MSNBC Reporters Caught in Firefight at Baghdad Morgue

[Rose Siding]

-between the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity


As I was walking back outside, gunfire erupted all around us. It turns out the Ministry of Health FPS had gotten into a firefight with nearby FPS officers from the Ministry of Electricity, which is not run by a al-Sadr supporter. Unfortunately, my crew was caught in the middle.

Firefight at the morgue
With bullets crackling overhead, I yelled at my crew to run towards me and take cover behind a concrete barricade. The Ministry of Health FPS also took cover behind our barricade and continued to fire at the Electricity FPS officers about 100 feet away.

One of the Health FPS officers near us was furiously firing a PKC machinegun and yelling, "I will kill every one of them. I will kill every one of those Sunni bastards."

For two or three minutes, the firing was intense, mainly by the officer with the machinegun. A crowd of 40 or so people, who had come to the morgue to recover the bodies of loved ones, were also caught up in the middle of all of this. Most dove to the ground, while others ran away.

While we were hiding behind the barricade, one of the Ministry of Health FPS officers ran up to my camera man and demanded that he hand over his videotape. It was made clear that we were not to do any further filming of the incident.

After a few minutes, Ministry of Health officials grabbed us and others in the crowd and took us inside. Once we were in the building, a senior Health Ministry official told us to stay inside because he was worried a larger force from the Electricity Ministry might show up and attack our position. We stayed in the building for about 10 minutes before the gunfire began to fade away.

http://onthescene.msnbc.com/baghdad/2006/09/bullets_and_bod.html#posts

[BlueManDude]

1. Just the last throes of the dead-enders.

[yellowcanine]

2. It is NOT a civil war so stop saying that! Why do you hate 'Murica?

[Rose Siding]

7. The civil war that isn't.

Isn't it nuts?

[semillama]

3. Ok. if members of different ministries are engaged in gun battles

can we call it civil war? What more do you need?

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Don't be so gullible. Notice the tape was confiscated....it must have

never happened. This is just the Librul media trying to push it's "Iraq Civil War" agenda. Things are getting better all the time over there. President Bush is the second messiah. /end Freeper rant.

[populistdriven]

4. The gunbattles are just a symptom of freedom - stuff happens

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." –Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens," April 11, 2003

[NNN0LHI]

6. The FPS officers from the Ministry of Electricity are in all likelyhood...

...made up of South and Central American mercenaries working for us.

That is probably the key to the animosity here.

Don

[aaronbees]

8. Incredibly sad that

people coming to find deceased loved ones are caught in this firefight. I guess the idea is to get them to join the dead for eternity? :puke: :crazy:

Also, in regards to no more filming of the incident, how nice it is to see freedom of the press shackled. Ugh - learning well. Freedom on the march!