<You are claiming that none of the US bombs or cruise missiles could have hit either of those markets.

I can't claim that as a certainty. I don't know for sure, not being part of the military planning team. I know they have said that in the case of the first market bombing, that none of their weapons were unaccounted for, and they had no planes in the area at the time. Of course, that could be all lies.

That it is more likely the Iraqis blew themselves up than the US Air Force blew them up.

Likely? Yes. Certain? No. And I am willing to extend the benefit of the doubt that it could be accidental, although two marketplaces blown up by errant antiaircraft fire in as many days is a pretty big coincidence, especially considering there seems to be little or no other casualties linked to any other such misses.

Before the marketplace bombings, the Iraqis could point to three Baghdad civilian fatalities linked to American attacks. They have gotten enormous propaganda value from this, and are on record as having deliberately killed a lot more people for a lot less political advantage. You did notice these were Shiite neighborhoods?

And that any evidence which might demonstrate the US did it is trumped up and wrong.

Again, based on past behavior of doing exactly this, a certain amount of suspicion is warranted.

Certainly the press, which had the first marketplace bombing caused by "two cruise missiles" in most early stories, could be a little more skeptical.

Just want to make sure. You believe every bomb dropped on Baghdad hit a military or political target, and NONE of 'em hit a civilian area.

If missed bombs hit civilian areas other than the two marketplace explosions, why has Iraq not made a big deal of those other misses? Why would they keep those other casualties a big secret when the propaganda value is so high? Before the marketplace explosions, even Iraq claimed only three fatalities in Baghdad from the bombings.

And those little discrepancies are still there...

From the New York Times: (boldface mine)

Dr. Hassan Razouki, 50, director of Al Noor Hospital half a mile from the explosion, broke away from directing surgery to talk to reporters.



...He added: "The bodies were shattered by the missile, which was intended to kill as many people as possible. It was daylight. It was clear to anybody that the market was crowded, there are no military or strategic facilities in this area."

...The explosion hit the Nassar market, an area of bare concrete stalls, row on row, that serve as the main shopping center for the sprawling Shula district. A small crater, about inches to 2 feet deep and about 4 to 5 feet across, was visible in the dark, about 10 feet from the first row of stalls, where they face onto open ground looking to the south. The crater was far smaller than those made by many of the American bombs and missiles in the last week. Some of these, hitting homes and buildings in Baghdad, have left craters as much as 30 to 40 feet deep.



One can hardly escape a suspicion that the old man planted that chunk of metal on Fisk, who obviously would swallow any story that made America look bad like a hungry catfish--the reason he's allowed there in the first place. The rest depends on how smart the people who set him up were about their selection of a fragment. If they picked up some part that matches a bomb that is completely incompatible with the damage, this would be instructive. Analysis of the shrapnel fragments would also be quite useful--most heavy weapons are not designed to create a small crater and a cloud of shrapnel. Unless someone sneaks one out, I doubt that will happen.

Even you have to admit that although nothing is conclusive either way, this smells.