Video casts doubt on American version of wedding party attack




from The Guardian:

US military commanders came under new pressure yesterday to account for an attack on an Iraqi village that killed more than 40 people when a video emerged showing a wedding party at the scene hours before the raid.

Footage shown by APTN after the attack showed the bodies of dead women and children and shredded tents and musical instruments. A doctor at the nearest hospital, in al-Qaim, told the Guardian last week that the dead included 11 women and 14 children. The US military insists no children were killed.

The video footage, obtained by Associated Press Television News, showed several men and women arriving in pick-up trucks at the desert village and then dancing and singing inside carpeted tents. Several men were shown sitting in a row inside the tent, listening to music as children danced in front of them. Two men were standing and singing through a microphone.

The bride, wearing a white dress and veil, was shown stepping out of a car decorated with ribbons.

One musician was shown playing a Yamaha electronic organ. He was reportedly identified as Mohaned al-Ali, the brother of Hussein al-Ali, a popular Iraqi singer who witnesses said performed at the party. Both men were killed in the raid.

Unbroadcast footage from the video taken after the bombing apparently showed the body of the keyboard player wrapped in a white burial shroud.

Posted: Thu - June 3, 2004 at 12:09 AM          

©