The Case of the Disappearing Bodies

Yet another interesting snippet that's being completely ignored by the US media:

The US military said it believed 54 insurgents were killed
in intense exchanges in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra the previous
day but commanders admitted they had no bodies.
The only corpses at the city's hospital were those of ordinary
civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child.

Once again it seems that the initial version of the story is at best
disputable, and at worst an outright lie. You'd think that by now the
media would realize what's going on, but no. Each and every time the
Bush Administration needs a political boost in Iraq something like this
comes out and the US news puppets repeat the party line with breathless
awe. Then, when it turns out that the "stunning military victory" or
"Jessica Lynch's heroic rescue" or the "uncontestable proof of Iraq's
WMD program" is a lie, no one can mention it without looking like a
fool.

Residents in Samarra said they had not seen any of the
militants' bodies, 46 or 54. The head of the local hospital, Abed
Tawfiq, reported eight dead civilians but no insurgents. Ambulance
driver Abdelmoneim Mohammed said he had not ferried any combattants
wounded or killed and wearing the black Fedayeen outfit which US
soldiers said their assailants wore. "If I had seen bodies, I would
have picked them up. It's not like the Americans would have done it.

Update

Actually, it turns out there was at least one body recovered:

U.S. Army soldiers remove the body of a killed comrade after an ambush outside the Iraqi town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, Tuesday, Dec 2, 2003.

Posted by flow Frazao on December 2, 2003 at 09:18 AM | Permalink