Spanish Intelligence Team Attacked in Iraq

[ConcernedCanuk]

. . Saturday November 29, 2003 4:16 PM


MADRID, Spain (AP) - An eight-member team from Spain's National Intelligence Center was attacked on Saturday south of Baghdad as they returned from a mission, the Spanish defense ministry said.

A spokesman for the ministry said that ``casualties are feared.'' He gave no further information.



Seems like some of dem "insurgents" don't think November was deadly enough

I guess anyone that has anything remotely to do with this "invasion" is a target now

Talk about smackin' a hornet's nest!

GeeDubya's gotta be Dummm - plain DUMB ! (well, mean too)

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Add Spain to the growing list of countries with casualties in Iraq.

[akitamata]

20. The Franco-fascists

under the "leadership" of Aznar are getting just what they deserve for sucking up to the Pig in the White House. Long live the Iraqi resistance, Power to the People of Iraq!!! Que se muera Espana franquista!!!

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DS1]

2. Were they challenged to a nice game of chess?

Waiting arms and flowers, remember.

[Barrett808]

3. Two Spanish Recon Soldiers Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Attackers killed two members of a Spanish intelligence team as it returned from a mission, the Spanish defense ministry said.

The attack occurred in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, said Capt. Ivan Morgan, a spokesman for a multinational division in southern Iraq (news - web sites). The eight-member team was from Spain's National Intelligence Center, an official with the Spanish defense ministry said in Madrid.

Spain was one of the staunchest supporters of the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) earlier this year and sent 1,300 soldiers to help maintain order.

In previous attacks, a Spanish diplomat attached to Spain's intelligence agency was assassinated near his residence in Baghdad on Oct. 9, and a Spanish navy captain was killed in the truck bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Aug. 19.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/iraq_attack

[LittleApple81]

5. But I saw it posted that Aznar is no running for re-election. Instead,

he plans to come to the UNITED STATES TO CAMPAIGN FOR BUSH'S REELECTION AMONG THE SPANISH SPEAKING US POPULATION!!!!!

[jenk]

4. but...but...attacks are down!?!?

everybody is a target over there. Doesn't matter how much turkey day propaganda they throw at us. The writing is on the wall, iraq is a hellhole.

[jenk]

6. it's being reported that 4 have been killed

[janx]

7. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

The propaganda machine is on television desperately pushing the idea that the number of attacks has gone down.

This is insane.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Here's an Update - looks like 4 - but just 2 Spanish

. . Saturday November 29, 2003 5:46 PM


By JIM KRANE

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Attackers killed two members of a Spanish intelligence team Saturday as it returned from a mission south of Baghdad, the Spanish Defense Ministry said. A journalist who drove by the scene said he saw four bodies in the road, a jubilant crowd kicking them.

The eight-member team from Spain's National Intelligence Center came under attack near Suwayrah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, an official with the Defense Ministry said in Madrid.

There were reports of two burning vehicles and two bodies, the spokesman said. He said that three helicopters of Spain's Plus Ultra Brigade were in the area to evacuate survivors.

A television cameraman who drove by the scene at 5:15 p.m., shortly after the attack, said he saw two destroyed vehicles - one still burning - and four bodies on the road.

The cameraman for Britain's Sky News, Adam Murch, described a jubilant crowd kicking the bodies. He told The Associated Press some in the crowd said the bodies belonged to CIA agents. He said the crowd appeared hostile and the journalists were forced to leave.



These guys are PISSED

Way ta go GeeDubya

[IndianaGreen]

9. Spanish newspaper El Pais reports 7 agents dead (confirmed)

You have to pay to read the entire article (subscription). This is from the front page of El Pais (which will certainly change by tomorrow) and it reads (my translation):

Seven Spanish agents dead in an ambush to the South of Baghdad. The Defense Ministry confirms 6 dead and one wounded in the attack.

Al least 7 agents of the Spanish Secret Service (CNI) have died this afternoon in an ambush South of Baghdad, confirmed according to coalition sources. A bit later, the Defense Ministry has revised the number of dead to 6 and has added one wounded. The agents were returning to the Iraqi capital in two vehicles after accomplishing a mission.

