Today in Iraq

War News for April 29, 2004 Bring 'em on: South African security contractor shot in Basra. Bring 'em on: Eight US soldiers killed, four wounded by car bomb near Mahmudiyha. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed by RPG fire in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Baquba. Bring 'em on: Five Iraqi policemen killed in attack on police chief's residence in Mosul. Bring 'em on: Iraqi driver killed in attack on employees of US-run Iraqi Media Network in Mosul. Bring 'em on: US troops under mortar, small arms fire near Najaf. Casualty Reports Local story: Georgia soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Washington State soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Kentucky soldier wounded in Iraq, recommended for Bronze Star for valor. Local story: Georgia Marine wounded in Iraq. Note to Readers Sorry for the short update today. Due to my work schedule, Thursday and Friday are the most difficult days to get this page researched and published. This really pisses me off. Sinclair Broadcasting Group is pulling a special edition of Nightline which will feature the names and photos of soldiers who have been killed in Iraq from the TV stations it owns. The company's general counsel says, "We find it to be contrary to the public interest." Bullshit. Here's some more about SBG and their political views. In fact, the company has a policy to give preference to "good news" stories from Bush's War. Of course, the company is only protecting the investments of its top executives. In the 2004 election company executives have given $65,434 in campaign contributions, with 98 percent of that total going to the GOP. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 28, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Fighting continues in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in Baghdad ambush. Bring ‘em on: One Ukrainian soldier killed, two wounded in ambush near Zubadia. Bring ‘em on: Two US security contractors killed, one wounded by roadside bomb in Iraq. Bring ‘em on: Attempted assassination of Iraqi police chief reported in Baghdad. US helicopter crashes near Kut due to “engine malfunction.” Brahimi warns US not to attack Fallujah. “Brahimi said that U.S. occupation authorities in Iraq are ‘well aware that, unless this standoff - and now this fighting - is brought to a resolution through peaceful means, there is great risk of a very bloody confrontation. They know as well as, indeed better than everyone else, that the consequences of such bloodshed could be dramatic and long-lasting.’ The warning is significant, because Brahimi is the man newly entrusted by the White House to assume the lead in preparing for a handoff of political power in Iraq on June 30 from the U.S.-led occupation authority to an interim government composed of Iraqis.” Lieutenant AWOL replied that he doesn't need a permission slip from the UN to make idiotic blunders. Iraqis are as happy with the new flag as they are with everything else Baghdad fashion maven and incompetent administrator L. Paul Bremer has managed to screw up in the last year. “The outburst of fury over the flag highlights the extraordinary ability of US leaders and the Iraqi Governing Council to alienate ordinary Iraqis, already angered by the bloody sieges of Fallujah and Karbala. And yesterday, in the hotbed of Iraqi rebellion, the flag was burnt in public in a demonstration of public anger.” In response, House Republicans called for a flag-burning amendment to the Iraqi constitution. Brahimi says Iraqi caretaker government can be formed in May. Meanwhile, John Negroponte plays word games with the US Senate. “Negroponte said it was unfair to say that Iraq's government would lack sovereignty. Rather, he said, it will simply be unable to exercise full sovereignty immediately.” As usual, the Bush administration is working at cross-purposes. Brahimi wants to transfer real sovereignty, with authority to function as a sovereign power, to an Iraqi caretaker government while Negroponte is planning another bait-and-switch con job. Billmon has some illuminating comparisons about the Bush administration’s plans for Iraqi “sovereignty” and Manchukuo over at the Whiskey Bar. Soldiers suffer eye injuries in Iraq. Bulgaria calls for strong UN role in Iraq. “Parvanov said he would meet with Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski soon and they would jointly push for a strong United Nations role in Iraq.” Looks like Parvanov and Kwasniewski have had a bellyful of Lieutenant AWOL’s “Coalition of the Willing” crap. Japanese and Singaporean embassies in Malaysia receive threats over sending troops to Iraq. Filipino workers bolt Mosul, claim they were tricked into working in a war zone. I wonder which contractor pulled this little stunt. Pipeline attacks often unreported. “The list, by no means complete, reports 35 major and severely damaging attacks from June 12 to the end of the year and gives a total of eight major attacks from January 2004 through April, a major attack taking place on March 25, when there was a blast at the main oil well in northern Iraq that feeds exports through Qazzaz, a chief installation of the Northern Iraqi Oil Company that caused ‘massive damage,’ according to a company official quoted by Luft. An executive of Hess Oil, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed this: ‘These security arrangements of ours aren't working, nor are they preventing sabotage. The pipelines remain very vulnerable, and the attacks on pipelines simply aren't being reported.’” Which is why Wolfie can lie to Congress with impunity on this matter. Basra oil facility attack drives up petroleum prices worldwide. CPA still can’t get the juice turned on. "Targets for the restoration of Iraq's power supply will have to be downgraded soon unless there is an improvement in poor security that has forced all but a handful of foreign energy contractors to withdraw from the country, Raad al-Haris, deputy minister for electricity, told the Financial Times yesterday…Baghdad is receiving four hours of electricity followed by two hours of cuts. In the rest of the country supply was about three hours on, three hours off, he said." River has a recent post (april 23d) that contradicts the four-on, two-off electric power schedule in Baghdad. General Clark spanks Lieutenant AWOL. “Although President Bush has not engaged personally in such accusations, he has done nothing to stop others from making them. I believe those who didn't serve, or didn't show up for service, should have the decency to respect those who did serve — often under the most dangerous conditions, with bravery and, yes, with undeniable patriotism.” Help is on the way. “The military is demanding two Sierra Nevada ski resorts return howitzers used for avalanche control, saying the weapons are needed by troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.” California withdraws National Guard troops from guarding the Golden Gate bridge. "The decision was approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger despite repeated appeals by bridge district officials to keep the soldiers there…Winuk said the withdrawal has nothing to do with the United States' growing commitment overseas, where close to 3,000 of California's Guard troops are now serving. He added, however, that some of the soldiers could end up in Iraq.” Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Maine soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: New Mexico Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Arkansas Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Arkansas Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: South Dakota Guardsman dies in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: California contractor killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 27, 2004 Bring ‘em on: US troops fighting al-Sadr’s militia near Kufa. Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed, eight wounded in fighting near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting breaks out near Najaf. Bring ‘em on: Fighting continues near Fallujah. Two US soldiers were killed and five wounded in yesterday’s explosion in Baghdad. CENTCOM reports one US soldier died in a non-combat related incident in Iraq. Bulgaria says its troops are unprepared for fighting in Iraq. “Bulgaria's troops were unprepared for the kind of fighting they are doing in Iraq and need ‘immediate and substantial military backup’ from the U.S.-led coalition, the Bulgarian president said Tuesday. President Georgi Parvanov also demanded that the 485-member Bulgarian battalion be relocated to a new camp outside Karbala by June 30, the deadline for transfer of power to the Iraqi people.” This is a significant policy shift from the Bulgarian government. Parvanov just returned to Sofia from a visit to the Bulgarian troops in Iraq where his car was ambushed by insurgents. I also suspect his officers gave him an earful. US Army provides security for security contractors. “During the weeks he was in Tikrit, Fowler said, they were getting office space and equipment ready. ‘Basically, we were putting together our headquarters,’ he said. ‘We were the management group for the Tikrit office (and) the supervisors for the Tikrit region.’ Fowler said they had to stay on the Army base. ‘We couldn't leave without Army escorts and they were fairly busy, so it was even harder to get escorts to go off base, and the day we did, we went down to the police station,’ Fowler explained.” Iraqi group threatens to kill Italian hostages. Thailand considers withdrawing troops from Iraq. Spanish troops evacuate Najaf. River sounds off about Chalabi, the new Iraqi flag, and suggests a new national anthem. Shortage of armored vehicles reported in Iraq. “Because the Pentagon did not anticipate the urban uprisings that erupted this month, some military units recently rotated into the country left behind many tanks and other armored vehicles. The Marines, for instance, are using only 16 tanks in Iraq of their inventory of 403, and have deployed 39 of their 1,057 assault amphibian vehicles that provide protection against small arms but not rocket-propelled grenades.” When US troops were killed in Somalia in 1993, the American media went into a feeding frenzy and Republicans in Congress worked themselves into a lather criticizing Les Aspin for not sending enough armor to Somalia. This is worse. This isn’t about a failure to send additional equipment, this is about units not taking the issued equipment prescribed by the unit tables of organization. I know the Bushies love to blame the military for every disaster that happens on their watch, but military officers don’t make decisions like this. Some Marine colonel doesn’t decide to leave his tanks in the motor pool when he's taking his battalion to a combat zone. This was clearly a policy decision based on fundamentally flawed assumptions. As the article makes clear, this decision was made because “the Pentagon did not anticipate the urban uprisings.” Even if the Pentagon's civilian leadership didn't anticipate an urban uprising (which should make you wonder what the hell they did anticipate) they clearly knew that a lack of armored vehicles was causing unnecessary casualties. According a recent analysis of combat deaths in Iraq, twenty percent of US casualties could have been prevented. Heads need to roll in the Pentagon. I’m sure the media will give this story the same attention they gave to the 1993 story, and those same Republicans who were so righteously indignant about Les Aspin will demand the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Tony Blair gets mail. “Fifty-two former British diplomats yesterday delivered a damning critique of Tony Blair's close alliance with George Bush and their ‘doomed’ Middle East policy. The former diplomats, many of whom served as ambassadors in Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region, sent a joint letter to Downing Street. They told the prime minister they had ‘watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close cooperation with the United States’. They condemned a US strategy in Iraq they see as over-reliant on force. ‘Heavy weapons unsuited to the task in hand, inflammatory language, the current confrontations in Najaf and Falluja, all these have built up rather than isolated the opposition,’ they said. “ Head wounds. "'We're saving more people than should be saved, probably,' Lt. Col. Robert Carroll said. 'We're saving severely injured people. Legs. Eyes. Part of the brain.' Carroll, an eye surgeon from Waynesville, Mo., sat at his desk during a rare slow night last Wednesday and called up a digital photo on his laptop computer. The image was of a brain opened for surgery earlier that day, the skull neatly lifted away, most of the organ healthy and pink. But a thumb-sized section behind the ear was gray. 'See all that dark stuff? That's dead brain,' he said. 'That ain't gonna regenerate. And that's not uncommon. That's really not uncommon. We do craniotomies on average, lately, of one a day. We can save you," the surgeon said. 'You might not be what you were.'" Commentary Analysis: “U.S. troops bear a heavy burden in President Bush's global war on terror, a war that Army War College analyst Jeffrey Record in January said was ‘strategically unfocused, promised more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate U.S. military resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security.’” Editorial: “Lugar correctly blamed the nation’s deteriorating standing in Iraq and elsewhere on what he called deficient diplomacy by the Bush administration during a breakfast with reporters Monday. ‘It starts with the president and proceeds, really, through the Cabinet and those who are advising him,’ Lugar said. ‘Each administration has to determine which kind of tone it wants to establish in these matters, and that obviously starts with the president.’” Opinion: “The White House faces an insoluble dilemma: It cannot leave Iraq and it cannot stay. In chess this quandary is called ‘zugzwang,’ when it is your turn to move, but all possible moves will weaken your position. U.S. interests would be best served by admitting defeat and getting out now. For Bush and his clan this would be political suicide, however. and they don't seem like the kind of people who are willing to sacrifice their own ambitions for the common good. Bush will drag out the war, increasing U.S. troop strength in Iraq. This will lead to even greater loss of life on both sides, to animosity and the growth of Muslim radicalism. If Bush wins a second term in November, he will spend the next four years helplessly trying to cope with the problems he has created, and in the end his attempts will lead to catastrophe.” Casualty Reports Local story: Arkansas Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee sailor killed in Iraq. Local story: New York sailor killed in Iraq. Local story: Oregon contractor killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 26, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian President gets the Wolfowitz Welcome near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Spanish troops kill two insurgents in Diwaniyah firefight. Bring ‘em on: US convoy attacked by roadside bomb near Fallujah; witnesses report US casualties. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, three wounded by roadside bomb ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Firefights erupt as US Marines begin patrols in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Ten US soldiers wounded in Baghdad bombing. