zimv20
Dec 5, 2003, 08:26 PM
link (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=470599)
A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
By Phil Reeves in Samarra
06 December 2003
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll - as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
Accounts of last week's battle differ, sometimes alarmingly. But on one issue, they have remained adamant: only eight people were killed in Samarra, although 55 were injured as the US army sprayed the place with gunfire.
"If 54 people were killed here we would know. This is a very tribal society, in which everyone in the area knows everyone else," Yahir Mahmoud al-Abassi, a businessman, said. "It just did not happen. It's impossible."
The people of Samarra are not alone in their scepticism. A senior official from the occupation authorities in Baghdad said, with evident exasperation: "We said this would happen ... it isn't right."
What happened in Samarra was a battle - and a big one at that. But the evidence suggests that the victims were mostly civilians, not guerrillas, and that their numbers were far fewer than US officials have said.
A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
By Phil Reeves in Samarra
06 December 2003
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll - as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
Accounts of last week's battle differ, sometimes alarmingly. But on one issue, they have remained adamant: only eight people were killed in Samarra, although 55 were injured as the US army sprayed the place with gunfire.
"If 54 people were killed here we would know. This is a very tribal society, in which everyone in the area knows everyone else," Yahir Mahmoud al-Abassi, a businessman, said. "It just did not happen. It's impossible."
The people of Samarra are not alone in their scepticism. A senior official from the occupation authorities in Baghdad said, with evident exasperation: "We said this would happen ... it isn't right."
What happened in Samarra was a battle - and a big one at that. But the evidence suggests that the victims were mostly civilians, not guerrillas, and that their numbers were far fewer than US officials have said.
