b-man here's your tragic wedding celebration

[pope]

U.S.: No evidence of wedding at attack site

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Dozens of people killed in a U.S. attack in the Iraqi desert Wednesday were attending a high-level meeting of foreign fighters, not a wedding, and photos shown to reporters in Baghdad support that belief, according to the senior coalition military spokesman.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said six women were among the dead, but there is no evidence any children died in the raid early Wednesday near the Syrian border.

Coalition officials have said that as many as 40 people were killed in the attack.

He said that video showing dead children killed was actually recorded in Ramadi, far from the attack scene.

An Iraqi man interviewed by The Associated Press as the bodies of women and children were unloaded from a truck for burial said they had gathered for a wedding celebration when they were attacked.

"There may have been some kind of celebration," Kimmitt said. "Bad people have celebrations too. Bad people have parties too."

Kimmitt said that troops did not find anything -- such as a wedding tent, gifts, musical instruments, decorations or leftover food -- that would indicate that a wedding had been held.

Most of the men there were of military age, and there were no elders present to indicate a family event, he said.

What was found, he said, indicated the building was used as a waypoint for foreign fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria to battle the coalition.

"The building seemed to be somewhat of a dormitory," Kimmitt said. "You had over 300 sets of bedding gear in it. You had a tremendous number of pre-packaged clothing -- apparently about a hundred sets of pre-packaged clothing; (It is) expected that when foreign fighters come in from other countries, they come to this location, they change their clothes into typical Iraqi clothing sets."

At Saturday's briefing for reporters in Baghdad, Kimmitt showed photos of what he said were binoculars designed for adjusting artillery fire, battery packs suitable for improvised explosive devices, several terrorist training manuals, medical gear, fake ID cards and ID card-making machines, passports and telephone numbers to other countries, including Afghanistan and Sudan.

None of the men killed in the raid carried ID cards or wallets, he said. "We feel that that was an indicator that this was a high risk meeting of high level anti-coalition forces. There was a tremendous number of incriminating pocket litter, a lot of telephone numbers to foreign countries, Afghanistan, Sudan and a number of others."

Kimmitt said while the location was purported to be a sheep ranch, there was no evidence of ranching activities and no livestock.

He said that the coalition would continue to have an open mind about what might have happened, and he conceded there were some inconsistencies still to be worked out.

"The more that we look at intelligence, more we dig in, more we are persuaded no wedding," Kimmitt said.

"We had significant, multiple sources of intelligence" before ordering the raid, he said.



Did your invite get lost in the mail? ;)

[DeanPatsFan]

Hmmm.....

It seems the Blame America First Crowd is strangely silent on this one....

I'm sure Al-Jazeera will soon come up with another falsification about US attrocities that they can all jump on....

[Come Back to NY]

[quote][i]Originally posted by New England Hick[/i]@May 23 2004, 11:32 AM
[b] Hmmm.....

It seems the Blame America First Crowd is strangely silent on this one....

I'm sure Al-Jazeera will soon come up with another falsification about US attrocities that they can all jump on.... [/b][/quote]
Don't worry about Al-Jazeera; their sister station, CNN, has already done their utmost.

[DeanPatsFan]

Still no answer from bman and his Blame America First Crowd.....

That prettty much says it all right there....... :lol:

[bman]

cnn does have a video of a wedding party..and then a lot of the same people from that video later in coffins!

you tell me ..do you think the US military would actually admit to this now..after all the prison scandles!

[joewilly]

[quote][i]Originally posted by New England Hick[/i]@May 23 2004, 11:32 AM
[b] Hmmm.....

It seems the Blame America First Crowd is strangely silent on this one....

I'm sure Al-Jazeera will soon come up with another falsification about US attrocities that they can all jump on.... [/b][/quote]
I'm confused, you guys are contradicting a report from cnn with a report from cnn.

Your argument of biased reporting would carry a lot more weight if cnn didn't report both stories but only the 1st one.

[chiefst2000]

I'm actually very upset about this. I'm pissed that we didn't send in groung troops to wipe out the rest of the terrorist animals who wer at that location. If only 40 were killed that probablly means that many more got away. Thats what I'm outraged about.

[bman]

if they weren't killed they'd be fondled...
Bush/Cheney/Rummy/Wolfi..Bye Bye

time to get some real leadership in this country who won't make up evidence to fight a bs war and start fighting terrorism.