They Hate us?

Attacking a wedding party with aircraft isn't likely to win the 'hearts and minds.'

[snip]..Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said revelers had fired volleys of gunfire into the air in a traditional wedding celebration before the attack took place. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.

Al-Ani, the doctor, said American troops came to investigate the gunfire and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters later arrived and attacked the area. Two houses were destroyed, he said.

"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason."

Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the victims were at a wedding party "and the U.S. military planes came ... and started killing everyone in the house."

Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a U.S. military spokesman, said earlier that the military was investigating.

"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy," Williams wrote in an e-mail in response to a question from The Associated Press.

"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to the Joint Operations Center for further review and any other information that may be available," Williams said.

The strike, widely reported in Iraq and the Middle East as an attack on a wedding party, comes at a time when American prestige is under fire as the United States tries to stabilize this country before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty are foundering.

Anti-American sentiment has risen following last month's bloody Marine siege of Fallujah, a Shiite Muslim uprising and the scandal over treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

"Many Iraqis have been killed so far" during the occupation, said Adnan Pachachi, one of the most pro-American figures on the Iraqi Governing Council. He said Iraqis "hope that these acts, from all parties, come to an end because the victims are Iraqis."...[snip]

I have been pretty critical of Pachachi in the past. I have come to the conclusion - and I understand that this may well be wrong - that Pachachi has the best interests of his fellow Iraqis at heart.

This really looks like another massive military screw-up.

It is highly unlikely that the U.S. forces, if found to be at fault, will face any retribution.

Contrast this outcome with the collective punishment which has befallen the residents of Fallujah for the deaths of four.

The U.S. government, and it's military arm, regard all peoples equally. It is simply that some peoples are more equal than others.

Note: I'm still waiting for confirmation of GB - or the binaries needed to produce GB - in the suspected artillery round.