9 Children Killed in U. S Raid in Iraq

If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thomas Paine

We kill their women and children and then have the arrogance and hubris to say they hate us because of our freedoms. How would you feel if they invaded and occupied your country and you had no tanks, air force, or weapons of mass destruction, and, they kicked down your doors and killed your women and children? How would you feel? How would you feel? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL? Have you no shame? Have you no conscience America?

What does the pilot who killed 9 innocent children do when he goes back to his base? Does he receive kudos for hitting his target? What goes on his record? Does he go to the Officer's Club and make a toast to "Collateral Damage"?

Maybe, with sadness in his heart he goes to the government paid Christian Chaplain to confess his sins and asks for forgiveness. The chaplain tells him he is doing God's will. The chaplain tells him to keep on killing.

The violence of war will always be a lure to the pathology of the human condition. We love the death and violence as we look from afar. War novels and war movies are huge successes. They will continue to be successful.

Charles Tolleson

9 children killed in U.S. raid in Iraq
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer

A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including ninechildren, northwest of the capital Thursday - one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months. The military said it was targeting senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq. American forces have applied fierce and determined pressure on militants, especially al-Qaida in Iraq, since the full contingent of additional U.S. troops arrived June 15. But Prime Minister Nourial-Maliki has recently confronted top American commander Gen. David Petraeus about what he sees as overly aggressive U.S. tactics that harm innocent civilians, according to Iraqi officials.

The military statement detailing Thursday's air and ground assaultsaid soldiers were acting on intelligence reports about an al-Qaida meeting in the Lake Tharthar region. The southern reaches of the big, man-made lake are about 50 miles northwest of the capital. The American account said U.S. surveillance confirmed "activity consistent with the reports and supporting aircraft engaged the time-sensitive target." The first air attack killed "four terrorists,"said the statement. The military said it then tracked some of those who escaped the initial attack to a place south of Lake Tharthar. It said ground forces moved on the site and came under fire. Air support was called in. "After securing the area, the ground force assessed 15 terrorists, six women and nine children were killed," the statement said. Two suspected al-Qaida members, a woman and three children were wounded, according to the military account. The military said its troopers "were reviewing information from the scene (of Thursday's attack) as well as assessing the level of damage involved."The statement also issued regret "that civilians are hurt or killed while Coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism."

On Oct. 5, a pre-dawn U.S. raid on Khalis, a Shiite city north ofBaghdad, killed 25 people when U.S. troops called in airstrikes aftermeeting a fierce barrage while hunting suspected smugglers of armsfrom Iran to Baghdad. Village leaders said the victims includedcivilians, but the military insisted the 25 killed were militants.