Apparently, the California Constitution guarantees the right of people to not be called names.

From the SacBee:

About 20 gay inmates were forced to remove their clothes in a busy hallway July 19 at the Men's Central Jail while being called names and taunted with vulgar sexual language by some deputies, the ACLU said in a letter to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, citing inmates' claims.

"Such behavior by staff demonstrates a level of immaturity, lack of professionalism, and sadism, which tarnishes the reputation of the entire department," wrote Ricardo Garcia and Jody Kent, who monitor jailhouse issues for the ACLU of Southern California.

The ACLU wanted anti-discrimination training for all deputies.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 03:56 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Is it just me, or is Eleanor Clift retarded? So let me get this straight: every single candidate that Markos 'Screw Them' Zuniga raises money for, including Paul Hackett, has lost, yet Eleanor Clift thinks that Kos is somehow an effective Democratic strategist?

Ok, maybe she's not retarded, but at a minimum she is the poster child of the partisan Washington media. Note in this Newsweek article, written by Clift, that the Washington Post sent no less than three reporters to swoon over Kos at a left-wing blogger forum (hat tip: Meme Random). That's right, three reporters! And to cover what? The fact that Kos endorsed a candidate that almost won in an off-year low-turnout election? The last time I checked, almost didn't count in politics. Hand grenades and horse-shoes, yes. Politics, no.

Here's how Clift describes serial loser Kos:

Leading the charge was Markos Moulitsas, founder of the progressive Daily Kos, which attracts hundreds of thousands of daily visits and is considered one of the most popular political blogs on the Internet. For Democrats desperate to find their way back to a winning coalition, Moulitsas, 33, has emerged as one of the most creative thinkers and activists in the progressive ranks. The Post team, along with reporters from other national publications and scores of political operatives, had come to get a glimpse of the future.

Moulitsas is opposed to the Iraq war but says that isnÂ’t what drew him to Hackett.

“It’s not about ideology, pro-war, antiwar, it makes no difference,” he insisted. “In the online world, we need Democrats to stand up, not be afraid of Republicans, not be afraid of the right-wing noise machine … We don’t care about ideology. We care that you stand up for the party and don’t run scared.”

I get the feeling it took every ounce of self-restraint Eleanor had to keep herself from throwing her panties on to the stage at Markos.

The boyishly slight Moulitsas responded with an engaging smile, saying that he wished he could claim he was a grand visionary and that his blog was part of a master plan to take over the world. He had no idea it would take off the way it has. It was his way of dealing with the angst he felt as an Army veteran who opposed the Iraq war at a time when any disagreement with President Bush was thought to be almost treasonous. Moulitsas is no stranger to war. He had spent part of his youth in El Salvador, his mother’s native land, during that country’s brutal civil war. Back home in Chicago, he enlisted in the Army at age 17 and spent two and a half years with an artillery unit in Germany. After college and law school, he ended up designing Web pages in San Francisco. He supported the bombing in Afghanistan but was so viscerally opposed to the invasion of Iraq that he was driving his wife and boss and cubicle mate crazy, he recalls. “It was either start a blog and just vent or lose my entire social circle,” he said. Pretty soon he had 100 online visitors, more than he could accommodate in his house, he remembers thinking. When he hit 1,000, he thought to himself, “I’m done,” but he kept going--and now he’s Moses leading Democrats to the promised land.

Hell, Benedict Arnold was a national hero. He was just 'anti-war' not 'anti-American'. He just wanted the war to end so that American soldiers could go back to their farms and not die for the neo-con vision of an American empire. Hell, George Washington didn't even supply his troops with enough shoes to last the winter. And that chickenhawk Thomas Jefferson didn't even volunteer his own sons for the war!

Rick Moran over at Right Wing Nuthouse notes that on the Markos has a reality quotient of 0.4. But who's more out of touch with reality: Kos or the left-wing Washington press corps fawning over him?

Others: Talk Left thinks the article is inspiring. Me too. I'm inspired to go out and buy a Tom Jones album.

MyDD plays down Kos role. Aw shucks, don't give me credit for Hacket losing.

Iowa Voice--right on the money. Bill Quick, too.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:33 PM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
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Gosh, there are all kinds of new concepts suggesting themselves to me lately, from The First Counterwar to Totalitarianism 3.0. But juxtaposing Jeff Goldstein's observations about the use of the Western Left's rhetoric by the jihadists with the "Perfidious George's" poetic use of jihadist rhetoric (together with his prototypical neo-fascist smirk at the funny way Sharon says "terrorrrrrrize") to incite the "Arab Street," suggests that all three strains of Counter-enlightenment illiberalism (Marxism, Nazism and Islamism) have finally begun to merge. If the rhetoric has become one, will not actions soon follow?

