Barbarians strike again

A video posted on the Internet Wednesday in the name of the Shura Council of Mujahedeen claimed to show Iraqi insurgents dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter.

The U.S. military condemned the posting and said that, although reports of a Web site video "suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site, the authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed."

The military said an AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday due to possible hostile fire west of Youssifiyah, about 15 kilometres southwest of Baghdad, while conducting a combat air patrol.

The time and date stamp on the video was Sunday, April 2, and runs from 4:03 p.m. to 4:08 p.m. The stamp shows the minutes and seconds do not run sequentially and the scenes appear disjointed, suggesting the tape was altered.

"We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," U.S. military spokesman Lt.-Col. Jonathan Withington said.

The video also clearly showed the bloodied, burning body of a man being dragged by several other men through a field. Before the body was moved, the camera zoomed in on what appeared to be his waistline, which showed a scrap of underwear with the brand name "Hanes" on it. The man also appeared to be wearing some type of camouflage fatigues.

On Sunday, the military said the pilots were "presumed dead" and that recovery efforts were underway, indicating they had not fully secured the site or retrieved the bodies. The military later identified the pilots killed as Capt. Timothy Moshier, 25, of Albany, N.Y., and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Hartwick, of Orrick, Mo.

The video, posted by a group calling itself the Shura Council of Mujahedeen, claimed its military wing had shot down the aircraft.

Now, I'm going to keep it short, as I always do.
I have noticed a very small, almost insignificant, discrepancy between the statement issued by the U.S. Army and the statement issued by the terrorists of Mujahedeen Shura Council on the tragic downing of the Apache helicopter.

The military said: "An AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday due to possible hostile fire west of Youssifiyah, about 15 kilometres southwest of Baghdad, while conducting a combat air patrol."

The terrorists say: "Your brothers in the Military wing of Mujahedeen Shura Council on Saturday 1/4/2006, shooted down an "apatchy" (sic) helicopter of the infidels american forces on albu'amer region in arredwaneyah , all praise and gratitude be to Allah."

Here is the statement of Mujahedeen Shura Council on Saturday 1/4/2006

click pic to enlarge it


Arredwaneyah (Ar Radwaniyah) is a small town in the Albu'mer area south-west of Baghdad where, in January 2005, 12 people were killed and 25 injured in a suicide attack on a Shiite wedding party. The attack was carried out with a booby-trapped ambulance driven by a suicide bomber. Albu Amer is home to the Shiite tribe of the same name.

The area between Ar Radwaniyah, Youssifiyah and Mahmoudiyah is called the "triangle of death" in Iraq.



This is the price that American soldiers are paying in order to bring peace and democracy to these tribes, that have not known justice from the time of Hammurabi.

In conclusion, I finish with an article, which appeared on AJC.com in Sept. 2005, about the gift of an American soldier, Staff Sgt. Joe Neely, to a disabled Iraqi woman in Ar Radwaniyah only six months ago. The gift was a shiny new wheelchair purchased with Neely’s money by his interpreter in Baghdad. Read it here

Some people just don't know how to say "thank you"!