The body of Ali Hamed, who was killed in a raid in Baghdad by U.S. troops, is prepared to be washed for burial in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. . . . (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
US: Raid of Baghdad’s Sadr City kills 49
Or, was it 15 killed, three or more children, two toddlers? Well, the US military says it killed an estimated 49 ‘militants’ or ‘criminals’, so that’s how mainstream news (either the Associated Press or Yahoo) headlines the matter. The news report’s text however quickly dispels the U.S. lie, and even provides graphic truth of the civilian carnage:
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military said its forces killed an estimated 49 militants during a dawn raid . . . in Baghdad’s Sadr City enclave, one of the highest tolls for a single operation since President Bush declared an end to active combat in 2003.
[How ’bout a HOWEVER here, AP?!] Iraqi police and hospital officials, who often overstate casualties, reported only 15 deaths including three children. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said all the dead were civilians. . . .
Associated Press photos showed the bodies of two toddlers, one with a gouged face, swaddled in blankets on a morgue floor. Their shirts were pulled up, exposing their abdomens, and a diaper showed above the waistband of one boy’s shorts. Relatives said the children were killed when helicopter gunfire hit their house as they slept.
. . . Iraqi officials said 52 were wounded in the raid on the sprawling district.
The U.S. military said it was not aware of any civilian casualties, and the discrepancy in the death tolls and accounts of what happened could not be reconciled. American commanders reported no U.S. casualties. . . .
“All total, coalition forces estimate that 49 criminals were killed in three separate engagements during this operation. Ground forces reported they were unaware of any innocent civilians being killed as a result of this operation,” the [US] military said.
Ajeel Ali, second left, is comforted by friends after his brother, Ismael, 10, was killed in an overnight raid in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. . . . (AP Photo/Adil al-Khazali)
A local resident who goes by the name Abu Fatmah said his neighbor’s 14-year-old son, Saif Alwan, was killed while sleeping on the roof.
“Saif was killed by an airstrike and what is his guilt? Is he from the Mahdi Army? He is a poor student,” Abu Fatmah said.
An uncle of 2-year-old Ali Hamid said the boy was killed and his parents seriously wounded when helicopter gunfire pierced the wall and windows of their house as they slept indoors.
Relatives gathered at Sadr City’s Imam Ali hospital where the emergency room was overwhelmed with bloodied casualties. The dead were placed in caskets covered by Iraqi flags.
APTN video showed three bloodied boys sitting on hospital tables and an elderly man being treated for a head wound. . . .
Iraqi men chant anti-US slogans during a demonstration against recent raids by U.S. troops in the Hurriyah neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. The banner in the background reads, ‘For the Christians and the occupying forces: did Jesus do as you are doing?’ (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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