[Note to people who still use the term "liberalism" to refer to the Left, or socialism: Get over it. The US together with the Scots invented liberalism in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it's about time we became its standard-bearers again. It's time we put a stop to the corruption of the term.]

(Cross-posted by Demosophist to Demosophia, Anticipatory Retaliation and The Jawa Report)

Posted by: Demosophist at 03:12 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Confidential government sources tell the New York Times that the threat of an al Qaeda attack against the U.S. remains substantial and that the mode of attack will likely be a suicide attack. In sum, terrorists continue to target the United States and wish to inflict mass casualties resulting in a psychological victory. All of the targets and methods mentioned in the article have been tried elsewhere by the global jihadi network.

Target: mass transit systems
Method: bombs, derailment, or crashing truck carrying flammable material into trains
Precedent: London, Madrid, Moscow

Target 2: high rise apartments
Method: natural gas explosions from rented apartement
Precedent: Moscow

Report suspicious activity to local authorities. It is far better to be overly cautious and wrong then to be oblivious to the threat and too late.

UPDATE: If you are a Muslim you have an even greater responsibility to report suspicious activities to the authorities. We hope law enforcement will take you more seriously than they did in the U.K.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:41 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Sixty years ago today the Enola Gay delivered a message to Imperial Japan that could not be ignored. This is a day I commemorate for the courageous decision made by President Harry S. Truman: to break the will of a militaristic society whose war of aggression had already cost us too much blood and treasure.

On 6 August, 1945, my father stood on Okinawa, a nineteen year-old sergeant of Marines decorated with Bronze Star and Purple Heart, having lost too many friends and seen too many horrible things. He looked forward only to death in the invasion of mainland Japan and the subjugation of its fanatical population. Victory was inevitable; only the cost remained to be determined.

Enter the little haberdasher from Missouri whose bolt from the blue ended the titanic conflict.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

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Posted by: Rusty at 01:29 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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From Cliff May, about the Who's Who entry revelation:

You think that might have made them a tad suspicious that she could have some kind of link to the U.S. government? Nah!

Again, what this really suggests is that the agencyÂ’s tradecraft had become as sloppy as its analysis.

So once you marry a diplomat, you're pulled from the field? I can see how that might affect whether certain people are willing to talk to you, but if you have a network of sources and connections already set up, you could still be effective. I don't think being married to a diplomat inherently blows your cover.

I do think Joe Wlson's listing the connection in Who's Who contributes to the pattern of indiscretion I've detailed exhaustively below, where I speculate that he's Judith Miller's source.

Posted by: seedubya at 01:01 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Perhaps the worst red-herring argument made by the Left against any war (remember, these guys were against Afghanistan every bit as much as Iraq--and the Gulf War, Panama, Grenada, Cold War, Vietnam, etc.), is the ol' "Would you send your kids to this war?" As if any parent would volunteer any child to be sent to any war. Palestinian parents, excepted.

Phil Hendrie reminds us that our all volunteer army is not made up of children. They are men and women, and damn fine ones at that:

To call the great professional men and women who serve in our armed forces "kids" is a semantical tactic employed by my Poseur Leftist friends. They know that by tossing this little hand grenade into the mix any hope one has for a debate on fact, as opposed to hysterical rumor, flies right out the window. Who can not, at a moment like that, bow their head, and ponder ever so deeply, the meaning of children dying in a war.

Ladies and Gentlemen, calling these great people, part of the best trained and best equipped military in the history of the world, "kids" is an obscene insult.

And it's intended as one....

Calling professional and very adult American soldiers "kids" is only one weapon in the emotional ammo dump the Poseur-Left keeps rummaging through. Unsubstantiated but oft-repeated and provocative charges of war crime, torture and over-kill keep the easily confused all the more easily confused. The very people who ask for infinitesimal and undeniable proof of WMD's and terror links offer nothing but ludicrous rumor and gossip to bolster their arguments.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:48 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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A Tunisian air flight between Sicily, Italy, and Tunisia has crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. Conflicting reports estimate the number of dead between 7 (Xinhua) and 19 (EItB). 39 people were aboard the plane, many have survived.

