MSNBC Breaking: Two US (civilian) Contractors Killed Near Fallujah

[VolcanoJen]

Two civilian US contractors have been killed in a roadside bomb attack, just west of Fallujah.

Breaking now... MSNBC says the report is from Reuters.

I'll provide a link when it becomes available...

ON EDIT: Link:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3738814

Two U.S. Civilian Contractors Killed by Bomb in Iraq

Sun November 2, 2003 02:30 PM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb blast in the flashpoint Iraqi town of Falluja on Sunday killed two U.S. civilian contractors working for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and wounded one other, a Corp spokesman said.

After the bomb blast jubilant Iraqis danced on the flaming wreckage of the contractors' vehicles, witnesses in Falluja said.

[bluestateguy]

1. It's now the Ramadan Offensive

and this is George W. Bush's "Blackhawk Down" incident.

No liberals around to blame for this.

[jenk]

2. everybody know's Clinton's Penis is to blame

[VolcanoJen]

5. "Ramadan Offensive"

Absolutely, bluestateguy. It's obvious, and this is probably what these awful last few days will be known as.

I'm just so angry, I'm shaking... why aren't they any journalists on television right now asking how this could happen???

[flamingyouth]

8. Why aren't there any journalists, period?

It's like a nonstop "personality parade" on the so-called news these days...

[VolcanoJen]

10. Must be a SLOW NEWS DAY, huh??

CNN's showing "People in the News," featuring Denzel Washington (they just wrapped up a heartwarming piece about the life of Laci Peterson).

MSNBC, after breaking the latest news out of Fallujah, is back to Hardball repeats...

[leftchick]

30. they are way too busy trying to paint lipstick on chimpass's

Iraq quagmire pig. It is down right embarassing to witness.

[spinbaby]

3. So how many Americans dead in Iraq today?

15 in the helicoptor
1 in the streets of Baghdad
4 in a Fallujah bombing (still unconfirmed, I think)
Now 2 civilian contractors.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. I think the unconfirmed deaths in Fallujah...

...are the 2 civilians contractors. So, it's 16 from the chopper shoot-down (about which the news outlets have now changed their tune, calling it a "crash" until the Pentagon confirms its a shoot-down), one in Baghdad and the two contractors. 19, I think?

;(

[Raenelle]

25. CNN is now reporting 16 dead from the helicoptor shoot-down

[northernsoul]

4. "jubilant Iraqis danced on flaming wreckage"

gee, what does that tell ya?

[NNN0LHI]

7. They hate us for our freedoms? n/t

[VolcanoJen]

11. "The terra-ists must be desperate. That's why they attack our freedoms."

"It's a sign of the progress we're making in Iraq."

[northernsoul]

26. so, we'll know that we've won when we lose 100+ in a day?

that would seem to be the case, given W's logic.

[patdem]

6. The military might be a volunteer army...but the civilians are in Iraq

voluntarially....no pity for the dead..but sympathy for the family. They are simply mercinaries in a hostile country.

[DUreader]

9. Contractor=Mercenary in Newspeak

[IndianaGreen]

21. Not when they work for the Corps of Engineers

These contractors are probably working on repairing the infrastructure. Unless the Pentagon is lying again about they being under contract to USACE, the dead contractors were not involved in any sort of military or intelligence operations.

We have hundreds of civilian contractors in Iraq, the vast majority of whom are performing non-military work.

We should withdraw from Iraq at once!

[VolcanoJen]

23. For lack of a better word, "Amen," IndianaGreen.

Thanks for your information about civilian contractors in Iraq.

OUT OF IRAQ NOW!!!!!

[hail to the thief]

12. Where the hell

is the so called media on this story? I don't give a crap about stuck up movie stars or Kobe Bryant or any other attention deviating tactic these fascists try. I'm so pissed it's sick, Iraq is blowing up, we're so screwed it's not funny and not a freakin' peep. An occasional info-bit, wasn't it that when everything was going rosy (during the war and just after)they had nothing BUT Iraq on TV? God this is so blatant why aren't more people getting angry!?

[Rollins]

13. Heard good news on CNN

A military Analyst told us it was good that the insurgents where becoming more organized because now we could bomb them.

WTF? Is that just denial or what?

Seriously FOX NEWS showing the dancing of Iraqis on the burned out Hum-vee is going to open many people's eyes who believed the insurgent rebels were just a few isolated Saddam lovers.

[fizzana]

17. It's official

We've now entered the twilight zone.

We can now bomb them because they're more organized? We still don't know who or where they are.

[hang a left]

24. It is gonna be their justification for the new bombing campaign that

is about to take place.

[leesa]

27. They are the citizens of Iraq defending their country against invasion

and they are everywhere in their country. So now, once again, we will carpet bomb the very people we pretend to be liberating.

Americans who support this are SICK people.

