Press scepticism over Samarra body count sparks testy US reaction

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031203/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_samarra&cid=1514&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Persistent scepticism about US battlefield reports of 54 insurgents killed in bloody exchanges in the Iraqi town of Samarra earlier this week, drew a testy response from US officials at a Baghdad briefing Wednesday.



"We have no reason to believe that these were inaccurate figures," said the coalition's deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, in response to repeated questions from journalists about the reported death toll.


"We stand by these numbers that were reported by the soldiers involved."


Growing doubts had been expressed about the figures in the light of the insistence of the town's hospital that it received just eight bodies, including a child and at least one elderly Iranian woman who were clearly not insurgents.

more

[xchrom]

1. oh brother

they're asking the troops who hate being there?
oh yeah sir we shot the hell out of 'em. must a killed 40 or 50 of 'em.
yikes.

[pinto]

2. Tom Dispatch has some good coverage (link)

see:

http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=1102

[54anickel]

14. Great link. Thanks

[placton]

3. At the risk of repeating - Can You Say "Vietnam"? (n/t)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. This is TOO rich...

<snip>
But he added: "It is important to understand that many of these questions will never be answered."
<snip>

Why doesn't he just say "nya, nya, nya. We're gonna say whatever we want to!"

[Cocoa]

5. the initial news reports were way too unskeptical

I was thinking there's no way it happened like this, yet all of the stories I saw reported it like it was normal.

[UpInArms]

6. shades of the Lynch story

regarding "shooting all the clips of her gun" into the enemy until she blacked out ...

lies and more lies and denials of lies and obsfucations

[truthspeaker]

7. I like how the three surviving guerillas carried the 54 dead ones away

[htuttle]

9. I guess they are like ants...

...and can carry many times their own weight?

My God! They must be the product of some twisted genetic engineering program Hussein had going!!

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

8. the first numbers came from

a British Airline pilot.

[pinto]

12. I can see the lead:

British Airways Pilot Radiod Initial Samarra Body Count to Bush on AF1.

(details to change hourly)

Still, a very sad story.

[Dhalgren]

10. "Gentlemen, we need body counts."

"I don't care how you get the counts, we just need the counts. Now, if you think 10 were killed, but you can only find 3 bodies, well, things like that happen in war. You go with the ten and let somebody else worry about sortin' it all out." Vietnam/Iraq - we still want to kill as many as we can. It's the American way. Have they started calling the Iraqis "Indians", yet?

[Superfly]

11. NVA did the same thing to ellicit the same media response

it's PsyOps.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. ???? Help me understand what you wrote, please.

[JPace]

13. , Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said....

that the the same pilot who saw Air Force One
on Thanksgiving said that the London Control
said that it was reported to them that White House
spokesman Scott McClellan said that there were
definitely 54 insurgents killed.

Mr. McClellan is going to see his doctor today
about the sudden growing spurt that his nose
is undergoing. Its called the Pinnochio syndrome.
It seems to be spreading rapidly among the bush
regime.

[frylock]

16. i killed fitty nazzy's with ma bare hands!!

Cotton Hill.

[Say_What]

17. " But his theory raised eyebrows ..."

Oops. Caught in a lie.

But his theory raised eyebrows as he also reported 22 insurgents wounded and one captured in what he described as "coordinated" attacks on three separate convoys.

[Sagan]

18. I wonder what the freepers have to say about this?

After swallowing the "victory" story whole?

Ah, who am I kidding?