Article

2003-11-25 Iraq

Now theyâre saying no evidence our soldiersâ were mutilated

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Posted by Damn_Proud_American 2003-11-25 1:49:49 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Iraqi's make pretty poor eyewitnesses, relatively speaking.

Posted by Super Hose 2003-11-25 4:46:46 AM|| 2003-11-25 4:46:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I wonder if this is another "looted museum" story, where the initial reports of descration of the corpses was almost entirely fabricated.

The alternative, of course, is that the US is trying to hide the truth so that it doesn't have to retaliate massively.

Posted by Steven Den Beste 2003-11-25 6:28:51 AM|| [http://denbeste.nu] 2003-11-25 6:28:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Video supposedly here...

Posted by Ptah 2003-11-25 6:32:39 AM|| [http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-11-25 6:32:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 In Monday's account, the military official said the victims, both soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, were not set upon by a mob but were shot by unidentified gunmen who stopped their car in front of the Americans' car, forcing it to halt. The assailants got out and fired at the Americans through the windshield. While an initial military report had said that the men's throats had been slit, further investigation revealed no evidence of such wounds, a military official said.

Saw a report yesterday that said at least one of them had been shot in the neck. That could account for the throat theory.

Nor were the bodies dragged through the streets.
At the Pentagon, Defense Department and military officials had no explanation for the conflicting information from the field, except to repeat the usual caution that first reports are routinely incorrect. The initial reports of throats being slashed came from Iraq, and were never confirmed by officials in Washington, they said. Military and Pentagon officials confirmed that the bodies apparently were taken from the vehicle, and that valuables and weapons were stolen, but that the victims were not mutilated or dragged through the streets.

Somebody came by after the fact, saw the bodies laying beside the car, saw bloody throat wound, maybe saw some bricks or rocks beside the body, put two and two together, and came up with five.

Posted by Steve 2003-11-25 8:33:53 AM|| 2003-11-25 8:33:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 in a country that has gone 30 years without a free press, the tendency to rely on rumor must be large. given that many Iraqis still dont trust the CPA TV network, and that the foreign sat networks - al arabiyah and al jazeera - are unreliable - they probably still go by rumor. (There are print news sources now, but they may not be fast enough for something quick breaking like this)

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-11-25 9:57:42 AM|| 2003-11-25 9:57:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 There's also the "Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum..." tendency of Arab mobs to take into account...

Posted by snellenr 2003-11-25 10:38:26 AM|| 2003-11-25 10:38:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Ptah, the video link didn't seem to work. I really don't wan't to watch a video of something like that but I think it's important that we get to the truth on this.

Posted by Damn_Proud_American 2003-11-25 11:50:42 AM|| [http://brighterfuture.blogspot.com] 2003-11-25 11:50:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 More details coming out:
The Associated Press quoted an eyewitness, 19-year-old Younis Mahmoud, as saying: "They lifted a block and hit them with it on the face." But the AP dispatch quoted another teenage witness, Bahaa Jassim, as saying the wounds came from gunshots, not stabbings. "One of the soldiers was shot under the chin, and the bullet came out of his head," the teenager said. "I saw the hole in his helmet. The other was shot in the throat."
The two 101st Airborne soldiers were riding in a civilian vehicle between garrisons in daylight when they were shot by gunmen. The vehicle then crashed into a wall. The bodies were dragged from the vehicle and "stripped of their personal effect," the coalition spokesman said. A crowd used rocks to break the vehicle's back window and then looted it. Army soldiers arrived on the scene and found the two bodies lying near the vehicle.
Like I said before, 2 + 2 = 5. I'd still be looking for the people who robbed the bodies.

Posted by Steve 2003-11-25 11:53:55 AM|| 2003-11-25 11:53:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 I'd still be looking for the people who robbed the bodies.
Yep, and when we find them, we should make an example of them. They should be shackled together (feet only, as many as are involved), and forced to dig ditches twelve hours a day, day after day, for ten years. I'm sure they will never want to even THINK about stripping another dead person of their personal belongings.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-25 8:15:13 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-25 8:15:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 OP, they could dig proper graves for the victms of Sadaam.

Posted by Super Hose 2003-11-25 8:55:57 PM|| 2003-11-25 8:55:57 PM|| Front Page Top

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