Gruesome killing frenzy.
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| Thu, 04-01-2004 - 10:02am |
CNN's QuickVote question:
Does the latest violence in Iraq raise doubts about whether the country can be rebuilt?
MO: I had serious doubts before the occupation of Iraq began.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9158985%255E663,00.html
THE United States reacted with horror, condemnation and resolve yesterday after Iraqis killed four civilian contractors and cheered the grisly desecration of their bodies.
The four, from a North Carolina security firm, were killed in an ambush of grenades and bullets in Fallujah, in the dangerous Sunni Triangle region loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Images captured by Arab camera crews showed shrieking young men and boys kicking a charred corpse.
The blows made the corpse quiver as though alive.
As one corpse lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi doused it with petrol, sending flames soaring into the air.
At least two bodies, their skins burned away, were tied to cars and pulled through the streets.
"This is the fate of all Americans who come to Fallujah," said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable; two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling.
After one of the incinerated bodies was pulled down, a young boy beat it with his shoe, in a traditional act of ultimate scorn, as a crowd cheered.
"I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us, so this is what will happen," said Mohammad, 12, looking on.
As the bodies burned, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs for the television cameras.
No US soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area for several hours after the attack, but a US fighter plane roared overhead, prompting the crowd to scatter.
The White House pleaded with obliging US news agencies not to show the graphic images, which were similar to those from Somalia in 1993 that caused America to withdraw its troops from that country.
"These are horrific, despicable attacks," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "The stakes are high in Iraq and this is a testing time.
"The enemies of freedom and the enemies of the Iraqi people are trying to shake our will, but they cannot.
"We will not be intimidated. The Iraqi people want us to stay and finish the job, and we will."
Washington has said it expected violence to again spiral in Iraq before June 30, when the US plans to hand sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday that getting Iraq on its feet would "require commitment and sacrifice, and the US Government is certainly committed to sticking this through to the end".
The four civilians worked for Blackwater Security Consulting.
The firm hires former military members to provide security training and guard services.
It had been contracted by the Pentagon to provide security for convoys that delivered food in the area around Fallujah, which is 50km west of Baghdad.
On the same day, five US troops were killed while travelling in a vehicle northwest of Fallujah when a makeshift bomb detonated.
Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said the nature of the killings "says to me there are profound feelings obviously in Iraq" and that previously-stated hopes of a smooth transition to Iraqi self-rule were "not accurate".
Dr Kissinger said America could not cut and run from Iraq or "the consequences for us would be extremely severe".
"This has now become a test case of the terrorist war. We must now prevail," he said.
GIs Attacked Again In Fallujah.
In other developments:
Last week in the area, there was a clash between British troops and jobless Iraqis demanding jobs.
In Fallujah, meanwhile, Iraqi police manned roadside checkpoints in and around the city, but no U.S. troops could be seen inside the city. Shops and schools were open. "<
>"Iraqi police officer Lt. Salah Abdullah said police retrieved the remains of the four slain Americans on Wednesday night at the request of the Americans, wrapped them in blankets and gave them to U.S. forces.
"We were shocked because our Islamic beliefs reject such behavior," he said referring to the abuse of the bodies. "<
Quotes from.............
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml


As did many people who familiarized themselves with the situation.
These men are being described as "civilian contractors".
Does this mean to