| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"The Passion Against the War" |
| Date: |
01 Sep 2005 08:39:00 AM |
| Object: |
What the totally Dysfunctional, Brain-Dead U.S. media fails to tell us |
Wednesday, 31 August 2005.
Death toll of 1,000 feared in stampede of panicked Shi‘i pilgrims on
crowded bridge in Baghdad. Disaster compounded by closure of most roads
in the area by US forces, increasing overcrowding, seriously delaying
arrival of medical help.
Iraqi Resistance forces reportedly down US helicopter with 20 Marines
aboard on their way home from Iraq.
Four US troops reported killed in Resistance bombing in ar-Ramadi.
Al-Anbar Province.
Al-Fallujah.
Iraqi Resistance forces reportedly down US helicopter with 20 Marines
aboard on their way home from Iraq.
Iraqi Resistance forces shot down a huge US Chinook helicopter over
‘Amiriyat al-Fallujah, a southern suburb of the city of al-Fallujah,
located some 60km west of Baghdad on Wednesday.
The al-Fallujah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in
the Iraqi puppet army as saying that Resistance fighters armed with a
SAM7 surface-to-air missile struck the helicopter as it was on its way
back to one of the US bases in Baghdad with 20 US Marines aboard. The
Marines were on their way back to the United States after completing
their tour of duty in occupied Iraq, the source said.
Witnesses in ‘Amiriyat al-Fallujah told the Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent that US occupation forces continued searching in date palm
groves in the area and along the banks of the Euphrates River for a long
time, hunting for wreckage of the helicopter and for bodies, amidst an
unprecedented blackout of information on the crash in the media in the
area.
Resistance bombards US base in agricultural area east of al-Fallujah.
In a dispatch posted at 11:30am Mecca time Wednesday morning, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi Resistance forces had
fired seven heavy 120mm mortar rounds into various parts of the US base
in the agricultural area east of al-Fallujah (which is located some 50km
west of Baghdad).
A source in the Iraqi puppet army told the correspondent for Mafkarat
al-Islam in al-Fallujah that the barrage inflicted no casualties.
Residents of al-Fallujah who witnessed the attack, however, said they
saw thick clouds of smoke rising over the base as US Apache helicopters
hovered overhead. Large numbers of US helicopters were still to be seen
over the stricken base at the time the correspondent filed his report.
Ar-Ramadi.
Four US troops reported killed in Resistance bombing at noon Wednesday.
An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded by a US patrol near ar-Ramadi
at 12 noon local time Wednesday.
Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet “Iraqi Installation
Protection Forces” as saying that four Americans were killed and a fifth
severely wounded in the bombing which took place on the road leading to
the glass and ceramics works to the west of ar-Ramadi.
The dead and wounded Americans were taken in US armored vehicles to the
American al-Warrar base which is also located to the west of ar-Ramadi.
In a broadcast over the US military’s propaganda station “Radio
al-Hurriyah” that is beamed at residents of the city, the American
occupation forces acknowledged that an attack had taken place on a
patrol but offered no further details.
“Unprecedented” Iraqi Resistance attacks predicted; US, Iraqi puppet
army to send 5,000 more troops to al-Anbar Province.
A spokesman for the Iraqi puppet army announced on Wednesday that 5,000
additional soldiers will be sent to the western Iraqi province of
al-Anbar to reinforce the US and Iraqi puppet forces already in the
area.
The spokesman said that 750 US Marines headed to ar-Ramadi, the
provincial capital some 110km west of Baghdad, late on Tuesday.
The spokesman told Mafkarat al-Islam’s correspondent that based on their
intelligence the Americans and the puppet regime expect unprecedented
Iraqi Resistance attacks in the coming period, particularly as the
Islamic hold month of fasting, Ramadan, is approaching – a time
considered auspicious for martyrdom. Ramadan is to begin in the first
week of October this year.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in Abu Ghurayb (some 30km west of
Baghdad) noted that the road between Baghdad and ar-Ramadi is already
punctuated by more than nine checkpoint inspection areas and at the time
of writing was expected to be closed altogether in a few hours.
