Sunday, December 14, 2003
War News for December 14, 2003
Bring 'em on: Iraqi police officer wounded in RPG attack in Mosul.
Bring 'em on: Car bomb kills 17 at police station in Khaldiyah.
Bring 'em on: US soldiers kill Iraqi man in Tikrit.
Saddam Hussein captured alive in Tikrit. At this point, I doubt if the capture of Saddam Hussein will have much immediate impact on the Iraqi insurgency. With 41 of the 55 designated Most Wanted of the Baathist Party either dead or already in custody, the former regime has been decapitated for some time and the insurgency has grown beyond the control of Saddam Hussein. Unless Saddam can be persuaded to swear allegiance to the IGC and he can command the insurgents to surrender, his capture is tactically irrelevant. That's unlikely because L. Paul Bremer is no Arthur Macarthur and Saddam Hussein no longer has the authority of an Emilo Aguinaldo.
Now where the fuck is Osama bin Laden, Lieutenant AWOL?
Desertions from new Iraqi Army cause pay review. Only a neo-con would dream up a plan to underpay native soldiers supporting an occupational government then act surprised when the troops revolt.
In Iraq, an Ayatollah the US shouldn't ignore. Of course, Bremer is pretending he doesn't exist. "The cleric, the most powerful leader in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled, wants elections for a government that will assume control when the American occupation ends on July 1.…As now envisioned, the process orchestrated by Bremer is also weighted in favor of former exiles and the aging opposition leaders who were handpicked by the United States to be members of the Iraqi Governing Council and who have been unable to provide inspiring or popular leadership. Many Iraqis have said they are suspicious of the outcome of the political transition before it has even begun."
Bremer was warned that disbanding the Iraqi Army was a "great mistake."
US releases eight Arabs from detention in Iraq.
More on Bechtel's Iraqi school reconstruction. "The principal and his staff also say that Bechtel's Iraqi subcontractors replaced usable floor tiles and 32 ceiling fans --school property -- and sold them off, leaving behind lower-quality replacements."
High unemployment continues in Iraq. Welcome to the Bush economy, Abdul.
Unemployment and lack of security fuels insurgency.
Commentary
Opinion: The soldiers of Bush's War. "There was nobody from a neighborhood known for great comfort. The soldiers were from East New York and Jamaica. They worked in municipal jobs or the low end of construction. There were no lawyers, writers, doctors, investment bankers or business owners here. This is how America fights its wars, with no rich involved."
Editorial: "Forget about what Iraq is going to be like after America is finished with that ancient, troubled land. I'm worried about what the experience will have done to America, at home and abroad. Sordid is a word that comes to mind to describe what's happening. Enough has been said and written about the huge deceit that the Bush administration used to send American forces to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein and to occupy Iraq." If you read only one article on this page today, read this one.
Opinion: Team Bush keeps dropping the ball on Iraq. "My complaint is a procedural one, about how the administration has carried out its policies. Watching one blunder after another, I can't help but wonder: Can't anybody here play this game?" The author is a neo-conservative founder of the Project for the New American Century and a strong supporter of Bush's War.
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