Today in Iraq

War News for November 26, 2003 Bring 'em on: Insurgents give Jack Straw the Wolfowitz Welcome in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: US troops mortared in Tikrit. Bring 'em on: Central Baghdad mortared again. Bring 'em on: Oil pipeline ablaze near Beiji. Bring 'em on: Two Iraqi police wounded in RPG attack in Baghdad. General Gerner admits Bushies screwed up post-war occupation of Iraq. "'He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don't think we are speeding things up now, I think we are trying to catch up to where we should have been a month ago.' He also acknowledged that not enough effort was put into winning over ordinary Iraqis by getting America's message across to them after the war. ˜We did a bad job of executing that. There's no excuse for that. The consequence of that is all they got to listen to was [Arab-language TV station] al-Jazeera,' he said." And now Rummy is whining about all this. Do these neo-cons ever take responsibility for their own fuck-ups? Bush's Foreign Policy: "When (George W.) Bush came into office, he had a five-man hate list," Gregg said. "These were men he wanted nothing to do with, men he would rather blow out of the water than negotiate with." The speaker was one of Poppy Bush's National Security advisors. Shi'ite cleric criticizes Bush's sovereignity plan as as "incomplete and insufficiently Islamic." Sen. Hillary Clinton spends Thanksgiving with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lieutenant AWOL has pressing engagements at Crawford and at a fundraiser in Nevada. Norwegian officers in Iraq worry about safety. "...Norwegian politicians must now realize that far from operating in a humanitarian situation, the situation in Iraq is war-like." Cheney's deceitful fundraiser rhetoric. Military blames AP for "false report. "'Personally, I would fault the AP as a member of the coalition and really as an American citizen,' Coalition Spokesperson Sgt. Danny Martin said. 'The AP is an American-based media outlet. They have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of press. They pretty much print what they like. I do find it somewhat irresponsible in their journalism that instead of perhaps showing some patience and waiting for the initial military report, that they just went from eyewitness accounts that have proven in just about every instance here to be exaggerated, embellished, or just false.'" Lieutenant AWOL is more frightened that the troops might sound off than he is of the press. "Before the press was herded into the giant hangar in advance of George W. Bush's pep rally/photo op with the Fort Carson troops, we were given the rules. No talking to the troops before the rally. No talking to the troops during the rally. No talking to the troops after the rally." And except for this reporter, the lapdog American media rolled over and complied with Bush's desires. Wounded soldier: Reports of his death were greatly exaggerated at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Wrongful death payments to Iraqi civilians. Casualty Reports Local story: Florida soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California soldier dies in Iraq.