US accuses Shiites of faking massacre

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC479911.htm

BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There's been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

He rejected the accusations of a massacre that prompted the Shi'ite-led government to demand U.S. forces cede control of security but declined to spell out which group he believed moved the bodies.

Government-run television has shown footage of bodies lying without weapons in what Shi'ite ministers say is a mosque compound run by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The security minister accused Iraqi and U.S. troops of killing 37 unarmed men.

[TomInTib]

1. I just knew there had to be a logical explanation.

Yeah, that's it.

[Terran1212]

2. Iraqi government is against US on this

Are they going to start fighting the client government they themselves set up now? How many folds of war is this now? 4,5-fold? How many sides? 50?

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. "There's been huge misinformation"

I'll say there has!

[Roland99]

45. To the tune of $250 billion and counting.

[superconnected]

4. If the place looks different, then it means they did go in to that place

possibly shooting...

They're just saying it looks different than they left it.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Excellent observation, superconnected

So much for a unity government!

[IChing]

10. Wonderfully clear logic and point superconnected.

Guess there were more bodies there than when they left.
I wonder when this is all over how much of a purge
our military is gonna need.

[0007]

13. Case closed. The U.S. lies again!

[IndianaGreen]

5. What's the next sorry excuse? Mass suicide?

At this point in time, we have succeeded in pissing off the largest religious group in Iraq. We might as well piss the Kurds and the Turkmen while we are at it!

[KDLarsen]

32. Shiite Muslims Crack Suicide Squad to the rescue!

[pinniped]

6. They're asking the US to get the hell out their country.

After that, they won't have to worry about allegedly fake massacres or fake Lynch rescue stories anymore.

[Just Me]

7. Aw shit! This is the worst kind of finger-pointing that could possibly,..

,...happen. I foresee major, violent entanglements in the very near future and it WON'T be "sectarian". Our guys are the ones with targets on their backs.

FUCK!!!

Get our soldiers the hell outta' there!!! Let the Iraqis have back their country, work out their differences and whatnot. The UN can help while the US substitutes reparations for war, dollar for dollar already in the budget ---> give 'em a $93 billion down payment!!

[malaise]

39. Yep they will now all turn on

the poor soldiers. Thanks Bushco you fucking liars.

[Demeter]

8. A Plague on Both Their Houses!

Which liar are we going to believe? Video tape would be more verifiable. One more good reson to get the hell out NOW.

[HeatherDawn]

11. Our military just leaves corpses lying around???

I don't understand why the dead people were still there????????????? Does our military just kill people then go back to their base without calling ambulances to take the corpses to the friggin' morgue?

[Auntie Bush]

23. Well we left corpses laying around after Katrina so............

[shadowknows69]

38. Quite a few in Fallujah as well

I seem to remeber pics of dogs feasting on them. Yeah we're great at the destruction but not so much the reconstruction.

[pocket]

12. al Sadr did try this before once

in Najaf

[IndianaGreen]

14. You still believe in our military?

:rofl:

You believe the PR guy in the Green Zone over all the other eyewitness accounts and the video evidence?

I'll bet you believe that Bush didn't break the law either!

[Zynx]

15. Well put.

I don't trust our military as far as I can throw it, which isn't very far considering how bloated it is.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

42. I don't believe anything I hear out of that country.

From either side. Err... from any of the three sides. Four?

[daleo]

16. Now the Pentagon is saying "We was framed"

Not a good sign at all.

[IndianaGreen]

17. I think OJ Simpson is their PR consultant

The Shias were killed by Colombian drug lords, right?

[daleo]

20. And Bush will search high and low for the "real" killers. n/t

[tatertop]

52. But that honey-tongued Johhny Cochran is no longer around to save us!

(un)Luckily for the world, we still have brute force to carry the day

[LynnTheDem]

18. ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!! Oh my GOD you CANNOT make this shit up, people!!!

:wow:

Holy fucking Cripes.

The irony. The bloody irony.

[LynnTheDem]

19. When the Shia spoke about Hussein's massacres -no proof, no graves-

every word was eagerly swallowed by the USA.

Over & over & over again the US went on & on & on about rescuing those poor little Shia.

And now this headline...

The irony...

[shadowknows69]

40. Ok first we say

we don't believe it was a mosque we attacked and then we claim not to have attacked it. Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of brainwashing is going on that anyone believes this bullshit?

[LynnTheDem]

43. And then we say "it didn't look that way AFTER WE LEFT IT."

So we weren't there in that wasn't a mosque and it didn't look that way after we left it that we weren't ever there.

