Victims of trigger-happy Task Force 20

[IndianaGreen]

Victims of trigger-happy Task Force 20

Rage triggered by US raid that claimed five lives

Jamie Wilson in Baghdad
Tuesday July 29, 2003
The Guardian

The first hint that something might be up came at 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon. A car full of westerners in civilian clothes with cropped military-style haircuts pulled up outside the Al Sa'ah restaurant, two blocks from Prince Rabiah Muhamed al-Habib's house in the wealthy Mansur district of Baghdad.

The people going about their business in the sweltering afternoon sun did not know it at the time, but the men sitting in the car watching the street were the best the coalition forces had to offer: members of Task Force 20, the unit responsible for hunting down Saddam Hussein and other key members of the regime.

Within two hours soldiers attached to this so-called elite unit had shot and killed at least five people. Their actions have provoked anger towards the coalition in this previously peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood that is likely to simmer for some time to come.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1007694,00.html

[MrPrax]

1. American Agents are Blamed for Raid That Became a Massacre Fisk

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American Agents are Blamed for Raid That Became a Massacre

By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
Independent
07/29/03: The American killing of up to 11 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad during an abortive attempt to seize Saddam Hussein on Sunday has provoked disturbing questions as well as widespread anger in the city. Many witnesses now say armed Americans in civilian clothes also participated in the raid - after which at least three of the wounded were spirited away by US troops and have not been seen since.

Fadi Barash, an unemployed car mechanic, told The Independent yesterday how his relative Mazen Elyas was shot in the head by US troops as he drove towards them on his way to church with his mother Tamantin and brother Thamir. "Mazen was killed - his brain was blown out - but his mother and Thamir were wounded," he said. "The Americans took them away in some kind of pick-up and didn't tell anyone where they went. Mr Barash appealed yesterday, along with other members of his family, to the International Red Cross in an effort to force the Americans to disclose the whereabouts of the wounded - or dead - relatives.....
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see more
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4263.htm

[madrchsod]

2. seems like the

cartel has its own personal contracters..yes there`s nothing like killing the middle and lower upper class in iraq to get things on the right track..i`m sure the friends of the dead really want to work for the new government..new recruits for the uprising...

[dfong63]

3. shame

"We consider the Americans now as war criminals," said Mahmoud al-Baghdadi, a 32-year-old baker. "They claim to be fighting terrorism, but they cannot defend freedom by killing disabled people."

Yaqdan Kadhem, a waiter, said that before he had felt sympathy for the Americans, but now he supported the attacks on US troops. "Until now I was against Saddam Hussein, but now I hate the Americans for what they did yesterday."

The coalition refused to comment on events in Mansur, except to say the raid had been carried out by Task Force 20.

another shameful episode in bush's stupid, unjustified jihad.