Today in Iraq

War News for January 28, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Three US soldiers killed, three wounded in bomb ambush near Iskandariya. Bring ‘em on: Two CNN employees killed in ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Car bomb kills four in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Unexploded car bomb discovered near CPA headquarters in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: One Iraqi policeman killed in attack on Haditha police station. Arab tribal chiefs demonstrate in Kirkuk against Kurdish autonomy. (Last paragraph.) More on ethnic division in Kirkuk. Bremer says ICDC incapable of maintaining internal security. “’Iraq will not be capable of meeting the security threat they are likely to face in July without continued assistance from other countries,’ Bremer told reporters at Camp Claiborne, on the outskirts of Mosul.” Campus murders in Baghdad. “At least four professors have been killed since the fall of former leader Saddam Hussein in April 2003, said the deputy chairman of the university's post-graduate department, Mohammed al-Ani.” Commentary Editorial: We need an investigation into Bush’s rush to war. “PNAC's influence on the administration and its decision-making is obvious.” Opinion: “These recent admissions about Iraq's WMD capabilities prior to the war demand accountability. Kay said the White House could not be blamed for the intelligence lapses, but in truth, this administration seemed very eager to go to war with Iraq; as former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill notes in his new book, such a war was one of the top priorities on the administration when it first took office in 2001. Was bad intelligence taken at face value because it conveniently fit the administration's intentions? As citizens of the world's only superpower, we cannot tolerate such muscle-flexing recklessness -- especially when it puts our soldiers in harm's way. We've been hearing reasons, excuses and rationalizations for more than a year. Now it's time for some explanations.” Opinion: “All of this suggests a slipshod, if not negligent, disregard for the notion that the consent of the governed is an indispensable ingredient of democracy, at least on issues of great moment. Whether the mistakes were deliberate or not is another issue. Mr. Kay insists that the intelligence community owes the president an explanation. Intelligence officials have said, however, that analysts were under political pressure to produce assessments that supported the White House. The president, as if unaware of how this undermines his war rationale, stuck to his story. He asserted yesterday that ‘Hussein was a gathering threat to America and others.’” (Emphasis added) Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Washington State soldier missing in Iraq. Local story: Minnesota soldier missing in Iraq. Local story: Maryland soldier missing in Iraq Local story: Two Florida soldiers wounded in Iraq.