Army Coverup? Did 300 Soldiers Die at Forward Base Falcon?

Wednesday October 11, 2006 3:16 PM

By David Rising (Associated Press Writer)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Insurgents hit an ammunition dump on a U.S. base in Baghdad with a mortar round, setting off fiery explosions through the night that shook buildings miles away, while renewed attacks killed at least 14 people, primarily in the capital.

According to US military reports,

“Intelligence indicates that civilians aligned with a militia organization were responsible for last night’s mortar attack,” base spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said.

There were no injuries reported, and Withington said the attack had no strategic effect.

“The attack does not affect ongoing Baghdad security operations in the focus areas, and the loss of ammunition will not degrade the operational capability of the” U.S. forces in Baghdad, he said. The base’s essential services were not disrupted.”

When the base was hit, personnel were put on full alert and soldiers and base employees were moved to bomb shelters, Withington said.

Brian Harring from Novesti Press Agency gave a different (and highly detailed) account however,

Over 300 American troops, including U.S. Army and Marines, CIA agents and U.S. translators were casualties and there also were 165 seriously injured requiring major medical attention and 39 suffering lesser injuries 122 members of the Iraqi armed forces were killed and 90 seriously injured members of same, were also evacuated to the U.S. military hospital at al-Habbaniyah located some 70km west of Baghdad.

Satellite pictures and aerial photographs from neutral sources showed that Camp Falcon suffered major structural damage and almost all the U.S. military’s supply of small arms ammunition, artillery and rocket rounds, tons of fuel, six Apache helicopters, an uncounted but large number of soft-skinned vehicles such as Humvees and supply trucks were damaged or totally destroyed.

Foreign press observers noted “an endless parade” of military vehicle recovery units dragging burnt-out heavy tanks and armored personnel carriers to another base outside Baghdad. Many of the walls and towers of the camp were damaged or leveled as were many of the barracks, maintenance depots, and there was considerable damage to the huge mess halls that could hold 3000 soldiers, the huge recreation center with its basketball courts and indoor swimming pools and all the administration buildings

Although official U.S. DoD statements indicated that there were no deaths; that only a hundred men were inside the base guarding billions of dollars of vital military equipment and that there were “only two minor injuries to personnel,” passes belief and certainly reality is more painful than propaganda. Not only has the U.S. military machine lost much of its armor and transport, and its entire reserves of ammunition and special fuel, but the casualty list for only the first day is over 300..

Source – Houston Indymedia (includes Official Casualty List from the US military hospital at al-Habbaniyah 70km west of Baghdad)

An Arab news video at 3.57 shows what appears to be a huge explosion. It would be impossible for there to be little to no fatalities as claimed by the official military statement.