Iraqi Militia Denies US Killed 300 Fighters

[blitzen]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5898094

[wishlist]

1. All of our imbedded reporters on ground there will find out the truth

I am sure on the evening news we will get to see the roving reporters from all the networks going around the area interviewing Iraqi citizens and U.S. and Iraqi military on the ground there to clarify the events.

In our dreams.

[Der_Alte]

2. 300 militants killed in 2 days

what the hell is this??? back to body counts?

Same set of headlines (AP) Only 32,000 jobs added in July.

Should we believe both body counts??? After all it's the Associated Press. Would they lie?

I gets my daily hedlines from the BBC front pg. They may be lying but I like the British accent.

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. Oh, this is not very cleaver

The good ol freeper think, Bravo!

Clink Clink .... Here lies.....Clink....A...

[Der_Alte]

3. imbedded reporters find truth

do you object if they make up the truth?

[Downtown Hound]

4. Vietnam Repeat

"Today we lost five soldiers, they lost 500. Therefore, we must be winning!" Of course it was a lie then, and it's a lie now. And we all know how well their lies worked the last time around.

[papau]

5. CNN:Marines report 300 insurgents killed(Najaf)20 in Baghdad-'?Nam body #s

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/08/06/iraq.main/index.html

Marines report 300 insurgents killed in Najaf
Baghdad clashes have left 20 Iraqis dead
Friday, August 6, 2004 Posted: 11:19 AM EDT (1519 GMT)

Iraqi National Guardsmen patrol Friday in Najaf.

VIDEO
U.S. Marines aid Iraqi security forces against a local militia in Najaf. BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- About 300 militia fighters have been killed in the Iraqi city of Najaf in fighting since Thursday, U.S. military officials said.

Two Marines were killed Friday in the gunbattles, according to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which also released the estimate of dead militia fighters.

Marines had joined Iraqi forces to fight the Mehdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.<snip>

[daleo]

6. Difference in claims are about a factor of 10 (8.3 actually)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A spokesman for a radical Shi'ite group on Friday denied U.S. marines had killed an estimated 300 fighters in two days of battles in the southern city of Najaf.
Sheik Raed al-Qathimi told Reuters 36 fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had died in fighting across Iraq since Thursday

I heard once that someone added up all the Viet Cong that had been "killed" by the U.S. military and it came to more than the relevant male age cohort of the population of Viet Nam. I don't think anybody took body counts very seriously after that.

[Zynx]

7. 300 is too round of a figure to be correct.

[DEMonstate]

8. Najaf toll: US claims 300, fighters say 36 aljazeera.net

US marines say they have killed an estimated 300 Mahdi Army fighters in Najaf in the past two days, but a Muqtada al-Sadr spokesman says most of those killed were civilians.

---later---

"The number of enemy casualties is 300 KIA (killed in action)," Lieutenant Colonel Gary Johnston, operations officer for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said at a military base near the city, 160km south of Baghdad.

---later---

However, Sheikh Raed al-Qathimi, a spokesman for al-Sadr, rebuffed the American version of the death toll.

"I categorically deny these American lies," he said, before adding only 36 Shia fighters had been killed.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/40B1A9EE-08BC-47C2-937D-2E48A5845B53.htm