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| Iraq |
| U.S.: 70 Iraqis Killed in Airstrikes |
| 2005-10-17 |
| The story has not been confirmed by AP's al-Quaeda stringer so it is only attributed to the US pending authoritative confirmation. Clearly all killed wer innocent Iraqis; no militants, insurgents, rebels or Voldemorts. BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near the city of Ramadi, a hotbed of Sunni-Arab insurgents west of Baghdad, killing around 70 Iraqis, the military said Monday. The military said all the dead were militants Is the military calling them that now? They should move to Voldemorts., though witnesses said at least 39 were The violence on Sunday occurred a day after Iraq voted on -- and apparently passed -- a landmark constitution that many Sunnis opposed. On referendum day, a roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers iin a vehicle in the Al-Bu Ubaid village on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi. On Sunday, a group of around two dozen Iraqis gathered around the wreckage of the U.S. vehicle and were hit by the airstrikes by U.S. warplanes, both the military and witnesses said. I know if I were an innocent civilian who had been in Iraq the last two years, the first thing I would do when I saw an American vehicle hit would be to run over and rubberneck. The military said in a statement that the crowd was setting another roadside bomb in the location of the blast that killed the Americans. F-15 warplanes hit them with a precision-guided bomb, killing around 20 people, described by the statement as "terrorists." Did the statement use quote marks? But several witnesses and one local leader said the people were civilians who had gathered to gawk at the wreckage of the U.S. vehicle or pick pieces off of it -- as often occurs after an American vehicle is hit. The airstrike hit the crowd, killing 25 people, said Chiad Saad, a tribal leader, and several witnesses who refused to give their names fearing The other deaths occured in the village of Al-Bu Faraj. The military said a group of gunmen opened fire on a Cobra attack helicopter that had spotted their position. The Cobra returned fire, killing around 10. The men ran into a nearby house, where gunmen were seen unloading weapons. An F/A-18 warplane struck the building with a bomb, killing 40 insurgents, the military said. Witnesses said at least 14 of the dead were civilians. First, one man was wounded in an airstrike, and when he was brought into a nearby building, warplanes struck the building, said the witnesses, refusing to give their names for concern about their safety. Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is a stronghold for Sunni insurgents, and few people cast ballots there during Saturday's referendum -- either out of fear of militants' reprisals or out of rejection of the new constitution. A U.S. Marine was also killed by a bomb Saturday in the town of Saqlawiyah, 45 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. The weekend's U.S. military fatalities brought to at least 1,976 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. |
| Posted by:Ebberemp Angomolet7575 |
| #27 Spot-on, SPo'D. Effectively, the modern battlefield has been utterly ceded to the US - and we are working very hard to push the edges in every way possible. One of the real surprises, to me, anyway, in that long UK MoD document posted here not long ago, regards the UK's dumping military interoperability with the US in favor of the EU Rapid Vacation Farce, was that they were, basically, Luddites when it came to C&C & battlefield info systems / communications. And they field the only credible force in Europe. So where is everyone else? My guesses, in order of sophistication, and the "decade" that seems to best fit their regular (deployable now) conventional force capabilities... UK: 90s Israel: 90s Other Europeans: 90s, but irrelevant - numbers & will missing Russia: 80s (same problems as circa Afghanistan, methinks) China: 80s, maybe 70s PackiWakis: 70s Iran: 70s The MSM: Heh, too easy - Vietnam, of course, so 60s Jihadis: 50s + 7th century It is, indeed, lonely at the top. Corrections happily accepted, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-17 21:49 |
| #26 The BBC is claiming it mass murder and they were all, of course, innocent. Not one jurno understands the tech which allows those pilots to be certain they are engaging foes. They are still stuck reporting war as if it was 1950. That is to say "stuck on stupid." |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-10-17 21:13 |
| #25 It looks to me like the father has nail polish. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2005-10-17 20:23 |
| #24 I was kidding in #17...but then the A/P does me one better. Look at the photo that accompanies this piece of crap: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_go_co/democrats_iraq_politics Dang...missed 2. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2005-10-17 19:02 |
| #23 I was kidding in #17...but then the A/P does me one better. Look at the photo that accompanies this piece of crap: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051017/ap_on_go_co/democrats_iraq_politics |
| Posted by: Justrand 2005-10-17 18:03 |
| #22 The losers whacked by the Cobra with the 20mm chain gun went 'splat' for sure. Anybody got a link to the video of the jihadis caught dropping an RPG launcher in the field by a hovering Cobra? It's pretty messy, even through a night vision sight. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2005-10-17 17:57 |
| #21 Cap, some went splat, some bounced and some thudded, and some did a combination of these. |
| Posted by: Ol Dirty American 2005-10-17 17:41 |
| #20 My only question: Did the jahadis splat, bounce, or thud? |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-10-17 17:11 |
| #19 Now, if I saw a Cobra flying by, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fire on it. But I don't have a death wish. Ain't that the truth. |
| Posted by: Corvette Owners Everywhere 2005-10-17 17:03 |
| #18 Seems to me whenever there's an effective airstrike the press always is able to find a witness who testifies that most of the victims were women, children and handicapped orphans. |
| Posted by: Dixonh2 2005-10-17 16:25 |
