Today in Iraq

War News for October 27, 2003 Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers wounded in firefight near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers wounded in bomb ambush near Balad. (Second-to-the-last paragraph of this story.) Bring ‘em on: US soldier killed, two wounded in mortar attack at Abu Gharib prison near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US troops reportedly open fire after bomb ambush in Fallujah. Four Iraqis killed. Bring ‘em on: Mortar rounds fired into US administration compound in central Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers killed, two wounded in bomb ambush in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Suicide bomber kills 18 at Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Ten wounded, including seven Iraqi policemen, in bombing at western Baghdad police station. Bring ‘em on: Suicide bomber wounds seven at Al-Shab poilce station in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi policemen killed, ten US soldiers wounded in bombing at Al-Elam police station in Baghdad's Khark district. Bring ‘em on: Al-Sayidah police station in Baghdad struck by car bomb. Breaking News! L. Paul Bremer's CPA cuts and runs from al-Rasheed Hotel: "The U.S. occupation authority retreated from its headquarters Sunday after Iraqi insurgents, using a "science project" of a rocket launcher, attacked the heavily guarded hotel with a missile barrage that killed an American colonel, wounded 18 other people and sent the visiting deputy defense secretary scurrying for safety." Improved combat medicine means US soldiers more likely to survive grevious wounds. “The numbers are dramatic: Since the Iraq war began in March, one U.S. servicemember has been killed for every seven who are injured in combat. That's more than three times better than World War II, when one servicemember died for about every two wounded.” Wounded soldiers may deal with trauma for years. “The number of servicemen and women injured in Iraq has climbed to more than 2,000, according to the U.S. Central Command.” US troops prepare for Ramadan insurgent offensive. Is Iraq descending into civil war? US shelves plan for Turkish troops in Iraq. "The Americans are looking for cannon fodder." Japan increases death gratuity for troops deployed to Iraq. Lots of patriotic American civilians think George Nethercutt is an asshole, too. Not all soldiers will get mid-tour leave from Iraq. When is Lieutenant AWOL planning another extended vacation at Crawford? Rant of the Day Larry Di Rita says Wolfie wasn’t target of yesterday’s rocket attack. Yeah, right. And that bucket of shit in Iraq is really chocolate pudding. It’s pretty obvious that rocket attack was well-planned and the target hotel carefully chosen and reconnoitered, and whoever fired those rockets was just waiting for a nice juicy target like Wolfie to blithely step into the kill sack. Further, people just don’t wake up all over Baghdad one fine morning with a wild hair up their asses and say, “Gee, it look like a nice day to blow up a police station.” So in 24 hours in Baghdad we had three suicide bombings at the Red Cross headquarters and two police stations , a major rocket attack, car bombs at two other police stations, mortar attacks on Bremer’s palace and Abu Grahib, and a patrol ambush. A casual observer might think these incidents might be related. Any tactical intelligence analyst knows they were related, coordinated and synchronized. Go to the map links on your right and pull up a map of Baghdad. Plot the locations of these attacks, work out the timelines from the articles and you’ll see what I mean. The timing and pattern was deliberately intended to test and overwhelm the US reaction forces. Now, who has the capability, history and motivation to carry out these attacks? Well, Al Qaeda likes high-profile targets and they like suicide bombers. And the Iraqi Army (the same one you neo-con idiots disbanded) has the training to rig up those Katyusha and field-expedient anti-tank mines, as well as the tactical expertise to conduct guerrilla operations against a modern field army – something AQ has never done, even in Afghanistan. Now it appears these two groups are coordinating their activities, something that didn’t happen before since they hated each other’s guts. This isn’t the “flowers and music” scenario that the neo-cons planned for. And it’s not Condi’s flypaper scenario. This is a soldier’s worst nightmare. We’ve got a force trained and structured for a short, sharp high-intensity mobile campaign facing a prolonged low-intensity guerrilla war with a high-impact terror strategy. Worse, this isn’t some unfortunate by-product of a successful policy. This is a result that was clearly predicted beforehand, but the cons preferred to pursue wishful thinking instead of facing reality. Have another helping of pudding, Larry. I’m full. Casualty Reports Local story: Alabama soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California soldier killed in Iraq Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. Order of the White Feather WaPo reports that young Doug Landry, a 19-year old junior at George Washington University, exercised his constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech by heckling Americans protesting Bush's War by carrying a sign reading, "Go home, you commies." As a young man of military age, Doug's patriotism extends only as far as the atreet corner pro-war corner rally but not to the recruiting office. For conspicuous lack of moral courage in the face danger and failure to answer the call of duty, Doug is awarded the White Feather. Wear it with pride at your next freep, Doug!