April 23, 2003, 20:31
|
#1
|
|
Deity
Local Time: 20:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Not your daddy's Benjamins
Posts: 10,737
|
Iraqi farmer denies shooting down Apache chopper!
Say it ain't so, Ali!
|
Quote:
|
The 'Apache' farmer's tale
The elderly Iraqi farmer who, according to Baghdad officials, literally shot his way to fame by downing a state-of-the-art US Apache helicopter with an old carbine has flatly denied he had anything to do with the crash.
At the height of the war, Iraqi TV showed pictures of the downed aircraft and said it had been shot down by farmer Ali Abid Minqash.
It broadcast poetry in praise of the "farmer who harvests both rice and Apaches". The local branch of the agricultural union also presented Mr Minqash with a plaque to commemorate his action.
Pictures of the results of Minqash's alleged feat were rebroadcast on Pan-Arab TV stations and Saddam Hussein himself praised the farmer in a televised address urging resistance to the US-led forces as part of a "people's war".
I didn't shoot down an Apache or anything else
Ali Abid Minqash
"You probably remember the gallant Iraqi peasant who shot down a US Apache using an old weapon, the Brno," the Iraqi leader said on 4 April.
"Strike at your enemy strongly. Strike at your enemy with your strong faith wherever he comes close to you."
But a Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Rai Al-Am, says it has now tracked down the farmer, albeit with considerable difficulty.
"It might be easier to find ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein than to get to Minqash who rose to instant stardom on the satellite TV channels," it commented.
'I rubbed my eyes...'
Minqash told the paper that he had come across the aircraft in his field early one morning.
"I didn't shoot down an Apache or anything else. All that happened was that I went to the field, as I usually do early in the morning, and was surprised to find some bodies on the ground.
"I began to rub my eyes to make sure that what I was seeing was true or whether I was imagining it," he said.
Celebrations around the grounded Apache, as reported on Iraqi TV
Jubilant Iraqis celebrate Minqash's 'feat'
"When I realised that it was really true, I was overcome by fear and rushed to the nearest government post to inform them that there was a plane in my field.
"A large number of [Ba'ath] party members and security men came with me to investigate. They told me that it was an American Apache aircraft and made me stay with them until someone who they said was a senior official arrived. I didn't know who he was.
"They asked me to say what you have heard on the TV satellite channels - that I shot down the plane with an old gun, a Brno."
Minqash 'going fishing' shock
The paper said that Minqash lives in a simple brick house encircled by palm trees and surrounded by livestock on all sides. He also has a large family and circle of acquaintances "who protect him with their geniality and spontaneity".
The geniality obviously extends to jokes about his 'feat'.
One runs that the US decided to withdraw its fleet from the Gulf once it learned that Minqash planned to go fishing there.
|
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2969471.stm
__________________
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891
|
|
|
|
|
April 23, 2003, 20:39
|
#2
|
|
Prince
Local Time: 19:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: between a rock and a hard place
Posts: 998
|
Well, that's one less Iraq war myth...let's see if the U.S. can admit/deny some others too, in due time.
__________________
DULCE BELLUM INEXPERTIS
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 23, 2003, 20:40
|
#3
|
|
PolyCast Thread Necromancer
Local Time: 00:03
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: We are all Asher now.
Posts: 1,437
|
 Can't we all just stop this and celebrate the return of Poly?
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 23, 2003, 23:40
|
#4
|
|
Deity
Local Time: 20:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Viña del Mar, CHILE
Posts: 13,971
|
__________________
>>> El cine se lee en dvdplay <<<
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 00:25
|
#5
|
|
King
Local Time: 08:03
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: A Yankee living in Shanghai
Posts: 1,149
|
I wish I had one renminbi for every time I heard that "old Iraqi farmer" story repeated on CCTV news here in China. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 00:41
|
#6
|
|
Warlord
Local Time: 17:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 249
|
I heard that CCTV fired their main military analyst.
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 01:01
|
#7
|
|
Emperor
Local Time: 20:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Baltimore, MD
Posts: 4,325
|
mindseye: I bet the news is real interesting over there now that the war has been won...
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 02:55
|
#8
|
|
King
Local Time: 18:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: United States of America
Posts: 2,306
|
This news will be a crushing blow to the Arab masses, a heavy blow almost as stinging as the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops.
Gatekeeper 
__________________
"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die defending your right to say it." — Voltaire
"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 02:57
|
#9
|
|
Emperor
Local Time: 03:03
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: A pub.
Posts: 3,161
|
I don't understand why people would watch CCTV anyway. esp. the ones installed in entrances to appartment buildings. BORING!
wohooo, Apolyton's back!
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 03:11
|
#10
|
|
Warlord
Local Time: 17:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 249
|
Do you know what CCTV is, Azael?
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 03:18
|
#11
|
|
Emperor
Local Time: 03:03
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: A pub.
Posts: 3,161
|
The system with the video cameras security guards use?
ahh, fudge it, it's not the same without smileys.
*grumbles*
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 03:22
|
#12
|
|
Warlord
Local Time: 17:03
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 249
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally posted by Azazel
The system with the video cameras security guards use?
ahh, fudge it, it's not the same without smileys.
*grumbles*
|
No, it's the Central Chinese TV.
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 24, 2003, 05:22
|
#13
|
|
Deity
Local Time: 08:03
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: May 1999
Location: The City State of Noosphere, CPA special envoy
Posts: 14,606
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally posted by Azazel
I don't understand why people would watch CCTV anyway. esp. the ones installed in entrances to appartment buildings. BORING!
|
__________________
(\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
(='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
(")_(") "Starting the fire from within."
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is On
|
|
|
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 20:03.
|
|
