Today in Iraq

Here in western Washington State, we had our first significant snowfall. When I left for work tonight, I saw about four inches of fresh powder snow on the ground. I live in the country. The land here in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains is blanketed by green forests and small farms with red barns. The boughs of the firs and evergreens surrounding my own house and barn are heavy with snow. There is something breathtakingly spectacular about a rural snowfall. On winter nights like this, I almost always find serenity in the peaceful countryside, the smell of the cedar smoke from my neighbors' wood stoves and the silent majesty of lightly falling snow captured in the headlights of my truck as I drive to work. But since the stuff is all over the road, my goddam truck is now stuck fender-deep in a drainage ditch full of cow shit across the road from a stinking dairy farm and I just walked five miles back to my house through this cold, wet crap with every mangy-assed farm dog on that miserable road yapping at me, I am not a happy son of a bitch tonight. So there won’t be an update tonight. I’m going to break out some scotch and listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Bucky Pizarelli while I sit by the fireplace. Tomorrow I’ll call one of my farmer neighbors and borrow a tractor to pull my truck out of the muck, so there might not be an update for a couple of days. Happy New Year to all of you.

War News for December 30, 2003 Bring ‘em on: Explosion reported in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed in Baghdad. One Iraqi killed, two wounded, including local translator working for US troops. Bring 'em on: Ambush destroys US military vehicle near Fallujah. Bring 'em on: US soldiers attacked in Mosul. CENTCOM reports a US soldier died from illness near Beiji. Analysis: Field-grade Marine officer says it's time to change tactics in Iraq. "But for every reported military success there are also reports of Sunni Iraqis who are angered by tactics like knocking down doors of houses and shops, demolishing buildings, flattening fruit groves, firing artillery in civilian neighborhoods and isolating large segments of the population with barbed wire fences. Whatever the short-term tactical success of these techniques, they present several problems in America's long-term effort to win support of the Iraqi people." Defense Department suspends reconstruction contracting as corruption scandal grows. Gasoline shortages in Iraq. “The gasoline shortage has been acute in recent weeks, producing long lines of cars at gas stations and undermining confidence in an American-led occupation that is struggling to satisfy basic fuel demands nearly nine months after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled.” As of December 26, 2003, the CPA held 8,732 Iraqi detainees. Report from Karbala. German journalist comments on Bush’s War. “I think the window of opportunity for the creation of a new democratic culture is already closed. Now, you have tribal leaderships trying to play a role, the religious leaders and different sects are coming into the game, and everybody is trying to get a slice of the power. It now seems that Washington is not interested in genuine democracy and has abandoned plans for an early democratic programme, because it fears that most Iraqis will vote for the departure of the Americans.” Interview with Maj. Gen. Eaton. Weekly report from Iraqi Pipeline Watch. Wisconsin Guardsmen at Baghdad orphanage. “Lt. Sheree Gunderson, 26, held Mustafa, who has Down syndrome, while keeping an eye on Omar as he rolled around on the carpet. ‘These two are my boys. This one is sick today, otherwise he's so much fun,’ Gunderson said of Mustafa, who sleepily leaned his head against her neck. ‘I usually make my rounds (with other children) and spoil my two favorites.’” Analysis: The new year for Iraq. “Having found Saddam Hussein if not his weapons of mass destruction, America will focus in the coming year on curbing the insurgency and building an Iraqi government stable and democratic enough to declare the controversial war a success.” Powerful NYT story about a wounded soldier and his family. Crony colonialism in action. Is this kid the best qualified candidate for the job or just the best connected? Casualty Reports Local story: Illinois soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Washington State soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Three Connecticut Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Mississippi soldier injured in Iraq. Fisher House provides plane tickets for families of wounded soldiers to visit Walter Reed AMC.