Got that?

:eyes:

[shadowknows69]

44. My brain just snapped

please dial 911 for me. On second thought we need to change that number.

[Alpharetta]

21. The US Govt admits powerful Shiites are against them too?

Oh. I thought they were only having problems with bringing Sunnis to the political process.

Gee. How are things going, anyway? New story every day.

[creeksneakers2]

22. The Iraqis were really smart about it

They moved all those bullet holes too.

[killbotfactory]

24. And the shell casings...

But, no, really... I believe us...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. DU'er accuses US of faking reasons for war

"After the fact, someone went in and made different rationales from what it was. There's been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

[Judi Lynn]

27. If that's what he said, it must be the truth!

He has such virtuous friends who also never lie, I'm sure! Look how many truths they've told since they bombed the bejesus out of Baghdad and invaded the entire country.



Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Army Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commanding general of the
1st Cavalry Division, serve Christmas Eve chow to soldiers of the 1st Cav. Div. U.S. Army photo by
Spc. Al Barrus

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

30. LOL! You've got to be f'n kidding me w/ that Rummy pic!

Sweet mother Mary, mother of God that's funny.

:rofl:

[daleo]

37. Rummy is wearing his plastic sheeting

In case there is a terrorist gas attack.

[symbolman]

34. Looks like they covered Rummy in the latest Halliburton

supplied ARMOR just in case there was an attack.. the new B & R Armor, just pull it off a roll, put over your head and tie it up in the back..

Actually I think they wanted to make sure that Rummy didn't get any "Fascist germs" in the food :)


I thought the "GOOD GUYS" wore WHITE HATS.

[Marnieworld]

46. Is rummy about to perform an autopsy on his meal?

WTF is he wearing a full body bib? The man is insane.

[Rex]

26. See folks, that's how a democracy works

You complain to the occupying force currently in control of your country.

[Barrett808]

28. Like this will fly with the Sadrists? The Shi'a? Iraqi people generally?

In the sweet name of "Bob" Dobbs, how stupid do they think we are?

[Doctor_J]

29. They keep coming up with new way sto make enemies & look stupid

If dumb scams ever get to $80/barrel, I want drilling rights in all the red states.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

31. I can't believe anyone would be dumb enough to say that. Yikes.

[Disturbed]

33. That is about three stories of US Troops killing..

Iraqis without probable cause. If this continues it won't be long until the Shi'ites finally get weary of the US/UK Occupation (Colonialization of Iraq). All it will take is a Fatwa from al Sistani for the Occupation Forces to leave ASAP and the Occupation Forces will be under more fire than ever before. The US may be forced out.

[malaise]

41. Maybe?

Ask the Brits.

[HuffleClaw]

35. what a lame-ass excuse

and the 'its not a mosque' bit is really over the top. it don't matter one whit what americans think of this silly cover story, the IRAQIS are more than just slightly miffed and thats what matters.

[ladjf]

36. If they are and are getting away with it, it is because the

credibility of the U.S. is at an all time low. No one believes a word they hear from the Bush administration or the Pentagon.

[megatherium]

47. We are in the way of Shiite ethnic cleansing of Sunnis. So I'm not so

sure this allegation by the US is really a lie. The important bit: the Shi'ites want us to cede control of security.

If the several of you wish to believe that the US military is the real problem in Iraq, that's fine -- we don't belong there and we should leave immediately. But don't assume that the locals are all sweetness and light. There are a lot of nasty things going on over there, and we are not the main culprits any more. We're too busy protecting ourselves at this point.

[rocktivity]

48. The following post is part of Bush's GULF WAR GOOD NEWS initiative

Bush's coalition forces have succeeded in training Iraqis to handle their own security, which means our troops can come home! GOOD NEWS!

:party:
rocknation

[baby_mouse]

49. There isn't really any way now of trusting either side.

If you're gonna cover shit up and torture innocent people for stupid reasons no-one's going to believe you, are they? :shrug: Not that I'd put it past the Shi'ites to do this.

[Judi Lynn]

50. There's no way citizens of this devastated country are going to

make up lies about what Americans have done to them. What WOULD be the point? It would just hack off the Americans even more, and they'd get even more vicious.

So implausible. They want us to LEAVE.

[Supersedeas]

51. Lieutenant's with ten-foil hats -- it must have been a conspiracy...after

the fact...

[Blue_Tires]

53. ttt n/t