No indication on what the cause of the crash was. Reports seem to suggest that the plane was suffering some sort of technical malfunction. However, a number of al Qaeda communiques specifically mention Italy as a target for terror operations. Developing...Reuters:

At least seven people were killed and 20 injured when their Tunisair flight from Italy to Tunisia made an emergency landing in the sea off Sicily on Saturday after reporting a technical fault, emergency services said.

The pilot of the plane, which had 39 people on board, made a distress call to Palermo airport at 3:24 p.m. (2:24 p.m. British time), requesting to make an emergency landing, an official at Italy's civil aviation authority told Reuters.

The plane landed about 12 miles (19 km) out at sea at 3:40 p.m. and shortly afterwards survivors were seen on the wings of the floating plane. A Tunisian government official told Reuters by telephone that 24 of 35 passengers, all Italians, survived the crash.

ANSA newswire said the death toll was at least nine.

Survivors brought to shore at Palermo were seen being helped out of rescue launches, many with bloody faces and ripped clothes, some yelling in pain. The port was milling with ambulances while helicopters buzzed overhead.

The twin-turboprop ATR 72 had taken off from Bari in southern Italy, heading for Djerba, Tunisia, police said.

ATRs are made by Avions de Transport Regional, based in France, and can carry up to 72 passengers. Earlier, emergency services had identified the plane as the smaller ATR 42 model.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Down the path to the dark side one has begun, when fear of new site takes hold. Click on "switch to light background version..." link to right, and balance you shall bring to the force.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:10 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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Gaijin Biker sends word that Osama bin Laden has pulled a Dave Chapelle on us. Perhaps he is in South Africa seeking his spiritual roots, too?

In another sign that the tapes may be on permanent hiatus, Bin Laden's longtime writing partner and reclusive former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is "no longer involved" in their production, according to an Al-Qaeda spokesperson.

Bin Laden allegedly met with Omar several years ago, but the pair have not spoken since — although Omar’s once-powerful gang of fundamentalist Islamic thugs has left the door open for Osama’s return, the spokesperson said.

According to Al-Zawahri, Bin Laden denies that the constant pressure of hiding from US and Pakistani forces led him to stop making new tapes, saying he is only living in dank, squalid caves in order to clear his head.

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Posted by: Rusty at 05:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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And, apparently, mentally retarded as well. Certainly, he is ethically challenged and devoid of even a basic concept of logic.

How else to explain the intellectually bankrupt editorial that appeared on Tuesday with Rall's name attached?

The actual piece is long and tedious (visit the link if you're an insomniac), highlighting Ted's failings as a writer, with a clichéd and sophomoric message telegraphed by the subtitle, Americans Cheer Fictional Insurgents, Real-Life Invaders.

Ted hypothesizes an invasion of the United States by Iceland. Here's an excerpt that tells you everything you need to know:

The humiliation is total. Icelandic forces pass out decks of cards depicting the faces of former senators, governors and generals. They shoot deposed leader George W. Bush's twin daughters and air images of their bloody, mutilated faces on state television. They print photos of Bush, haggard and obviously abused in his secret prison, wearing nothing but underwear.

Ted sees no difference between the Bush twins and Uday and Qusay Hussein. No difference between President Bush and Saddam Hussein. No difference between Tariq Aziz and Scott McClellan. No difference between Chemical Ali and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NYC).

Well Ted, there is a difference - a profound one. One large part of that difference is that you're allowed to think and write the things that you do without fear of arrest, or imprisonment, or death.

The only thing you really have to fear is that your primary audience won't be stuck at an average mental age of fifteen forever.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Posted by: Bluto at 11:32 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I wrote this just the night before last:

Our Marines will feel far more sadness about what they are going to do to you for your cowardly remote-controlled IED.

Go ahead, Abu, piss off the United States Marines.

You'll still lose.

Heh, maybe I'll change my blogging name to Nostradamus:

BAGHDAD,
Iraq (AP) - U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops pounded insurgents with bombs
and tank cannons Friday during a major offensive along a stretch of the
Euphrates River valley where 22 Marines were killed this week.

About 800
U.S. Marines and 180 Iraqi soldiers moved into Haqlaniyah, one of a
cluster of western towns in Anbar province around the Haditha Dam that
is believed to be a stronghold of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters.

Heavy
Abrams tanks battled insurgents armed with rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades, while U.S. jets destroyed at least four buildings - two of
which were found booby-trapped with explosives, a U.S. military
statement said.

Really though, prognostication wasn't even necessary.  Only a basic knowledge of history, which Abu obviously never bothered with.  You don't piss off the United States Marine Corps.

