posted March 31, 2004 09:40 AM              

By SAMEER N. YACOUB

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of four foreigners - one a woman, at least one an American - through the streets Wednesday and hanged them from the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Five American troops died in a roadside bombing nearby.

The four foreigners were killed in a rebel ambush of their SUVs in Fallujah, a Sunni Triangle city about 35 miles west of Baghdad and scene of some of the worst violence on both sides of the conflict since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.

It was reminiscent of the 1993 scene in Somalia, when a mob dragged the corpse of a U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, eventually leading to the American withdrawal from the African nation.

In one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. military this year, five American troops died when their military vehicle ran over a bomb in a separate incident 12 miles to the northwest, among the reed-lined roads running through some of Iraq's richest farmland.

Residents said the bomb attack occurred in Malahma, 12 miles northwest of Fallujah, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active. U.S. Marines operate in the area, but it was unclear whether the slain troops were Marines.

Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans," residents cheered after the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles, which left both in flames. Others chanted, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."

Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.

"The people of Fallujah hanged some of the bodies on the old bridge like slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Some of the corpses were dismembered, he said.

Beneath the bodies, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones and the phrase "Fallujah is the cemetery for Americans."

APTN showed the charred remains of three slain men. Some were wearing flak jackets, said resident Safa Mohammedi.

One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body. Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed one American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.

U.S. military officials in Washington said the situation was still confused but they did not think the victims were American soldiers and believed the SUVs were not American military vehicles.

Witnesses said the two vehicles were attacked with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.

Hours after the attack, the city was quiet. No U.S. troops or Iraqi police were seen in the area.

Fallujah is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam Hussein was strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.

In nearby Ramadi, insurgents threw a grenade at a government building and Iraqi security forces returned fire Wednesday, witnesses said. It was not clear if there were casualties.

Also in Ramadi, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy, witnesses said. U.S. officials in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.

On Tuesday in Ramadi, one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

Northeast of Baghdad, in the city of Baqouba on Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew up explosives in his car when he was near a convoy of government vehicles, wounding 14 Iraqis and killing himself, officials said.

The attacked convoy is normally used to transport the Diala provincial governor, Abdullah al-Joubori, but he was elsewhere at the time, said police Col. Ali Hossein.

On Tuesday, a suicide bombing outside the house of a police chief in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed the attacker and wounded seven others.

A bomb exploded late Tuesday in a movie theater that had closed for the night. Two bystanders were wounded by flying glass, said its owner, Ghani Mohammed.

The latest violence came two days after Carina Perelli, the head of a U.N. electoral team, said better security is vital if Iraq wants to hold elections by a Jan. 31 deadline. The polls are scheduled to follow a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

Top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said Tuesday he had appointed 21 anti-corruption inspectors general to government departments to try to prevent fraud. More will be named in coming days, he said.

posted March 31, 2004 11:39 AM            

And this is the country that the Administration wants bring "sovereign peace and freedom" to?

posted March 31, 2004 12:57 PM            

The attack took place in Fallujah in the "Sunni triagle", wherein lies a good deal of former Bathists - who just were stripped of all power, SO I'd like to think this isn't representative of the entire country's attitude towards us, but rather those who were deposed, which is to be expected.

I wonder why however, the military doesn't guard civilian contractors better.

posted March 31, 2004 01:40 PM            

This all NOT including over the fact that companies like Halliburton, and other companies that make the weapontry for this war over they're production of supplies, are getting a pretty penny for every solder that dies in that war!

This is Capitalism at it's ugliest( if their ever is such a word), does this all sound like the war that this country had back over 35 years ago,with "Bell Helicopters" and *edit* "McDonell Douglas" involved?

All I can say is, if America gives this President a second term,you bet you shirt buttons, he be giving us the draft soon enough!

posted March 31, 2004 01:41 PM            

I am sooo glad my step-father didn't get the contract he bid for to send computers over to Iraq.. He was willing to send his 20 yr old daughter over there to program them.. I told him he was crazy for being willing to put her in such great harm's way to make money..

This sort of thing is so disturbing.

posted March 31, 2004 02:53 PM            

quote:

---

I don't think anyone feels that Iraq was a danger to the US, but we have to protect Israel, not to mention the fact that bullies need to be stood up to, and the human rights violations in Iraq were reason enough for me.

---

well that's certainly not the tune the administration was singing to get supprt of the majority of Americans.. The vast majority of the arguments in support of this war building up to it was that Saddam had WMD that threatened the US. (Including the supporters around LL) Now suddenly that's tossed aside like it wsa never a big deal and suddenly it's OUR business to take out all the all the crazy dictatorships in the world.. Except y'know.. in Africa, for instance.....

posted March 31, 2004 03:12 PM            

This has not happened so far, with President Bush on Wednesday going so far as to joke about the missing weapons of mass destruction at a correspondents dinner in Washington.

