[Peace-discuss] This may come up at P4P this Sat

[Ricky Baldwin]

[Grisly as this is, we have to wonder if it will
affect Bush in any way similar to the way the Somalian
incident affected Clinton.  Somehow I doubt it, but
the potential should be there.  Clinton's adventurism
in Somalia was billed as humanitarian, as Bush & Co
have claimed to be Iraq's liberators.  There's even a
Black Hawk helicopter in this story.  The willfully
naive, if they were honest, would certainly say this
is another case of good intentions (that's a good
one!) gone awry, an example of the foolhardiness of
trying to help the less fortunate, etc., etc.  But
will they?  My  guess is they'll say, "That's
different," and just blame us even more for "siding
with these animals" or some such nonsense.  I guess we
have to wait and see. - RB]

Iraqis drag US corpses through streets
3/31/04

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 

FALLUJAH, Iraq - In a scene reminiscent of Somalia,
frenzied crowds dragged the burned, mutilated bodies
of four American contractors through the streets of a
town west of Baghdad on Wednesday and strung two of
them up from a bridge after rebels ambushed their
SUVs.


Five U.S. soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division also
were killed in the same area when a bomb exploded
under their M-113 armored personnel carrier, making it
the bloodiest day for Americans in Iraq since Jan. 8. 

The four contract workers were killed 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. 

Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans,"
residents cheered after the grisly assault on two
four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles left both SUVs in
flames. 

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 spanning the Euphrates River. 

"The people of Fallujah hung some of the bodies on the
old bridge like slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul
Aziz Mohammed said. Some corpses were dismembered, he
said. 

The White House blamed terrorists and remnants of
Saddam Hussein's former regime for the "horrific
attacks" on the American contractors. 

"It is offensive, it is despicable the way these
individuals have been treated," White House press
secretary Scott McClellan said. 

Referring to the planned June 30 transfer of
sovereignty to Iraqis, McClellan said "the best way to
honor those that lost their lives" is to continue with
efforts to bring democracy to Iraq. 

"There are terrorists, there are some remnants of the
former regime that are enemies of freedom and enemies
of democracy, but democracy is taking root and we are
making important progress," McClellan added. "We will
not turn back from that effort." 

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the
contractors, all men, "were trying to make a
difference and to help others." He did not identify
the dead or the nature of their work because the next
of kin had not yet been notified. 

The abuse and mutilation of the corpses was similar to
the scene more than a decade ago in Somalia, when a
mob dragged corpses of U.S. soldiers through the
streets of Mogadishu, eventually leading to the
American withdrawal from the African nation. 

On Wednesday, a man held a printed sign with a skull
and crossbones and the phrase "Fallujah is the
cemetery for Americans" beneath the blackened corpses
after they were pulled from the vehicles. 

One body was tied to a car that had a poster in its
window of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the
Palestinian militant group Hamas who was assassinated
by the Israeli military in Gaza City. 

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 an American
passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense
identification card belonging to another man. 

Some of the slain contractors were wearing flak
jackets, resident Safa Mohammedi said. 

In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the coalition
would not be deterred from its mission to rebuild
Iraq, and that numerous reconstruction projects were
moving forward nationwide even though attention was
focused on the attacks. 

The roadside bomb that killed the five American
soldiers Wednesday was in Malahma, 12 miles northwest
of Fallujah, where anti-U.S. insurgents are active. 

Their deaths raised the number of U.S. troops killed
in March to at least 48, making it the
second-deadliest month for U.S. troops since President
Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. The
deadliest month was November, when 82 U.S. troops were
killed. 

In all, at least 597 U.S. troops have died in Iraq
since the war began March 20, 2003. Of the total, 459
have died since May 1 when Bush flew onto an aircraft
carrier off the California coast to declare the end of
major combat. 

In the deadliest previous incident this year, nine
soldiers were killed Jan. 8 when their Black Hawk
medevac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, apparently
after being shot down. 

Fallujah is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where
support for Saddam was strong and rebels often carry
out attacks against American forces. U.S. Marines
recently took over authority in the region from the
departing U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. 

In an effort to forcefully establish their presence,
the newly arrived Marines have conducted numerous
patrols in Fallujah and have engaged in fierce
firefights with rebels. In recent months, U.S.
soldiers were not seen as often in the center of town.


The Marines have said they will aggressively pursue
guerrillas in Fallujah. However, no U.S. troops or
Iraqi police were seen in the area after the attacks
Wednesday, and the city was quiet. 

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. 

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. 

###

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