Oh puh-LEEZE. As if the Administration that could not Shoot Straight could cover up the death of 300 American soldiers in one night.
Yes, Forward Base Falcon got blown to smithereens. But 300 dead? Hardly. From what I've read from soldiers who were near the scene, the insurgents "walked" a mortar into the camp, taking several minutes to finally "walk" it onto the ammo dump. That was plenty of time for everybody to roll out of bed, put on flak jackets and such, and head down into bunkers. Furthermore, the ammo bunker was on fire for several minutes before the ammo in it finally cooked off. One soldier reports seeing the fire trucks that were trying to put out the fire suddenly go in reverse and get the hell out of there at full speed as the small arms ammo started cooking off. The bunker didn't just go "boom!" all at once. It started cooking off a little bit at a time, until it finally went "boom!" as the biggest explosives went off.
So yeah, it was a big boom. And yeah, it took out a ton of ammo and probably any jeeps nearby. But 300 dead? 300 Iraqis, maybe -- this camp and ammo dump was next door to a children's hospital. But the American troops were well undercover in their bunkers by the time the ammo cooked off.
-Badtux the Military Penguin
Yea, it is difficult to believe that there was a cover up.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about it. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteWalking mortar rounds into the camp that way means that this was a professional setup, with a forward spotter calling back directions to the mortar team. Like you say, this wasn't some yahoos who just found a mortar and started shooting, these were pros.
ReplyDeleteAs for an ammo dump near a children's hospital, the U.S. forces in Iraq like to set up shop next to hospitals and schools, under the theory that the insurgents will be reluctant to bomb them with big truck bombs that way. Said hospitals and schools usually end up getting shot up by either the Army or the insurgents during their various battles. Just another way in which the United States Army is winning hearts and minds (yeah right) in Iraq...
-Badtux the Military Penguin