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| Iraq | |
| Four U.S. Contractors Killed in Iraq | |
| 2005-10-24 | |
| If you want to know the heart an minds of deranged muslim...read on. An angry mob of insurgents attacked a convoy of American contractors last month when they got lost in a town north of Baghdad, killing four and wounding two, the U.S. military said on Sunday. The Sept. 20 attack in the mostly Sunni Arab town of Duluiyah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, was reported for the first time on Saturday by the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph and confirmed by the military on Sunday. The convoy, which included U.S. military guards riding in Humvees, made a wrong turn into Duluiyah and insurgents opened fire with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Maj. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for Task Force Liberty in north-central Iraq, told The Associated Press. "Task Force Liberty soldiers, which have a forward operating base in that area, responded to assist the convoy, administered first aid to two wounded contractors and evacuated the remains of four contractors killed," Goldenberg said. He said he had no information about what the U.S. soldiers riding in the convoy had done during the attack. The attack caused no U.S. military casualties, but Goldenberg said his men, acting on a tip, returned to the area two days later to detain an individual suspected of ties to the attack. The U.S. troops killed two insurgents after coming under fire. The Telegraph reported the contractors killed and wounded were employees of the Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, the biggest U.S. military contractor in Iraq. But Goldenberg could not confirm that. The Telegraph reported that two of the contractors not killed in the initial attack were dragged alive from their vehicle, which had been badly shot up. They were forced to kneel in the road before being killed. "Killing one of the men with a rifle round fired into the back of his head, they doused the other with petrol and set him alight," the paper reported. "Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man's body to stoke the flames." It's hard to imagine the kind of mental illness associated with this group of sub-humans. The crowd then "dragged their corpses through the street, chanting anti-U.S. slogans," the report said. The Telegraph cited U.S. Capt. Andrew Staples, a member of the Task Force Liberty battalion that patrols the area including Duluiya, who told the paper he had talked to soldiers involved in the attack. But none of the soldiers involved were identified. It was not immediately clear why the U.S. military had not reported the deaths earlier. But two other military spokesmen said Sunday that the military generally relies on U.S. government officials to report the deaths of American civilians and contractors in Iraq.
I am not sure what to say. | |
| Posted by:anymouse |
| #6 Hummm... yep. This sounds like Sunni spin of death. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-10-24 18:15 |
| #5 In this case, as cold as it sounds -- I'm gonna hang back and wait for more to be uncovered. If the attack took place on September 20, that's over a MONTH of delayed news, with ample time for "embelishment" along the way. |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2005-10-24 13:39 |
| #4 Did some more checking, seems the Telegraph story is the only source for the "dragged from the vehicle and burned" meme. And only of couple of sites add the disclaimer: Details of the account could not be independently verified. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-10-24 11:49 |
| #3 The Telegraphs story is somewhat different from that of ABC: In another development, the U.S. military on Sunday confirmed that four American contract workers were killed and two wounded in Iraq last month when their convoy got lost. The attack occurred on Sept. 20 when the convoy, which included U.S. military guards riding in Humvees, made a wrong turn into the mostly Sunni Arab town of Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad. Insurgents opened fire with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Maj. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for Task Force Liberty in north-central Iraq, told The Associated Press. Alerted of the attack, a quick reaction team went to the scene, finding all four Americans still in their vehicles with bullet wounds, one of them burned from a fire in the vehicle. One was still alive but died later of his wounds, the military said. Two others were wounded and survived the attack. So, what happened to the "dragged from vehicle" part? Ya don't suppose it never happened now? Three of the dead worked for Houston-based Halliburton Co.'s KBR subsidiary, the biggest U.S. military contractor in Iraq. It was not clear who the fourth slain American worked for. Another case of "fake, but accurate"? Or just wishful thinking on the reporters part? |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-10-24 11:31 |
| #2 Yesterday Oldspook gave the proper prescription; level everything within 100 yards of the incident. Except, in this case I'd go for 200. Rubble now. |
| Posted by: Uleremble Thrasing6559 2005-10-24 09:39 |
| #1 "Killing one of the men with a rifle round fired into the back of his head, they doused the other with petrol and set him alight," the paper reported. "Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man's body to stoke the flames." *** So what do we do but weep? In a more manly era, the time of my father and uncles, the Bs would have been unleashed. Bs as in B-17s, B-25s, B-24s, and B-29s ... get the picture? |
| Posted by: Cousin of Panzerschreck 2005-10-24 09:32 |