Saturday, March 29, 2003

Why the surprise?
But a Marine Corps general says he was:
"What has surprised me most, quite honestly, is that in nearly six days of ground fighting that the forces that are loyal to Saddam Hussein have already committed so many war crimes," said Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace this week on CNN.
Just a couple of yesterday's lowlights:

Iraqi militia targets fleeing families
The crowd was halfway across the concrete and steel bridge when the mortar rounds started falling on the Basra side. Men, women and children screamed as they ran to escape Iraqi machine-gun fire.

A thousand people, maybe more, ran for their lives. A young woman fell, hit by shrapnel as a pick-up truck broke cover and charged forward, the machine-gun mounted on its roof spewing bullets at the crowd.

Signs of U.S. POWs found at hospital
U.S. Marines who secured a hospital that had been used by Iraqi forces later found several bloodied U.S. uniforms worn by female soldiers, NBC’s Kerry Sanders reported Friday from the hospital. The find suggested that Iraq had held several POWs at the hospital, which is in An Nasiriyah, a town where at least five Americans were taken prisoner in an attack that killed two other soldiers and left eight missing.

Sanders was shown where the uniforms were found - inside the bathroom of a larger room that had been padlocked. It was the same room where 3,000 nuclear, biological and chemical suits were found when the Marines moved in.

The uniforms, which had had their American flag patches and names ripped off, were found inside a bag.

In another room, Marines found a large battery next to a bed - leading them to suspect it was used as a torture device, Sanders reported.
By the way, here's a screen capture of the battery (via MikeWUSAF at Free Republic):