[saskatoon]

31. That opinion is right up Trent's alley!

[hail to the thief]

14. I'm not saying I don't

believe you because I do, but i simply cannot believe that a Military analyst said that. WTF? is this guy serious? yeah that'll really win their hearts and minds, literally. Bomb the crap out of them! see the hearts splattered over here, and some blown up heads/minds over there. God help us all

[Rollins]

20. Yeah it was the guy in AZ via phone this morning

He said it was good because when the insurgents became more organized they became more visible and then we could bomb them.

Would be funny if it wasn't so deadly. So how are those tactical nuclear weapons coming? We might have a use for them real soon.

[leesa]

28. Of course he's serious. It's all Merikan's ever want...to bomb third

worlders. What do you think we were doing there in March?

[hedda_foil]

16. Here's the Yahoo link. Somebody's trying to keep this from view.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031102/ts_nm/iraq_civilians_dc_1

It's ranked under 4 right now with 23 votes. Please rate it a five and come back here to let us know where it stands and when it hits the highest rated page.

[4dsc]

32 votes now..

up to 4.11..

[VolcanoJen]

18. You got it, hedda!

At 3:07, it's 4.16 with 29 votes.

For the record, CNN did their half-hour update with NO mention of the contractor's deaths, nor the pipeline explosion reported in NNNL0HI's thread.

[hippiechick]

19. 4.14 with 33 votes at 3:05 pm EST

n/t


:hippie:

[Judi Lynn]

34. Its current average rating is 4.00 with 114 vote(s). at 6:58 p.m., EST

n/t

[markses]

22. These are the supposed "4 troops killed in Fallujah" from earlier

Witnesses had reported seeing 4 troops killed; in fact, it was 2 civilian contractors, with a third wounded. No doubt, they were wearing camo and flak jackets, so the mistake is easy enough to make.

We still have no update on the supposed 3-4 troops killed in a grenade attack during rioting in Abu Ghraib Sunday morning.

[VolcanoJen]

29. Thanks for the new info, markses.

I think you're right, although comparing the links to the two different versions of events, it's very, very hard to tell.

At least 18 Americans were killed in Iraq today. That's the bottom line, and it's stomach-churning.

[leftchick]

32. what about the 21 "injured" on that helicopter...

Those "injuries" are most likely horrendous. If and when some soldier dies from those wounds, do you think it will be given the media attention it should? I am not betting on it. :(

[0007]

33. No way!

It appears the government is filtering all media news pertaining to the death of soldiers killed. I've counted 24 death soliers and two civilans, for today. But we hear nada about the total.

[markses]

36. But you heard about those THROUGH the media

MSNBC, through the AP, carried ALL of the supposed 24 in a story this morning.

The fact is that 8 of those have not been confirmed by CENTCOM or anybody else:

the 4 in Fallujah (these turned out to be the 2 contractors, so there are major stories on that now)
the 3-4 at Abu Ghraib (We've heard nothing on this, other than a CNN crawl confirming that the patrol was attacked with grenades, which corroborates earlier witness accounts - but we have no confirmation of casulaties period, much less deaths).

Apart from these 8 (unconfirmed and the Fallujah incident probably corrected) the others are reported: 16 dead in the Chinook shootdown, 1 1st AD soldier killed in a Baghdad IED attack.

So, the question then becomes, What's YOUR problem? You found out about all these incidents not through some cryptic source, but from a widely diseminated Associated Press article that appeared, among other places, as the prominently displayed news piece on ALL the major online news sources. So what exactly is your beef? Do you want the media to start counting the unconfirmed reports of witnesses, as your own count does? Or do you want to wait for facts after the smoke has cleared?

[leftchick]

37. what is your beef markses?

are you trying to be obtuse or do you come by it naturaly?

[markses]

39. I'll try to be clear then

First, all the reports we are getting about casualties come through the media - and even the American media. So it's not clear what the problem is there.

Second, I'll admit to being a little bit annoyed by the people who take the unconformed reports of deaths as if they are already confirmed. There's a hint of wish fulfillment going on there that makes me sick. Moreover, it is quite easy to distinguish between the different casualty reports. All you have to do is read the actual stories. Yet, after it is clear as day that the 2 civilian contractors being killed IS THE SAME INCIDENT as the supposed 4 troops killed in Fallujah - earlier reported by witnesses but unconfirmed - people persist in noting the earlier witness reports and referring to the unconfirmed reports as if they were fact.

And, BTW, I think most people stop using the tired old "Are you trying to do X, or does it just come naturally" cliche somewhere around the 4th grade. You're well behind the curve, I'd expect.

[alcuno]

35. Why do they call it a town? It has a population of 270,000.

I guess it makes it sound like it's just a little problem.

[aeon flux]

38. Unemployment is 70% in Iraq

Imagine the kind of anger and resentment that kind of situation will breed. Bush has done nothing but break his promises to them. Things will get much worse.