The AP up to its old tricks again. This time it’s another “massacre”: (h/.t Jules Crittenden)
A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children,
northwest of the capital Thursday — one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in
an American operation in recent months. The military said it was targeting
senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq.~~~
The military statement detailing Thursday’s air and ground assault said
soldiers were acting on intelligence reports about an al-Qaida meeting in the
Lake Tharthar region. The southern reaches of the big, man-made lake are about
50 miles northwest of the capital.The American account said U.S. surveillance confirmed “activity consistent
with the reports and supporting aircraft engaged the time-sensitive target.” The
first air attack killed “four terrorists,” said the statement.
First attacked killed four terrorists, so far so good. So where were the children at? Oops, you have to read even further into the report to find that out:
The military said it then tracked some of those who escaped the initial
attack to a place south of Lake Tharthar. It said ground forces moved on the
site and came under fire. Air support was called in.“After securing the area, the ground force assessed 15 terrorists, six women
and nine children were killed,” the statement said. Two suspected al-Qaida
members, a woman and three children were wounded, according to the military
account.
So al-Qaeda ran like the cowards they are, hid amongst women and children, and when ground forces came in al-Qaeda started firing which caused air strikes to be called in.
Now whose fault is this again?
Like in Haditha, it’s the fault of the enemy for hiding amongst women and children like cowards.
But not to our MSM.
See author page
It’s not the UNIFORMED military that’s to blame.
Lt. Col.Douglas MacGregor (Ret) writes:
. . . . Unwanted occupations should be avoided, not repeated. . . . the open-ended American military occupation of Iraq that precipitated a popular Sunni Muslim-Arab revolt against an unwanted American military occupation. From the moment we occupied central Iraq with no plan to leave, we were at war with a population humiliated by our presence; it is the kind of conflict the American military should not be asked to fight.
Not the uniforms in the field. It’s the suits and ties in the Pentagon and the White House who are to be blamed.
Occupation duty is beneath the professional competence, dignity and pride of the American Armed Forces. That’s why the U.S. Marines would prefer to be in Afghanistan.
Good post, Curt. I read about this on another site where they cited – either in the post or the comments – the relevant passage in the Geneva Conventions that these deaths are the responsibility of the terrorists. The relevant passage said something along the lines of… fighters who hide among civilians are not to be immune from attack. And any deaths of civilians which occur while they are attacked are on their hands.
Ahah. I found where I read it. Blackfive:
“Not the uniforms in the field. It’s the suits and ties in the Pentagon and the White House who are to be blamed.”
Ohhhhh, so replace the suits in the Pentagon (done post 11/06), replace the guy in the White House because Lame Duck Presidents are oh-so-powerful, and ABB would do better (not), and the lack of success in Iraq has nothing at all to do with the fact that so many Democrats have led so many Americans to oppose success (after all, can’t succeed if you don’t support the effort to succeed).
Brilliant.
Face it, the war’s winding down. Troops are coming home in the spring, next summer they’ll announce more, violence is down, casualties are down, Iraqis are uniting more than Americans, and most importantly…no Democrat in Congress or running for President is going to force a withdrawal. The Democratic Congress could trade their agenda for the votes to force one, but they won’t-err, haven’t and won’t. Democrats running for President ain’t gonna do it either. In fact, they’re gonna continue the war till 2013. No point in being anti-war/anti-W/anti-Republican anymore.
Remember you’re assuming the women and young people are innocents and not involved in terrorism. That may or may not be the case.
Crazy,
You do have a point. Islam considers no one too young for Jihad. Also, we have no indication of what the MSM defines as a “child”. The military report, IF this story is not made up (it is the AP after all) indicated “children” so that must mean the dead were 17 or under, but this is an AP story.
As usual, the AP is more than happy to give the terrorists a pass while slamming US troops.