July 10, 2006
Soldier Beheading Video Released
If you can stand to watch it, The Jawa Report has obtained graphic footage of the bodies of two U.S. soldiers captured, tortured and killed in Iraq several weeks ago, as released in an al Qaeda video.
Sadly, if the terrorists can be beleived, the attack was in response to the rape and murder of a nearby Iraqi girl as I theorized on July 3:
On March 12, five soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Division allegedly raped a 15-year-old Iraqi girl killed her and her family, and then burned her body in an apparent attempt to hide the evidence of their crime.Roughly three months later, on June 23, one of those soldiers confessed after soldiers from the same platoon were ambushed, and two GIs captured in the ambush were horrifically tortured and killed. Was there a cause-and-effect, tit-for-tat exchange of atrocities south of Baghdad?
Claims made in the video to this effect only bolster my theory.
Update:
Via Fox News:
According to the SITE Institute, the statement by the insurgents said that as soon as fighters heard of the rape-slaying, "they kept their anger to themselves and didn't spread the news.""They decided to take revenge for their sister's honor," the statement said. "With Allah's help, they captured two soldiers of the same brigade as this dirty crusader."
The Mujahedeen Shura Council is an umbrella organization of several Islamic extremist groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq. It claimed responsibility for shooting down a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Youssifiyah area in April.
U.S. investigators had said there was no evidence linking the deaths of the three soldiers last month to the alleged rape-slaying.
No physical evidence, perhaps, but the terrorists did cite the rape as their excuse, and they used what to my knowledge are new tactics to carry out the kidnapping. Time will tell.
the attack was in response to the rape and murder of a nearby Iraqi girl
Since when did they need an excuse for their savagery?
Posted by: Russ at July 10, 2006 08:01 PMIf the rape story hadn't been in the news at the time, getting a stale pack of Twinkies at 7-11 would have been enough provocation otherwise.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at July 10, 2006 08:14 PMEVERYTHING they do is in response to something we did that we shouldn't have done or something we didn't do that we should have done. It's always our fault. So if those soldiers hadn't done what they did, the terrorist attacks on our soldiers would simply be attributed to some other evil act we did.
Posted by: steve sturm at July 10, 2006 08:44 PMI only pray they were dead before the mutilations and torture began.
Regarding your thoughts that it was carried out to avenge the young girl and her family. I believe differently. I think they seized the moment .. so to speak. For example, from the NYT
"It is questionable whether the soldiers were actually killed out of
revenge. Iraqis around Mahmudiya, where the rape and murder took
place, believed at the time that the girl and the other three victims
— her younger sister and parents — were killed by other Iraqis in
sectarian violence, according to the mayor of Mahmudiya and American
military officials. The mayor said the possible involvement of
American soldiers only became apparent on June 30, when the American
military announced it had opened an investigation into the crime."
http://tinyurl.com/ntnzs
And then this ..
"Police in the district said they could not recall a case meeting the
description given by the U.S. military."
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=12708733&src=rss/topNews
Blueangel, you should know better than to trust the accuracy of the NY Times.
If you follow the link to my July 3 post, you'll note that a neighbor who was among those who found the bodies said he suspected the soldiers that very day, based upon comments made by the mother in the days preceeding their deaths.
Just because he didn't trust the government doesn't mean he didn't share his suspicions with others.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at July 10, 2006 11:33 PMGateway Pundit (http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/) has the time line on this -- this was picked up as an excuse only after it appeared in the Western press. This, along with Haditha, is still very suspicious -- lots of "eyewitnesses" who show up well after the fact, but no real evidence. The worst part, however, is how this and any accusations against our soldiers are unquestioningly swallowed by the media.
Posted by: Lord Sutch at July 11, 2006 12:36 PM
