nonniey Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Finally got time to get on the computer. I don't normally post on my experiences over here but this was a bad one. Toured the Al Khatania and Al Jazera Blast sites yesterday and was dumb-founded by the amount of damage caused. These two towns are almost exclusively Yazidi, a small Kurdish sub-minority in Northwestern Iraq. A very Pro-American group (Don't jump to the conclusion that is why they were targeted as AQIZ would have hit them even if they weren't Pro-American). Two truck bombs and two car bombs hit these towns (I only saw three sites). I'm not an engineer but I'd guess the truck bombs were in excess on 10,000 lbs. The damage the trucks caused was almost beyond belief. Walking up on the site on the main road from the east there were collapsed and burned out structures a 100 meters down from where the bus station was. I think the bus station was the only concrete reinforced structure in the blast areas and there was nothing left of it. Looked like most of the dead that had been recovered were from this site as three bucket loaders were working away. Fortunately by the time I got to the site about 11:00 yesterday most of the victims that weren't still buried had been removed - not all though. About 175 dead were already gone. Driving further west the second bomb was what was shocking. The Yazidis at the edge of town engaged it and the truck ran off the dirt road and exploded. The blast was no closer that 50 meters from the nearest structure. Didn't matter. It wrecked 50-100 houses in about a 250 meter diameter. The crater was 15 feet deep. No one, as far as I could tell had been dug out of these houses. The only recovery initially going on at this site was a man furiously digging into the rubble of one collapsed structure. I didn't talk to him but assume he was a father and husband trying to get to his family. He is the one I'll always remember about this massacre. As we left a bucket loader moved up from the other blast site to begin work. The blasts at Al Jazera didn't cause nearly the same amount of damage or death but still killed 40 people. I didn't get a good look there as we were quickly moving on to organize the response. Just a bad day all round especially when one considers over 50% of the casualties will be children when all is said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 I hate to rain on your parade but here is a simple fact. When you invade a country with the intent to assasinate the leadership and occupy the capital, "children" will die. If the love of "children" was so great, the invasion would not have occured. All is fair, still, in love and war. Good luck over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanos Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Keep your head down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpillian Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Nonnjey, Thanks for the update from on the ground there -- really appreciate hearing your perspective. Can't imagine the devastation -- sounds horrendous. Very proud of what you're doing. Stay safe and God bless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonniey Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 I hate to rain on your parade but here is a simple fact.When you invade a country with the intent to assasinate the leadership and occupy the capital, "children" will die. If the love of "children" was so great, the invasion would not have occured. All is fair, still, in love and war. Good luck over there. What parade is that? Did I give the impression I enjoyed this experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 (Don't jump to the conclusion that is why they were targeted as AQIZ would have hit them even if they weren't Pro-American). The Yazidi were likely targeted by Al Quaeda because Salafists consider them to be Satanists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsaneBoost Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Wow, thats just crazy, they need to chill the F out, it makes no sense to me why they do it, it seems so stupid. Oh you don't agree with us, okay, BOOM. WTF? Thank god I live here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Prime Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 I hate to rain on your parade but here is a simple fact.When you invade a country with the intent to assasinate the leadership and occupy the capital, "children" will die. If the love of "children" was so great, the invasion would not have occured. All is fair, still, in love and war. Good luck over there. Maybe you weren't aware but this sort of thing has been going on over there for over 40 years. It just didn't start when the US showed up.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Mike Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 I hate to rain on your parade but here is a simple fact.When you invade a country with the intent to assasinate the leadership and occupy the capital, "children" will die. If the love of "children" was so great, the invasion would not have occured. All is fair, still, in love and war. Good luck over there. Man you are some piece of work. Al Qaeda kills hundreds of people because they they have a different religion and it's our fault? You make me sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Joe Hog Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 I hate to rain on your parade but here is a simple fact.When you invade a country with the intent to assasinate the leadership and occupy the capital, "children" will die. If the love of "children" was so great, the invasion would not have occured. All is fair, still, in love and war. Good luck over there. Next time you post on such matters, please show some consideration for a man who is dealing with the emotions of a tragic event. He doesn't make foreign policy decisions. He's just a man doing his duty under trying circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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