Iraqi wedding celebration turns into gun battle

ananova.com ^ | 9 18 03 | ananova

[freepatriot32]

Ananova:

Iraqi wedding celebration turns into gun battle

US soldiers have killed a 14-year-old Iraqi boy and injured six others after hearing gunfire which was part of a wedding celebration.

Neighbours in Fallujah said the incident started after wedding guests fired guns into the air to celebrate.

A passing US military patrol opened fire believing it was under attack.

Adel Hmood said the Americans opened fire in a circle around themselves. He said the dead boy was on his way to buy cigarettes when he was killed.

Bullet holes in homes and buildings in the area suggested there was heavy firing by the Americans.

The military could not be reached for comment because of communications problems in Baghdad.

Last week American soldiers mistakenly opened fire on Iraqi police cars in Fallujah, killing eight Iraqi officers.

The military has apologised for the friendly fire incident.

© Associated Press

Story filed: 11:47 Thursday 18th September 2003

[Alouette]

I didn't know Janet Reno was in Iraq.

[sheik yerbouty]

I'd give the wedding revelers a darwin Award!

[Frank_Discussion]

This doesn't smell right. We supposed were invovled in another "wedding party" massacre in Afganstan, remember? Same circumstances, almost to a letter.

[Shermy]

In Afghanistan they'd get a JDAM.

[Hodar]

Perhaps someone should enlighten these stupid intellectually challenged idiots uninformed people that rifles are not noisemakers, they are deadly weapons.

[DannyTN]

Yeah, I think the "wedding" stories are an excuse to cover their actions and make us look bad.

We should publicly outlaw gunfire and fireworks at wedding celebrations in Iraq. That would eliminate such excuses.

[adam_az]

The wedding party in Afghanistan drew the attention of an AC-130, not a motorized patrol.

[adam_az]

Yes, do it for the chiiiiiiillllldrrrrreeeen!

[Frank_Discussion]

This is true.

[luck of the irish]

here is the footage
http://www.usrcjc.org/photogallery/videos/AC130_Gunship.wmv

enjoy

[doodad]

on his way to buy cigarettes

So cigarettes do kill ya.

[sgtbono2002]

These people are dumber than a bag of Rocks.

[joesnuffy]

Lots of liberal fodder in this one
Gun control...why civilians cant be trusted with firearms
Get us out of Iraq... US GIs killing children again
US soldiers killing innocents wedding party guests...the moral equivalent of terrorists

Of course they arent telling the whole story or the American side of it...perhaps some rounds impatcted...not to mention the fact...that once the bullets fly RPGs usually come along for the ride and only mass concentrations of firepower shuts down the human launchers...before the light it up

Get the press out

[polemikos]

rifles are not noisemakers, they are deadly weapons.

When your only tool is a gun, every problem looks like a target.

yes, it's a joke.

[Dialup Llama]

It's standard Al Jazzera/Al Queda/Reuters protocol to evoke the wedding party gunfire thing from time to time. I actually read a story about a guy who ran an embassay (or attempted to run) checkpoint and the writer stated that the cause was that the driver was a member of a wedding party. A total non-sequiter. Didn't bother the writer of the propaganda piece at all.

[thinktwice]

Culture shock, on both sides.

Americans used to celebrate shooting guns into the air, too; then ... along came liberalism.

[w1andsodidwe]

Americans used to celebrate shooting guns into the air, too; then ... along came liberalism.

That is bull. I was raised on an Iowa farm where we had plenty of guns, but they were never fired in celebration. I now live in the central valley of California, starting about 10 years ago we must cower every New Year's Eve because of the guns shooting in the air. We are told it is just part of the culture of the people recently moved to the area

[BurbankKarl]

yes, same reason the cops in LA park under the fwy overpasses from 11:55pm to 00:25am on New Years Eve.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Oh? I was raised in NYC, you should have heard the guns go off on my block on VJ Day 1945. The neighbors woke us up at 4AM shooting their shotguns in the center of the street. It stopped when they ran out of ammo.