Mosul massacre

[TheMemeWarrior]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030415/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_war_us_mosul_030415151253
10 killed many more injured in Mosul. US spokemsan claims only to have returned fire from rooftops but that wouldnt seem to account for the massive casualties in the crowd.

[newcrasher]

Hey, snazzy title. "Massacre" is so...sensational. Don't miss an opportunity to say US troops did something wrong...shucks, you dont need to wait for evidence. A little breaking news should do fine.

[X~Slayer(ALE)]

If 2 snipers fired upon US troops with the crowd in between and if none of the US troops were hit, who do you supposed got hit? That could explain the dead and wounded. I would wait for an autopsy to see what kind of rifle round is dug out of those 10 dead bodies.

If the US troops were firing at a rooftop from distance, the angle of their rifle might be so slight as to appear horizontal. From the crowd where they may think it is aimed at them the difference might not be important if they started to hate the US presence there anyways.

I'd really wait for the autopsies. Unless the family refuses.

[RandySpears]

TheMemeWarrior:

I also started a thread on this subject!

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=177441

[asterion]

Man, the limit on what it takes to cause a massacre is so low now. Used to be you'd have to get into at least five or six digits to even consider calling it a massacre.

[Hugekebab]

mmm the americans should have handed baghdad over to the british to police. we have more experience of situations like this (i.e. bloody sunday) and have learnt from our errors.

policing a foreign population as an invading force requires a deft handand subtelty (have i spelt that correctly??) that im afraid the americans don't possess.

e.g. flag on statue, this massacre, an american officer firing his gun in the air rambo style (for which you would be thrown out of the british army and put up on charges), the women and children in the minibus, the numerous friendly fire incidents, many of which shouldnt have happened and cannot be attributable to the fog of war.

[TwistofFate]

mmm the americans should have handed baghdad over to the british to police. we have more experience of situations like this (i.e. bloody sunday) and have learnt from our errors.

How exactly is Bloody Sunday analguous to this situation?

Remember, in Mosul, there were snipers firing at the troops. In Derry there weren't.

[Trjckster]

Thats currently being investigated in the Saville Inquiry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2952989.stm).

How come this story hasn't even been mentioned on CNN and BBC?

[Bricker]

Originally posted by Hugekebab
mmm the americans should have handed baghdad over to the british to police. we have more experience of situations like this (i.e. bloody sunday) and have learnt from our errors.

I, too, am interested in how this compares to Bloody Sunday. Where was the opening fire in Derry? Here, the Americans were fired on, and they shot back.

I would never slam the Brits - I think it was a regrettable accident - but neither do I think this comparison is a good one to use if your thesis is, "Hey, the Brits would have handled this better than the clumsy Americans."

- Rick

[Duck Duck Goose]

How come this story hasn't even been mentioned on CNN and BBC?Dunno why CNN hasn't got it yet, but the BBC does, and it's hit GoogleNews, and Reuters has picked it up.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2575532
U.S.: At Least 7 Iraqis Killed in Mosul Protest
Wed April 16, 2003 07:52 AM ET
AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - At least seven Iraqis were killed by U.S. forces during a violent demonstration in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, a U.S. official at Central Command in Qatar said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said demonstrators fired at marines and special operations forces near a government building the Americans had occupied in the center of the city.

"Fire was directed at the marines and special operations forces in this complex. It was aim fire and aim fire was returned against some of the demonstrators, against some of the agitators climbing the wall of the compound. It was lethal fire," he told a daily news conference.

He said at least seven people were killed and a number wounded.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2951789.stm
Last Updated: Wednesday, 16 April, 2003, 04:22 GMT 05:22 UK

US forces have denied responsibility for the deaths of at least 10 people in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, after a shooting incident there on Tuesday.

Witnesses said US troops fired into a crowd growing increasingly hostile to a speech being given by the town's newly appointed governor.

A US spokesman said troops were returning fire from a nearby building and did not aim into the crowd.

< snip >

Some reports suggest up to 15 people were killed in Mosul, with between 60 and 100 people injured.

[aahala]

CNN's version is here:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/16/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

[TheMemeWarrior]

Another shooting in Mosul
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030416/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_northern_iraq_6

Also reports seem to be lowering the fatalities on the first killing to 7.

[TwistofFate]

Originally posted by Bricker
I, too, am interested in how this compares to Bloody Sunday. Where was the opening fire in Derry? Here, the Americans were fired on, and they shot back.

I would never slam the Brits - I think it was a regrettable accident - but neither do I think this comparison is a good one to use if your thesis is, "Hey, the Brits would have handled this better than the clumsy Americans."

- Rick

It was a regretable incident followed up by a goverment encouraged cover up at the Widgery Tribunal. Lord Widgery was told by Heath that there was a "propaganda war" at stake. As well as these instructions heading into the tribunal, hundreds of eyewitness testimonials were discounted or just plainly withheld from evidence.

And to top it all off, The Leader of 1st parachute regiment was awarded by the Queen. Although not for his actions on that day, but certainly was a kick in the teeth to the families of the victims murdered by the 1 Para.



http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk/
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/bs.htm
http://www.bloodysundaytrust.org/