Abu Ghurayb.
Resistance fighters gun down Abu Ghurayb judge.
Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked and killed the President of the
Criminal Court of Abu Ghurayb early Wednesday morning.
Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the Iraqi puppet army as saying
that Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked the motorcade of Judge Ahmad
Husayn on the main street in Abu Ghurayb as it was leaving the judge’s
home for work at 8am local time Wednesday morning. Killed in the attack
were the judge, his driver and three of his companions.
Baghdad.
Death toll of 1,000 feared in stampede of panicked Shi‘i pilgrims on
crowded bridge in Baghdad. Disaster compounded by closure of most roads
in the area by US forces, increasing overcrowding, seriously delaying
arrival of medical help.
At least 841 were confirmed dead and 323 others injured Wednesday
afternoon as a result of a stampede on the al-A’immah Bridge in Baghdad,
in which, it was reported, part of the bridge collapsed.
A dispatch posted on the website of al-Jazeera satellite TV at 15:50GMT
Wednesday evening, quoted the “Ministry of Health” in the US-installed
Iraqi regime in Baghdad as saying that the death toll was likely to top
1,000.
Earlier, in a dispatch posted at 2:20pm Mecca time Wednesday afternoon,
the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a brigadier general in
the Iraqi puppet army as saying that the total number of those killed in
the stampede on the bridge might exceed 1,000 persons, because of the
severity of the injuries suffered by many of the survivors.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent said that most of the dead had been
pushed off the bridge and into the Tigris River where they drowned,
according to the general.
The general’s estimate was backed up by the Deputy Director of Medical
City Hospital in Baghdad who said that the sun would not set Wednesday
except on more than 1,000 dead pilgrims, Mafkarat al-Islam noted.
Media reports said that the pilgrims were in a procession heading to the
al-Kazimayn Mosque on the right bank of the Tigris when rumors of a bomb
– that turned out to be unfounded – produced a deadly stampede.
Crowded conditions aggravated by US military road closures. . .
A statement issued by the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, the
highest Sunni Muslim religious authority in the country, said that for
more than three days caravans of Iraqi pilgrims had been pouring in from
all over Iraq to visit the tomb of the 8th-Century Shi‘i Imam Musa ibn
Ja‘far on the occasion of the anniversary of his death.
Witnesses quoted in the statement said that there was great overcrowding
and pushing as pilgrims from the provinces jammed in, particularly on
the al-A’immah bridge that links the al-A‘zamiyah district of Baghdad
with the al-Kazimiyah district where the tomb is located. The witnesses
said that there was a panic in which many fell and were trampled. Older
people were quickly killed in the stampede.
The witnesses said that the disaster was compounded by the fact that
“nearly all of the roads” in the area had been closed or obstructed by
concrete barricades put up by the US occupation forces, aggravating the
overcrowding and preventing medical help from getting to the victims
quickly.
“Minister of Transport” in US-backed regime blames American forces for
deaths. . .
Those views of witnesses were backed up when the “Minister of Transport”
in the puppet government in Baghdad, Salam al-Maliki, told a press
conference that the “multi-national forces bear most of the blame for
the catastrophe because they prevented the arrival of medical assistance
to the area where the disaster took place.”
Al-Maliki said that the US forces deployed in the area of the
catastrophe had closed roads and prevented any cars other than their own
vehicles from entering their areas. He said that they prevented
ambulances and medical teams of divers and first aid providers from
reaching the scene of the disaster in time.
Al-Maliki accused the American occupation forces of being so afraid of
possible attacks on themselves at the time of the incident that they had
no concern for the lives of Iraqis, Mafkarat al-Islam reported.
Witnesses, victims say police mistake caused panic . . .