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed, five Iraqis wounded by RPG fire in Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian troops under mortar fire near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: British soldier wounded by roadside bomb ambush near Basra. Bring ‘em on: Ten US Marines wounded in Fallujah firefight. Attacks against Coalition troops now average 37 to 42 each day. US troops enter Najaf to relieve withdrawing Spanish garrison. Britain considers sending 2,000 more troops to Iraq. Georgia increases troop contingent in Iraq. US troops will assume control of Najaf and Kadisija provinces after Spanish withdrawal. Slovakia reviews troop commitment in Iraq. Senior CPA advisor quits. “Last Thursday, when it came time for Diamond to return, he did not get on the plane. Instead, he was in his office at the Hoover Tower, disillusioned over the desperate turn of events he had witnessed and what he feels was a country allowed to spin out of control, in large part, he says, because of the Bush administration's unwillingness to commit a big enough force to protect Iraqis from militias and insurgents.” How long before the White House start a smear campaign against this guy? IGC announces new national flag for Iraq. Personally designed and hand stitched by Ahmed “Betsy Ross” Chalabi, no doubt. Commentary Analysis: "Bush would be wise to trust the Americans who now know Iraq best - the military commanders in the field. They can channel money and other assistance to political, tribal and religious leaders around the country. The army general chosen to oversee training of Iraqi security forces after June 30, Major General David Petraeus, showed how to make this strategy work when he was commander of US forces in northern Iraq. These reconstruction efforts will be more important after June 30, not less." Opinion: “El Salvador and Ethiopia and Latvia and Slovakia are a few of the window-dressing countries listed who essentially said, ‘Put me on that guest list, as long as I don't have to bring anything.’ I'm wondering, how do we, the American people, get off that list?” Casualty Reports Local story: Arkansas Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: South Dakota Guardsman dies in Iraq. Local story: New York Coast Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Wisconsin Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee Marine wounded in Iraq. Kinda Off-Topic General Bell is pissed. “In the wake of a four-month extension to the division’s combat tour in Iraq, Gen. B.B. Bell brought his top support staff in to deliver that message personally and tackle concerns, gripes and questions from family support leaders while, in separate meetings, issued stern marching orders to rear detachment commanders and local base officials to take care of the families… ‘We will suspend the rules and cut through the red tape,” said Bell, promising them “real action, not a bunch of bullshit.’… One rear detachment soldier told him that the Army was trying to send her away from Germany to her next duty assignment before her husband, also a soldier, returns from duty in Iraq. Calling to his top personnel officer, Brig. Gen. Russell Frutiger, Bell said, ‘This soldier has got a problem that needs to be fixed right away. She’s getting screwed. … She’s going to stay here until her husband gets back.’… One wife in Friedberg complained that the local schools were releasing the times for sporting events only within 24 hours of the games. ‘We’re crazy, we’ve lost our minds,’ roared Bell at Russ Hall, the Installation Management Agency director for Europe. Hall’s response was quick: ‘We’ll fix it now,’ promising schedules six weeks in advance.” The only reason I’m posing this article is because I knew General Bell when he was assistant division commander in the 3d Infantry and I was the division tactical deception officer, and I have witnessed many royal and memorable ass-chewings administered by General Bell. Now that he has four stars, it appears he has expanded his target population to include one-star and senior civilian ass. Since you asked... If you took all the Army’s doctrine for high-intensity conflict contained in Field Manual 100-5, Operations , and distilled it to it’s essence, it would look like this: Hit the other fellow as hard as you can, as fast as you can, where it hurts him the most, when he isn’t looking. The tactical deception officer provides the necessary distraction. It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I had in my entire career. Assigned as a staff officer in the Plans section of the division G-3 (Operations) I also commanded a platoon of mostly senior NCOs of many different branches - Signal, Engineers, Infantry, Artillery, Intelligence and Transportation. The platoon table of organization provided this mix of senior NCOs so the platoon would have an internal planning capability that encompassed most of the divisional combat operations. From my point of view this arrangement was great because they were all seasoned soldiers and I never had to sweat the stupid shit, like cold-weather injuries or some knucklehead getting himself lost on maneuvers. Additionally, NCOs are superb scroungers, and these guys and gals ranked among the best. In our garrison facility, they had arranged the wall lockers to conceal the door to an entire room full of unauthorized but desirable equipment, spare parts, radio gear and all the little luxury items that provide for a comfortable existence in the field. I discovered this room one day when I counted the windows on the building and found there were more windows on the outside than on the inside. I couldn’t believe all the shit they had stashed in there. I also had a lot of really cool toys like inflatable tanks, Humvees, and helicopters, decoys that looked exactly like a command post carrier until you were 10 meters away, and two trailers of high-fidelity sound equipment that I would run out in front of the Opposing Force (OPFOR) listening posts at night and play tapes that made them believe an entire company of tanks was assembling for an attack. I had an array of radio emulators that when properly programmed and emplaced made the OPFOR signal intelligence weenies operating their direction-finders template a battalion in a place where there were really only trees. I even had fake heads wearing fake helmets that I could put into fake fighting positions. (The NCOs used them to play some very, very tasteless practical jokes in garrison.) OPFOR reconnaissance hated my guts. Best of all, I had a division commander who really supported tactical deception. First, this meant that I was properly resourced, and second, since the commanding general believed in deception so did the staff and all the subordinate commanders. (That’s how the Army works, folks.) In the staff process that develops a division operations order, there’s a briefing where the staff presents the CG with three detailed courses of action along with the pros and cons of each. After he made his decision, the CG would turn around and tell me, “I want to do COA 1 but I want the other guy to think I’m doing COA 2. Make it happen.” I think the crowning achievement of my tenure as a tactical deception officer occurred at Hohenfels Training Center when I was supporting 3d Squadron, 4th Cavalry during a deliberate defense operation. We scammed the OPFOR into believing we were conducting a forward defense when were really conducting a defense in depth. Initially, the cavalry commander placed three troops forward and told his troop commanders to do a lot of talking on the radio. During the night, he pulled back two troops, expanded the third into a screening force across the squadron front and had everybody change radio frequencies and assume radio listening silence. Meanwhile, I emplaced radio emulators in their old positions tuned to the previous frequencies, deployed tank decoys and constructed a forward squadron command post. It worked like a charm and we applied a world-class ass-whooping. At the post-mission After-Action-Review, the umpire officers described exactly how we had fooled the OPFOR. At the conclusion, an enraged OPFOR colonel approached me and stuck his finger in my chest. “Listen, you son of a bitch,” he growled. “From now on, I’m putting a price on you and your goddam blow-up dolls.” 