Today in Iraq

War News for August 11, 2003 Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, two wounded in Baquba bomb attack. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers wounded in Baghdad grenade attack. Grenades thrown near British embassy in Baghdad. "Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people." G.W. Bush, August 9, 2003. Six Iraqis mistakenly killed by US troops. "Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people." G.W. Bush, August 9, 2003. Riots continue in Basra. "Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people." G.W. Bush, August 9, 2003. Power failure closes main gasoline refinery in Basra. "Life is returning to normal for the Iraqi people." G.W. Bush, August 9, 2003. Tensions grow between US troops and Iraqi civilians. L. Paul (“Check out my combat boots”) Bremer blames terrorists for Iraqi insurrection. Rant of the Day If L. Paul Bremer spent as much time looking for viable solutions as he does making excuses for failure, the power in Baghdad would be functioning, civil security would improve, and attacks against American troops would be decreasing instead of escalating. It’s pretty obvious that the Jordanian embassy bombing was caused by an Al Qaeda cell operating in Baghdad. Bremer says the terrorists are “returning” to Iraq but the fact of the matter is that Al Qaeda never had an operational presence in Iraq until now. The administration’s pre-war attempts to link the Baathist regime to terrorists have been thoroughly discredited, yet Bremer continues to whine about terrorists “returning” to Iraq. The operational presence of AQ in Baghdad is big news, bigger than Kobe Bryant’s troubles and bigger than Ahnuld’s gubernatorial vanity campaign. Let’s review some unpleasant facts that the administration doesn’t want us to talk about: The war in Iraq isn’t over, major combat operations aren’t over, and the war is going very, very badly. Aside from the daily casualties, US troops are restricted by guerrilla activity to operating only in company-sized elements with heavy firepower support. Civilians, including families, are being shot every day. The US information war effort has collapsed and anti-American propaganda rules the Iraqi conventional wisdom. People are drinking dirty water, the power is off, gasoline is unavailable, there are no jobs and it’s hot as hell. Letters to the editor in the Stars and Stripes and emails published on Colonel Hackworth’s site indicate troops aren’t getting supply, including water, parts, rations and mail. If there is one thing the US Army does better than any other Army on earth, it’s logistics. If supplies are short, it’s because transport is constrained by insurgent activity. Supplies aren’t getting to the troops because a convoy can’t move without combat troops to escort it, and there aren’t enough troops to guard all the bases, secure the infrastructure, keep order, and escort convoys too. And that’s why an AQ presence in Iraq is such big, bad news. The Iraqi insurgency is having a tremendous impact, it’s growing, and it’s gaining popular support. But it’s leaderless, inarticulate and disjointed. It’s a collection of Baathists, Islamic fundamentalists, nationalists and pissed off former soldiers. There is no centralized leadership, no regional coordination, no logistical, support or intelligence structure, and insurgent communications suck (there’s no other word for it, I’m afraid.) But AQ has the resources to provide all those things. On Saturday, Dubya’s used his radio address to talk about Iraq. He emphasized “progress.” Dubya sounded like Pollyanna. He didn’t mention Al Qaeda, the growing insurgency, or even US casualties. That’s hardly surprising, since this administration doesn’t do deductive intelligence. What this administration does well is distract, distort, and deceive while hoping that reality magically transforms itself into the neo-conservative Nirvana of crony colonialism predicted by the prophets at PNAC.