In a dispatch posted at 3pm Mecca time Wednesday afternoon, the Mafkarat
al-Islam correspondent in al-Kazimiyah reported that a group of
witnesses there said that the immediate cause of the panic that led to
the disaster was an unintentional mistake made by puppet policemen from
the al-Kazimiyah police station who were deployed at the approach to the
bridge.
Ahmad Hassun, one of those injured in the disaster, told Mafkarat
al-Islam that the reason for the panic and stampede was that the people
on the bridge were responding to the police who were trying to get them
to move with greater speed so as to allow the people jamming the street
to get on to the bridge more quickly.
Hassun said that the police were shouting things like, “Brothers, hurry
up. There are car bombs. There are terrorists. Don’t bunch up. Hurry on.
Keep moving.” But the crowds took that talk to be an actual warning of
something about to happen and started to push and jump into the river.
Hassun said he was hurt when he fell to the ground and was trampled by
other people.
Another witness who was at the scene when the disaster occurred told
Mafkarat al-Islam that after the panic started, the police themselves
panicked and started shouting, “Brothers! False alarm! False alarm!
There’s nothing wrong!” But the people didn’t trust the police and
thought they were just trying to stay in control so they paid no
attention to them.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that local residents of the
area around the bridge agreed with the witnesses that there had been no
armed attacks in the area, as some sources claimed, and that the whole
disaster was due to an unintentional mistake by the police.
Twenty minutes after Mafkarat al-Islam reported those remarks, a source
in the puppet government’s “Interior Ministry” was quoted as saying that
the “Ministry” had arrested the officers and men of the police
detachment that had been on duty at the approach to the bridge in order
to investigate their role in sparking the incident, Mafkarat al-Islam
reported.
Hundreds of Sunni Iraqis rush to aid Shi‘i victims . . .
The witnesses who spoke to the Association of Muslim Scholars said that
the people from the predominantly Sunni al-A‘zamiyah district rushed to
the aid of the victims and provided whatever help they could.
Many donated blood. According to a Mafkarat al-Islam dispatch posted at
2:50pm Mecca time Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of Sunnis from
al-A‘zamiyah had flocked to al-Yarmuk General Hospital in central
Baghdad to donate blood for the victims of the bridge disaster in the
facility. The correspondent in the Baghdad district of al-Karakh
reported that Sunni religious leaders and Sunni tribal notables had
taken the lead in the emergency effort to donate blood.
Sunni residents of the area where the disaster took place, hastened to
take part in the recovery of the injured and the dead from the Tigris
River, carrying them to ambulances. In that effort as well, Sunni
religious leaders played a prominent role.
Sadr spokesman: no such disasters when Sadr Movment organized events . .
..
Meanwhile, al-Jazeera satellite TV reported ‘Abbas ar-Rabi‘i, the
political representative of Shi‘i Muslim religious leader Muqtada
as-Sadr, as pointing out that this year the US occupation authorities
had appointed the people who organized the activities marking the
religious occasion and that it was on their watch that the catastrophe
occurred. On earlier occasions, when the as-Sadr movement had charge of
the event, nothing of the sort ever took place.
Later in the afternoon Muqtada as-Sadr himself issued a statement in
an-Najaf in which he blamed the US occupation and its puppet government
in Baghdad for what he called the “Baghdad Massacre” and demanded that
an investigation into the incident be opened.
Iraqi Journalists Union refutes claims by pro-occupation “Interior
Minister” that no journalists are being arrested.
The “Interior Minister” in the US-installed Iraqi regime in Baghdad has
issued a statement denying reports by Mafkarat al-Islam that his
ministry has begun to arrest journalists who work for organizations that
refer to the Iraqi Resistance forces as “Resistance fighters” rather
than “insurgents” or “terrorists.” The statement said that claims that
claims that journalists are being arrested or pursued are “without
foundation,” according to a report carried by Mafkarat al-Islam on
Wednesday.