War News for December 29, 2003 Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed by roadside bomb ambush in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Assassination attempt in Arbil wounds one, kills three Kurds. Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers wounded, three Iraqis killed in Mosul firefight. Bring 'em on: US troops under RPG fire in Mosul; roadside bomb defused. Karbala transformed by latest insurgent offensive. “Iraqi policemen stand watch in 24-hour shifts at government buildings and carry AK-47's when attending the funerals of their colleagues. The Polish military has imposed a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Bulgarian soldiers have set up roadblocks and checkpoints around the city.” Report from Mosul. The US detention system in Iraq. “Every day, hundreds of Iraqis crowd U.S. centres and the offices of human rights groups desperately looking for clues to the whereabouts of missing relatives…U.S. army officers blame much of the problem on bad communication and the difficulty of transliterating Arabic names. ‘Every time you put a different spelling in the computer, there's a mix-up,’ said Maj. Hector Flores, who deals with prisoners' issues.” With $87 billion available, you’d think the CPA could find the resources necessary to un-fuck this kind of problem. Aside from the Iraqi public opinion dividends this would reap, how the hell does the CPA keep records and resolve identified security risks within the detention system? An accurate account of life in the field at the infantry platoon level. “A soldier's world is heaped on and around his cot: sleeping bag, high-laced desert boots, rucksack, body armor, care packages from home brimming with magazines, cookies, and Grandma's fudge. Candy wrappers, empty plastic water bottles and, of course, caked mud litter the damp asphalt floor. Black-steel M-4 or M-16 semiautomatic assault rifles lie at the foot of each cot. Makeshift clotheslines crisscross the tent, holding T-shirts, socks and towels that never seem to dry in the dank air. Latrines are outside. Soldiers know to bring their own toilet paper, a precious commodity here.” Poll of military personnel says Army is stretched too thin. If anybody knows where I can find the full text of the article from Military Times, please let me know. Stop-Loss Policy: "Other edicts have been more sweeping, such as the Army's most recent stop-loss order, issued Nov. 13, covering thousands of active-duty soldiers whose units are scheduled for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months. Because the stop-loss order begins 90 days before deployment and lasts for 90 days after a return home, those troops will be prohibited from retiring or leaving the Army at the expiration of their contracts until the spring of 2005, at the earliest. The proliferation of stop-loss orders has bred confusion and resentment even as it has helped preserve what the military calls 'unit cohesion.' In the past two years, the Army alone has announced 11 stop-loss orders -- an average of one every nine or 10 weeks." No soldiers are left behind. Lieutenant AWOL just doesn't want anybody to see them come home. Iraqi trade ministry investigates corruption in Bremer’s CPA. “Mr Allawi says he has discovered that a $US80 million contract for wooden doors has been manipulated, and up to one-third of the money has been stolen.” No oversight on contracts, spending at Bremer’s CPA. Mona Charen supports the troops. "Time magazine has chosen the American soldier as its Person of the Year. Ha! Meaning no disrespect at all to the world's finest fighting force, I have a feeling that the excellence of our men at arms had little to do with this decision." Mona wants to emphasize that she will "bow to no one in my admiration for the U.S. military" except when shamelessly kissing the ass of an AWOL lieutenant and exploiting American soldiers to score political points. Last week I posted Kathleen Parker's contemptible hatchet job on PFC Lynch. Parker had her panties in a twist, hysterically questioning both PFC Lynch's personal courage and soldierly fitness. "What the hell was Jessica Lynch doing in the U.S. Army?" Parker shrieked. Let me remind Ms. Parker - since she seems to have missed it the first time - that PFC Lynch served her country honorably in wartime, fought and was wounded in battle. Serving honorably was something Parker's beloved but booze-sodden Lieutenant AWOL couldn't accomplish even in peacetime. The point behind posting both of these right-wing screeds is to warn that conservatives really have no respect for either soldiers or veterans except when they want to score political points. Had PFC Lynch played ball with the Republican propagandists who tried to exploit her service, you can bet Ms. Parker would be singing a different tune. As Lieutenant AWOL and his bungling minions mismanage the Iraq War into disaster, you can fully expect more hysteria from the prissy Monas and Kathleens as they blame the soldiers who served rather than the conservative chickenhawks they hold so dear. Don't call me Osama. Break out your Kleenex as you read this Halliburton apology piece by noted NYT fiction author Jeff Gerth. Commentary Editorial: The Thinning of the Army: “This is the clearest warning yet that the Bush administration is pushing America's peacetime armed forces toward their limits. Washington will not be able to sustain the mismatch between unrealistic White House ambitions and finite Pentagon means much longer without long-term damage to our military strength. The only solution is for the Bush administration to return to foreign policy sanity, starting with a more cooperative, less vindictive approach to European allies who could help share America's military burdens.” The Bush administration has clearly demonstrated that it is ideologically incapable of a cooperative foreign policy, wholly committed to the destruction of internationalist institutions, and cherishes vindictiveness as both personal virtue and public policy. The only solution for America is to throw Lieutenant AWOL and his entire gang of bungling ideologues out of office in November, and it’s high time the NYT editorial board realized that painful reality. Reader Navy Wife sounds off: "As far as asking returning soldiers to pick up very expensive last minute tickets to fly across the country, what more would anyone expect from this administration? They don't have the courtesy to meet any 'transfer tubes' returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, they expect reservists to do 18 month tours (starting when boots hit ground) and then don't let their families enroll in TriCare (military health care plan), try to limit combat pay, spend 9 months bickering about who gets awarded the Global War on Terrorism ("GWOT") Expeditionary and Service Medals and then question why service members need medals or ribbons anyways, and tell military families that the DoD is studying shutting down all of the DoD schools on American and foreign bases, and for good measure, some of the commissaries and exchanges, too." From yesterday's Comments. Opinion: Recognition for the US soldier. "To those we owe so much we pay so little that the spouses and children of volunteer enlisted soldiers sometimes have no choice but to seek public welfare. They exist in shabby trailer parks on the outskirts of places like Ft. Hood and Ft. Riley and Ft. Stewart while their loved ones soldier in some foreign country for months, if not years. We should be ashamed." Eat my crusty GI skivvies, Mona Charon. Editorial: " Time decided to pay tribute to the character, history and bravery of the men and women who make up our armed forces. It's a well-deserved honor, regardless of how a person stands on the war in Iraq." Casualty Reports Local story: California soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Kentucky soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Vermont soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee soldier wounded in Iraq. Awards and Decorations Local story: Ohio sailor decorated for valor. Local story: Tennessee soldier posthumously decorated for valor.

War News for December 28, 2003 Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, five wounded by roadside bomb ambush in Baghdad. Comprehensive after-action report of yesterday's carnage in Karbala. Two Thai soldiers, four Bulgarian soldiers, seven Iraqi police officers killed, thirty-seven soldiers, including five Americans wounded, in a very skillfully executed attack. Iraqi insurgency having significant impact on CPA and military planning. Long WaPo article well worth reading. It seems that many of the "senior officials" are conveniently blaming the insurgency for the failure of their unrealistic plans such as wholesale privatization and an unworkable scheme to end food rationing. Now read the next article from the LA Times. Do the Bushies even have a realistic plan? The administration's only objectives are to get the bad news from Iraq off the TV before the elections and prevent a total collapse of the CPA until January 2005. "A failure to make the deadline or the continuation of an unelected government would be a setback for the Bush administration, and not merely in terms of its election-year image. It probably would deter the United Nations from becoming more active in Iraq and would fuel suspicion in the Arab world that the U.S. is reluctant to cede power." Read this article and decide if they are planning for anything else. US casualties in Iraq. "The number of US service members killed and wounded in Iraq has more than doubled in the past four months compared with the four months preceding them, according to Pentagon statistics… 'The rate of casualties over the last four months is an indication that the insurgents are getting better organized,' said retired Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Krepinevich, director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. 'The insurgents have been encouraged by the fact that they have had some success.'" CPA puts $1 million bounties on each of the 12 last remaining Baathists, and $10 million on al-Douri. What makes Bremer so confident capturing these people will end the insurgency? Or is this another public-relations stunt to show the US audience that the CPA is making progress? Pop music in Iraq. "Hashim is part of a new and growing group of Iraqi singers whose anti-Western lyrics are raw with hate. In one number in his latest collection, Hashim urges listeners to: 'Carry your weapons and kick the heretic people out of your land. The people of Fallujah are like wolves when they attack the enemy.'" Revenge killings in Iraq. AP votes Bush's War as top story of 2003. The obvious question is why isn't the US media covering this war if it's such a top story? The media barely covers the breaking news items, such as the daily mayhem inflicted on US troops and Iraqi civilians, and devotes almost no coverage to the administration's repeated policy failures. We've seen three distinct, major insurgent offensives since the beginning of the occupation, and the US media continues to parrot the Bushie line that "dead-enders" and "foreign fighters" are the sole cause of the insurgency. If I could nominate a top story for 2003, I'd name the death of the American press in the obituary catagory. Iowa town hosts pancake breakfast to help pay for two local soldiers' airfare home from Iraq. "The $600 raised will help defray Stutenberg’s and Christner’s traveling expenses while on a 15-day leave. They enlisted in the National Guard while attending Pleasant Valley High School. They could be home by late January or February depending on when their leaves are approved." Iraq is a bonanza for private security companies. "Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has sunk into what the United States has characterised as 'low intensity warfare' carried out by 'desperate' former regime loyalists and 'foreign terrorists'. Private security firms jumped in, turning the country into a magnet for veterans of guerrilla wars in Africa, Latin America and Northern Ireland and cops who worked America's meanest streets. And all of them are mainly motivated by cold hard cash." Commentary Opinion: Out the Door in '04. "I have been convinced for a long time that George Bush, as did his father, will do himself out of a second term. He is considerably worse as president than his father was. He doesn't have sense enough to stop his war, unlike his father, who stopped his in plenty of time for the voters to think of other reasons to vote against him. I see no signs of W's serious interest in stopping anything about it except TV cameras filming the unloading of the body bags." Casualty Reports Local story: Oregon soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Wisconsin soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Two Michigan soldiers killed, one wounded in Iraq. Local story: Montana soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama soldier killed in Iraq.

