At Least 72 People Die in Fighting in Iraq's Kut

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=15&u=/nm/20040812/ts_nm/iraq_kut_dc


<snip>
KUT, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 72 people were killed and 148 wounded on Thursday in U.S. air raids and fighting between the Iraqi police and Shi'ite militia in the southern city of Kut, a Health Ministry official said.

Falah al-Dirmani told Reuters the casualties were taken to hospitals in the city, 105 miles southeast of Baghdad. Security sources said most of the victims fell when U.S. warplanes bombed a district controlled by Mehdi Army militia at dawn.

Mehdi Army militiamen, loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had killed five police in clashes on Wednesday.

[4dsc]

1. going nuts!!

Heavy overnight US bombing of Kut killed 75 people and wounded nearly 150, adding to 24 hours of violence which left 165 people dead and nearly 600 wounded across the country.

[MaineDem]

2. Kut, Najaf, Baghdad, the Brits in Basra

Seems there's a lot of fighting going on again.

The BBC said the fight in Najaf is under the direction of the Interim Government. I'm not sure I actually believe that.

[leftchick]

3. I know I don't believe it for a second...

That "fighting with the ING and IP with approval of the Interim Gevernment" is pure bullshit for the Amerikan viewing audiences. At least the ones that still have Iraq on their radar.

[leftchick]

4. BBC: "We never expected to see so many bodies,"

:(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3558330.stm


<snip>
Planes bombed a district of the city associated with Shia gunmen, but the city's hospital director said many of the casualties were women and children.

"We never expected to see so many bodies," Khader Fadal Arar added.

Shia gunmen fought running battles with local police this week in Kut, 170km (105 miles) south-east of Baghdad.


The Mehdi Army fighters attacked the central police station on Wednesday and at least four people were killed.

[newyawker99]

5. I guess they want to tidy up before the convention.

:puke:

[skip fox]

6. We are probably in the most precarious time since the invasion.

It does not look good.

The ONLY hope is to capture or kill al-Sadr. Though the danger of igniting Shi'ites across the area against all Westerners is great (a horrific outcome), if the Iraqis capture or kill him there is a CHANCE that Iraq will not implode. With al-Sadr at large, there is no such chance.

So I find myself uneasily in the company of Bill O'Reilly realizing that if al-Sadr is not stopped, all is lost. (And I'm talking about more than Bush's current misadventure . . . the loss of all moderating influences in the region for decades to come.)

I'd love to see W. fail, but if his failure means the loss of more lives, American and Iraqi, and destabilization of the region, then I hope al-Sadr is captured or killed without terrible repercussions.

[maxsolomon]

7. capturing, or worse, killing al sadr will GUARANTEE chaos

and not stopping him guarantees he'll be elected, whenever that is. even the sunnis love him as he's sticking it to us. well, if they had a chance against our armor & firepower, maybe it would be 'sticking'. but it sounds as if its a conciously provoked massacre. they know they have very little chance, and the more women & children killed, the more damage to the mosques, the greater the moral victory.

we can't 'win' this one. what a catch 22 pile of dog shit president dumb fuck stepped us in.

[skip fox]

9. The point isn't winning anything, it's a question of what

action has the POSSIBILITY of the least damage. That's what my assessment is based upon. The way I see it, the choice is between certain chaos and the chance (perhaps mere) that chaos will not result.

What do you see happening if we don't kill or capture him this time? That, I guess, is the question.

[maxsolomon]

11. better to operate now, then?

i suppose if we leave him be, he will solidify his position as leader of the shia theocracy that is coming, regardless. i guess we prefer sistani to lead that, but he doesn't sound too viable coming from his london hospital bed.

anyway, on what basis are we arresting or killing al sadr? he's not personally shooting at us.

i see your point, though. for the lives or our troops & our earlier rather than later withdrawal, take him out now. and don't capture him like saddam - kill him. in prison he's just as inspirational as he is out.

[atreides1]

12. It Won't Matter

They capture him he becomes a martyr, they kill him he becomes a martyr, and all anyone there will care about is that it was US troops that did it, that the infidels entered a holy place and defiled it with their presence.

They have been going on for weeks that the Iraqi forces, are not trained or equipped well enough to pull an operation like this off. CNN isn't showing Iraqi armor or bombers, or helicopter gunships, all of that is American equipment. No one in Iraq is buying into the myth of this being an Iraqi operation.

So the loss of lives, both Iraqi and American will continue, it won't stop. The fact is that al-Sadr dead, captured, or on the run, won't stop the bloodshed, because someone will rise up in his place.

And just as al-Sadr has used the death of his father at Saddam's hands,as a rallying cry, a new al-Sadr will use his death or capture to continue the fight against the American invaders and their Iraqi puppets. Because we Americans as a whole have little comprehension of sacrificing our lives for a belief. One example, do you think that Jerry Falwell would give up his life for his beliefs, no he would not and most of the people that follow him would not either. But the followers of al-Sadr are showing us every day that they will die for their cause, even in the face of unbeatable odds.

While we may not agree with it, they are doing the very same thing that our founding fathers did, they are fighting an enemy that they cannot defeat, and like the founders they are willing to continue the fight.

If for no other reason we have to have respect for that, at least that's what I think

[daleo]

8. Not much detail

That usually means lots of civilians were killed.

[leftchick]

13. I just saw some footage from BBC America....

lots of dead people, women and children too. MANY wounded. It is horrific...
:cry:

[Tight_rope]

10. Boy!....Bush sure is making many friends in Iraqi...oh when the children

grow up. If they get to grow up. They will remember who killed their family. This war will never end.