Iraqi security forces look for alleged hostages- (Conflicting reports now)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113684672241_40/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

Iraqi security forces have surrounded a town near Baghdad where Sunni militants have reportedly taken up to 100 Shiite Muslims hostage. snip

But there are conflicting reports of whether there has been hostage-takings. snip

But later, the resident said the town was calm and that there was no sign of insurgents. snip

However, an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told al-Jazeera satellite television he didn't believe any abductions had taken place.

Other residents told AP no hostages had been taken.

more

[maddezmom]

1. i don't know what to think anymore

first reports were 60 hostages, then 70, then 150 ...now perhaps none. :shrug:

[Mika]

12. All of Iraq is being held hostage - by the USA! n/t

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:



www.stopbolton.org

[ECH1969]

2. Interesting

Confusion surrounded the events, however. While state-owned Iraqiya TV said insurgents were threatening to kill 150 hostages in 24 hours, a spokesman for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Madain told Al-Jazeera television that nothing had happened.

"It's all false news," Sheik Abdul Hadi al Daraji said. "These are all lies and attempts to create tension. They're trying to ruin the reputation of the resistance."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/world/11413509.htm

[bemildred]

3. It sure sounded like something somebody pulled out of his ass. nt

[Journeyman]

4. self deleted

[HardElection]

5. This is a CIA Psyop...

If they can get them to fight each other instead of the "coalition" they can secure their interest in iraqi oil and set up "strategic" bases to possibly make a grab for other middle eastern countries in the far future.

[Dhalgren]

6. I think you are dead right.

I can only agree that this sounds like a "job" is being run. And welcome to DU! :hi:

[NNN0LHI]

7. The MSM is still reporting the first BS story as gospel this morning

No mention of this new information.

Don

[Frederik]

8. Is this another one

of those fake stories that they release to make the Iraqi security forces look capable? If so, it was probably supposed to end with something like "Iraqi forces free 150 hostages; anti-Iraqi forces surrender as they realize resistence is futile".

[hector459]

9. Was this just another excus to storm a town and kill more Iraqis?

We need to get the hell out of Iraq.

[UpInArms]

10. related: Mystery Shrouds Hostage Crisis in Iraqi Town

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-04/17/article02.shtml

BAGHDAD, April 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US-backed Iraqi troops launched on Sunday, April 17, an operation to rescue Shiites reportedly held hostage by militants in Al-Madaen town, with some locals charging the whole thing was a fabricated prelude for a Fallujah-like onslaught.

<snip>

“Fabricated”

But several locals in Al-Madaen, where shops have started closing in anticipation of fierce fighting, insisted that the whole thing was “fabricated” and there was no hostage crisis.

“I am afraid we will pay the price for media reports which are not true. Troops are cutting off the entrance to Al-Madaen. If they attack we will defend ourselves,” one resident who declined to be identified told Reuters.

Emad Dawoud, another resident of the town, gave similar statements.

“There are no Sunni militants holding Shiite civilians hostage,” he told Al-Jazeera news channel Sunday from inside the besieged town.

...more...

[Frederik]

16. Damn!

Truth is in short supply.

[ECH1969]

11. Iraq Qaeda wing says no Shi'ite hostages in Madaen

Iraq's al Qaeda wing said today a hostage crisis in Madaen near Baghdad had been fabricated to give Iraqi forces a pretext to raid the town and attack Sunni Muslims.

'The infidels fabricated the case of the hostages. They are lying,' said an Internet statement from the Sunni group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=182269

[leftchick]

13. Mystery Shrouds Hostage Crisis in Iraqi Town

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-04/17/article02.shtml

BAGHDAD, April 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US-backed Iraqi troops launched on Sunday, April 17, an operation to rescue Shiites reportedly held hostage by militants in Al-Madaen town, with some locals charging the whole thing was a fabricated prelude for a Fallujah-like onslaught.

~snip~

A spokesman for Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, Abdul Hadi Al-Darraji, also denied Saturday that Sunnis were holding Shiites in the town.

He told Al-Jazeera that the incident was merely a score-settling among some families in the community.

Al-Darraji accused some parties of playing the sectarian tune to pit Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis against each other.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, Iraq’s highest Sunni religious authority, further denied in a statement carried by the Doha-based broadcaster that Sunnis were taking Shiites hostage.

[Rose Siding]

14. "hostages and deaths leave US claims of Iraqi 'peace' in tatters":Cockburn

Cockburn's piece on this topic has some good peripheral detail...

snip>
Ironically, one reason why Washington can persuade the outside world that its venture in Iraq is finally coming right is that it is too dangerous for reporters to travel outside Baghdad or stray far from their hotels in the capital. The threat to all foreigners was underlined last week when an American contractor was snatched by kidnappers.
...
Most violent incidents in Iraq go unreported. We saw one suicide bomb explosion, clouds of smoke and dust erupting into the air, and heard another in the space of an hour. Neither was mentioned in official reports. Last year US soldiers told the IoS that they do not tell their superiors about attacks on them unless they suffer casualties. This avoids bureaucratic hassle and "our generals want to hear about the number of attacks going down not up". This makes the official Pentagon claim that the number of insurgent attacks is down from 140 a day in January to 40 a day this month dubious.

US casualties have fallen to about one dead a day in March compared with four a day in January and five a day in November. But this is the result of a switch in American strategy rather than a sign of a collapse in the insurgency. US military spokesmen make plain that America's military priority has changed from offensive operations to training Iraqi troops and police. More than 2,000 US military advisers are working with Iraqi forces......MORE......

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=630159

[pnorman]

15. Here's from the Boston Globe:

Security forces seal town after hostage-taking report; residents say reports were hoax

By Khalid Mohammed, Associated Press, 4/17/2005 17:10

ADVERTISEMENT
NEAR MADAIN, Iraq (AP) Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops had the town of Madain surrounded Sunday after reports of Sunni militant kidnappings of as many as 100 Shiites residents, but there were growing indications the incident had been grossly exaggerated, perhaps an outgrowth of a tribal dispute or political maneuvering.

The town of about 1,000 families, evenly divided between Shiites and Sunnis, sits about 15 miles south of the capital in what the U.S. military has called the ''Triangle of Death'' because it has become a roiling stronghold of the militant insurgency.

An AP photographer and television cameraman who were in or near the town Sunday said large numbers of Iraqi forces had sealed it off, supported by U.S. forces who were keeping a low profile farther from the edge of Madain.

The cameraman said he toured the town Sunday morning. People were going about their business normally, shops were open and tea houses were full, he said. Residents contacted by telephone also said everything was normal in Madain.

And American military officials said they were unaware of any U.S. role in what had been described as a tense sectarian standoff in which the Sunni militants were threatening to kill their Shiite captives if all other Shiites did not leave the town.
>
>

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/107/world/Security_forces_seal_town_afte:.shtml

pnorman

[NYC]

17. This is why U.S. casualties are down:

...large numbers of Iraqi forces had sealed it off, supported by U.S. forces who were keeping a low profile farther from the edge of Madain...

The Iraqis have become a shield for the Americans.

Note from Congressman Jim McGovern, May 2, 2005, The Nation:

I asked both General Petraeus and our embassy about US plans to build military bases in Iraq, which in my view would indicate a prolonged US presence. I was told - emphatically - that there are no plans to construct military bases. Yet Congress recently passed a huge supplemental wartime appropriations bill that includes, at the request of the Bush Administration, $500 million for military base construction. In Iraq.