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 25, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Two US sailors killed, five wounded in Persian Gulf boat attack. Bring ‘em on: Fourteen Iraqis killed in roadside bomb attack near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Four children killed, two US soldiers wounded in Baghdad patrol ambush. Bring ‘em on: Rocket attack on Mosul hospital kills two, wounds ten Iraqis. Bring ‘em on: Eleven insurgents killed in Fallujah ambush. Bring ‘em on: Rocket attack reported at Mosul television station. Bring ‘em on: Two hotels struck by rocket attacks in Mosul. Four Iraqis killed, 11 wounded. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian troops under mortar fire near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers killed by RPG fire near Kut. Lieutenant AWOL in charge. “Facing one of the grimmest choices of the Iraq war, President Bush and his senior national security and military advisers are expected to decide this weekend whether to order an invasion of Falluja, even if a battle there runs the risk of uprisings in the city and perhaps elsewhere around Iraq. After declaring on Friday evening in Florida that ‘America will never be run out of Iraq by a bunch of thugs and killers,’ Mr. Bush flew to Camp David for the weekend, where administration officials said he planned consultations in a videoconference with the military commanders who are keeping the city under siege.” MOUT. “The street had become ‘a 300-meter-long kill zone,’ recalls Aguero. The vehicles swerved and ran onto sidewalks, rolling on the rims of flat tires, as gunmen kept up the barrage of bullets. Suddenly Sgt. Yihjyh Chen, gunner in the lead truck, collapsed after taking a hit. The Iraqi translator in his vehicle began administering first aid. Another soldier was shot, and began bleeding from the mouth. Then two of the Humvees became disabled. Aguero yelled at one driver to gun the engine to get his Humvee moving. That’s when the engine literally fell out. It was time to bail. As they’d been drilled to do, the soldiers set out to strip the disabled vehicles of sensitive items and to “Zee off the radio”—to ensure critical communications codes and equipment don’t fall into enemy hands.” Support the Troops! “For the Bush administration it has been a mantra, one the president intones repeatedly: America's troops will get whatever they need to do the job. But as Iraq's liberation has turned into a daily grind of low-intensity combat—and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld grudgingly raises troop levels—many soldiers who are there say the Pentagon is failing to protect them with the best technology America has to offer. Especially tanks, Bradleys and other heavy vehicles, even in some cases body armor... Soldiers in Iraq complain that Washington has been too slow to acknowledge that the Iraqi insurgency consists of more than ‘dead-enders.’ And even at the Pentagon many officers say Rumsfeld and his brass have been too reluctant to modify their long-term plans for a lighter military. On the battlefield, that has translated into a lack of armor. Perhaps the most telling example: a year ago the Pentagon had more than 400 main battle tanks in Iraq; as of recently, a senior Defense official told NEWSWEEK, there was barely a brigade's worth of operational tanks still there. (A brigade usually has about 70 tanks.)” US troops prepare to enter Najaf. Iraqi oil export facilities closed after boat attacks. Bulgarians reject Powell’s request for more troops in Iraq. Guard families. “As the war in Iraq continues, and the Pentagon prolongs the mobilization of tens of thousands of troops, the toll on both the soldiers, and the families they have left behind, is mounting. But while the war has been hard on all military personnel and their loved ones, the financial and emotional impact has been particularly acute for the members of the Guard and the Reserve who have been forced to give up civilian jobs, in a few cases, for 20 months. Among members of the 269th Military Police Company, about 170 men and women from across central Tennessee, the financial hardships are rising as deployments stretch far beyond the traditional six-month mobilization.” Coalition of the Disillusioned. “Poland's 2,500 troops serving in Iraq and its role as a pivotal US ally in the war, as the government keeps reminding Poles, confirm this historic transformation in Poland. But Wojciechowski has a hard time seeing it that way. ‘I wasn't a Polish soldier acting as an occupier; I was a mercenary hired by America to do their work for them,’ said Wojciechowski, who was wounded on Christmas night by an ‘improvised explosive device’ when his unit was on patrol on the road between Baghdad and al-Hillah.” Commentary Editorial: “It is past time for the president to let go of Mr. Rumsfeld's flawed theories of war and authorize a real long-term increase in the force in Iraq. There is debate about how many more soldiers are needed — some experts say at least 50,000 in the short term, while others say even more. What is certain is that the nation cannot continue limping along on small, politically calibrated 90-day infusions. The White House likes to shift responsibility to those in uniform by saying it is up to the military to figure out what it needs to do its job. Unfortunately, military planners are not certain what that job is in broad political terms. They stick to the safer ground of figuring an adequate force to handle very specific, immediate assignments. The administration needs to create a long-term military strategy and accept the burden of providing the troops to carry it out.” Emphasis added. Analysis: “Politically, the Bush administration's claim to bring democracy to Iraq is bogged down in a singular contradiction. Having gone to Iraq with a blueprint on what democracy in Iraq should be like, the administration is both unprepared for and unwilling to allow a democratic process unless it has a fixed and guaranteed outcome…The political failure translates into a series of battlefield dilemmas. Wedded to a military solution through the use of massive and overwhelming force, the United States seems unable to separate civilians from fighters or to distinguish between different kinds of fighters.” Opinion: “It’s a pity that the freshest images of the America's fallen consist of blackened bodies being dragged through the street and hung off a downtown bridge in Fallujah. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Air Force this week released hundreds of flag-draped photographs to thememoryhole.org, a Web site that publishes hard-to-find government information. The repatriation of dead soldiers is among the military's highest and proudest traditions. It's wrong that Americans can't share in it.” Opinion: “In Bushworld, our troops go to war and get killed, but you never see the bodies coming home. In Bushworld, flag-draped remains of the fallen are important to revere and show the nation, but only in political ads hawking the president's leadership against terror. In Bushworld, we can create an exciting Iraqi democracy as long as it doesn't control its own military, pass any laws or have any power.” Casualty reports Local story: Illinois soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Missing North Carolina soldier found dead in Iraq. Local story: Arkansas Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Michigan soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: West Virginia Marine wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 23 and 24, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One Bulgarian soldier killed in convoy ambush near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed by roadside bomb near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Five US soldiers killed, six wounded in rocket attack near Taji. Bring ‘em on: Explosions, firefights reported in Karbala. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi killed, three wounded after US troops open fire in Sadr City. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi policemen killed, 16 wounded by car bomb at US base near Tikrit. Bring ‘em on: Nine Iraqis killed in mortar attack on Baghdad market. