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AhronZombi said:
not supriseing. ive got a unreleased CNN clip with soldiers killing inocent iraqis walking down the street like its a game, then laughing about it when the reporter interveiws them

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The attack occurred about 2:45 a.m. in a desert region near the border with Syria and Jordan, according to Lt. Col. Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi. He said between 42 and 45 people died, including 15 children and 10 women. Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.

The area, a desolate region populated only by shepherds, is popular with smugglers, including weapons smugglers, and the U.S. military suspects militants use it as a route to slip in from Syria to fight the Americans. It is under constant surveillance by American forces.

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yuck. This has nothing at all to do with war, its just another perfect example of the American military's psychotic lack of respect for human life, ignorance and stupidity. (not to mention a complete lack of cultural understanding and military intelligence)

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They've become so obsessed with force protection and having a low body count (only on their side, though) that collateral damage doesn't matter anymore.

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I swear I almost want Bush to lose the election so we get to nitpic everything the flip flopper says.

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None of the men killed in the raid carried ID cards or wallets, he said. "We feel that that was an indicator that this was a high risk meeting of high level anti-coalition forces. There was a tremendous number of incriminating pocket litter, a lot of telephone numbers to foreign countries, Afghanistan, Sudan and a number of others."

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Kimmitt said while the location was purported to be a sheep ranch, there was no evidence of ranching activities and no livestock.

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What was found, he said, indicated the building was used as a waypoint for foreign fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria to battle the coalition.

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He said that the coalition would continue to have an open mind about what might have happened, and he conceded there were some inconsistencies still to be worked out.

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unbeliever said:
Considering how long it took for this new "spin" to come out on the story, I think it's very possible. Anyway, yes it said they had intelligence prior to the attack, but not that it indicated whether it was a wedding party or not. Everything else in what you posted is evidence of discovery, after the fact.

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so what you're saying is that you do believe that commanders ordered the helicopter gunner to shoot up a random gathering (or what they thought to be a wedding party) at 2 in the morning in the middle of the desert, and they just got lucky?

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The only thing that the US militarymen knew was that they were being fired upon. The wedding thing came after the fact by, apparently, lying arabs.

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"We had significant, multiple sources of intelligence" before ordering the raid, he said...."

Sounds like what they said about WMD...

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Al-Ani, the doctor, said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters later arrived and attacked the area. Two houses were destroyed, he said

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I thought about that 2:45 in the morning thing. Then I thought about all the weddings I've been to, and I will say that at 95% of them, the reception went on well until 3, sometimes 4 am. I don't see it being all that unusual.

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