| #17 But I heard on CNN that these were in fact just crippled children trying help stray puppies find their way home. They were just loading the puppies in the pickup of a man who was on his way to place flowers on his Mother's grave, but stopped to help because he is (or was) a member of the "Religion of Peace"! You're saying CNN got it wrong?? |
| Posted by: Justrand 2005-10-17 16:10 |
| #16 Like WhiteCollarRedneck said - "After realizing their position had been compromised, the terrorists fled the scene and engaged the Cobra with small arms fire." QED: Darwin in action. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2005-10-17 15:02 |
| #15 Time to reintroduce napalm to the battle plan, and use it for car swarms and other "insurgency" gatherings. Screw the Geneva Convention, primarily introduced to defang the US and Britain in the first place. After using it in |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-10-17 14:38 |
| #14 OOH-RAH, motherfuckers. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-10-17 14:24 |
| #13 ...used circular logic with a wet spot in the middle. woe is me..been there done that. |
| Posted by: 10 minutes before closing time 2005-10-17 13:32 |
| #12 Now, if I saw a Cobra flying by, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fire on it. But I don't have a death wish. yea, makes no sense at all..does it. Huumm...pretty stupid in fact..unless someone had |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-10-17 13:25 |
| #11 When an unlawful combatant hides behind civilians, the deaths of those civilians is HIS FAULT. Some would say that is courageous and smart. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-10-17 12:45 |
| #10 Now, if I saw a Cobra flying by, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fire on it. But I don't have a death wish. |
| Posted by: WhiteCollarRedneck 2005-10-17 12:19 |
| #9 From Strategy Page: The call for F-18s to scan the ground below is all because of the new Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR). This $1.2 million device, which is considered about five times more effective than earlier models, can clearly see people on the ground from 40 kilometers away, and 6-7 kilometers up. Pilots can see people with guns hiding on roofs, or behind buildings, waiting to ambush approaching coalition or Iraqi troops or convoys. Magnification at night is 30 times, and 60 times during the day. But at night, the ATFLIR gets sharper images because it is sensing differences in heat below. Things cool off rapidly in Iraq after the sun goes down, everything except the few people running around at night. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-10-17 10:45 |
| #8 The F/A-18’s are probably using ATFLIRs with a unclassified range of over 45 miles (probably for a tank sized target) and well out of range for someone to see or hear the aircraft. The F-15s would be using the older LANTIRN pods. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-10-17 10:04 |
| #7 With real time cockpit display? I'm going to start being more careful when I load the pickup. |
| Posted by: Claiger Wheatch9865 2005-10-17 09:54 |
| #6 At what altitude do these F/A surreptitiously conduct observation so that they can count up to 35-40 terrorists loading vehicles? Could there be another source of intelligence we do not wish to disclose? As I recall, there's a camera pod on those planes that's simply stunning. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-10-17 09:53 |
| #5 Thanks Chuck a team of F/A-18’s resumed observation at the suspected safe house where they found an additional 35-40 terrorists At what altitude do these F/A surreptitiously conduct observation so that they can count up to 35-40 terrorists loading vehicles? Could there be another source of intelligence we do not wish to disclose? |
| Posted by: Claiger Wheatch9865 2005-10-17 09:45 |
| #4 bout time, I always wondered why they let the Terrorist dance around our burning vechles for the cameras. If you are praising and showing out were a US vehicle is destroyed you are a enemy or at the least a enemy supporter. period. I am still waiting for another thing I have been wanting to see that is carpet bombings of those freeken enemy protest were they burn flags march dressed in suicide belts ect...anyone at those protest are eiter enemy enemy supporters or maybe some of our spys gathering intel (they could be advised to miss a day), when those can be bombed it will be a good day for us and bad for our enemy. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2005-10-17 09:33 |
#3 Here's the actual press release from MNF-Iraq.While conducting a combat air patrol, crewmembers from an F -15 observed 20 men arrive in four vehicles at the crater site of a previously-detonated IED which had killed five U.S. and two Iraqi Soldiers on Oct. 15. The terrorists were in the process of emplacing another IED in the same spot when the F- 15 engaged them with a precision-guided bomb, resulting in the death of terrorists on the ground. At approximately 7:30 p.m., a UH-1N Huey and AH-1W Cobra helicopter team on patrol north of Ramadi had been observing a group of military age males gathered at a suspected terrorist safe house. After realizing their position had been compromised, the terrorists fled the scene and engaged the Cobra with small arms fire. The Cobra returned fire with 20 mm. munitions, resulting in the death of an estimated 10 terrorists. At approximately 7:50 p.m., a team of F/A-18’s resumed observation at the suspected safe house where they found an additional 35-40 terrorists loading their vehicles with weapons and driving to another location to unload the weapons. The F/A-18 targeted the terrorists with a precision-guided bomb, killing terrorists on the ground. The combined strikes resulted in approximately 50 terrorists killed. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-10-17 09:00 |
| #2 The men ran into a nearby house, where gunmen were seen unloading weapons. An F/A-18 warplane struck the building with a bomb, killing 40 insurgents, the military said. Witnesses said at least 14 of the dead were civilians. The press needs a short lesson in the facts of war: When an unlawful combatant hides behind civilians, the deaths of those civilians is HIS FAULT. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-10-17 08:49 |
| #1 If they run they ar al-qaida, if they don't run they are well-disciplined al-qaida. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-10-17 08:43 |