Earlier this morning Eschaton included a brief description of a story out of Iraq today in which the ICDC (Iraqi troops) had turned on their US counter-parts. This is what Atrios revealed from the AFP:
US Apache helicopters sprayed fire on the private army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr during fierce battles Monday in the western Baghdad district of Al-Showla, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.
"Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army," said Showla resident Abbas Amid.
The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.
Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.
The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze.
Atrios linked to a blog that listed the same segment of the story and then linked to the news source. The only problem was that the document no longer was available. So I did a Google search and found only one other news source, from The Australian.
In a DoD interview this morning with Gen. Kimmitt, Dan Murphy from the Christian Science Monitor asked about this very AFP report.
Gen. Kimmitt's reply was that he had not heard of the report, which I find hard to believe. Someone had to have heard of it to validate whether or not it actually occurred. His only direct comment (which he seemed to scramble for) was "I think it would fall in line with some of the other reports that we've heard over the last couple of days that have proven not to be correct."
Then Kimmitt went on this tangent about militia groups attacking coalition forces.
We have a very strong policy and a very direct policy towards militias. Militias are inconsistent with a democratic and sovereign nation with a central government. We are particularly focused upon militias that start attacking coalition forces, start attacking Iraqi forces, start attacking Iraqi civilians.
Is this last line an admittance that something indeed took place this morning, pitting a milita against Iraqi troops and US forces?
The actions of the Mahdi Army over the past 48 hours is clearly inconsistent with a safe and secure environment, and clearly inconsistent with the security of the people of Iraq. And we will take action, as and when necessary, to maintain a safe and secure environment in Iraq. Individuals who create violence, who incite violence, who execute violence against persons inside of Iraq will be hunted down and captured or killed. It is that simple.
This may have indeed been a false report. But to have a news story (with details) suddenly be taken off the web with no explanation, and to have the DoD say nothing except this vague explanation above, seems odd to me.
You know, I wouldn't blame them if the story were actually true. Because a story of US trained Iraqi troops turning on American troops in the heat of battle would be just another example of an occupation fallen into chaos. And no one needs that as the national talking point around the water cooler this week.
10:38:18 PM  | |
|
