Soccer players executed as teams watched

NY Times ^ | March 3 2007

[jmc1969]

Two soccer players were executed in front of their teammates in Ramadi by gunmen who claimed the players collaborated with a group that opposed the Sunni insurgency and was thought to have ties to the Americans, according to witnesses and police.

Three cars carrying 10 masked men pulled up at a community field where two neighborhood teams were playing.

The men poured out of the cars and grabbed two of the players: Muhammad Hammed Nawaf, 26, and his teammate Muhammad Meshaan, thought to be in his early 20s. They tied the men's hands and tried to drag them toward the cars. Both struggled to get away.

The armed men shot Meshaan dead. Nawaf then asked them to free him, said the team manager, standing nearby. "He said, 'If you have anything against me shoot me; but if not, leave me alone,' " the manager said.

"Muhammad tried to run away, but he stumbled on a rock, fell on the ground, and the armed men shot him dead at once. They started yelling, 'This is the destiny of anyone who works with secret police.'"

[jmc1969]

The Micheal Moore's Minutemen appear to be butchering fellow Sunnis.

[caveat emptor]

[jmc1969]

That man is probably happy some collaberators were 'dealt with'.

[JennysCool]

I thought the same thing. When the New York Times has a headline like Soccer players executed as teams watched, you have to wonder whether they think this is a good thing or not.

[R. Scott]

No security at the game?

[Pro-Bush]

I hate sunni's. Oh yeah, the shia as well.

[MrJapan]

Well... you KNOW this has to be a bogus story when it brings up soccer and America in the same story... WHO in America CARES about soccer?!? (or have things changed since I left?

[Renkluaf]

True believers in the Religion of Peace enjoying a sporting event.

[kjo]

Don't worry, the New York Times says they're just freedom fighters.

[Yo-Yo]

I guess that's what happens after you get a Red Card.

[popdonnelly]

Could be al Qaeda. They've been pushing the Sunni insurgency. And it wouldn't bother them if the shootings were blamed on Sunni.

[popdonnelly]

"My dad gave me this swell newspaper to run!"

[Wormwood]

Perhaps the next administration will think before they go kicking over anthills across the globe.

[Chgogal]

I am curious what the real story is?

1) I doubt the NYT had a reporter on the ground since there is no authorship.
2) The Baghdad NYT FOB probably got this report directly from the Insurgents/Terrorists who are using the NYT to get the word out.

I really have no respect for the NYT and MSM in general so I am sure I am way off base.