Oooops

U.S. Says It Accidentally Killed 9 Iraqi Civilians

BAGHDAD — American forces said Sunday that they had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three in a strike aimed at militants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia south of Baghdad, acknowledging what appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks.my emphasis added

A military statement released late in the day said the accidental killings happened Saturday in Iskandariya, about 25 miles south of the capital, and that the wounded were taken to American military hospitals.

The statement did not further identify the civilian victims, but the Iraqi police said American aircraft, responding to an attack on an American convoy, had erroneously bombed Iraqi civilian guardsmen who have contracted with the American military to fight Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Those guardsmen, predominantly Sunnis, are considered a major reason the American military has successfully reduced insurgent violence in Iraq. But in recent weeks scores of the Sunni guardsmen, known variously as Concerned Local Citizens, Awakening Councils and the Sons of Iraq, have been killed in clashes with Qaeda fighters and Shiite militia groups.

Allow me to be bitchy and point out that if we weren't in Iraq in the first place, none of this would be happening.

Good job! bombing the guys that were supposed to be helping "the mission."

It's time to exit this clusterfuck. IMHO though, we won't have any realistic chance of getting out of Iraq until we admit that going in was a mistake in the first place.