U.S. Army Counters Mosque Raid Criticism

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Army Counters Mosque Raid Criticism
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: January 4, 2004

Filed at 7:01 p.m. ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- American soldiers on a weapons raid stormed into a Baghdad mosque, ducking behind pillars with rifles raised and ready to fire in a video edited by the U.S. military and shown Sunday to counter Iraqi criticism.

Like previous forays into Iraqi mosques believed to harbor insurgents and their weapons, Friday's raid on the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque provoked a street protest and charges of U.S. soldiers trashing a Muslim holy place and tearing the pages out of the Quran holy book.

American authorities deny the charges and showed edited video footage at a news conference. The raid was an orderly affair, with soldiers neatly rolling up carpets in search of rumored secret tunnels, which were not found. Troops lined up hand grenades, stacked guns and hauled off what the military said was a sack of gunpowder.

The footage had no sound -- U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said there was a problem with the video. So he narrated.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Mosque-Raid.html
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[daleo]

1. Rescue of private Lynch had edited video, too

Strangely, the capture of Saddam didn't (at least not that I have seen).

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. dupe...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=298145&mesg_id=298145