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi translator and her husband assassinated near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi police wounded in RPG attack near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: One Italian soldier wounded in ambush near Nasiriyah. CPA flip-flops on de-Baathification policy. Chalabi gets the boot? “The US and the top UN envoy to Iraq have decided to exclude the majority of politicians who have served for the past year on the US-appointed Governing Council when a new Iraqi government is picked to assume power on June 30, The Washington Post reported today.” I wonder if Cheney and Rummy have approved this plan. Al-Sadr threatens to retaliate with suicide bombers if US troops move into Najaf. US issues warning to Fallujah residents while Baghdad fashion maven and incompetent administrator L. Paul Bremer talks tough on Iraqi TV. Details emerge of “sovereignty” transfer plan. “The Bush administration's plans for a new caretaker government in Iraq would place severe limits on its sovereignty, including only partial command over its armed forces and no authority to enact new laws, administration officials said Thursday. These restrictions to the plan negotiated with Lakhdar Brahimi, the special United Nations envoy, were presented in detail for the first time by top administration officials at Congressional hearings this week, culminating in long and intense questioning on Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing on the goal of returning Iraq to self-rule on June 30… The proposed curbs on Iraqi sovereignty are paving the way for what officials and diplomats say is shaping up as another potential battle with American allies as the United Nations is asked to confer legitimacy on the new government.” 595 US troops wounded in last two weeks. General Abazaid needs more troops. The top United States commander in the Middle East suggested in an interview on Friday that he was likely to ask for another extension in the current troop levels in Iraq, now at 135,000, and might even ask for more troops beyond that. The commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, said the security situation was liable to worsen as June 30 approached, and with it the return of self-rule to Iraq. He cited the likelihood of new insurgent attacks against American troops and doubts about the current reliability of Iraqi security forces. The next four months are critical, he said. The Pentagon has already extended by 90 days the tours of 20,000 soldiers; they were to return to their home bases after a year in Iraq." Lieutenant AWOL is unhappy that Americans can see photographs of fallen soldiers’ caskets. Support the Troops! “This is how Nicole Goodwin travels these days: with her 1-year-old daughter pressed to her chest in a Snugli, a heavy backpack strapped across her shoulders, and a baby stroller crammed with as many bags of clothes and diapers as it can hold. When you are a homeless young mother, these are the things you carry. And tucked away somewhere are the documents attesting to Ms. Goodwin's recent honorable discharge from the United States Army, as well as Baghdad memories that are still fresh.” Commentary Opinion: “Cronyism and corruption are major factors in Iraq's downward spiral. This week the public radio program ‘Marketplace’ is running a series titled ‘The Spoils of War,’ which documents a level of corruption in Iraq worse than even harsh critics had suspected. The waste of money, though it may run into the billions, is arguably the least of it - though military expenses are now $4.7 billion a month.” Analysis: “Foreign policy in the Bush administration reflects a lack of experience in the real world away from a Washington overrun with armchair polemicists and ideologues. Too many of them have no experience in the military, where one learns to expect the unexpected, or in international finance, where America's insecurity also resides. This White House is known for its hostility to curiosity and intellectual debate… The failures of the Bush administration are not those of foreign intelligence but of a cerebral sort of intelligence.” Opinion: “One of the eerie things about Bush's press conference performance was just how divorced from reality he is. Not only is he still claiming we're going to find the WMD and that Saddam Hussein was linked to 9-11, but he actually claimed we went to war to save the credibility of the United Nations. The man is living in Fantasyland.” For non-US readers the reference to a “turtle on a fence post” comes from a saying about Lieutenant AWOL: “He’s like a turtle on a fence post: You know he doesn't belong there, he can't get anything done while he's up there, he looks stupid sitting there, and you know he didn't get there by himself.” Casualty Reports Local story: Maine Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: New York Marine dies from wounds received in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Three Florida Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: South Carolina Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Three Maine Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Remember ANZAC Day. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for April 21 and 22, 2004 draft Bring 'em on: Four British soldiers wounded by car bomb near Zubair. Bring 'em on: Sixty-eight Iraqis killed in four car bombings near Basra. Bring 'em on: Twenty-two Iraqis killed, 90 wounded in mortar barrage at Abu Ghraib prison. Bring 'em on: Kidnapped Danish businessman executed in Iraq. Bring 'em on: Dutch troops under mortar fire near Samawah. Bring 'em on: One Iraqi killed in incident at Dutch checkpoint nearAr Rumaytah . Bring 'em on: Nine Iraqis killed, three US Marines wounded in fighting near Fallujah. Bring 'em on: Four insurgents killed, one US soldier wounded in firefight near Jebel Himrin. Bring 'em on: Spaniard assassinated, Iraqi translator wounded in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: French journalist killed in Baghdad. One US soldier killed, two injured in road accident near Balad. Two US Generals sound off. "The generals stopped short of criticizing the policy. But their remarks on Tuesday reflect a growing anger and frustration among many senior U.S. commanders that the policy is excluding many of the skilled Iraqi professionals needed to help the country's political and economic reconstruction, especially in the restive Sunni heartland, even as U.S. officials seek to broker a transfer to Iraqi sovereignty after June 30." Commentary Analysis: "Evidence that the US plans to impose itself on future Iraqi governments is embedded in the interim constitution passed by the IGC: all laws and regulations emanating from the CPA must be recognized as valid in the future. Whether this clause is to be retained in the permanent constitution is not known. Many CPA regulations are designed to control the economy. For example, they include rules to speed the privatization of Iraq's state enterprises and property, and for the disposition of the country's petroleum resources. The CPA has also established a number of 'independent' regulators to share power in various government ministries." Casualty Reports Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Vermont soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Missouri soldier dies of wounds received in Iraq. Local story: Oregon Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: California soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Florida soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Michigan truck driver killed in Iraq. Local story: Louisiana truck driver killed in Iraq.

Note to Readers I won't update today. I have a lot to do at work and at home. Additionally, this is really starting to get to me. Updating the Casualty Reports is difficult because I'm always worried that I'll recognize another friend and because reading the ages of the casualties is depressing as hell. If you want, you can post links to news stories in the Comments. Thanks, yd.

