Iraqis Drag Four Corpses Through Streets

AP ^ | March 31, 2004 | SAMEER N. YACOUB

[Charles Henrickson]

FALLUJAH, Iraq - 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 soldiers 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 1st Infantry Division soldiers 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.

The inspectors will work with two other newly formed, independent agencies. Together, they will "form an integrated approach intended to combat corruption at every level of government across the country," Bremer said.

[2rightsleftcoast]

Agreed, Kill them now.

[Charles Henrickson]

No way can I look at those photos.

I know what you mean. But I did at least link the graphic ones, so someone could look at them, even for a moment, but not have to see them all the time on this thread.

The sad--and, at the same time, scary--thing to me is all the children in these photos. Think of how these people are training their children! And desensitizing them.

[2rightsleftcoast]

Great Idea!!
Can we start today?

[americanbychoice2]

Build a wall around the suuni triangle and systematically empty the population of real iraquis. What's left over, deal with them in a manner that's befitting.

[null and void]

I was thinking the same thing regarding the press. How do they continually find ways to be safe when all other Americans would be in grave danger?

Does the name Danny Pearl ring a bell?

[StoneColdGOP]

Nations liberated by the U.S. in the last several decades or so, either by ejecting an occupying force or removing a tyrannical government.

Iraq
Afghanistan
Kuwait
South Korea
Japan
Germany
France
Italy
Norway
Philippines

Did I miss any (I think I did...)?

Did people in these countries other than Iraq respond to their liberation the way the Iraqis are?

[cherry]

look like Palistinians.....that goofy male-bonding appearence that shows they really think they have accomplished something in their little, dirty and unimportant lives....

[blanknoone]

I agree in that I think a nuclear or other extremely violent American response will not be helpful. However, there are other methods. At least a significant portion of the Sunni triangle wants us out. We should leave that area, but not the country. However, that does not mean we let the babarians take over...we just don't pay the price in blood ourselves. I suggest that we bring in Iraqi forces to institute control in the triangle. By Iraqi, I mean Kurds, preferably the remains of the Barzani clan. Or at least Shia forces interested in forcing the Sunnis to toe the line. Vary how tight or loose a leash we keep on their vengeance based on the actions of the Sunnis. Don't give them the chance to fight us...make them fight their countrymen.

Furthermore, it looks like these were civilians....there should be no, and I mean NO reconstruction in the rebellious area. Peace THEN reconstruction. Simply say that the Sunni triangle is too dangerous for civilian reconstruction efforts and let them wallow in their pathetic misery as their countrymen rebuild and get a leg up...an advantage that will only become harder and harder to overcome. Ensure that as they fight, they lose in real and tangible ways.

If they want to fight the authority...they fight their countrymen. But also turn those Sunnis who want to get on with their lives against those who want to disrupt stabilization efforts. Isolate the enemy, turn his friends against them and make sure that time is on your side.

[CatoRenasci]

Actually, I rather like parts of this. I do think the entire town should be cordoned off and isolated. Then, the inhabitants all removed, searched, and individually interviewed while staying in temporary camps, in this case all with lots of international observers to see that everyone is being treated decently and humanely, fed, allowed to pray, etc. At the same time, the city itself should be searched thoroughly, house by house, inch by inch. Then, in small, escorted groups, harmless inhabitants would be allowed to go in and collect their belongings. No looting, or pillage. These people would be removed to secure towns and villages. Houses where any illegal weapons or other evidence of involvement in insurgency was found would be demolished and the inhabitants executed. Then after the town was completely cleansed, let the harmless inhabitants who wanted to come back do so.

[b4its2late]

MOAB time. It's the only thing they understand.

[angkor]

probably press of some sort but they could have been affiliated with a relief organization, or who knows?

The article said someone in the crowd mob displayed a DoD ID taken from one of the corpses.

Probably civilian contractors, and perhaps some military escorts out of uniform (?). Brit and U.S. policy is that contractors are not supposed to travel on the road without a second vehicle and armed military escort.

[EternalHope]

The average person in these nations has been taught to hate all non-Muslims, no matter what. Since the U.S. is their strongest foe, they hate us the most. I do not see this changing in less than a generation, and perhaps it NEVER will.

Given the attitude of the people, the only effective strategy for us is to make it hard for them to attack us. That means denying them the benefits of state sponsorship. We have already done so in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. It also means killing the leadership of the groups attacking us.

Although we have clearly made a good start, it is clear that the war against terror/radical Islam will last a long time. That is our weakness. Our foes believe we lack the political will necessary to sustain the battle.

Most of Europe is already neutralized, and will fall with the slightest push. Spain surrendered after a single attack.

The U.S. is the only nation with the both the will and the resources to fight. Can we maintain our will to fight?

Can we keep the likes of John Kerry and Hillary Clinton out of the White House? Can we maintain a strong Congress? Can we do this for a whole generation?

Or will scenes like this, repeated over and over by a hostile news media, cause us to cut and run?

[Charles Henrickson]

Another photo too awful for me to post:

Iraqis mutilate the burnt body of a man -- believed to be a US citizen

[F.J. Mitchell]

LOL! I-I-I-I-m-m-m-m s-s-s-s-sor-sor-sor-sorry ab-ab-ab-bo-bo-bo-bout tha-a-a-a-t.

[2rightsleftcoast]

Yes, we must deal with these BASTARDS today!!!
The only way do deal with terrorists is to kill them
before they kill us. They have shown they have no
compassion. Show them none in return. I don't want to hear
one more word about the religion of Peace. It's a cult.
It needs to be eradicated.

[January24th]

I know the link you provided leads to some devastatingly emotional stuff. I wonder at the power of the Internet! I still have a copy of the newspaper that dared to print the shocking photo of one of our bravest being dragged thru the streets in Somalia. I still have that newspaper because I felt it was a benchmark, a turning point in our national history.

It also reminded me, clearly and without a cloud of doubt, of Clinton's unfitness and inability to lead our country or care for our enlisted men and women.

It's probably easy to find that same pic on the Internet somewhere, but I'll NEVER, EVER forget the indignation and visceral horror of that news photo. After witnessing the inaction of Clinton's administration, I knew in my heart, it would not be the last photo of such an atrocity.

Blood-cultists, like these monsters are, do not have the right to live in a free society. But, if we were really as monstrous as the Dems would have us believe, we would unilaterlly nuke Fallujah and ask no questions later.

Saddam had no compunction about gassing Kurds who caused him indegestion. However, we are constrained to give a carefully measured, clear response to this atrocity. But, we MUST respond.

[Eva]

You make some interesting points in your article. Why not post it here?

[Truthsayer20]

"One fights to win. To fight otherwise is to prepare to die."

I don't necessarily disagree. However, it is OUR political leadership which has couched the whole Iraq operation in terms of liberation and human rights. The bringing in of Western contractors, some of which were shown today how the much Iraqi appreciate them, to "help rebuild Iraq" is a symptom of this. What I'm asking is that was Iraq invaded to support strategic American interests or is it a mission of social engineering on a national scale. The latter is a hopeless exercise.

[blanknoone]

We liberate them and THAT'S their reaction?

These are the people we liberated the rest of Iraq FROM.

[b4its2late]

Could it be that Fallujah is so overan with vermin that nothing justifies it's continued existance?

Yes. MOAB time.