Blast at U.S. Mess Tent in Iraq Kills 22
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)Posted by: Samurai
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The U.S. military launched an investigation Wednesday into the cause of a devastating blast in a mess tent at a base in northern Iraq that killed 22 people and injured 72 in one of the deadliest attacks on American troops since the start of the war.
Initial reports said that a 122 mm rocket ripped through the ceiling of the tent, spraying shrapnel as U.S. soldiers sat down to lunch Tuesday in their Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, some 225 miles north of Baghdad.
But, a radical Sunni Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it was a "martyrdom operation" - a reference to a suicide bomber - that targeted the mess hall.
"We are still investigating what caused the explosion," Capt. Dorren Luke, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said Wednesday.
The dead included 18 Americans - 14 servicemembers and four U.S. civilian contractors - and four Iraqis, the U.S. military command in Baghdad said Wednesday. Of the 72 wounded, 51 are U.S. military personnel and the remainder are American civilians, Iraqi troops, and other foreigners.
Halliburton Co., a Houston-based company whose subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root supplies food service and other support activities for U.S. troops in Mosul, said seven of its workers were killed. Halliburton did not give the nationalities of the dead but they apparently included the five American civilians. The two other deaths, if correct, would boost the overall toll to 24.
President Bush said the explosion should not derail the elections and that he hoped relatives of those killed know that their loved ones died in "a vital mission for peace."
"I'm confident democracy will prevail in Iraq," he said.
More @ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=WIWAF&SECTION=HOME
The dead included 18 Americans - 14 servicemembers and four U.S. civilian contractors - and four Iraqis, the U.S. military command in Baghdad said Wednesday. Of the 72 wounded, 51 are U.S. military personnel and the remainder are American civilians, Iraqi troops, and other foreigners.
Halliburton Co., a Houston-based company whose subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root supplies food service and other support activities for U.S. troops in Mosul, said seven of its workers were killed. Halliburton did not give the nationalities of the dead but they apparently included the five American civilians. The two other deaths, if correct, would boost the overall toll to 24.
President Bush said the explosion should not derail the elections and that he hoped relatives of those killed know that their loved ones died in "a vital mission for peace."
"I'm confident democracy will prevail in Iraq," he said.
How the hell did they manage to get so close to a mess tent?? :(
Posted by: cpt_azad
which leads to some other questions, best not ask, "they" will lable you as a crackpot paranoid geek. (off topic: a plane did not crash into the pentagon, that whole thing was staged.)
Posted by: TheDave
51 out of 72 aint bad when you consider they dont have laser guidence and that
Posted by: cpt_azad
51 out of 72 aint bad when you consider they dont have laser guidence and that
Yup. And you know what's funny, if you were to make a remark like this somewhere else (say publically) you would be labeled a sadist or a terrorist, but hey it's all good and clean when the US does it to Iraqi's, they just label em as terrorists (yes even the little kids) or collateral damage.
Posted by: cpt_azad
sarcasm for those ppl that want to flame me. and if i were an iraqi citizen, i'd do everything in my power to try and get the occupational force out of my country. and any wity remarks like "but they're here to help you" or "you really want the force to leave which would leave your country in a mess?"
to which i reply, they began all this bullshit in the firstplace, and i'd rather die than have a puppet gov't installed in my country not to mention fighting for loved ones that died because of the occupational forces actions. go ahead, label me a terrorist, i dare you.
Posted by: TheDave
as long as no-one has a problem and tries to dress it up as terrorism i ain't bothered
Posted by: cpt_azad
well you must be one happy person :)
Posted by: BigBank_Hank
(off topic: a plane did not crash into the pentagon, that whole thing was staged.)
Under normal circumstances I would love to take that remark and tear it to shreds but with it being Christmas and all I don’t have the time and patience to prove how idiotic that statement is.
Posted by: lynx
a 122 mm rocket ripped through the ceiling of the tent22 dead and 72 injured, and some idiot measures the size of the rocket. Talk about getting your priorities right.
Posted by: j2k4
22 dead and 72 injured, and some idiot measures the size of the rocket. Talk about getting your priorities right.
It would seem now that was a misguidedly hopeful attempt to shift the circumstances anyplace but where they have landed: A "homicide" bomber.
One would think, at this particular point in the game, a bit more paranoia ought to reign at locations wherein our troops might mass.
This whole incident is unutterably stupid, and only sadder for the fact.
Posted by: Comic_Peddler
Under normal circumstances I would love to take that remark and tear it to shreds but with it being Christmas and all I don’t have the time and patience to prove how idiotic that statement is.
You would expect anything different from the same individual who refered to EVERY American as a killer?
Posted by: j2k4
You would expect anything different from the same individual who refered to EVERY American as a killer?
Yup.
S.O.S.O. ;)
Posted by: TheDave
whether or not it's more important (not, i know). how do they know its 122mm?
yeah, it was a rocket btw. how does a passenger plane leave a 2 foot wide hole and scorched grass, but no wreckage? :cool2: