4 American civilians slaughtered in Iraq

[Renegade7]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37891-2004Mar31.html

I usually don't start threads on this subject. But seeing that no one has posted it, and I've gotten to the point that I just want to hurl from the pics, I figured that this was something I just had to share. This is just, ah hell, see it for yourself. It makes you ask yourself, seeing these Iraqi civilians dragging charred bodies through the streets and hanging them on bridges, was it worth it? Do they truely deserve their freedom if this is how they plan to repay us?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/photo/world/G38422-2004Mar31.html

9 Killed in Separate Attacks in Iraq

Bodies of 4 Contractors Brutalized; Five U.S. Soldiers Killed by Roadside Bomb

By Sewell Chan and Naseer Nouri

Washington Post Foreign Service

Wednesday, March 31, 2004; 4:37 PM

FALLUJAH, March 31--Four American civilian contractors were killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah Wednesday in an attack that left their vehicles in flames, and afterward at least three of the burned bodies were mutilated, dragged through the streets and suspended from a bridge while a group of Iraqis danced in the streets. Separately, in nearby Ramadi, five U.S. soldiers died after their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

Fallujah residents interviewed said the incident involving the contractors was the most savage behavior they had seen in the city since the U.S. occupation began.

The White House on Wednesday blamed terrorists and remnants of Saddam Hussein's former regime for the attack. White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, "There are some that are doing everything they can to try to prevent" a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

The four contractors were U.S. citizens, the State Department said. Early evidence indicated they were employed by Blackwater Security Consulting of Moyock, N.C., a company that hires former military special forces and law enforcement personnel from the United States and other countries to provide security services and training, the company said in a statement.

The company said it was hired by the U.S. government to provide security for convoys delivering food in the Fallujah area.

The names of the victims were not immediately released pending notification of next of kin, U.S. officials said.

"The United States government is appalled by the horrific attacks and the senseless loss of life that we saw in Iraq today," State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli told reporters in Washington. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims."

Footage of parts of the incident following the attack appeared on U.S. television Wednesday.

The attack began when insurgents fired assault rifles at two SUVs in a busy commercial area. Then, hundreds of people, young and old, gathered around the burning vehicles and shouted anti-American slogans.

Video footage showed the charred bodies on the streets, having been dragged from the vehicles and beaten with shovels. At least three bodies were seen hanging from a bridge in Fallujah afterwards.

They were then cut down, attached to donkey carts, and dragged a mile and a half through the city, witnesses told The Washington Post.

A police official in Fallujah, Major Abdelaziz Faisal Hamid Mehamdy, said he did not see any survivors and that it took police about 30 minutes to arrive at the scene. He said no arrests were made and that the gunmen escaped.

Mehamdy said: "I was surprised. . . . The violence is increasing against the Americans. . . . They took over the country and they didn't give us anything. They came for democracy and to help the people, but we haven't seen any of this, just killing and violence."

In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military's deputy director of operations, later said: "While it is perhaps newsworthy that we show small, localized incidents, the entire tableau of the country of Iraq is far more than a couple of small, localized incidents. They are tragic. . . . We grieve for the families. We know what it's like to be those families. But the most important thing that those soldiers and those contractors would say today, they would tell us were they here today, 'Keep up the work. Don't disgrace us by buckling under to a small group of insurgents.' And we don't plan to."

Kimmitt said he understood there were four contractors traveling in two vehicles. "What they were doing there, I'm not sure of. Like most contractors, they have a responsibility throughout the country," he said.

"As we work on governance, essential services, restoring the economy, we've got coalition employees throughout the cities, throughout the country, trying to work with the people of Iraq, trying to work with the organizations," Kimmitt said.

"Fallujah," he said, "remains one of those cities in Iraq that just don't get it. It's a former Baathist stronghold. This was a city that profited immeasurably and immensely under the former regime. They have a view that somehow the harder they fight, the better chance they have of achieving some sort of restorationist movement within the country."

Kimmitt added that "the contractors stand side by side with the Iraqi security forces, side by side with the coalition forces. Every time they go out, they know they're taking risk; and they're willing to take that risk for many, many reasons, one of which, they understand that they're part of this process of bringing this country a future that they have not had for 35 years."

As to the U.S. soldiers killed, little information was made available Wednesday. A military spokesman said that the five 1st Infantry Division soldiers died when their M-113 armored personnel carrier ran over a bomb.

Washington Post staff writer Fred Barbash contributed to this story from Washington.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

[Ford]

..edited .. why cant you delete your own posts?

[Renegade7]

merge then, I don't care.

[OaktonSkins/BushFan]

The solution is simple: Kill 'em All. Of course, I mean all of those involved in the killing and post-murder activites. Personally, if it was up to me, I would have called in an airstrike and instantly killed all of the hundreds that were involved in this act of terrorism. I'll bet it wouldn't happen again. Force is the only thing these animals understand; it is force that they should get.

[Renegade7]

Originally posted by Ford

..edited .. why cant you delete your own posts?

It says that i don't hae permission to do that. Only the mods can do that i guess. As far as I'm conserned, they all deserve the same amount of mercy they showed us. Zero. None. Zip. Nada. Understand? I'm through being nice and helping the Iraqis. I hope that's not their version of a thank you. Because if that was the case and i was in charge, would not like what i would do to say "you're welcome". You don't want to know...