War News for April 19, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed in action in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: Polish troops under mortar fire near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Spanish troops under mortar fire near Najaf and Diwaniyah. Bring ‘em on: Swedish embassy in Baghdad hit by mortar fire. Bring ‘em on: Two British soldiers wounded by roadside bomb near al-Amarah. Bring ‘em on: Mortar attack in Baghdad kills Iraqi mother and son. Two US soldiers killed in separate accidents in Iraq. New mayor “elected” in Baghdad. “But rather than a general election open to all eligible residents of this city of 5 million, 49 local government representatives assembled in a heavily guarded municipal building to choose who'll lead them in tackling the problems that plague this fabled and unwieldy metropolis.” Spain orders immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. Just fan-frickin-tastic. “A US soldier shot dead Sunday the daughter of an influential local tribal chief who was minding sheep near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police officer told AFP.” Iraqi security forces won’t be ready for June 30th transfer of “sovereignty.” Baghdad fashion maven and incompetent administrator L. Paul Bremer wants to get tough with insurgents. With no sign of a breakthrough in talks with rebels in Fallujah and Najaf, the leader of the U.S. occupation appeared to move closer on Sunday to a military showdown, saying that the rebels' failure to submit to U.S. demands would necessitate decisive action against those who ‘want to shoot their way to power.’ ‘They must be dealt with, and they will be dealt with,’ the official, L. Paul Bremer, said, breaking a week of silence on the confrontation with Muqtada al-Sadr, an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric, in Najaf and Sunni Muslim insurgents in Fallujah. Bremer spoke of the need to bring an early end to the standoffs, to return Iraq to the political path the United States has mapped out, starting with the formal return of sovereignty on June 30.” Commentary Opinion: “To arouse public opinion in the preparation for war, the neo-conservatives around the US Administration frequently compared Saddam to Adolf Hitler and George Bush to Winston Churchill. Given that by 1939 Hitler's Germany was the most powerful military force in Europe and that by 2003 Saddam's Iraq was an impoverished tinpot tyranny, the comparison was laughable. Yet inside the Australian media virtually no one laughed. As the invasion was mounted, most of the Australian media suggested that the creation of a prosperous, stable democracy in Iraq would be relatively easy to achieve. Given that Iraq was a desperately poor country, burdened by a grotesque totalitarian past, and was divided between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and between Arabs and Kurds, this was an attractive but a childish dream. Throughout the Australian media the dream was nonetheless taken very seriously. Inside the powerful Murdoch empire - where to my knowledge from inside sources a general pro-war directive was delivered around February 2003 - it represented nothing less than the party line. Most serious commentators knew that the Iraq adventure was liable, as one put it, "to end in tears". Such thoughts were uncommon in the Australian media. They were forbidden to the editors of our overwhelmingly most powerful newspaper group. If we want to learn from the failure of judgement with Iraq it is over the questionable performance of our media and not of our intelligence services that a searching national debate should now begin.” Analysis: “The pattern was familiar: After bloody confrontations last week that left more than 40 Americans and hundreds of Iraqis dead, the blame in Washington focused on a single "outlaw" Iraqi Shiite leader, Moqtada al-Sadr. As the Bush administration portrayed it, Sadr was one of the only dark spots in an otherwise positive picture of an emerging prosperous and democratic Iraq…Hindsight is always clearer. But in this case, there is a pattern of wishful thinking that blurred the picture and resulted in flawed decisions. Administration officials have indulged in such thinking in part because they continue to rely for information on self-interested Iraqis, especially former expatriates, many of whom provided erroneous information before the war on weapons of mass destruction.” Opinion: “One of the things I remember from my time in the service many years ago was the ubiquitous presence of large posters with the phrase, in big block letters: Know Your Enemy. This is a bit of military wisdom that seems to have escaped President Bush. The United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, by Al Qaeda, not Iraq.” Casualty Reports Local story: Nebraska Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Wisconsin soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma Marine wounded in Iraq.

War News for April 18, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Three US soldiers killed, three wounded by RPG fire in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: Three US soldiers killed in convoy ambush near Diniwayah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, two wounded by anti-tank mine near Tikrit. Bring ‘em on: Five Iraqis killed by US shellfire near Karma. Bring ‘em on: Six US Marines killed, nine wounded in heavy fighting near Husaybah. Bring ‘em on: One “coalition” soldier killed in fighting near Najaf. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, US soldier and two contractors wounded in Baghdad mortar attack. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed by roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported near Green Zone in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Salvadoran troops under siege in Najaf. Bring ‘em on: Two British soldiers wounded in convoy ambush near al-Amarah. Tensions high in Karbala. Tensions high in Kosovo. “Three UN policemen - two Americans and a Jordanian - were killed in Kosovo during a shootout between officers sparked by a quarrel over the conflict in Iraq, UN officials and sources said…A fellow officer, a US citizen, described the incident as a clash over the US role in Iraq. ‘They quarrelled over the situation in Iraq,’ he said.” The New York Times story on this incident carefully omits any reference to a quarrel over American actions in Iraq. Pentagon gives $1,000 monthly bonuses to 20,000 soldiers extended in Iraq. Jesus H. Christ! The troop bitching must be pretty intense for this administration – which just a year ago sought to limit combat pay, hazardous duty pay, and burial allowances – to pony up twenty million dollars for the troops every month. Supply routes interdicted. “The closings appeared to confirm the effect of two weeks of heightened violence in Iraq. American soldiers, stretched thin, have already been deployed in large numbers to contain serious and unresolved uprisings in the cities of Falluja and Najaf. Now they have been sent to face the growing problem of keeping crucial sections of highway open for the passage of critically needed convoys reaching the Iraqi heartland from Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait… American forces had already effectively lost control of long sections of the 375-mile highway leading west from Baghdad to Jordan. The road runs through the battle zone around Falluja, 35 miles west of the capital. Ambushes near Falluja and the adjacent city of Abu Ghraib have destroyed numerous convoys carrying fuel and other supplies for American troops in the past two weeks… On Friday, General Kimmitt said American commanders believed that there was "a concerted effort on the part of the enemy to try to interfere with our lines of communication, our main supply routes," but said the main effect would be on ordinary Iraqis, who would eventually pay higher prices in the capital's shops and markets. The general said American military supplies were less of a problem because there were ‘alternative methods’ of delivering ammunition, food and fuel, presumably by air. But even at the bases, commanders have been rationing use of critical stockpiles and urging decisive action to ensure that road convoys get through.” Fighting a fire with gasoline. “As well as facing the volatile religious situation