Attacks shock Iraqis - PittsburghLIVE.com: "BAGHDAD -- Forty-eight hours after the mutilated bodies of four American contract workers were hung in the city of Fallujah, Iraqis in the capital expressed shock over what many called 'barbaric' behavior.
U.S. officials here struggled Thursday to explain how the brutal attack occurred and the absence of an immediate military response.
U.S. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, vowed to punish the 'cowards and ghouls' who killed the Americans. Calling the attack 'a dramatic example of the ongoing struggle between human dignity and barbarism,' he said it will not 'derail our transition to democracy.'
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said if Fallujah's leaders do not identify and jail the perpetrators, U.S.-led coalition forces will 'pacify that city.'
However, one Kurdish official suggests his own men could bring the city under control more quickly and effectively.
The Arab satellite channel Al Arabia reported that the 'Brigade of the Martyr Ahmed Yassin' claimed responsibility for the ambush. The group is named for the spiritual leader of Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, who was assassinated last week by Israeli troops in Gaza.
Al Arabia broadcast scenes of a frenzied mob setting fire to the Americans, then dismembering and dragging the bodies through the streets to chants of 'God is great.'
Two charred, mutilated corpses were strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates as a crowd danced and cheered.
In Baghdad, however, most Iraqis expressed sorrow and outrage.
'I am ashamed because of what they did to those people,' said Dhiya Rasan, 26, an electrical-shop owner, echoing other stunned voices here. 'These guys are Iraqis but are not human. ... I am afraid that the West will believe we all are barbaric.'"
I think the people of Falluja are taking a page from the Somalians, and believe that the desecration of American dead will cause the U.S. to turn tail and run. Osama said as much a few years ago, when he described the ambush of the American soldiers in Mogadishu as an important lesson, that showed him the Americans were basically cowards and would flee from direct combat on the ground. I think he's wrong.
U.S. officials here struggled Thursday to explain how the brutal attack occurred and the absence of an immediate military response.
U.S. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, vowed to punish the 'cowards and ghouls' who killed the Americans. Calling the attack 'a dramatic example of the ongoing struggle between human dignity and barbarism,' he said it will not 'derail our transition to democracy.'
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said if Fallujah's leaders do not identify and jail the perpetrators, U.S.-led coalition forces will 'pacify that city.'
However, one Kurdish official suggests his own men could bring the city under control more quickly and effectively.
The Arab satellite channel Al Arabia reported that the 'Brigade of the Martyr Ahmed Yassin' claimed responsibility for the ambush. The group is named for the spiritual leader of Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, who was assassinated last week by Israeli troops in Gaza.
Al Arabia broadcast scenes of a frenzied mob setting fire to the Americans, then dismembering and dragging the bodies through the streets to chants of 'God is great.'
Two charred, mutilated corpses were strung up on a bridge over the Euphrates as a crowd danced and cheered.
In Baghdad, however, most Iraqis expressed sorrow and outrage.
'I am ashamed because of what they did to those people,' said Dhiya Rasan, 26, an electrical-shop owner, echoing other stunned voices here. 'These guys are Iraqis but are not human. ... I am afraid that the West will believe we all are barbaric.'"
I think the people of Falluja are taking a page from the Somalians, and believe that the desecration of American dead will cause the U.S. to turn tail and run. Osama said as much a few years ago, when he described the ambush of the American soldiers in Mogadishu as an important lesson, that showed him the Americans were basically cowards and would flee from direct combat on the ground. I think he's wrong.
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