No it's not. Titus said that the US military targets civlians, which was an incorrect and irresponsible charge. What you're doing is mere sophistry.
What is more atrocious is that our own low depleted uranium bombs are now 'killing' our own soldiers in Iraq.
Brandon9000 wrote:No it's not. Titus said that the US military targets civlians, which was an incorrect and irresponsible charge. What you're doing is mere sophistry.
U.S. Hits Mosque Compound; 40 Said Killed
By BASSEM MROUE and ABDUL-QADER SAADI
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. Marines in a fierce battle for this Sunni Muslim stronghold fired rockets that hit a mosque compound filled with worshippers Wednesday, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were killed. Shiite-inspired violence spread to nearly all of the country.
AP story link
what's our spin going to be of this? A misfire...
Mosque's have become military command posts therefor military targets.
Brandon9000Quote: Titus said that the US military targets civlians, which was an incorrect and irresponsible charge. What you're doing is mere sophistry.
The responses of this topic lead me back to an old adage:
"A picture is worth a thousand words"
Titus, Bi-Polar and others read the journalistic reports of dozens of qualified and knowledgeable reporters, (and look at the humbling and woeful pictures) observing the US military doing EXACTLY what the White House reports they are NOT doing.
Talk about sophistry!!!
So does anyone get blamed, and who would it be?
It's hard to blame the Marines on the ground; if they're taking fire, they're going to want to eliminate the source. Is it the field commanders? The commanders at the regimental level? Who authorized the hit? Is there a way to not sacrifice the soldiers in theater and still contain the political and P.R. damage that this will cause?
And who will raise the fact that problems like this are almost inevitable in the current mess in Iraq?
This is not something for which the White House will easily escape responsibility.
the white house won't pay for this. our men and women in combat will...i would brace ourselves for more of what happened in fallujah...and my bet is they will try to get a live POW (preferably female) and use arab/muslim television to show how atrocious they can really be...
This administration has been successful in destroying the old saying, "my enemy's enemy is my friend." How we were able to get two warring tribes, the Shia and Shites, to combine forces to fight the coalition forces is a new in politics and wars.
Brand X wrote:Mosque's have become military command posts therefor military targets.
bush, cheney,rumsfeld and for that matter kerry, kennedy clinton and most politicians all go to church. does this mean churches have become whorehouses? :wink:
Quote:Insurgents inside a mosque complex in Fallujah were firing heavily at U.S troops on Wednesday, U.S. military officials said. Marines, pinned down, dropped two precision-guided 500-pound bombs on the walls of the mosque and fired a Hellfire missile.
Kimmitt said about 40 armed insurgents were firing on the Marines from the "sanctity of the walls of the mosque."
"It didn't appear to us," Kimmitt said, "to have any effect on the main dome building itself."
He added, "I understand there was a large casualty toll" for insurgents but didn't give any figures.
A Marine source told CNN that "we specifically did not target the mosque."
The story changed a little. Earlier it explained that the walls were quite a ways from the mosque. Anyway the main building wasn't damaged.
[quote="TarantulasAnyway the main building wasn't damaged.[/quote]
i'm sure that means something to the 40 dead iraqis......
I'm sure it does too. It means they shouldn't have fired at the Marines.
This is part of a current front page CNN article:
Insurgents inside a mosque complex in Fallujah -- a center of anti-U.S. unrest in the Sunni Triangle -- were firing heavily at U.S troops on Wednesday, U.S. military officials said. Marines, pinned down, dropped two precision-guided 500-pound bombs on the walls of the mosque and fired a Hellfire missile.
Kimmitt said about 40 armed insurgents were firing on the Marines from the "sanctity of the walls of the mosque."
"It didn't appear to us," Kimmitt said, "to have any effect on the main dome building itself."
It looks like probably the insurgents deliberately located themselves in a holy place to make it difficult for the allies to return fire. The Marines, taking fire, returned fire, but did not damage the mosque itself. Targetting civilians to me would be if the Marines were attempting specifically to kill civilians, as opposed to the people who were firing at them. It is not realistic to describe returning fire as targetting civilians. Therefore, I do not see how this situation bears on the present discussion. Therefore, I repeat my request to back up the statement that the US targets civilains.
willow_tl wrote:i'm sure that means something to the 40 dead iraqis......
Perhaps you are unaware that the present discussion was on the subject of whether or not the US
targets civilians.
i think the article quotes that women and children were among the deceased...to my knowledge that constitutes civilians...if i am wrong i apologize.
Brandon9000 wrote:T Therefore, I repeat my request to back up the statement that the US targets civilains.
This is from the same AP artile I linked above
Sixteen children and eight women were reported killed when warplanes struck four houses late Tuesday, said Hatem Samir, a Fallujah Hospital official.
Bi-Polar Bear wrote:Brand X wrote:Mosque's have become military command posts therefor military targets.
bush, cheney,rumsfeld and for that matter kerry, kennedy clinton and most politicians all go to church. does this mean churches have become whorehouses? :wink:
Visit any Priest's lately? :wink:
willow_tl wrote:i think the article quotes that women and children were among the deceased...to my knowledge that constitutes civilians...if i am wrong i apologize.
The question was not whether civilians have died. The question was whether the US
targets civilians.