War News for December 27, 2003 Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Ad-Dulleieya. Bring 'em on: US patrol ambushed with RPG and small arms fire in Mosul. Four Iraqis killed. Bring 'em on: Five US soldiers wounded in convoy ambush near Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Iraqi police station under missile attack near Karbala. Bring 'em on: Insurgents bomb fuel depot near Baghdad. Bring 'em on: One US soldier wounded in convoy ambush near Habaniyah. Bring 'em on: Gunfight and grenades at funereal of slain tribal chief in Mosul. (Last paragraph.) Bring 'em on: Two Iraqi insurgents killed by premature bomb explosion near Beiji. Bring 'em on: Car bomb kills four, wounds 60 Iraqis at Karbala university campus. Bring 'em on: Twenty Coalition casualties reported in coordinated mortar and small arms attacks at two Coalition installations in Karbala. Bring 'em on: Four Bulgarian soldiers killed in mortar attack in southern Iraq. Bring 'em on: Five US soldiers wounded by car bomb in Karbala. CENTCOM reports one US soldier killed in Baghdad vehicle accident. CENTCOM changes default display on casualty page to reflect only the last day's casualties. Iraqi interim foreign minister wants early sovereignty; Sunni cleric vows to increase resistance. Analysis: The costs and consequences of Bush's folly. Home of suspected insurgent destroyed in Khaldiyah. Insurgents find safe haven among an angry Iraqi population. When did the US Army start decorating journalists? Evangelical fundies bring the Bible to Iraq. "Organising in secrecy, and emphasising their humanitarian aid work, Christian groups are pouring into the country, which is 97 per cent Muslim, bearing Arabic Bibles, videos and religious tracts designed to 'save' Muslims from their 'false' religion…The US Agency for International Development has said that the government cannot rein in private charities. 'Imagine what the US Congress would say to us,' said a spokesman in April." Elmer Gantry and F-16 strikes. Now that's what I call Bible-thumping! Commentary Annual Cheers and Jeers. "CHEERS, of course, to Time Magazine's person of the year - the U.S. soldier. .. JEERS, JEERS and more JEERS to the Bush administration, though, for: Misleading the public about supposed imminent danger posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. ... Not just disagreeing with traditional allies, especially France and Germany, but being downright antagonistic for their reluctance to invade Iraq. ... Underestimating the resources needed to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. ... Suggesting that any war critics were by definition unpatriotic. ... Dropping the ball in rebuilding Afghanistan and reforming its government." Editorial: America no safer today than one year ago. "President Bush began 2003 determined to have the U.S. invade Iraq. And, despite the best efforts of tens of millions of people around the planet, he got his wish…By removing Saddam without a plan for what would come after his grip on the country was loosened, the Bush administration destabilized a country that sits at the crossroads of the Middle East. The administration also created the very real prospect that Iraq will now become a haven for remnants of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and related terrorist networks." Casualty Reports Local story: Arizona soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Colorado soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Florida soldier wounded in Iraq.

War News for December 25 and 26. 2003 Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers killed, four wounded in mortar attack near Baquba. Bring 'em on: Multiple mortar and rocket attacks reported in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Baquba. Bring 'em on: Two Polish soldiers wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Mahwil. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed attempting to defuse roadside bomb near Baquba. Bring 'em on: Three US soldiers wounded in convoy ambush near Mosul. Bring 'em on: CENTCOM reports one US soldiers killed by IED in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Tribal leader assassinated near Mosul. Bring 'em on: Mortar attacks continue on CPA compound in central Baghdad. CENTCOM reports one US soldier electrocuted in accident near Kirkuk. Illinois Guardsmen mobbed in Iraq. "'They had our convey caught in this lane. Must have been 500 people out there, cutting the fuel lines on our trucks taking anything they could. Then the Iraqi police came out and started shooting up into the air, that moved the crowd pretty good,' said specialist Sean Walsh, Illinois National Guard." Casualty Reports Local story: South Dakota soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: South Dakota DoD civilian wounded in Iraq. Local story: Wisconsin soldier killed in Iraq.

No update today. Merry Christmas to all.

War News for December 24, 2003 Bring 'em on: CENTCOM reports three US soldiers killed by roadside bomb near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Suicide bomb kills four in Arbil. Bring ‘em on: US convoy attacked with small arms fire in Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi CDC member killed in action in Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Attempted assassination of aid to Iraqi minister in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi security guard wounded in Mosul during ambush of US military convoy. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi killed, two wounded by landmine in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting reported in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Baghdad Sheraton mortared, firefight ensues. Ethnic fighting between Arab and Kurdish Iraqis reported in Kirkuk. Bottom line on Iraqi reconstruction. “With most of Iraq suffering from power interruptions lasting an average of 16 hours daily, it's a little hard to party in the dark. How many US soldiers does it take to change a light bulb? About 130,000 so far, but don't hold your breath.” Hey, don't blame the troops for this fiasco - Bremer's CPA and the Bush administration are the people who are screwing the pooch on Iraq reconstruction policy. The troops are just trying to hold its head. Casualty Reports Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Montana soldier killed in Iraq.

