Huntingdon College: program in Political Science, Public Affairs & International Studies
Notes on International Terrorism and Response.
  Report on The bombed "Wedding Party". 
Reprinted from e-mail for the benefit of students.
Compiled by Jeremy Lewis_Mail IconComments.  Posted on 10 June 2004.
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Mail IconComments		 Report by LtCol Bill Mullen on the "Wedding Party" Details 
       
     Just reviewed a classified brief on the supposed wedding - no way it was.  Here are
     some unclass details I can provide (brief had lots of pictures to back up the
     details): 
       
     - Weddings traditionally held on Thursdays in Iraq to take advantage of Friday as
     a day of rest - raid took place on Tuesday night. 
     - Only permanent dwelling at the site held large stocks of food, bedding, medical
     supplies (lots of these - was the wedding going to be a cage match of some sort or
     were the caterers just bad cooks?), ammunition and weapons, as well as an
     apparent document forging set up.  Meat was still frozen solid - not prepared for a
     wedding feast and there were no stocks of dishes, plates, etc. 
     - Contrary to media reports, no "Nuptial Tent" was found and a 1KM area around
     the site was searched - any further away than that would be just too far for the
     catering staff to walk carrying all those huge platters of food - against union rules. 
     - No evidence of any means of support for the house (like sheep farming which is
     most common in that area).  All evidence pointed to a smuggler way station - fit
     perfectly the description of several other found in the past. 
     - "Wedding guests" (deceased of course) were almost all men of military age, only
     a couple of women, no elders at all and only one child (wounded) noted.  All
     dressed as city dwellers, not bedouins who would hold a wedding at such a
     location.  All of the deceased were sterilized, as in none had any form of ID on
     them at all.  Only IDs found were in a nice neat stack inside the house - and then 
     quite a few less of those than there were people at the site. 
     - Weapons were varied and included RPGs (they really suck when you fire them
     up in the air for celebration), there were also military binoculars (when they
     separate the men and women they have to look at each other with bino's I guess),
     and ID making material (party favors?). 
     - Lots of clothing prepackaged in pants and shirt sets (guerranimals for guerrillas).

     - There were also no gifts, no decorations, no food set out or left over, and the
     good bit of money recovered was all in the pockets of the "guests" (maybe they
     were just cheap guests). 
       
     I strongly suspect that after their Foreign Fighter way-station got whacked, they
     tried to set it up to look like what happened in Afghanistan when a wedding was
     actually hit due to celebratory firing being taken for ground fire by orbiting
     aircraft.  I also would not put it past the scum bags to sweep a local village for
     approriately aged "guests" to kill and display for the TV cameras.  Our BDA
     assessment was made by people on the site just after the schwacking and they
     took their time to count and exploit the site.  This is just speculation on my part. 
       
     Bottom line assessment: Good hit - no wedding.  These were foreign fighters that
     had just crossed into Iraq and got an early trip to paradise and the martyrdom hall
     of fame. 
       
     Thought it was important to get this word out as much as possible as you won't see
     any of this on CNN. 
       
     Take care, 
       
     LtCol Bill Mullen, USMC 
     Executive Assistant 
     J-3, Deputy Director for Regional Operations 
     2D921, The Pentagon