Fisking Fisk
: Compare these two reports of the same events. Robert Fisk in the so-called Independent:
While Washington and London were still congratulating themselves on the capture of Saddam Hussein, US troops have shot dead at least 18 Iraqis in the streets of three major cities in the country.
Dramatic videotape from the city of Ramadi 75 miles west of Baghdad showed unarmed supporters of Saddam Hussein being gunned down in semi-darkness as they fled from Americans troops. Eleven of the 18 dead were killed by the Americans in Samarra to the north of Baghdad.
All the killings came during demonstrations by Sunni Muslims against the American seizure of Saddam, protests that started near Samarra on Monday evening. The first demonstrators blocked roads north of Baghdad when armed men appeared alongside civilians who believed – initially – that US forces had arrested one of Saddam’s doubles rather than the ex-dictator of Iraq.
Now see the L.A. Times:
U.S. troops killed 11 Iraqi guerrillas north of Baghdad in a prolonged gun battle in which armed insurgents used schoolchildren for cover as they fired on soldiers, military officials said today….
Also, U.S. forces were involved in clashes triggered by pro-Saddam Hussein demonstrations in the Sunni Triangle cities of Ramadi, Tikrit and Fallouja. The demonstrators in support of the recently captured Iraqi leader attacked local government offices and police stations, as those are operations seen as collaborating with the occupation forces. U.S. soldiers fired on demonstrators in Ramadi, killing three and wounding several others.
In the town of Fallujah overnight, rioting Iraqis blew up the offices of the U.S.-appointed mayor, fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces and attacked a train carrying U.S. military supplies. Seven Iraqis were reported killed, and at least three American soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb.
In Samarra, members of a patrol from the 2nd Infantry Division suffered no casualties as they were ambushed twice while traveling through the city, according to the U.S. Central Command. The attack was launched shortly after a large flock of pigeons took flight in what military officials said was an apparent signal of the troops’ arrival.
Somebody isn’t getting this story right. Who could that be?
