Iraqi girls' school constructed with embedded IEDs

[03cavPA]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/...omb/index.html

Military: New Iraqi school had bombs built in

POSTED: 11:29 p.m. EDT, May 3, 2007

Story Highlights

• U.S. troopers find girls' school rigged with explosives
• Military suspects al Qaeda was behind the plot
• Plot was "sophisticated and premeditated attempt to inflict massive casualties"
• Iraqi contractors were in charge of building the school

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- American soldiers discovered a girls school being built north of Baghdad had become an explosives-rigged "death trap," the U.S. military said Thursday.
The plot at the Huda Girls' school in Tarmiya was a "sophisticated and premeditated attempt to inflict massive casualties on our most innocent victims," military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
The military suspects the plot was the work of al Qaeda, because of its nature and sophistication, Caldwell said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
The plot was uncovered Saturday, when troopers in the Salaheddin province found detonating wire across the street from the school. They picked up the wire and followed its trail, which led to the school. Once inside, they found an explosive-filled propane tank buried beneath the floor. There were artillery shells built into the ceiling and floor, and another propane tank was found, the military said.
The wire was concealed with mortar and concrete, and the propane tanks had been covered with brick and hidden underneath the floor, according to a military statement. Soldiers were able to clear the building.
"It was truly just an incredibly ugly, dirty kind of vicious killing that would have gone on here," Caldwell said.
Iraqi contractors were responsible for building the school, which was intended to bring in hundreds of girls.
"Given the care and work put into emplacing this IED, it is likely it had been planned for a long time" and it is thought that "the IED was not intended to be set off until the building was occupied," the military said.
Authorities intend to question the Iraqis involved in the school's construction.

Well, I guess that's one way to prevent the education of females.

[taranaki]

A cynic might say that until these allegations are backed up with media access to the site [rather than just a report to one news agency], this claim carries little credibility. Coming so soon after Bush's veto of the democratically-elected governments bill to remove the U.S. military from Iraq, this could easily be seen as yet another piece of shoddy propaganda from the professional liars who started this war.


If this alleged 'booby-trapped' school exists, there is ample opportunity to get independent verification of the details. I for one would not trust the word of the military hierachy, they've told far too many tall tales already.

[03cavPA]

Another cynic might say that the MSM (mainstream media) is only interested in bombings and carnage after the fact. The prevention of such things is not big news and does nothing for stats. It's not good for the doom-and-gloom machine.

The half empty glass is also half full. All we can do is read what's out there and decide how much we choose to accept as actually correct. Who can say for sure?

[taranaki]

Originally Posted by 03cavPA

All we can do is read what's out there and decide how much we choose to accept as actually correct.

Which we tend to do based on the credibility of the source. In this case it's the p.r. wing of an occupying army.

[03cavPA]

At any given time, any news story (regardless of source) can be fallacious. Looks like we should probably strike CNN and Wolf Blitzer from the ranks of credible news reporters. I suspect we'll somehow manage without their input.

opcorn:

[BNaylor]

This is CNN - Cynic News Network.

Regardless of whether you believe the accounting or not our troops deserve a pat on the back for heading off a potential disaster and saving lives. It would have been a real PR disaster had the school been completed and opened because they would be blamed for not doing enough had the IEDs gone off.

opcorn:

[03cavPA]

Yeah, what we need is a reporter with some real credibility, like ....... Geraldo Rivera.

I can still remember Wolfie and the rest of the boys standing out on terraces during air raids, looking all breathless and vigilant while talking to "the folks back home."

Again, it's the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" syndrome.

I agree; all in all, I think our guys are better off being accused of making it up, as some suggest, than they are for letting it happen just to prove it exists.

[taranaki]

Originally Posted by bnaylor

It would have been a real PR disaster had the school been completed and opened because they would be blamed for not doing enough had the IEDs gone off.

The real disaster is when people are willing to accept hearsay third hand from a source thousands of miles away simply because it confirms their prejudices. The U.S. military presence in Iraq is a sick joke, a predictable failure resulting from a flawed political decision to invade. To take the statements of a losing army and broadcast them without any evidence is dumpster journalism. Show us the evidence, identify the perpetrators, cover the arrests and follow up with the trial.That's what journalism is about, not taking a free lunch from the media tent and licking a general's ass in return.

[03cavPA]

I guess you'd have to ask CNN for the evidence. They published the story and interviewed the military spokesman.

I'm willing to question it, but I don't think it's worth foaming at the mouth over.

opcorn:

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by taranaki

The real disaster is when people are willing to accept hearsay third hand from a source thousands of miles away simply because it confirms their prejudices. The U.S. military presence in Iraq is a sick joke, a predictable failure resulting from a flawed political decision to invade. To take the statements of a losing army and broadcast them without any evidence is dumpster journalism. Show us the evidence, identify the perpetrators, cover the arrests and follow up with the trial.That's what journalism is about, not taking a free lunch from the media tent and licking a general's ass in return.

I gotta agree with taranaki on this one, for a devasating report on the American media's role as cheerleaders for the war check out this review http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1003574260 and if you can get a link to the vid, i'd love to see the whole show, i only saw parts of it.