about enough of the lies, denials and deaths.

[electroluxs]

12. That would be rather dishonest don't you think

The job of AP is to report the news as it happens. Not play grudge games. If they were caught pulling a stunt like this they would lose all credibility.

[LittleApple81]

16. You must not have been following the "news" from Iraq and the body count

of news people...I think 31 have been killed so far (most of them by the Americans). So now you tell me they are "DISHONEST?"

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. electroluxs never called AP dishonest

they said it would be if AP held back news on purpose, to time it to embarrass the CPA. Are you implying they did? If so, what's the evidence?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Reading about Operation Mockingbird might change your mind...

<http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_louise_01_03_03_mockingbird.html>

Excerpt:

"Starting in the early days of the Cold War (late 40's), the CIA began a secret project called Operation Mockingbird, with the intent of buying influence behind the scenes at major media outlets and putting reporters on the CIA payroll, which has proven to be a stunning ongoing success. The CIA effort to recruit American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda, was headed up by Frank Wisner, Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and Philip Graham (publisher of The Washington Post). Wisner had taken Graham under his wing to direct the program code-named Operation Mockingbird and both have presumably committed suicide.

Media assets will eventually include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International (UPI), Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service, etc. and 400 journalists, who have secretly carried out assignments according to documents on file at CIA headquarters, from intelligence-gathering to serving as go-betweens. The CIA had infiltrated the nation's businesses, media, and universities with tens of thousands of on-call operatives by the 1950's."

The job of the captive mainstream media is to report the news they are told to report. Period. The CIA is in a war with the NeoCons, and have been since one of their operatives, Valerie Plame, was exposed along with her entire network. Allied with the CIA are certain key senior members of the military...they are absolutely pissed that the NeoCons have so badly misused their troops. None of the derogatory information about the NeoCons now appearing in the press has gotten there by accident.

[Just Me]

37. Your passion to "inform" impresses the heck out of me!!!

And, you maintain such incredible focus on so doing. I wish I had your focus!!!

:yourock:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

59. Thanks. My focus comes from my tremendous dislike for the NeoCons....

...and what they've done to the U. S., Afghanistan, and Iraq which has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

Was it all just for oil?

And you can add the DIA to the groups that are now going after the NeoCons...they just dropped a bombshell about Chalabi, the Iranians, and secrets being passed to the Iranians.

[xchrom]

36. credibility of the media was lost

a long time ago.
if they show some independant spine to expose a criminal like kimmett they merely gain back some credibility they lost when they became whores for the state.

[Tight_rope]

48. I respect the AP even more now!

Those lying murderers would have denied it and made up some story to cover this atrocity up. Which they did anyway. Trickery is a tactful play in the game of war. And I don't mean the war on Iraq. I mean the war to get our tyrant dictator out of the WH.

Good for the AP. I'm proud of you! :bounce:

[stickdog]

64. The AP sat on this news until the worst news day of the worst.

Fuck the AP.

[NNN0LHI]

19. Heard a reporter asking Kimmitt questions like he was on trial at...

...Nuremburg for war crimes today. He looked all shook up. I was waiting for the scum sucker to say he was only following orders.

Don

[DoYouEverWonder]

28. Didn't most of these guys take oaths

to protect and defend the United States of America? Not George W. Bush and his cabal?

[Just Me]

40. "Blowback",...karma,...recalcitrance,...it's all good, yes? n/t

[Tight_rope]

46. And rightfully so!

It's the only way to catch the fuckers in the cookie jar.:toast:

[Democat]

9. Has there ever been a bigger leadership failure in America?

Bush has failed on every level.

[Skip Intro]

11. "may have died from some of the fire that came from the aircraft" - ?!

"...they did not shoot women and children."

"There were a number of woman, a handful of women, I think the number was four to six, caught up in the engagement. They may have died from some of the fire that came from the aircraft," Kimmitt said.
--------

:eyes:

[Ezlivin]

13. Why don't we send in the Military Band?

Instead of soldiers carrying arms, why not musical instruments?

I'd much rather see a headline that reads "US Military Band Disrupts Wedding Party."

Then when we gave our soldiers their marching orders, it would be much more fun to watch.

And hell, other countries might even like us again!

[teryang]

17. And the tactical target was?

A house?