the US has risked further instability in Iraq over the death of Rantissi. Israel’s full frontal assault on the Hamas leadership has already been exploited by Osama bin Laden to lever further violence against the US and its allies. In his latest audio cassette, offering a truce to European countries that pulled of Iraq, bin Laden also promised vengeance for the Israeli attacks on Hamas.” “Security consultants” in Iraq. “Ex-military commandos armed with M4 rifles are fighting insurgents in Iraq as part of a private contracting force, many of them hired by the US-led coalition, raising some deep concerns. About 15,000 personnel from private military firms (PMFs) were operating in Iraq, making them more numerous that even the biggest US ally, Britain, estimated Peter Singer, author of Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry. At least 30 to 50 had been killed in action, he wrote in a report for the Internet news magazine Salon.com.” A South African “security consultant,” now deceased in Iraq. “Gray Branfield, 55, admitted to being part of a death squad which gunned down Joe Gqabi, the ANC's chief representative and Umkhonto weSizwe operational head in Zimbabwe on July 31 1981. Gqabi was shot 19 times when three assassins ambushed him as he reversed down the driveway of his Harare home.” Bremer’s Iraqi police in shambles. “US officials have not publicly disclosed the extent to which Iraqi police officers quit, stayed home, or mutinied during the nearly two weeks of turmoil that engulfed Iraq at the beginning of April. But discussions with senior Iraqi interior ministry officials, police officers, members of the Civil Defense Corps, and some military officials who work with them highlight the deep flaws in the security services that were hastily assembled beginning last summer. They also paint a disturbing picture of a security force nowhere near ready to take a central role.” New tactics to calm Iraqi insurgency. “By enlisting the aid of Iraqi Governing Council members, more-moderate Shiite clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and diplomats from other countries to stabilize Iraq, U.S. officials are betting that bargaining will succeed where a show of force has not. The United States even has allowed the Iranian government, with which it has no formal ties, to send a negotiating team to try to calm the Shiite rebellion in southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad.” This is what the CPA should have been doing since they first occupied Baghdad, instead of dicking around with Chalabi and applying a military solution to every problem. And note that things have become so bad that the Bushies are reduced to appealing to a charter member of the Axis of Evil for help. UN not exactly eager to change Lieutenant AWOL’s soiled nappies. “’There is a mixture of vindication on the one hand and great apprehension on the other," said Edward Mortimer, a senior aide to Secretary General Kofi Annan. Mr. Mortimer contrasted the recent calls for assistance from President Bush with the disparagement he said the United Nations had become used to from the administration. ‘It's quite nice when you've been generally dissed about your irrelevancy and then suddenly have people coming on bended knee and saying, “We need you to come back,”’ he said. ‘On the other hand, it's quite unnerving to feel you're being projected into a very violent and volatile situation where you might be regarded as an agent or faithful servant of a power that has incurred great hostility.’” Maine Guardsmen on convoy duty in Iraq. “Standing in the back of the lead Humvee, Sgt. Mark Ray of New Gloucester grips a 50-caliber machine gun with both hands. Next to him, Roy balances on one knee, his M-16 at the ready. Their heads never stop moving. ‘If we see kids, great - they don't want to blow up their own kids,’ Roy explained before the trip began. ‘If we don't see kids, well. . . ‘” Casualty Reports Local story: Florida soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Virginia soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Wisconsin soldier wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Bring it on.

War News for April 16 - 17, 2004 Bring ‘em on: US troops ambushed in Baghdad, one Iraqi civilian wounded. Bring ‘em on: Three US soldiers wounded in five-hour battle near Kufa. Bring ‘em on: US troops under heavy mortar attack near al-Qaim. Bring ‘em on: Car bomb in Baquba wounds one US soldier. Bring ‘em on: Two Jordanians killed by US helicopter rocket fire near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed in Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Eight Iraqis killed by mortar fire near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: US Army convoy attacked near Kufa. Bring ‘em on: One insurgent killed, one wounded planting roadside bomb near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Fifteen Iraqis killed, 20 wounded in continued fighting near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Mortar attacks and explosions reported in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed in fighting near Najaf. Bring ‘em on: Insurgent attacks force US to close highways near Baghdad. CENTCOM reports one US soldier died of a heart attack near Mosul. Al-Sistani warns US not to attack Najaf. Portugal considers withdrawing troops from Iraq. More US-trained Iraqi security forces defect to insurgency. “In Ramadi, U.S. troops gave two-way radios to Iraqi forces, not for communications, as they claimed, but so they'd know when their allies were phoning Marine positions to the enemy…Some in Iraq have done much more than refuse to fight alongside Americans. Nowhere has this been as evident as for the Marines in Ramadi and Fallujah. Among those killed by Marines in Fallujah were many wearing police equipment. In Ramadi, a Knight Ridder photographer with U.S. troops witnessed Iraqi police and soldiers among those who twice ambushed a Marine company, which killed 14 Marines in one week.” New Iraqi Air Force will not include combat aircraft. Well, that’s a relief. Private security companies want more firepower, coalition protection. Iraqi nuclear facilities remain unguarded, looting continues. Dickhead gets court-martialed. Captured US soldier shown on video. Bulgaria can’t find enough volunteers for Iraq troop rotation. Time to extend those bastards! CPA hasn’t issued a Weekly Reconstruction Status Report for the last two weeks. Gee, I wonder why? Commentary Analysis: “Foreign policy in the Bush administration reflects a lack of experience in the real world away from a Washington overrun with armchair polemicists and think-tank ideologues. Too many inhabitants of this world have no experience in the military, where one learns to expect the unexpected, or in international finance, where America's vulnerability also resides. This White House is well known for its hostility to curiosity and intellectual debate. After all, terrorism is not a phenomenon of recent origin. Gavrilo Princip, the Serb nationalist who assassinated Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, did not expect his gunshot to bring about the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He expected only a reaction — and the empire's reaction led to World War I and its own downfall. The United States government's reaction to the attacks of 9/11 could end up inflicting great damage on America. The Bush administration demonstrates the point. One pre-emptive war against the dictator of a desert quasi-state crippled by international sanctions has stretched the American military thin. The United States is widely perceived to be waging war against Islam in the Middle East, a perception reinforced by the president's decision this week to support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and his settlement plan.” Editorial cartoon by Jeff Danziger. Casualty Reports Local story: Michigan soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: North Dakota Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Michigan Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: North Carolina soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Kansas Marine wounded in Iraq. Note to Readers I took the day off yesterday. When I start looking at this blog like Sisyphus looks at his rock I know it's time for a break. 86-43-04. Bring it on.