Something tells me there's going to be a shortage of virgins in Paradise soon.

**Note, the link above goes to my blog, although I posted the same thing here, I'm just to lazy to dig it out of the archives. Heh.

Posted by: Vinnie at 11:16 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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We at the Jawa Report pride ourselves on being able to bring fresh, relevant, and exciting stories to you that you may not find anywhere else.

With that in mind, enjoy this story about what happens when the Smartest Couple In The World vacations in the great (first primary in the nation) state of New Hampshire.

Posted by: Vinnie at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm not quite up to speed on the whole Plame/Wilson/Rove/Cheney/Novak fooferaw. To be honest I've pretty well ignored it. Then I followed Rusty's link (below) over to Wizbang, which has been absolutely flooded by venomous, boorish DU zombies or Kossacks or some swarm of very angry leftists who enjoy telling everyone how much smarter they are than people who disagree with them.

But I got to thinkin', as I scanned over the claims traded back and forth there, none of which really led me to think any crime had been committed. There's still a weakness in the right's argument on this issue--I was thinking about that weakness and then I started writing this post which has gotten quite long, so I'll stick it down below the fold. I end up making a guess as to Judith Miller's sources.

more...

Posted by: seedubya at 08:34 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Here's the scenario. A man forms a gang of murderous thugs and infests every major city in the United States with crime. Oops! Along the way, he gets convicted of four murders and is sentenced to death. That was 24 years ago, but no worry.

From The Mercury-News:

Convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams has received an award for his good deeds on death row, complete with a letter from President Bush praising the notorious gang founder for demonstrating "the outstanding character of America."

Williams, co-founder of the notorious Crips street gang, has been an anti-gang activist during his many years on death row at San Quentin State Prison, where he was sent after being convicted in 1981 for killing four people.

This is wrong and it sends the wrong message to other condemned killers. And, since when does death row symbolize just another opportunity to queer the system? The only communication ever permitted from death row should be, "BZZZ-ZZZ! Next! We have an opening."

No mail, no pencils, no paper, no opportunity for good deeds and, above all, no Presidential Awards!

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 07:25 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Love the new look!

Posted by: Jay at August 05, 2005 07:28 PM (BKqRl)

2 What kind of crap is this? he is a cold blooded killer and he dont deserve any damn award its like giving a nobel peace prize to hitler

Posted by: sandpiper at August 05, 2005 08:01 PM (GOyHB)

3 This is more funny, than anything else. It just goes to show what a sink hole of beuracracy the White House is.

Posted by: Rusty at August 05, 2005 08:41 PM (JQjhA)

4 Society demands retribution for capital crimes and he should be executed, but it's never too late for a man to find redemption. Give him the award if he's earned it.

Posted by: Carlos at August 05, 2005 09:07 PM (8e/V4)

5 Using Firefox and am getting alot of over typing on the main page. Headlines superimposed on top of articles and links.

Posted by: Charles at August 05, 2005 10:15 PM (lQ1Or)

6 In IE the main page works fine.

Posted by: Charles at August 05, 2005 10:17 PM (lQ1Or)

7 The guy doesn't deserve awards, and it would be justice if he were not only ammending his evil ways but were also making some tangible redress to the families of his victims. That said, it is worthy of mention that he is willing to work against the spread of gangs in one of the most infiltrated and violent of the gang environments. Heinous people turning their lives around is beneficial for society, and highlighting their stories shouldn't be about "honoring" the dishonorable. That said, he's on death row and deserves to pay that price.

Posted by: tee bee at August 06, 2005 12:25 PM (q1JHF)

8 In order to make your comment even more ironic sandpiper he actually has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/11/BA91326.DTL

Posted by: dave at August 06, 2005 01:45 PM (DO6vD)

9 See! See! The culture of life is ruining america!

Posted by: mustafa at August 06, 2005 05:51 PM (jWaQK)

10 Mustafa: What are you talking about? I thought you ragheads didn't drink? Must be the pills.

Posted by: greyrooster at August 07, 2005 11:00 PM (9Dlss)

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Frequent contributor to The Jawa Report, Chad Evans, has posted a link to a MEMRI translation of an al-Aribiya story that ran today on the latest propaganda video out of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. See his post for link to video and commentary. The video shows the downing of a helicopter last month. More importantly, though, the video shows various jihadis ranting against the West. One of the jihadis has a British accent. Traitor.