While the major media, from The New York Times on down, has largely remained silent about their own failings in this area, a young columnist for a small paper in Fredericksburg, Va., has stepped forward.

"The media are finished with their big blowouts on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and there is one thing they forgot to say: We're sorry," Rick Mercier wrote, in a column published Sunday in The Free Lance-Star.

"Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our coverage. Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving Iraqi defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin Powell's performance at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn't bring ourselves to hold the administration's feet to the fire before the war, when it really mattered.

"Maybe we'll do a better job next war."

Mercier admitted that it was "absurd to receive this apology from a person so low in the media hierarchy. You really ought to be getting it from the editors and reporters at the agenda-setting publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post."

Mercier, an editor and writer at the newspaper who writes a column two or three times a month, told E&P that the column was sparked by what he saw as "a need for accountability and reflection" given the seriousness of the current conflict in Iraq and the failure to find WMDs there or a strong Saddam link to al Qaeda. He saw little of that soul-searching in the one-year anniversary coverage. "By neglecting to fully employ their critical-thinking faculties, the media not only failed their readers and viewers, they failed our democracy," Mercier said.

Concluding his column, Mercier declared, "there's no excusing that failure. The only thing that can be said is, Sorry."

posted March 31, 2004 03:34 PM            

IF this war does reach it's end and I can look at it in 5 years,what did we really gain,unemployment,allies falling out from NATO,maybe worse,China retrieving power from the jobs that we have given them and building up they're WMDs for us to REALLY worry about,is that really freedom?!

posted April 01, 2004 01:22 PM              

Sorry to repeat the below, but some find it much easier to point fingers and criticize than consider the possibility of a "Bigger Picture"

And you know what, we took the War on Terrorism to the Terrorists, ...THEY... have decided to make Iraq their battleground, at least it isn't our homeland anymore. And I'd rather see trained military personell fighting the terrorists than civilian slayings in our homeland.

PS - When you sign up for the military you are essentially giving your life to the government, maybe people will consider that more carefully now...

---------------------------------------------
"It prevented a bigger war"
-the war between the civilizations of the West & Islam

And now Democracy has found a solid foundation to build upon & spread in the Middle East...

SLOWLY the region will diffuse from being the world's GREATEST THREAT to stability and economic growth...

The fruits of this stabilized world in the future and it's STRONG STEADY GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH will be: the extermination world hunger and poverty, the successful destruction of epidemics like AIDS, the development of all 3rd world nations into successful affluent countries with a middle class.

Elimination of human suffering in the world is possible, to evolve this world to a new level of humanity and concern for all of our fellow human beings can be achieved...
(Now isn't this the goal of all of the Leftist Liberals???)

Although those ends can only be achieved thru the Western ways... spreading democracy, guaranteeing ALL peoples basic human rights, and economic growth...

It's unfortunate that the start of this global revolution had to occur by force... but ruthless dictators are not going to freely allow you to oust them from power and offer the PEOPLE the power to reform.

(Funny... they say when you go SO FAR Right you end up being at the same place as the SO FAR Left)

posted April 01, 2004 01:45 PM              

These weren't trained military personnel - they were civilian contractors.
And Bremer's said that there's increasing evidence that there's an upsurge in "home-grown terrorism" in Iraq (read: people p*ssed off that we're there).

One more thing...
PS - When you sign up for the military you are essentially giving your life to the government, maybe people will consider that more carefully now...
You ever notice how that's usually said by people who have no intention of joining the military...nor know anyone who does.
Just an observation.

But I digress...
The reason that I posted this article was to highlight the ever-present problem of mankind's ruthlessness and to perhaps initiate discussion as to how and why rage can lead to such behavior (as such actions are hardly novel). From interviews, many of those involved in the aftermath of the attacks as well as the observation of those attacks feel completely justified in their actions (and, to be fair, many other observers were horrified); I saw the same attitude in people interviewed after the mutilations in Mogadishu, with one woman saying, "They have killed many Somalis - why should we be concerned with the deaths of a few Americans?" What conditions do you think lead to an erasure of the distinction between being killed in combat or as part of a combat operation and the desecration of corpses?
(And, no, saying, "It's just their culture," doesn't count...there were instances of the downed pilots during WWII in the European theatre being similarly treated.)
For that matter, you think that there *should* be a distinction drawn?