[Bandit]

18. The U.S. military has said the target was a suspected safehouse

Suspected safehouse ~ suspected It is now "We don't need no stinkin' proof Kill em all let God sort em out". And the troops want us to blindly support them?

[qanda]

20. Murderers!!!!!!

Every last single lying one of them are murderers. And thus they should be tried for war crimes.

[enough]

21. "Pictures will encourage terrorism."

At the link in Pos t#2,The caption on one of the photos says:

"European Union (EU) external relations commissioner Chris Patten warned that pictures of civilians who were killed by US forces while attending a wedding in Iraq are likely to encourage terrorism in the Islamic world."

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=iraq+wedding+

This argument is starting to enrage me!

Can't they see that it's not the PICTURES that encourage more terrorism, IT IS THE ATROCITIES which the pictures portray! Do they think it is OKAY to commit these atrocities, if only they don't get shown?

These people have no respect for reality. They actually do not seem to think that reality is real. That is called insanity, and we are allowing ourselves to be governed by it.

[Just Me]

25. We cannot "excuse" the atrocities. Otherwise, we are the "bad" guys.

"World War Three will be guerilla information war, with no division between military and civilian participation." --Marshall McLuhan.

Humanity rejects such injustices.

If "leaderships" genuinely seek to advance peace and improve the human condition,...they had better consider CHANGING their course,...a course which is failing.

[narcjen]

24. It seems to me

these people were just executed, plain and simple.

[Jacobin]

27. Weapons of Mass Music?

Kimmit is lying his ass off.

There are pics of broken musical instruments, the bridegroom lying in bed with her leg blown off, dead kids and women.

This is an atrocity.

General Kimmitt, I believe you have a call from the Hague. Answer it.

[Disturbed]

29. Sociapaths

Amerikans are now being ruled by Sociopaths.
The Democratic Republic that America once was is gone.
Amerika is an Imperialistic Oligarchy.

[ThoughtCriminal]

32. Where are the US casualities?

ONe of the things that bothered me about Kimmitt's explanation is that they claim that "Coalition" forces came under fire, but I have not heard reports of any U.S. personel killed or wounded in the operation? Just why was an airstrike necessary when they had to know civilians were there?

I suspect (but do not know) that "Hearing gunfire" was just equated with "Coming under fire", and they sent in the gunships. Really bad rules of engagement - if they even followed them at all.

[xchrom]

33. kimmett has turned out to be a huge disgrace

to his uniform and to the country.
he should be unceremoniously drummed out of the service and hopefully tried for this latest cover-up.
and as far as ap holding out on the truth -- who is more to blame bushco for the deceitful way they have manhandeled and manipulated anad controlled the media or the media finally sticking it's neck to catch a monster like kimmett?

[David__77]

34. Such atrocities will always enrage the patriots of a nation.

[neuvocat]

38. The U.S. figures it has to lie

otherwise how else can it justify that it fucked up by responding to people celebrating a wedding party by shooting rifles into the air?

[Malva Zebrina]

41. I cannot deal with it

much at all. Many of us spend our lives trying to preserve life to help with the appreciation of all that life has to offer--and we are now chained to a pathologically insane, religiously directed, madman who kills in our name. No one is willing to call him insane, but it is obvious to me that he is,indeed, insane. I will call him insane.

He murders children, babies , old women and old men as well as all in between on the notion that one of them is a member of thje resistance, you know those people who were originally our friends and whom we wanted to free from the repressive regime of another madman, Saddam Hussein but who are now the enemy and the insurgent. Like Sharon and his ethnic cleansing the US is engaging in this unrestrained slaughter of these peoples, this unrestrained tyranny, in our names.

I cannot deal with it.

[Robbien]

42. Went and peeked at the FR site, those guys are sadists

This is one of their responses, there are many more in the same vein:

Not enough of those pissants dead, that's all. The cowards hide behind their breeders and nits, let 'em expect death. They say jihad, I say crusade. Wipe their evil off the face of the earth!

This is the mindset of BushCo followers. I wonder if they have any humanity left at all.

[Tight_rope]

43. For Christ Sake! Wake up Americans!

:grr:

"Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the military maintains the target was a safehouse for infiltrators slipping across the border to fight coalition soldiers in Iraq . But said Thursday the military would investigate after Iraqi officials reported the survivors' story."

