🚀 go-pugleaf

What follows are excerpts from the front page article "US Generals divided
over Baghdad raids" by Robert Fisk from Riyadh in THE INDEPENDENT of 15 Feb.

                               BEGIN EXCERPTS

The U.S.A.F. killed scores of civilians in a Baghdad bunker on Wednesday
because it believed key Iraqi military personnel were sheltering inside, not
because it thought the building was a command and control centre. According
to a senior US military source, the raid was a "serious error" which has
caused deep distress to America's Saudi military allies.

The US source, who spoke on condition his identity was not revealed, said
yesterday that the killing of civilians in Baghdad came at the height of a 
dispute among senior US Air Force officers in Saudi Arabia about the efficacy
of the continued bombing campaign against the Iraqi capital...

According to the source: "There is a great deal of feeling among the Saudis
in the MODA [Saudi Ministry of Defence and Aviation] because of the Baghdad
bombing... the Saudis didn't want to go along with the Washington statement
last night [that the Baghdad bunker was a 'legitimate military target']...

"Weaponeering for a target - the selection of aircraft and bombs to be used
in a sortie - is usually decided five days in advance, the source said. In the
case of the Baghdad bunker, the target was selected up to five days before the
strike...

"Neal talked about camouflage on the roof of the bunker. But I am not of the
belief that any of the bunkers in and around Baghdad have camouflage. <Comment
by D.F.: the source is right - a German newsman actually checked the roof and
found nothing but decorative ornaments.> There is said to have been barbed
wire there but that's normal in Baghdad. We've been told that wire is sometimes
put up to control crowds, that there's barbed wire near bakers' shops to 
prevent riots. There's not a soul who believes that it was a command and
control bunker... We thought it was a military personnel bunker... Kelly is a
personable guy, he's a nice person. I know him, but he's so intoxicated with
this damned air war technology that he went on television and said he was
'comfortable' about this targeting. We could, by genuinely expressing our
sorrow, do something to repair this."

                                END EXCERPTS

I can see no reason why either the newspaper or 'the source' should have made
this up. THE INDEPENDENT is a young but highly respected paper, and, above all,
this version fits the actual observations by many news crews going through the
remains of the bunker and asking witnesses WITHOUT CENSORSHIP for this day.
To my knowledge, the U.S. officially sticks to the false story even today -
and, I think, every American should be ashamed of his/her government for
doing so. It's not 'only' the air terror itself, it's this brutal display of
incompetence mixed with incredible arrogance that will destroy the relations
between the Arab world (talking 'bout 'the masses' here, not some rulers
submitting to Bush) and the West for decades - if it not alreay has done so...