Because I have been unable to capture images from it, I have transcribed the video below. MEMRI has not yet posted it:

[Narrator] In a film by the Al-Qaeda organization, excerpts of which are shown here in an Al-Arabiya exclusive, Al-Qaeda presents an ambush followed by an attack (Operation "Vanquishing the Cross") on an American army base in Kunar District in Afghanistan.

The film showed that the commander of the squad that carried out the operation is Abd al-Hadi al_Iraqi, who is also known as 'the Emir of the Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan.'

He prepares a plan, using special squads from a number of countries.

It is noteworthy that al-Qaeda fighters from Britain, Ireland, France, and Pakistan, in addition to Arabs, speak in the film before the military operation.

[Man with British accent] Oh people of the West, don't be fooled by the lies of Blair and Bush that you are free nations, for the only freedom that you have is the freedom to be slaves of your whims and desires.

[In French] We the Mujahadin to all Muslims the victims of unlimited and endless barbarism, that we will avenge their martyrs, and that we will slit the throats of the Americans and the Jews [sawing motion with hands].

[Unrecognized. Pashtun?] Come and join us. Join the blessed jihad. Come for the sake of Allah. Join us in this blessed jihad with Mullah Omar and Sheik Osama bin Laden. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 06:06 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Hi the web page looks alful I am using firefox 1.0.6 after the first paragrapg the word al blend to gether and is not readable

Posted by: Zebrab57 at August 06, 2005 12:41 PM (JhXtP)

2 have you tried the alternate light background version? Does that work?

Posted by: Rusty Shackleford at August 06, 2005 12:52 PM (JQjhA)

3 switching to the light version fixed the problems I saw with Firefox and Konqueror under FreeBSD, I have updated my bookmark accordingly. good job!

Posted by: dave at August 06, 2005 02:59 PM (DO6vD)

4 I just want to thank you for being the only website that has something on this al-queda video. As a family memmeber it helped me see a little of what happend out there. It is hard to get ahold of that video and you have help me see part of it. If you have more footage, it will be more help to understand the events.thank you

Posted by: family at August 11, 2005 11:16 AM (veUFP)

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I've no idea who Joseph Wilson is, but apparently he's somebody. I mean, he's in the "Who's Who in America", listed as being married to some chick named Valerie Plame--also some one I've never heard of. Did I miss something while I was on vacation? Aylward seems to think this is important for some reason. He might be right.

Posted by: Rusty at 04:02 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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There are times in this life where you must let compassion take a back seat to moral indignation and righteous vengance. Let the US military unleash all its might and firepower on any who give aid or comfort to The Army of Ansar al-Sunnah.

Right: A photo of Cpl. Jeffery A. Boskovitch and Sgt. David Coullard--both KIA by the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah Wednesday. A video was released by The Army of Ansar al-Sunnah showing the effects of the attack. The video may be downloaded here (see August 4th entry). Graphic and disgusting images from the video below show the body of Jeffrey A. Boskovitch, a terrorist from the Army of Ansar al-Sunnah removing his dog tags, and his dog tags.

Today, the US military unleashed Operation Quick Strike in the area where 14 Marines were killed on Wednesday. AP (via Polipundit):

About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers have launched a major operation in western Iraq to disrupt insurgents and foreign fighters in the Euphrates River valley, the U.S. military said Friday.

The operation, dubbed Quick Strike, began Wednesday with Iraqi soldiers and Marines positioning their units, said a military statement. They are focused on an area centered on the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Parwana, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad....

On Friday, about 800 U.S. Marines and sailors and 180 Iraqi troops, including Special Operations forces, moved into the city of Haqlaniyah, the Marine statement said. U.S. jets attacked insurgents hiding in buildings outside the town.

Residents in the area said U.S. and Iraqi forces had cordoned off Haqlaniyah and were conducting house-to-house searches. U.S. warplanes circled overhead and a number of heavy explosions were heard. Witnesses said 500-pound bombs were being dropped in the area.

In a statement issued Friday, the U.S. military said an Abrams tank fired at rebels armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades south of Haqlaniyah while other U.S. tanks fired on a building where insurgents were shooting at coalition forces.

Two buildings were destroyed after Marines found them rigged with explosives.

"Wires were connected to numerous 155 mm artillery rounds scattered throughout both buildings," the U.S. statement said.

The U.S. military has defended its operations in western Iraq, insisting it is reducing insurgent attacks, despite the deaths of the 14 Marines. The extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility in a Web posting and said its fighters used two bombs to destroy the vehicle.

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