How many investigations do we have to conduct, before Americans wake up and realize that it is being ruled by a tyrant dictator, who has sent his militia army to kill innocent people. For Christ sake!


Bush and Saddam are one in the same. I see no difference between the two.

[Robbien]

44. There is a difference

BushCo rapes and kills, Saddam cuts off fingers and kills.

See, BushCo is so much better than Saddam.

[wtmusic]

45. "What we saw in those APTN videos were substantially inconsistent

with the reports we received from the unit that conducted the operation," Kimmitt said. "We're now trying to figure out why there's an inconsistency."

How 'bout 'cause they're fucking liars? 'Kay?

[KoKo]

47. Not a fucking Peep about this on the Cables! I didn't want to turn crap

on...but Friday night? Yahoo has many Pix of all the deaths of the Wedding Party..and it's all over the Internet. And the Damned Cable doesn't mention the WEDDING PARTY MASSACRE! Dead...they don't do Kimmit's Denial..they do squat!

My hopeful conclusion is that they are "holding the story" for "complete info" and will "break it in time" for Chimps Big ADDRESS TO NATION on Monday...

I am trying to be an "optimist" here. But...my optimism is like roots under the ground these days..parched and withered waiting for water.

Sorry for the theatrics. I like poetry...give me a "pass" on this, please...:=)

[Shakespeare]

49. Babykillers.

I had SO hoped that epithet wouldn't apply to our troops this time.

:cry:

[Chicago Democrat]

50. 14 Children 11 Women and Western Iraq's Favorite Singer Killed

Killed women have henna dyed hands, a wedding tradition. This was a wedding. This was an atrocity.

Per

http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl

TV report

[susu369]

53. One of Saddam's nephews was in the "suspected safehouse"

That twist seems to be making it into stories lately....

/sarcasm

[floda]

63. didn't one of Saddam's nephews

was responsible for the beheading of Berg too.? What a coincidence.

More spin:puke:

[susu369]

65. I wasn't serious, floda

just being my usual smarty pants. I certainly do not buy that story about the nephew of Saddam being one of those responsible for the beheading of Berg.

:hi:

[fizzana]

54. In video shown on CBS you could clearly see drums and an

amplifier which leads me to conclude that the Pentagon is correct. Foreigners were in the process of infiltrating Iraq with drum sets. Once all the infiltrators are in place they intend to drive the American soldiers insane with endless drum solos.

Sorry to be so flippant about a tragedy but I think we long ago passed into over the threshold of total absurdity.

[Gold Metal Flake]

Yes, they had to kill them, because when the drumming stops....

Bass solo.

I read that Time may restart Life magazine. I remember looking at the big Life compilation book in my school library and looking at the war photos. They did not engender in me a lust for war. In fact, they did the opposite. Much like the photos of the civil rights era showed me the hypocracy of the budding racists around me. We could use a picture magazine now. The photos of this mass murder need to get into the homes of middle America delivered right next to their TV Guide and Reader's Digest just like used to be.

[Gold Metal Flake]

55. Yes, they had to kill them, because when the drumming stops....

Bass solo.

I read that Time may restart Life magazine. I remember looking at the big Life compilation book in my school library and looking at the war photos. They did not engender in me a lust for war. In fact, they did the opposite. Much like the photos of the civil rights era showed me the hypocracy of the budding racists around me. We could use a picture magazine now. The photos of this mass murder need to get into the homes of middle America delivered right next to their TV Guide and Reader's Digest just like used to be.

[fizzana]

56. The bass solo or the hooded nude pyramid

Give me the pyramid. Anything but the bass solo.

[riverwalker]

57. Demand the media show the video

10 children! My god. I heard Kimmet today say "who goes 80 miles out in the desert for wedding"? Well dipstick, I sure as hell would to get away from you crazies long enough to have a celebration.

[fizzana]

58. CBS network news showed the video tonight.

n/t

[Merlin]

60. Is there a link to the actual video?

I've steered clear of this issue until the dust settled. Looks like now's the time to try to understand it.

[Ms. Clio]

61. wasn't Krazy Killer Kimmett the one who said:

"If you don't want to see women and children being killed, change the channel."