War News for December 23, 2003 Bring ‘em on: Iraqi judge assassinated in Mosul. Bring ‘em on: US soldier killed by roadside bomb ambush near Balad. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported in central Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Four US soldiers wounded in ambush near Ramadi. Bring 'em on: US soldier wounded in drive-by shooting in Mosul. Bring 'em on: US troops under mortar fire near Samarra. Bring 'em on: US patrol ambushed near Samarra. (Last paragraph.) Bring 'em on: Thai soldier wounded by land mine near Karbala. Iraqi students riot over presence of US troops in Diyalah. Tale of Saddam’s capture more fiction than fact. "'Time' also quotes a U.S. intelligence official as saying some officials suspect the 'President Bush sends his regards' incident is 'apocryphal,' or fictitious." Is there anything the Bushies won't lie about? Halliburton claims political pressure forced them to gouge the US Army. Doesn’t the Bush family have extensive oil investments in Kuwait? Polish soldier killed by accidental weapons discharge near Karbala. Dangers for Iraqi police. More “Support the Troops” hypocrisy from Rummy. “The Pentagon is considering closing some or all of the more than 50 schools it operates on military bases in the United States — a move that could mean major changes at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, which have military high schools.” Hey, we all gotta pay for Lieutenant AWOL’s tax cuts! Bush’s Confederacy of Cons. “Most analysts have identified three main components to the coalition behind President George W Bush's aggressive foreign policy: right-wing militarists, of whom Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the exemplar; neo-conservatives, led by former Defense Policy Board (DPB) chairman Richard Perle, whose world view is similar to that of Israel's Likud Party; and Christian Right forces whose leaders are influential with Bush's political guru, Karl Rove.” Wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. Insurgency report. “In the heart of the ‘Sunni Triangle’, Saddam's capture last week by the Americans has done little to dampen the will to fight among fellow Sunni Muslims, angered by foreign occupation and at losing their once dominant minority position in society.” General Zinni tears a piece off Lieutenant AWOL and the Chickenhawk Commandos. "The more he listened to Wolfowitz and other administration officials talk about Iraq, the more Zinni became convinced that interventionist "neoconservative" ideologues were plunging the nation into a war in a part of the world they didn't understand. 'The more I saw, the more I thought that this was the product of the neocons who didn't understand the region and were going to create havoc there. These were dilettantes from Washington think tanks who never had an idea that worked on the ground.'" Read the comments of this Marine officer and former CENTCOM commander, and you'll realize how much trouble these conservative fools have caused for America. Casualty Reports Local story: Montana soldiers wounded in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Minnesota soldier wounded in Iraq. Off Topic Merry Christmas, Lard-Ass.

War News for December 22, 2003 Draft Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers killed, two wounded in Baghdad ambush. Bring ‘em on: Oil facilities in Kirkuk mortared. Bring ‘em on: US convoy attacked with RPG fire in Mosul. (Last paragraph.) Bring ‘em on: US troops ambushed by roadside bomb near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Plot to blow up five-million liter fuel reservoir in Kirkuk discovered. Tensions between Sunni and Shi’ite communities increasing. Iraqi Kurds demonstrate in Kirkuk for autonomous Kurdish region. US troops accidentally kill Iraqi woman during raid. Who the hell is in charge around here? “But the contract proposals, which were to be released for bids Dec. 3, are being held up by an apparent turf battle between the U.S. departments of Defense and State.” Sabotage exacerbates fuel shortage. Just last week the CPA was cheerfully telling reporters that the fuel shortage was caused by all the new cars being imported and sold in a country with a shattered economy, no domestic banking system and one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Worse, the American media patriotically reported that absurd story as fact. More insurgent attacks expected during holidays. Wounded Marines recover at Camp Pendleton clinic. Commentary Editorial: Weapons of mass destruction are still important. Idiot Watch Cheney raises campaign cash for Nethercutt. Casualty Reports Local story: Western Pennsylvania newspaper remembers local KIAs. Local story: Wisconsin MP company awarded 20 Purple Heart medals.

War News for December 21, 2003 Bring 'em on: "A number" of US soldiers wounded in Baghdad demonstrations. Bring 'em on: RPG attacks on pipeline and oil storage facility in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Four oil pipelines ablaze between Tikrit and Mosul. Bring 'em on: CENTCOM reports US troops from 3d Brigade, 82d Airborne attacked by small arms and RPG fire. Bring 'em on: US convoy attacked with RPG fire in Mosul. Capture of Saddam Hussein has left Arab world divided and dangerous. "The fact that the first attack against the American forces in the Gulf after the capture of Saddam took place in Kuwait, not Iraq, is seen by Arab analysts as an indication of the deep resentment against American policy in the area. Contrary to Tony Blair’s statement said last Sunday, the capture of Saddam Hussein is unlikely to be the beginning of the end in Iraq." Internal conflicts increasing since capture of Saddam Hussein. Kurds say they captured Saddam. More on Bechtel and Iraqi schools. "Under the contract from the US Agency for International Development, Bechtel renovated 1,239 schools for a total of about $48 million, about $38,000 per school. Thor Christiansen, who oversaw school reconstruction for Bechtel, did not give an exact breakdown on how the money was spent on each school. But he said materials and salaries for 10 expatriates who oversaw the work of the Iraqi subcontractors accounted for the bulk." - snip - "Two months after the work was finished, students were getting locked into classrooms when new door handles broke. Toilets were overflowing because sewer systems weren't cleaned properly. Children couldn't wash their hands, because handles on new water taps had snapped off. Desks and chalkboards, already in short supply, were in the trash heap after painters had used them as makeshift stepladders. Laborers had carted off working ceiling fans and sturdy doors, and installed cheap replacements, teachers and principals said." Army reinstates combat zone bonus to improve retention. "Army officials believe those fence-sitters are the reason the Army is about 12 percent behind on its first-quarter 2004 re-enlistment target, or about 2,000 fewer soldiers than the Army hoped to re-up between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31." More sounding off about Operation Jive Turkey: " What caught my attention was that our two top medical military leaders were unable to visit base hospitals in Iraq because President Bush’s Thanksgiving visit 'made it difficult to get clearance.'… At some point in his presidency, Bush must forgo his manic desire to grandstand with soldiers for his own self-aggrandizement." (Third letter. Fifth letter is a bonus - the end of a whining lieutenant's brilliant career.) Commentary Opinion: Saddam's capture won't help US win Arab hearts and minds. "If President Bush were serious about ending anti-U.S. terrorism, he would seek to counteract that resentment. He would ask his Defense Policy Board how to improve the perception of the United States in the Middle East. Changes in U.S. policy in the region would be required." Casualty Reports Local story: Arkansas soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama soldier wounded in Iraq.

