Jed Babbin again states the obvious over on NRO. The two recent market bombings in predominently Shia areas of Baghdad weren't from errant allied bombs.
They were done by Saddam to Shia Iraqis for the benefit of Al Jazeera-TV.
As Jed says:
The folks at No Such Agency apparently have a picture of the spot the bombing occurred, and there's one really telling piece of evidence. Or rather, there isn't. There's no crater in the ground. I didn't do very well in college physics, but I am pretty sure that a 500 or 1,000 pound bomb--far less a bigger one--which is falling at several hundred miles an hour, is gonna make a big hole in the ground when it hits, and a much bigger one when it explodes. The crater left by bombs of that size are usually at least ten feet deep and twenty or thirty feet across. In the Baghdad bombings, there are no craters. These bombs were set by the Iraqis on the surface, to kill crowds of their own people, and for the sole purpose of creating propaganda against us. Get used to this. The Iraqis will kill more of their own each day, and try to blame us. That's why we need to be forceful in calling them on it.
Read the whole thing here.
And you're certain or at least pretty sure of this? You report it like you are when in fact you probably don't have much more than a few hints from sources that aren't even remotely independent.
I'm not saying I don't believe the Iraqi government would ever commit such an atrocity and it certainly strikes me as strange that misguided Allied bombs would so precisely strike market places, but until I see credible evidence for either side I'm taking it with a grain of salt.
Much as I'd like to believe this I don't have enough evidence to make the charge -- and mistakes do happen even with GPS. Ask the guys at Mazar-al-Sharif.
The part that was telling for me was the distinct lack of anyone holding up the missile parts with the US flag or "Made in Kansas" (or whatever) markings. I hope that means this theory's right.
The BS, lies, crap, garbage keep flowing from the spigot of Saddam's Regime. Expected, onsidering he has his head stuck up his ass.
Toronto.
"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell
1. Of course Saddam´s regime would create a massacre and blame it on the US. They know their audience.
2. Of course precision munitions can fail and hit civilian areas.
3. At Tim Blair´s site they have collected some info that indicates it could have been an anti-radar HARM missile. I´m not sure but I think this missile has a proximity fuse and wouldn´t leave a big crater. It could still be an Iraqi deception, though. It could mean Iraq places sams and radars in populated areas.
4. We just don´t know. But sooner or later a bomb will definitely go wrong. The US will investigate and admit it (as they did in GW I and Afghanistan). It´s not as if this suddenly changes everything.
haven't seen any cases of bombs going astray in afghanistan (or kosovo)
targeting the wrong place/thing (i.e. wrong coordinates, misidentifying something, etc) has happened alot, but there doesn't seem to be any cases where missiles/bombs went wrong and exploded (saudi crashes were pre arming..)
blair's stuff seems to make sense, but the issue is that there should bne lots of wreckage around baghdad of harms...
we won't know soon, but i trust that we will eventually know who did what in these cases (it should be relatively easy to find out if/when HARMS were released on that engagement, and where/when... to see if time and locations match..)
since this is currently a blemish on the US, i expect they'll look hard, and then provide proof either way (to improve their reputation, explain why it happened, and fix whatever needs fixing... we want all missiles and bombs to reach their targets... irrespective of how bloof thirsty the US is, so i expect this will be investigated)
I don't claim to know the truth of this either, but here are some URLs with evidence from the ground.
Following the Bombs >>.
"... the Shallal Market area of the Al Sha’ab District of Baghdad. The bombing occurred at 1:30 PM yesterday, and I have just returned from the bombing site.
Sitting next to the bomb’s crater in the median are a number of car remains. Crunched, mangled, and scorched car frames give testimony to the bomb’s indiscriminate destruction. At the hospital, April and I were told that 5 people died in that attack. On the street, however, people insist the deaths reach 15 or 16. ..."
Bomb Damage in Northern Baghdad >>.
"... We arrived on the main four-lane street of the Al Shaab district in Northern Baghdad this morning to witness bombing damage from two missiles that hit about 11:30am, March 26th. The two blasts resulted in two shallow craters, about 3-4 feet deep and 6 feet in diameter, one on either side of the street. It also caused damage to at least 15 cars in the street and to two and three story buildings on both sides of the street. About 35 were killed and 50 injured, all civilians. We saw twisted metal in destroyed store fronts, mangled cars along the street and burned out residential houses for a two block stretch. ..."
'It was an outrage, an obscenity' >>.
"... Abu Hassan and Malek Hammoud were preparing lunch for customers at the Nasser restaurant on the north side of Abu Taleb Street. The missile that killed them landed next to the westbound carriageway, its blast tearing away the front of the café and cutting the two men – the first 48, the second only 18 – to pieces. A fellow worker led me through the rubble. "This is all that is left of them now," he said, holding out before me an oven pan dripping with blood. ..."