Posted on 05/19/2004 4:21:08 PM PDT by genefromjersey
At 3:00 AM on May 18th,Coalition forces raided a suspected "foreign fighter" safehouse,located in the open desert,85km southwest of Husaybah,and 25km from the Syrian border.
During the operation,Coalition forces came under hostile fire,and close air support was provided.
Troops recovered numerous weapons,2 million Iraqi and Syrian dinars,foreign passports,and a SATCOM radio.
Now this story makes sense, a wedding party at 3 AM does not!
Honest mistake, right?
Riiiiiiiiiight.
Bzzt. Wrong answer; thank you for playing.
SATCOM is an abbreviation of "Satellite Communications." It is a generic term, referring to all satellite communications relays. The term used here was "SATCOM radio," which implies that the device was NOT a phone.
/shrug
By the way, all cell-phones are radios....
Meek and Phil, time to trot out some "Wedding Pictures".
I'm sure that you have pictures of the two main characters at this wedding.
ha!Reuters says it was a wedding. They're full of themselves.
A video grab image shows an Iraqi man looking at a body in the cemetery in Ramadi, following a reported U.S. attack in a nearby village, Iraq, May 19, 2004. REUTERS/Al Arabiya Television/Via Reuters Television
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/20/iraq.main/
Pentagon says it attacked fighters -- not wedding
Pentagon officials Wednesday denied witness reports of a U.S. attack on a wedding party in a remote area of western Iraq that killed civilians.
"Our report is that this was not a wedding party, that these were anticoalition forces that fired first, and that U.S. troops returned fire, destroying several vehicles, and killing a number of them," a Pentagon spokesman said.
He was responding to a video distributed by The Associated Press showing Iraqi witnesses who said that at least 20 people were killed and five others critically wounded early Wednesday when planes fired on a wedding celebration.
A man on the video said all homes in the village near the Syrian border were destroyed in the attack Wednesday.
The video showed at least a dozen bodies, including small children, wrapped in blankets for burial as they were unloaded from a truck. Men with picks and shovels were digging graves.
A senior military coalition official said as many as 40 people were killed in the attack, but said it was his belief that the attack was against a foreign fighters' safe house.
A coalition official said in a written statement that coalition forces conducted a military operation "against a suspected foreign fighter's safe house in the open desert, 85 km southwest of Husaybah, and 25 km from the Syrian border.
"During the operation, coalition forces came under hostile fire and close air support was provided.
"Coalition forces on the ground recovered numerous weapons, 2 million Iraqi and Syrian dinar, foreign passports and a [satellite communications] radio," the statement said.
Asked whether the incident was the same one described on videotape, he said, "Yes, it is the same incident."
He added, "We had actionable intelligence to go after a foreign fighters' safe house. It is not our belief that there was a wedding party in the open desert."
The taped witnesses identified the village as al Qa'im, which maps show is on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border, along the Euphrates River.
A Central Command press release would use "satellite phone" if the device was an Iridium or INMARSAT phone. Troops would recognize an INMARSAT or Iridium phone--they've seen enough of them, either with reporters or stuff they've captured--and would describe it as such in their initial report.
The fact that they said "SATCOM radio" implies that the device isn't a satellite phone. About the only people who use manportable SATCOM radio rigs are a military forces--and those forces are limited to a very few countries.
ROFL!
It seems to me anytime we hit a 'High-Value Target' the Moose-limbs say that a wedding was taking place. Crying wolf?
..... time to trot out some "Wedding Pictures".I'm sure that you have pictures of the two main characters at this wedding.
I think these two may have been celebrating their recent marriage in Faggachusetts ???? ....
If we captured any of these clowns I hope the military does a "Perp Walk" with panties on their heads.
Very good:
Thank you. :^)And for the link, too. I'll check out your article.
PING.
Outstanding!
A typical wedding location.
Near the Syrian border.
Watch the pansy dems in Congress and Matt Lauer get all bent out of shape about this.
Lauer is becoming a real liability for NBC; people are laughing at him and his pro Muslim bias.
Lol, I cringe every time I see that Elton-Hillary pose!!
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