War News for December 20, 2003 Bring 'em on: Iraqi police kill insurgents planting roadside bombs near Kirkuk. Bring 'em on: Assassination attempt against former Ba'athist reported in Najaf. Bring 'em on: Iraqi guard shot at UN office in Mosul. Poles impose curfew in Karbala. US troops mistakenly shoot three Iraqi police near Salman Pak. IGC mired in corruption and cronyism. "'Here we have some people who see an opportunity to become rich overnight and they see it's a free-for-all,' said Sam Kubba, a Virginia architect who heads the American-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce and recently returned from Baghdad. 'It just takes one rotten apple to make the whole basket rot and the unfortunate thing is that the CPA has done nothing to quench it.'" Corruption and cronyism are the hallmarks of Lieutenant AWOL's administration, too. More on Iraqi reaction to CPA gasoline rationing. Libya says it will abandon WMD programs and allow unconditional access for UN inspectors. Lieutenant AWOL claims success. But on October 1, 2002, Iraq allowed unconditional access for UN weapons inspectors, and Lieutenant AWOL called it failure. Bremer "not targeted" in ambush, says CPA spokesman. Let's see, so far we've had insurgents fire SAMS at military aircraft when Rummy visited, shoot Katyushas at Wolfie's hotel, and mortar Jack Straw. If this is all random coincidence, the insurgency is much, much worse than the Bushies are admitting. This is how conservatives support our troops. The sorry state of the American media. "Is there no dividing line between the `Bushies' and the US media?" Commentary Opinion: Winning and losing. " Such is the bind that the Bush Administration has led us into in Iraq. Appalling, intolerable—in all senses, maddening—as the terrorist tactics of the Iraqi insurgents may be, their truck bombs, donkey-cart missile launchers, and sniper rifles are tactical political instruments that have steadily and systematically succeeded in isolating American forces in Iraq. They have effectively driven the United Nations, the international staff of the Red Cross, and other aid groups from the country, and—more disastrously—they have fostered a mutual sense of alienation between the American forces and the Iraqi people they are supposed to be liberating. Triumphalist pronouncements from Washington notwithstanding, our occupying forces are now clearly on the defensive. And the more aggressive their defense becomes, the more it serves the insurgents’ purposes. " Casualty Reports Local story: Indiana soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Montana soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Georgia soldier killed in Iraq. Awards Local story: Pennsylvania soldier decorated for valor.

War News for December 19, 2003 Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Abu Ghraib. Bring 'em on: CENTCOM reports an average of 25 attacks daily on US military and Iraqi police. Bring 'em on: Bremer gets the Wolfie treatment in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Shi'ite party offices bombed in Baghdad. CENTCOM reports one US soldier killed, two injured in vehicle accident near Balad. At least 260 Iraqi police killed since end of major combat. Rummy approves additional troop deployments to Iraq. "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved the deployment of an extra brigade of the elite 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq in January and extended that of another brigade to maintain combat power as other forces are being swapped out, senior US defense officials said." News Analysis: US media circulates Bush's lies. "The latest chapter unfolded this week with wide publicity -- capped by a favorable mention in a William Safire column in The New York Times on Monday and the usual hosannas on Fox News -- concerning a supposed document that linked 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta to Saddam Hussein." Commentary Opinion: Saddam's fate doesn't justify Bush's War. "...This whole business of attack now, pick a justification later, squanders American prestige and undermines American moral authority. As does the tendency on the part of the nation and its leaders to claim Iraq as part of the ''War on Terrorism,'' though there is, as of yet, no proven connection between Saddam Hussein and the events of Sept. 11." Casualty Reports Local story: Georgia soldier killed in Iraq.

War News for December 18, 2003 Bring 'em on: US soldier killed, one soldier and Iraqi civilian wounded in Baghdad ambush. Bring 'em on: Shi'ite leader assassinated in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Shi'ite mob kills former Baathist near Najaf. Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers wounded in RPG attack in central Mosul. Bring 'em on: One US soldier wounded in mortar attack in Mosul. Bring 'em on: US convoy ambushed near Kirkuk. Bring 'em on: US troops under fire in Tikrit. "...shootings that Staff Sergeant John Minzer described as 'a dime a dozen.'" CPA tightens gasoline rationing. White House scrubs website to revise history. "After the insurrection in Iraq proved more stubborn than expected, the White House edited the original headline on its Web site of President Bush's May 1 speech, "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended," to insert the word 'Major' before combat." Bremer's CPA botched the information war. "Rather than complaining about an anti-US and pro-Hussein bias in reporting from established Arab broadcasters like Al Jazeera, analysts say, the US should have been more aggressive in building its own network. 'This should have been done sooner and better,' said Gary Sick, senior research scholar at Columbia University. 'It's a good idea, as most people in the Middle East don't have a sophisticated understanding of what democracy is all about. But it sounds odd coming eight months into the occupation.'" Actually, it has been clear since the beginning of Bush's War that the information warfare component of the campaign has been focused exclusively on hoodwinking the American electorate than on influencing Iraqi public opinion. Reconstruction in shambles; Bremer wants another 1,000 "administrators." "The recent request by L. Paul Bremer, which is being fiercely debated by the president's aides, underscores growing alarm in some sectors of the government that Bush's exit strategy for Iraq is in trouble." Baker's debt deal may not work for the Bushies. "Iraq will need an internationally recognised leadership to sign a debt relief deal with the Paris Club group of creditor states, Paris Club President Jean-Pierre Jouyet said on Thursday." Putin says Bush's War was "unjustified." Analysis: Lieutenant AWOL again revises the rationale or war. David Kay may leave ISG empty handed. Commentary Opinion: The war goes on for a battered Army. "So, yes, Saddam's in the cage he so richly deserves. We'll be getting to know him rather well at his trial. But he's no longer the enemy. And this venture has weakened us far more, and for far longer, than we care to admit." Opinion: If the US "loses" in Iraq, it'll be thanks to Rummy and Bremer. "If it goes south it will be due to the extraordinary interagency bickering, bureaucratic constipation, self-imposed isolation and misguided personnel policies of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that runs civil administration and nation-building in a place where everything is broken...Eight months were lost while the original mistakes were compounded. One of Bremer's first actions was to dissolve the Iraqi army, offering no hope to a bunch of newly unemployed soldiers, armed, trained and angry. An Iraqi Governing Council was installed without sufficient representation of the Sunni Arab minority, a quarter of Iraq's 24 million people. The false impression that the Sunni members of Saddam's Baath Party would be purged from public life down to the last member took hold because the CPA's strategic communications plan to communicate with the Iraqi people was broken. It remains broken. Meantime, the CPA took on administrators and officials who serve only 90 days in Iraq before rotating home, severely limiting their ability to make three-month tours while American soldiers do a year." Opinion: Even conservative traitor Robert Novak, the right-wing press flunky who aided and abetted the White House conspiracy to reveal the identity of an American CIA agent, says Bremer's CPA is a mess. "The Bush administration has spent a lot of time saying how well things have gone in Iraq, contending the happy truth has been obscured by negative news media coverage. This is privately described by officials as the 'smoke and mirrors' technique." By the way, has Lieutenant AWOL made any progress on identifying the traitor in the White House who commited a grave breach of national security? Opinion: Christmas came early for Lieutenant AWOL. Enjoy it while you can, Lieutenant AWOL, because you're still a miserable failure.

