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.

[thoughtomator]

Well, we have some conventional ordinance now that's more powerful than atom bombs, and I'd be more than satisfied with those.

[CatoRenasci]

Indeed.

The British Empire was not doomed until 1922. The revulsion the British and world press found and fueled to the use by British troops of machine guns on a crowd of demonstrators at Amritsar was the death knell of empire: the Brits had lost their nerve and couldn't watch the dirty work that needed to be done if order was to be preserved.

[dougherty]

I hate to say it, but these SOBs deserved Saddam.

[livius]

Are you actually over there, Justa? Interesting descriptions, thanks!

Stay safe!

[AmericanInTokyo]

"Dear President Bush,

This may fly in the face of your politically correct Office of Islamic Outreach within the White House, and your numerous proclamations since 18 September 2001 that "Islam is a Religion of Peace", but,

would you please look at these photographs from Iraq today???

Mr. President, mutilation of corpses (tamtheel bil juthath) is strictly forbidden in Islam irrespective of whose corpse it is. Therefore, if your assertion about Islam is correct, I would expect not only shock and digusts, but also IMMEDIATE condemnation of the massacre and mutiliation of Americans In Fallujah to be issued by various Islamic clerics worldwide and within the United States. Starting right NOW. Specifically if asked for. Correct?

We are into Day One following this most recent barbaric travesty in Iraq, which cannot be recognized by the civilized world.

Would you please, Mr. President, notify us when the various leaders of the RELIGION OF PEACE begin to express shock to the American people and leaders, and otherwise condemn the unforgiveable action and sin by Islamist mobs of tamtheel bil juthath against those American boys?

Again, sir, we are waiting. And we are watching. Please tell us when these come in, sir. We want to confirm with our own eyes and ears what you and your Administration assert about such things."

[CatoRenasci]

Well, it's time to put the first team in again. Separate the men and women, interrogate both, separately. Empty the town, put everyone in a concentration camp - orderly, safe, no weapons, plenty of food, prayer time, etc. - until the town itself can be searched at leisure. Take it apart, stick by stick, stone by stone. Find everything even remotely contraband, find out who owned it. Raze the houses where contraband is found. Don't even disturb a plate where nothing contraband is found. Those who are demonstrably innocent can be let back into town after the search. Those who are clearly connected with resistance can be executed.

[WOSG]

FWIW, the Waffen SS is already *in* Iraq, in spirit.

working for the other side.

No, we cant stoop to the level of killing civilians. How about this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1108764/posts?page=89#89

[dougherty]

Thanks for posting the links to the photos. I turned on the tv for footage but all I can find is coverage of some previously missing girl. These cable news channels really need to get their priorities straight.

[WOSG]

"Suicide Bomber Attacks, One Dead."

Now *that's* a dead-end career, eh?

[daddyOwe]

I predict that action taken by the Administration will be the same as the Somalia incident......NOTHING.

[atomic conspiracy]

Contrary to 40 years of dope-and-booze-culture* left media indoctrination, it would have been quite legal to massacre this mob of savages and, now, to hunt down the perpetrators and kill them.

80. Individuals Not of Armed Forces Who Engage in Hostilities Persons, such as guerrillas and partisans, who take up arms and commit hostile acts without having complied with the conditions prescribed by the laws of war for recognition as belligerents (see GPW, art. 4; par. 61 herein), are, when captured by the injured party, not entitled to be treated as prisoners of war and may be tried and sentenced to execution or imprisonment.

81. Individuals Not of Armed Forces Who Commit Hostile Acts Persons who, without having complied with the conditions prescribed by the laws of war for recognition as belligerents (see GPW, art. 4; par. 61 herein), commit hostile acts about or behind the lines of the enemy are not to be treated as prisoners of war and may be tried and sentenced to execution or imprisonment. Such acts include, but are not limited to, sabotage, destruction of communications facilities, intentional misleading of troops by guides, liberation of prisoners of war, and other acts not falling within Articles 104 and 106 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Article 29 of the Hague Regulations.