“We do not combat journalists, pursue or arrest them ever,” said Baqir
Jabr Sulagh, the “Interior Minister” in the Iraqi puppet regime and also
prominent leader in the Badr Brigades Shi‘i sectarian organization – the
armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
(SCIRI) – who entered Iraq together with US invasion troops in spring
2003.
The Iraqi Journalists Union, however, rejected the “Minister’s”
statement saying that more than 60 journalists are currently under
arrest and in the jails run by the “Interior Ministry.” Among the
journalists now behind bars are a correspondent for al-Jazeera satellite
TV and another working for the ar-Rafidayn Iraqi TV station. Some
journalists have been jailed and then disappeared, with nothing more
known of them.
In its press statement, read out by as-Sayyid Rashid al-Hayyali in a
hall of al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, the Iraqi Journalists
Union declared that “what Mafkarat al-Islam had reported was precisely
true and not mistaken as the Minister claimed. Journalists on the ground
know this, as they are exposed to the reality of being pursued,
restricted, and arrested. Everyone know that but no one has dared to say
it except Mafkarat al-Islam.”
Iraqi “Interior Ministry” puppet forces arrested the journalist Muhammad
‘Abd al-Karim, a correspondent for the Sunni newspaper Dar as-Salam
about two weeks ago. Also in prison are Hasan Hammud of al-Kalimah
newspaper published in al-Anbar Province and Jamal Khalil, the editor of
the newspaper run by the Shi‘i Muslim religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr.
US offered US$5 million to each Sunni member of “constitutional
committee” to sign the draft.
The Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan reported on Tuesday that a source
close to the so-constitutional drafting committee who is a Sunni had
disclosed that the United States had offered a reward of US$5 million to
each Sunni member of the committee if he or she would sign the draft.
Since there are 15 Sunni members of the committee, that would amount to
a total of $75 million.
The source told al-Watan that the Sunni members of the committee had
rejected the American offer and rejected the draft “constitution,”
according to which Iraq is to be split into three “federated” regions
along ethnic and sectarian lines.
Diyala Province.
Ba‘qubah.
Four US troops reported killed in bombing Wednesday afternoon.
An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in Ba‘qubah at about 4pm local time
Wednesday afternoon.
The Ba‘qubah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses as
saying that a bomb exploded by a joint patrol of US troops and Iraqi
puppet police in the industrial zone of the city. The blast destroyed
one American Humvee and one pickup belonging to the puppet police. Four
US troops and two Iraqi puppet policemen were killed in the explosion,
the witnesses reported.
Salah ad-Din Province.
Samarra’.
Resistance bomb leaves a reported four US troops dead near Samarra’
Wednesday morning.
An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US patrol northeast of the city
of Samarra’ at 8:30am local time Wednesday morning.
A source in the Iraqi puppet army told the Samarra’ correspondent for
Mafkarat al-Islam that a bomb that was planted by the side of the road
blew up as a patrol of three armored Humvees passed by, destroying one
of the vehicles and killing four soldiers aboard and wounding a fifth.
The source said that the Americans belonged to the 82nd Marne Division.
The main road on which the bomb exploded was completely closed for two
hours after the attack, during which time houses and shops in the area
were searched. No sign of the Resistance attackers was found.
Ninwa Province.
Mosul.
Four US troops, Asian translator reported killed in early afternoon car
bomb attack.
An Iraqi Resistance martyrdom fighter drove an explosives-packed car
into a US patrol in the al-Ghabat area of the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul at 2pm local time Wednesday afternoon.
The Mosul correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses as
saying that as the US patrol was passing by, an Iraqi Resistance fighter
drove a Nissan sedan into the column. The blast destroyed a US Humvee
and killed four American troops and their Asia translator. After the
attack, US forces encircled the area and prevented anyone approaching.
___________________
Just another day in Iraq!
~Absolute power corrupts absolutely
.
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