Car Bombing in Baghdad Market Kills 66

I see the death toll on this story keeps changing. First it was 45 now 66 I heard it was 80 killed and 60 injured critically

It's weird, but the story I wrote this comment to this morning has been replaced by a *different* AP wire story about Iraq. What the hell's going on? My comment was on the story which Keld later seeded here. Aaargh!

AP fiddle (edit) there storys without warning

The 66 dead in car bombing is a worthwhile story, but the rape and murder story is more like a bombshell as far as Arab sentiment goes, and it appears to effectively have been pulled. I wouldn't normally be a conspiracy theorist, but it looks a little like someone was asked to take the pressure off. Perhaps there's concern about the repercussions on the ground and they don't want to inflame things?

Ill seed it from SBS

Keld, I tend to agree with a lot of what you post on this site but I don't think you can call the US Armed forces rapists based on this single criminal act.

The people that did this are of course evil and deserve to be punished. The Army should conduct it's investigation and hand the soldiers over to the Iraqis. If those soldiers are tried by the Americans then we'll know exactly who is still in charge over there, and it won't be the Iraqi's.

kayjay, What makes you think any military personnel will be handed over to the Iraqi courts? It hasn't happened yet, even after Abu Ghraib, Falluja, and Haditha, to name a few.

Aine, that's true. That is what I'm angry about. I guess we still know who runs things in Iraq.

Keld,

As a well-known advocate of Iraqis, you would be disgusted to have the average Iraqi compared to those who blow up children waiting to get candy from American troops. If these soldiers have done what has been alleged, I suggest that they are a criminal element within the troops and are in no way representative of American troops in general. This horrible situation has to and will end, but to equate nationality with morality and to apply a double standard towards one side or the other is serving NO ONE. What is odd to me is the fact that while America goes out of its way to distance itself from these atrocities, the various insurgent groups not only boast of theirs but publish them on the web and get upset when another group claims responsibility for acts no civilized person would ever consiser.

Walt, i agree with most of your post except for the last. You need to distinguish between freedom fighters and terrorists. I'm no expert but I can make a pretty accurate guess that those that boast of their atrocities toward the civilian population are terrorists.

These solders however are trained military personnel, chosen to represent their country in a conflict zone based on their ability and reputation.

The problem though is that reports of crimes of this nature (rapes, revenge killings, etc.) seem to be increasing. It sounds to me like the US military needs to be doing some better psych evals on some of the people getting into the military and also needs to provide resources for soldiers to avoid committing some of these acts. As horrible as it is, this is a war, and when tensions are high you'll find some people doing things they would never contemplate otherwise. I'm in no way making excuses for a soldier that commits a crime like this, but it has happened in nearly every war and that's the reason why.

kayjay,

Exactly my point. I apologize for posting in a heat and leaving misspellings intact, but usually I remain silent when Keld generalizes against Americans and American troops in his anti-American tirades. In this case, I vented - and added my own broad generalizations.

This is a totally effed up incident. But, the real bad part is it just makes Americans look worse and worse every day.

I don't think we need to all be lumped into this mess that Bush and his whack-job pals have gotten us into. But, I can see that that's what's happening.

It's very sad. It's sad for America. It's sad for Iraqi's. It's sad for this poor woman and her family.

War is a murderous thing. It's almost redundant to be in a war and then murder people ON TOP OF THAT.

It's so sick it's beyond comprehension .

Kid one points to kid two..."He started it!"
Sheesh nixfu, way to embarrass yourself.

I think the more appropriate point is that there are criminals in all parts of society. Trying to generalize on the basis of the acts of a few individuals isn't appropriate.