War News for December 17, 2003 Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, nine wounded in bomb ambush near Mosul. Bring 'em on: One Iraqi policeman killed, one wounded during riots in Mosul. Bring 'em on: More oil pipeline attacks reported. Bring 'em on: Roadside bomb kills 17 Iraqis in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Rocket attack on US supply train near Fallujah. (Last paragraph.) US troops begin counter-insurgency operation in Samarra. Iraqis blame US for insurgency violence. Lieutenant AWOL focuses Iraq propaganda campaign against US electorate. The Year of The War Reporter. Actually, this is more of a criticism of American media failure than self-congratulation. Lieutenant AWOL says Saddam should die. Do you ever get the impression that when he talks about killing people Bush gets a stiffy? Commentary Editorial: Little Red Hen lays an egg. Cartoon: Tony Auth. Opinion: Saddam's capture was good thing. "But it won't end the insurgency. It won't deliver stable government to Iraq. It will not turn America's Iraq commitment from a vote loser into a vote winner for George Bush. And with these issues still unresolved, Saddam's capture will not answer the big question of 2003 - was the invasion a good idea?" Casualty Reports Local story: Oregon soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: North Dakota soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Georgia soldier killed in Iraq.

War News for December 16, 2003 Bring 'em on: Three US soldiers wounded by roadside bomb near Tikrit. Bring 'em on: US soldier wounded in ambush near Fallujah. Bring 'em on: US soldier wounded, two Iraqis killed during riots in Ramadi. Bring 'em on: Eleven Iraqis killed during ambush of US troops in Samarra. CENTCOM report of this incident. Bring 'em on: US patrol ambushed near Ramadi. (Last paragraph.) CENTCOM reports one US soldier died in a vehicle accident near al Asad. But this news report, which quotes a US military sopkeswoman, makes it clear this was more than an "accident." CENTCOM reports one US soldier died from a "non-hostile gunshot wound." Revenge of the exiles. Analysis: Insurgent leadership remains at large. US troops expected to remain in Iraq for “a couple of more years.” Halliburton gets another no-bid contract. "To avoid having to put the work out to tender, the contract is being funded from the Development Fund for Iraq." Analysis: A Bush family feud. Kinda like Freddo settling old family business. Lieutenant AWOL abandons “no-gloat” policy. Down at the VFW, some veterans aren’t joining the Bush gloat-fest. “One Vietnam War veteran from Brattleboro, whose 37-year-old son is currently serving in Iraq, called President Bush a ‘coward’ and a ‘playboy.’ ‘He was AWOL during Vietnam but he has no problem sending our sons and daughters into war,’ said the man, who asked to remain anonymous. ‘He's not a good leader.’” The view in Iraq. "We've just been up the street to film some television, the queues are still there at the petrol stations, people are still queuing for gas, the American soldiers are still patrolling the streets, the resentment about the occupation is obvious from people you talk to on the streets. Saddam is captured but really nothing has changed." I guess they don't get FOX News in Baghdad. Violating our own trade agreements. "The contrast between the Bush administration's free-trade rhetoric and its Iraq bid policy is fueling perceptions that the U.S. is an unreliable partner willing to undermine its international obligations. And the mushrooming ill will could lead to retaliation against U.S. firms abroad and make it tougher to resolve thorny trade disputes." Does anybody in the Bush administration know what they're doing? Commentary Opinion: Saddam Hussein is not Osama bin Laden. “Despite an overwhelming paucity of evidence to support himself, President Bush has been disturbingly successful at hoodwinking the American public into believing that Saddam Hussein was somehow connected with the murderous assault on Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.” Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: South Carolina soldier died in Iraq. Local story: Missouri soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. Army changes status of Ohio soldier listed as "missing" after vehicle accident to "killed."

War News for December 15, 2003 Bring ‘em on: US soldier killed while disarming roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Four US soldiers wounded in two separate ambushes in Kuwait. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi policemen wounded by car bombing in western Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Eight Iraqi policemen killed in suicide bombing in Husseiniyah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier wounded in bomb ambush at “undisclosed location” in Iraq. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed near Tikrit. Bring 'em on: Police station attacked with small arms, RPGs in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Uprising reported in Fallujah. Analysis: Lieutenant AWOL’s obsession with Saddam Hussein. Saddam’s capture may have little effect on insurgency. More here, and here. Capture cuts both ways. "So this arrest cuts both ways - many Iraqis who feared that Saddam would return to power might now be more willing to be seen to be helping the occupation; equally, as a Baghdad businessman, Faris Al-Hadi, put it, there are many Iraqis who support the resistance, but who were not prepared to help it while Saddam was on the run, lest they be seen to be supporting the former dictator." Report from Fallujah. Cheers to jeers in Iraq. "'It's great that he's caught, but it wasn't him who screwed up the petrol and the electricity and everything else so badly, so now a canister of gas that was 250 dinars costs 4,000, if you can get one,' said Ghazi, a 52-year-old dentist, from his car as he queued with hundreds of other drivers waiting for petrol." Commentary Opinion: Partitioning Iraq would exacerbate Bush’s blunders. Opinion: From Thanksgiving to December 14, 2003. Casualty Reports Local story: Indiana soldier killed in Iraq. Rant of the Day The media has been treating the capture of Saddam Hussien like it’s VE Day. I’ve been following this war every day for the last seven months, and I’m a trained and experienced tactical analyst. I don’t see every spot report or intelligence summary; in fact, all I see are the press reports I find on the web. In the last seven days ending Saturday, there were an average of 21 attacks on US troops every day - and that doesn’t count attacks on Iraqi police the US command knows about and it damn sure doesn’t include the clandestine insurgent surveillance, logisitcs and communications functions we don’t know about but are still happening. There were four suicide bombings directed at US facilities last week. Every one was directed against a high-payoff target: a US division headquarters or a troop cantonment. All those activities are being coordinated, and the coordination is getting better. The insurgency is spreading. During Ramadan, there were an average of 35 attacks every day against US troops. That was quite an accomplishment from a tactical point of view. The ambushes are got much more sophisticated. Somebody coordinated all that activity; somebody recruits, somebody else runs supply, some other yahoo arranges target surveillance, and somebody’s in charge. If you bring me Saddam Hussein, an ADC or maybe his operations officer, and a shitload of communications gear I’d say you got something important. Bring me Saddam Hussein in his dirty pajamas, needing a bath and a shave, and I’d say you ain’t got shit because you just confirmed that the “dead-enders” aren’t important anymore. Worse, Saddam Hussein ran that country for 23 years. No dissent was tolerated. Iraqis remember what happened in 1991 when people rose up. I’d say that as long as Saddam remained uncaptured, he remained an implicit threat to any Iraqi who might want to rise up again. People feared him even while he was hiding. I doubt anybody fears L. Paul Bremer in the same way. I think in the next 30 days we may see the beginnings of a real civil war. Maybe for Lieutenant AWOL’s main priority - his precious political ass - that’s good. Now he can cut and run, handing over control to the IGC and calling it success. But it’s going to be a withdrawal like the British withdrew from Palestine in 1948 or the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. Company commanders and platoon leaders in Mosul, Sadr City and Najaf are going to hand over the firebase gate keys to the local warlord and hope they don’t get shot up too bad while they haul ass for the nearest aerial POE. But for the rest of us it’s going to suck. I hope I’m wrong, but I think we’re going to long rue the day we ever let Lieutenant AWOL change the regime in Iraq. As for the story of the capture, it’s really starting to smell funny. I really wish our press would start to ask questions instead of just parroting a story from an administration that has a long and established pattern of scripting, embellishing and lying.

