Iraqi Wedding Party

You've all heard the story about how US Forces fired on a wedding party in Iraq killing between 40-45 people. This may be the rest of the story...

An investigation uncovered these facts:

This party was
1. Ten miles from the Syrian border
2. 80 miles from the nearest city
3. 3:00 in the morning

I'm ignoring that there were 30 men of military age and that there were shotguns, handguns, Kalishnikov rifles and machine guns found at the scene. I'm ignoring these "facts" because wedding parties usually involve relatives. I don't know what constitues "military age" in Iraq, but it could be anywhere from 15-60. And the weapons? I understand that Iraqis fire weapons into the air in celebration. Of anything, including weddings, government overthrows and everything in between.

The time can also be explained. Most weddings I've been to break up long before 3 am, but that's in the US. Maybe Iraqi weddings go on for hours. Seems to me I've heard they can go on for days, but maybe that's another culture.

I have questions about the location, however. I don't know many wedding parties that are held 80 miles from the nearest city. That combined with being only 10 miles from the Syrian border gives me pause for thought.

I did hear a listener on the Boortz show (www.boortz.com) say that he had spent time in Iraq and weddings are held only on Thursday. This happened on Wednesday. Don't know if what the caller said is true; no one called in to confirm or challenge the statement (that I heard anyway). Until I hear this is incorrect, I'll assume it to be true. If so, this opens up another can of worms and combined with the location, well, my questions stand.