US forces invited families who fled Arab Jabour to return, and promised that security and assistance to rebuild their lives, just four weeks before the bombing raids that resulted in the deaths of more than 500 civilians, it has emerged.

Joseph Inge, fourth brigade, third American infantry division, went on the Arabic radio station Radio Sawa to claim that his forces, with the aid of the Awakening forces had been able to clear out the last strongholds of AlQaeda in the regions of Arab Jabour and Al-Buaitha south of Baghdad, and called on the families to return to the area, promising every type of support and assistance to those families.

A American Forces Press Service report dated December 14, 2007, talks of how normalcy is returning to Arab Jabour, which the US forces had "liberated" from the insurgents.

But the same source, in a news article dated January 22, 2007 announcing the "successful completion of the blitz", describes the mostly Sunni district as an "al-Qaeda sanctuary".

By its own admission, the US forces drop 114,000 pounds of bombs during the ten-day raid on the district of 120,000, but claimed that there were no casualties.

But local authorities and Sunni politicians told Arabic language media that at least 500 people, mostly women and children, were killed in the air raids.

"Try dropping 100,000 pounds bombs on Syracuse, New York, which has a similar population, and see if you get no casualties," a Sunni politician, who wished to remain anonymous on the grounds that US-trained death-squads target politicians who criticize American military action, said. "This is a return to the indiscriminate bombing we witnessed at the beginning of the invasion in 2003. They are happy to kill as many civilians as it takes to minimize risks for the US soldiers."

[Translations courtesy ofMissing Link]