82. Penalties for the Foregoing Persons in the foregoing categories who have attempted, committed, or conspired to commit hostile or belligerent acts are subject to the extreme penalty of death because of the danger inherent in their conduct. Lesser penalties may, however, be imposed.

It's the law as defined by the Geneva Conventions. Abuse of a corpse is definitely a hostile act, it is outside the laws of war, and it is a criminal offense under Iraqi, Islamic, and International law. This provides a warrant for rounding up the perps, sorting out the most guilty, and shooting them.

Let it be done, and let the dopers and drunks* at Al Reuters and CNN scream to the high heavens. Mobs like this are incited by the fantastic atrocity propaganda emanating from the Arab media, like the Baghdad rag that was shut down a few days ago. These inciters have the full support and protection of the western media and their post 60s re-definition of "free speech."

It is time to bring back the doctrine of "fire in a crowded theatre", defy the left-monopoly media and their pious dope-culture "ethics" and attack this at its roots.

*I think it's past time to start describing these arrogant media-monopolist vermin as they really are.

[thoughtomator]

We'll see. In the immortal words of Qusay Hussein, "I think the Americans are serious this time. Bush is not like Clinton."

[WOSG]

"The response requires a distillation of fear that is unmistakable in the arab world, yet subtle in western minds. I am uncertain as to exactly what that response is, however what the SS did to certain villages in eastern europe is probably over the line."

Replace every mosque in the town with a "Texas BBQ" joint, specializing in pork ribs!

Oh, and make sure the prices are good and it's real popular. ... and that is *every* mosque.

[WOSG]

Good response.

[EagleMamaMT]

Bump.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Why does Bush have to use massive force? Why don't the Iraqis use massive force. It's there country.

Good question? Why are not our "Iraqi friends" not going after their fellow civilians that committed these bruatal murders? Where is the outrage from our so-called Iraqi friends?

Why did they not come to the rescue of our fellow American's that were being mutilated in the streets of Iraq in broad day light?

[AmericanInTokyo]

My goodness. Are you ever INFORMED and ON TARGET.

Quick. Run for some office. So I can vote for you. Brilliant. Very good.

You highlight just how endemically and irretrievably we Americans are handcuffed by our own sense of Judeo-Christian Civilized Behavior and Unlimited Patience & Benevolence...when dealing with such ethics-void ANIMALS around us who will kill, barbeque, and string up even MORE of our fellow Americans over the next few months and perhaps years in Iraq if it is allowed to go on like this and we only have a pussy, Ivy League, politically-correct, State Department-palatable response coming out of the White House and Pentagon bureaucrats.

[RobRoy]

Nodoby is sleeping well in FALLUJAH tonight. Nor will they for several nights, right up until we drop the other shoe.

And we will...

[WOSG]

"I'm more and more starting to think the whole Iraq war was a mistake."

This is of course how and why terrorism works. You are letting terrorism defeat you. To me this only CONFIRMS THAT GOING INTO IRAQ WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. This anti-American attitude and hatred for us was RUNNING IRAQ AND WAS PURSUING WMDS AND SUPPORTING TERRORISTS IN TERROR TRAINING CAMPS. Let's not forget it. We won. We defeated Saddam. what remains in Fallujah is a frustrated remnant of that power lashing out at us, and an attitude steeped in the arrogant bigotry of Arab muslim 'pride', such as it is.

These morons dancing in disgraceful barbarism around the American bodies are no different from the bigoted moronic palestinians who were joyous when the WTC towers fell.

At best you can say "they know not what they do."

Want peace? Defeat Terrorism.

See my other links as to how we can defeat this particular act of barbarism.

[debg]

Where is the outrage from the international community...the condemnation by the UN...those who rant about international law? Instead, we see that the islamic news media is broadcasting the carnage as victory to the ME and the western news media is complicit.