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.

War News for December 13, 2003 Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, two wounded in bomb ambush near Ramadi. Bring 'em on: Two Iraqi CDC members killed on patrol near Samarra. Bring 'em on: Pipeline sabotaged near Beiji. Bring 'em on: Roadside bombs defused near US positions in Kirkuk. Bring 'em on: Attacks on US troops averaged 21 per day over the last week. Analysis: Lieutenant AWOL's foreign policy reflects his personal vindictive streak. Soldier pleads guilty to self-inflicted wounding in Iraq. Analysis: Bush's neo-colonialism will only provoke more resistance. "On its own, the privatisation plan, if implemented successfully, would be a disaster for the bulk of Iraqi citizens (as is the case in most of Latin America and central Asia), but the situation here is unique. These 'reforms' are being imposed at tank point. Many Iraqis perceive them as a recolonisation of the country, and they have provoked an effective and methodical resistance. On the military level, the situation continues to deteriorate, thus remaining the source of numerous internal difficulties and sustaining friction and strife within the west." Coalition of the Wobbly: Norway may withdraw troops from Iraq. Rummy seeks better intelligence on Iraqi insurgency. "Despite his optimistic public comments about the success of U.S. forces in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has privately expressed the need for better intelligence on whether Iraqi insurgents are replenishing their ranks faster than they are being killed and captured… Retired Army Col. Andrew J. Bacevich, who teaches strategy and security issues at Boston University, said Rumsfeld is 'right to be concerned. There has never been a time in U.S. military history when, six months into a war, we have known so little about the enemy.'" Clerics criticize US occupation during Friday sermons. More Iraqi soldiers desert. " The first mistake, according to those in charge of the training program, was that the Iraqi soldiers' salaries were too low. Privates earn $70 a month -- about half the amount paid to the people who fill sandbags around the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation authority, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton said. For several months, Eaton has been asking for extra money for the soldiers…Another problem, Eaton said, was that a civilian company was hired to conduct the training rather the military. The $48 million contract was awarded to Vinnell Corp. in the spring, when U.S. forces in Iraq were stretched thin and cutting loose several hundred soldiers to oversee the training would have been difficult." Rebels with a cause. The coming civil war in Iraq. US holds about 10,000 detainees in Iraq. Commentary Editorial: Bush's contracting policy shafts the American taxpayer. Opinion: Neo-ineptitude. "The United States has a mess on its hands in Iraq, and the man who may have done more than anyone else to bring that about shot his own country in the foot yet again this week." The author is correct in his assessment that Wolfie and the neo-cons are a bunch of incompetent screw-ups. But it's clear that the neo-cons are still in their jobs because they're doing a good job as far as Lieutenant AWOL is concerned. A competent President would have shit-canned them all a long time ago. Opinion: Bush's contracting is bad policy. "Not winning reconstruction contracts won’t hurt the people of Germany, France and Canada. But it will thrust most of the burden back on Americans. And it has dealt a serious blow to relations with our allies, on whom we must rely in the war on terror." Opinion: "Lurching from one publicity stunt to the next, the Bush administration's Iraq policy appears to be - to use an old Texas saying - all hat and no cattle." Editorial: Bush's poor diplomacy. "The administration's position on the contracts echoes its disturbing tendency to make unnecessary enemies in a world that now is full of necessary ones. Instead of clinging to, even nurturing, resentment toward Germany, France and Russia about their prewar criticism, the United States had an opportunity to turn the page." Casualty Reports Local story: Indiana soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Idaho soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier missing in Iraq. Home Front Despite three years of miserable failure, Lieutenant AWOL boasts about a "year of accomplishment" in his weekly radio address. Here's the transcript.

War News for December 11 and 12, 2003 Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, 14 wounded by suicide bomber in Ramadi. Bring 'em on: Green Zone mortared in Baghdad. Two US soldiers wounded. Bring 'em on: Two Polish soldiers wounded by roadside bomb ambush near Hilla. Bring 'em on: Two US soldiers, two journalists wounded in ambush in Mosul. Bring 'em on: Iraqi policeman killed by roadside bomb ambush near Baghdad. Saddam Hussein's palace likely choice for new US embassy in Baghdad. Fashion maven and incompetent adminisrator L. Paul Bremer says to expect an increase in anti-US attacks in Iraq. CENTCOM reports US soldier dies of "non-hostile gunshot wound." CENTCOM reports one US soldier drowned, one missing in accident. Almost half of the soldiers in the first New Iraqi Army battalion quit. Cheney's Halliburton gouges American taxpayers on Iraq contracts. Soldiers were pre-screened for Lieutenant AWOL's Operation Jive Turkey. In contrast, when President Clinton visited American troops at Tuzla in 1996, there was no effort made to "screen" the troops. That's the difference between a real President and a phony PX hero like Lieutenant AWOL. Commentary Editorial: Army nurse sounds off about Operation Jive Turkey. "It's too bad Mr. Bush didn't add us to his holiday agenda. The men said the same, but you'll never read that in the paper. Mr. President would rather lift fake turkeys for photo ops, it seems. Maybe because my patients wouldn't make very pleasant photos." Opinion: Christmas for Halliburton. "White House officials, when asked for comment, responded: 'We have a remedy for this situation already in the works. Halliburton will be donating the $128 million to charity. And that will be that. This whole situation just serves to support our recent decision to exclude most of the world from the Iraqi reconstruction contract bidding process. Imagine the problems we would have trying to ride herd on all these other companies from all these other countries. They’re just so many. Halliburton graft and corruption is just the usual American graft and corruption we are all used to. We know what it looks like and smells like. This foreign stuff, phew! We’d all have to go back to school to figure it out.'" Opinion: In this administration the right hand seldom knows what the far-right hand is doing. "Maybe I'm giving Paul Wolfowitz too much credit, but I don't think this was mere incompetence. I think the administration's hard-liners are deliberately sabotaging reconciliation." Casualty Reports Local story: Oregon soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: California soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Oregon soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: California soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Connecticut soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: New Hampshire soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier dies in Iraq.

