SlowpokeBlog

From the NY Times: "At Least 20 Iraqis Reported Killed in Airstrike in Falluja"

A U.S. military plane fired missiles Saturday into a residential neighborhood in Fallujah, killing at least 16 people and leveling houses there, police and residents said. A U.S. official said the target was a hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network...

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several members of the al-Zarqawi network were believed in the house at the time of the attack but they did not know if the terrorist mastermind himself was inside. The officials did not dispute Iraqi casualty figures...

The Iraqi Health Ministry said 16 people were killed, though they expected the number to rise. Residents said 20 bodies -- including at least three women and five children -- were taken for immediate burial, in accordance with Islamic custom, while hospitals reported at least two more dead...

"At 9:30 a.m., a U.S. plane shot two missiles on this residential area," said the Fallujah police chief, Sabbar al-Janabi, as he surveyed the wreckage. "Scores were killed and injured. This picture speaks for itself...

"The number of casualties is so high because after the first missile we jumped to rescue the victims," said Wissam Ali Hamad. "The second missile killed those trying to carry out the rescue.

This makes me sick. Firing missiles into residential neighborhoods in the hopes of killing a certrain person or persons is a disgusting, unnecessary practice that betrays a blatant disregard for human life. I can't believe this is even considered acceptable within the rules of warfare (not like we care too much about those these days). Can you imagine this happening in the U.S.? Firing missiles into an Akron suburb to kill a suspected murderer? And taking out 20 neighbors in the process? How would the chickenhawk war pigs like it if this happened in their cozy, gated communities?

What a waste.