LA POSGUERRA DE IRAK
Siete agentes españoles mueren en una emboscada al sur de Bagdad

El Ministerio de Defensa confirma seis muertos y un herido en el ataque

Al menos siete agentes del servicio secreto español (CNI) han muerto esta tarde en una emboscada al sur de Bagdad, según han confirmado fuentes de la coalición. Poco después, el Ministerio de Defensa ha rebajado a seis la cifra de muertos y ha añadido un herido. Los agentes regresaban a la capital iraquí en dos vehículos tras cumplir una misión.

http://www.elpais.es/ (front page of El Pais)

Subscription to the story:

http://www.elpais.es/articulo.html?d_date=&xref=20031129elpepuint_6&type=Tes&anchor=elpporint

seven agents were killed (CNN)

A coalition military official in Baghdad told CNN that he received several reports that seven were killed, but Spanish officials in Madrid could not confirm any deaths.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/29/spaniards.killed/index.html

[madrchsod]

12. spainish cnn is reporting

7 dead also....

[IndianaGreen]

13. What happened to the eight agent?

Is he missing, captured, or did he escape?

[SadEagle]

10. At least 6 killed - BBC News website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3249658.stm

"At least six members of a Spanish intelligence team have been killed in an ambush south of Baghdad, the Spanish Defence ministry says"

Also describes some Iraquis kicking the bodies :-(

[leftchick]

11. Here is the AP story, 6 Killed....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20031129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

<The official, reached by telephone in Madrid, said a coalition helicopter that reached the scene of the attack, 30 miles south of Baghdad, evacuated six bodies and one wounded person to a medical center. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Spanish officials earlier had said eight agents were in the convoy. The ministry official said he had no information about the whereabouts of the possible eighth person.

The convoy of two civilian four-wheel-drive vehicles was traveling south from Baghdad to the city of Hillah, according to Capt. Ivan Morgan, a spokesman for a multinational division in southern Iraq (news - web sites). He described the men as Spanish soldiers attached to an intelligence unit.

A television cameraman who drove by the scene at 5:15 p.m., shortly after the attack, said he saw two destroyed vehicles — one still burning — and four bodies on the road.

The cameraman for Sky News, Adam Murch, described a jubilant crowd kicking the bodies. He said some in the crowd said the bodies belonged to CIA (news - web sites) agents. He said the crowd appeared hostile and the journalists were forced to leave. >

.......Yep. Attacks are down, right sanchez?!?

[calimary]

17. The really bad part is yet another reference to a crowd either cheering

or in this case "jubilant" and "kicking the bodies." Yeah, we sure are winning the hearts and minds over there, aren't we?

I don't know what part of this story is the most tragic. It is ALL horrible. It is telling when there are not just resistance fighters killing and attacking, but that there are onlookers cheering and approving (and in this case participating after the fact - "kicking the bodies"). THAT tells a huge story - more than polls, more than so-called reporters' accounts - like that pathetic Bob Arnott over there repeatedly talking about how great and normal things are in Baghdad these days. What a shill. How would he spin this one, I wonder?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. If we were occupied by some foreign country, I bet we'd be doing...

...quite a bit more than kicking the bodies of the dead enemy and cheering.

[Lefta Dissenter]

14. Well,

at least they weren't US soldiers - we'd hate to spoil the numbers!

SHIT this makes me so angry and sad - how many families have been destroyed? Iraqi, Spanish, British, Australian, Italian, of course, American, ... the list goes on and on.

For every person killed or maimed, how many grieving friends and family members are there? How many people will be psychologically destroyed through this? I'm just sick over it.

[whatelseisnew]

15. Interesting US response

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3444445,00.html

Six Spanish Intel Officers
Killed in Iraq


Saturday November 29, 2003 7:01 PM

By JIM KRANE

Associated Press Writer

... Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez also said some
U.S.-trained Iraqi police and civilian informants
appear to have conducted some of the attacks.

[IndianaGreen]

19. How many Iraqi policemen have turned?

``Clearly those are concerns we have. We try to do the vetting (of Iraqi employees) as close as we can,'' he said. ``There have been instances when police were conducting attacks against the coalition and against the people.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3444445,00.html

We are the foreign invaders!

[Aidoneus]

24. it's a good way of arming the resistance, if little else

Arm, fund, and train them to be a "5th Column" of quisling support to secure the occupation and recolonization, but suddenly they stop showing up for work..

[Vitruvius]

21. Apparently, the Spanish team was followed or chased by one vehicle into

a roadblock created by another vehicle (according to a preliminary report on CNN). That's a standard police tactic in the US; it sure sounds like US-trained Iraqi police conducted this attack.

[leftchick]

16. Oh Cripes...AP Has a Photo of the Celebrating Iraqis up....

Iraqi's celebrate over the bodies of killed members of a Spanish military intelligence team on a street, south of Baghdad, Saturday, Nov 29, 2003. At least six people where killed and one injured in the attack on the Spanish military intelligence team in Iraq (news - web sites), Spanish official said. (AP Photo/Sky News)

[pdove]

18. More pictures of dead Spanish soldiers