War news for December 10, 2003 Bring 'em on: US soldier and Kurdish official killed, one US soldier wounded in Mosul drive-by shooting. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, three wounded in bomb ambush near Mosul. Bring 'em on: US C-17 hit by SAM at Baghdad airport. Troop rotations: "By promising troops they could go home after a specific time, the Pentagon may have boxed itself in to a particularly arduous rotation schedule, some military analysts said." "'They're driven by the fact that though they claim this was a war of necessity, it's really a war of choice,' said Lawrence Korb, who was assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration. 'Because it's a war of choice, if they don't get those troops out of there, they are going to cause long-term problems for the U.S. military because they will have horrible re-enlistment rates.'" Major electrical power failures in northern Iraq. US helicoper makes "emergency landing" near Mosul after reported onboard fire. Bremer's CPA tells Iraqi Health Ministry to stop counting civilian dead. Bremer's CPA-controlled Iraqi Oil Ministry imposes gasoline rationing. Bushies exclude non-"coalition" countries from Iraqi reconstruction contracts. Let's be clear about the intent of this decision. Germany, Canada and France are American allies by treaty. These are our friends. The purpose of this exclusion isn't to reward those countries that support the United States, but to punish those that don't support George W. Bush. Job fair in Baghdad, but no jobs. Casualty Reports Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Personal Story: Senator Paul Simon. Last night I heard that Senator Simon died. Today the media is full of stories eulogizing his integrity, honesty and decency in a life dedicated to public service. Those folks write much better than I and they can tell you about his entire life. I can tell you about the one time I met him. It’s a long story so if you’re sick of Senator Simon stories, just skip it. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 1990, Senator Simon came to visit my artillery brigade deployed in Saudi Arabia at a miserable little firebase in the Saudi desert. On the battle maps, the place was designated as “Dragonfire Forward” because of the emblem on the XVIII Airborne Corps shoulder patch, but the troops called it Dragon Farts, Draggin’ Ass, and a lot of other nit-wit names that made us officers wish we had called the place something else. We already knew there would be a war. We had been in Saudi Arabia since late August, first as speed bumps with no ammunition if the Iraqi Army should head down the coastal highway from Kuwait City to the Saudi oilfields, but after a lot of reinforcement, training and supply we were ready to liberate Kuwait. Suddenly, five Senators turned up on the doorstep. I think we had maybe 12 hours notice. There was Simon from Illinois, McCain from Arizona, DeConcini from New Mexico, Cranston from California (our brigade sergeant-major alerted the medics when he got a gander at that geezer climbing out of the chopper) and somebody else whose name escapes me. But in the Army you learn how to deal with visiting politicians and their lookie-louies and react to unexpected fire from the rear. Our crusty-assed NCOs got the entire political entourage safely herded from the helipad to the brigade tactical operations center. In the TOC we officers strutted our stuff. The general gave the command briefing. Brigade commanders explained the details. Staff officers got up crunched the numbers. We baffled them with bullshit. “Good to see you. Here’s the mission; we’ve got it in the bag. There’s the exit, don’t catch your asshole on the tent-peg, and have a nice day Senator. The chopper’s over there. Just follow the nice sergeant.” So here’s where I met Senator Simon. I was his escort officer for two hours. I met him at the chopper. After the command briefing I saluted and introduced myself, “I’m Warrant Officer W... I’m from Chicago. I’m your escort officer. If there’s anything you want to know, I’ll find an answer. If there’s anything you want to see around here, I’ll show you.” He asked to see my tent. I hadn’t anticipated that or I would have cleaned it up to save me the embarrassment. I was embarrassed, because I live like a bum while I’m in the field. I shared a tent with two neat freaks, a major from Corps Artillery and our brigade chaplain. In contrast, my corner looked like shit on a holiday. I was especially embarrassed because I had decorated my corner of the tent with a Christmas wreath I’d fashioned from an MRE box and a green Army sock that said, “Bah, Humbug” in red letters just to piss off the chaplain who was always reminding me that God’s last name is not Dammit. We went to my tent with a couple of his lookie-louies, and on the way met a few soldiers. When they saluted, Senator Simon smiled, shook hands and asked. “How are you doing, soldier? Where you from?” Standard shit for a politician. No big deal, as far as I was concerned. I just wanted to get the Senator’s ass back to the TOC and out of my hair. On the way back to the TOC he asked me where the troops ate so I ran him past the MKT. It was lunch time so there were a bunch of soldiers sitting around on ration boxes chowing down on MREs Again, we stopped so the Senator could bullshit with the troops: “How are you doing, soldier? Where are you from?” At the time, the only things that impressed me about Senator Simon were that he actually left the TOC - something none of the other four senators did - and he knew how to return a salute by the numbers. I’d never seen a politician do that before. A week or so after those politicians got back on the choppers and unassed Dragonfire Forward, we got mail from home. I got a letter from my parents. They told me got a personal telephone call from Senator Simon: “I met your son. He’s OK. He said to say ‘hello.’” They were very proud. And the families of every soldier that Senator Simon met that morning in the middle of the Saudi desert at a place called Dragon Farts Forward got a similar call, personally from Senator Simon: “I met your son. He’s OK. He said to say ‘hello.’” Those were soldiers from California. Soldiers from Georgia, Texas, New York, Idaho, South Carolina, North Dakota, Arizona and Puerto Rico. Senator Simon didn’t have to make all those phone calls. Many of those soldiers told me they were very proud of the Senator from Illinois. Until this morning I didn’t know he was an Army veteran. I rarely drink, but tonight I’ll drink to another absent comrade. I’m gonna miss you, Senator, because you made politicians respectable. Airborne, Senator!