Badtux the Snarky Penguin

In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin.

Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Tin foil alert!

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

Posted by: BadTux / 10/23/2006 04:18:00 PM

Comments:

Yea, it is difficult to believe that there was a cover up.
# posted by Ole Blue The Heretic : 23/10/06 4:53 PM

I hadn't heard about it. Thanks for the post.
# posted by BBC : 23/10/06 5:23 PM

Walking mortar rounds in to an ammo dump is no small feat itself. Those weren't some juvenile delinquents who just happened on an old mortar.

An ammo dump near a children's hospital? WTF?
# posted by K. Ron Silkwood : 24/10/06 12:02 PM

Walking 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.

As 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
# posted by BadTux : 24/10/06 12:21 PM

Honor Roll

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Liberated Iraqis

Children celebrate liberation of parents
More pics of children celebrating
Liberated baby
Liberated women and children
More liberation, yessiree
More to follow, after I finish cursing SOB chickenhawks and get my breath back...

"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

-- Plato

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