War News for April 15, 2004 Bring 'em on: Italian hostage killed by insurgents. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed, five wounded by roadside bomb near Samarra. Bring 'em on: Iranian diplomat assassinated in Baghdad. Bring 'em on: One US soldier killed in unspecified action near Mosul . Bring 'em on: Four Iraqis killed, six wounded in mortarr attack in Mosul. Bring 'em on: Fighting continues in Fallujah. Bring 'em on: Rockets strike house in Baquba, killing three Iraqis, wounding two. Bring 'em on: Insurgents demolish bridges on US supply routes. UN envoy urges "caretaker" government in Iraq. Illinois Guardsmen extended in Iraq. Insurance costs for contractors have doubled in the last two weeks. "Experts say security and insurance costs now represent half the total cost of doing business in Iraq for international firms. That is if they are able to continue doing business at all." Al-Sadr offers truce in Najaf. Contractors haul ass out of Iraq. "More than a few have fled their jobs without notice. At the urging of their governments, many citizens of Russia, France, and South Korea are preparing to leave. Some contractors and aid organizations have packed up and moved workers to neighboring countries." Another Army analyist bitch-slaps Lieutenant AWOL and Rummy. "The administration 'either misunderstood or, worse, wished away' the hard slogging required to build a country, exposing serious flaws in the way the United States is waging its war against terrorism, according to a hard-hitting paper by Lieutenant-Colonel Antulio Echevarria of the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute...The administration 'low-balled' the number of troops required, the expected length of deployment and the overall cost of the war, he argues in the paper, posted on the institute's website. That left a U.S.-led invasion force that simply wasn't large enough to ensure the success of political and economic reconstruction." Commentary Analysis: "Indications the British and Americans have not seen eye-to-eye on Iraq go back to before the Iraq invasion when British officials were unable to get Washington to develop a more comprehensive post-war restructuring plan. That was exacerbated by the decision of CPA administrator Paul Bremer to allow the complete disbandment of the Iraqi army and freezing out of Baathist administrators, decisions the British say has led directly to the current security situation." Book Review: "Bush’s ongoing lies about Iraq’s WMD capabilities and ties to Al Qaeda, Dean asserts, constitute an attempt to deceive Congress — an 'impeachable offense.' He notes that Nixon, already impeached for the Watergate cover-up, barely avoided yet another article of impeachment over his extending the Vietnam War into Cambodia, and got off the hook only when it came out that he had secretly informed a few key congressional leaders. Dean quotes James Iredell, a future Supreme Court justice, speaking at the Constitutional Convention of 1787: 'The president must surely be punishable for giving false information to the Senate.' Not anymore, apparently." Casualty Reports Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Arizona Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Illinois soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Virginia contractor killed in Iraq. Local story: Alabama contractor missing in Iraq. Local story: Two Illinois Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Bring it on.

War News for April 14, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed, three wounded at helicopter crash site near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: US convoy attacked near Baghdad airport, troops open fire on looters. Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting reported in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Katyusha fire at Mosul police station kills four, wounds six. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian patrol attacked in Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Spanish troops under mortar fire near Najaf. Maine Army Reservists extended for 90 days in Iraq. Western journalists seldom venture beyond Baghdad due to lack of security. US troops assemble near Najaf in preparation for urban assault. Two South African mercenaries killed in last week’s fighting near Kut. Eighteen female US soldiers have been killed in direct combat since the beginning of Bush’s War. Al-Sadr reportedly proposes a deal to US negotiator. No details available. Philippine government considers withdrawing troops from Iraq. Japan advises journalists to leave Iraq. Russia evacuates citizens from Iraq. Military families sound off about Lieutenant AWOL's inept Secretary of Defense. Commentary Analysis: “Al-Sadr could become the newest martyr for Shiites from Lebanon to Pakistan, scholars say. And if American troops have a bloody confrontation with al-Sadr's militia in the holy city of Najaf, it could set the United States toward a collision with the world's 150 million Shiite Muslims.” Opinion: “…In almost every way but one, Iraq is not Vietnam. Here’s the one: We don’t know what the hell we’re doing…Paul Bremer, the American proconsul in Iraq, is by all accounts an admirable and incredibly industrious man, ‘tasked,’ in Condi-speak, to do the impossible. But on the Sunday talk shows, he seemed right out of central casting, some actor playing the clueless American, down to his striped tie and button-down shirt. When asked who he was going to turn power over to on June 30, he replied, ‘That’s a good question,’ but supplied no answer. He simply does not know. He does know, though, that the “majority view” among Iraqis is hardly anti-American. The polls tell him so. This is Vietnam all over again.” Analysis: If the purpose of the US's continued occupation of Iraq is to create democracy, that purpose is presently witnessing its darkest hour. When will the US bring an end to its occupation of Iraq? Currently, we only hear that it is there to stay for the long haul. How can democracy emerge as a viable form of government if, in the process of its creation, Washington continues to alienate a large number of Iraqis on a sustained basis? Even if the United Nations were to take charge of rebuilding Iraq - an option that is frequently mentioned as US forces continue to face stiffened resistance to their high profile presence and strong-armed maneuvering in that country - the world body has to operate on the basis of some sort of a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, especially American ones. Casualty Reports Local story: Kentucky soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Nebraska Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Illinois Marine killed in Iraq. This is one of the best obituaries for a fallen soldier I’ve seen yet. Local story: Louisiana soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Georgia soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Puerto Rico sailor killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Bring it on.

War News for April 13, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One US soldier wounded by roadside bomb ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two US marines killed, eight wounded in Fallujah firefight. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, two wounded in convoy ambush south of Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US helicopter shot down near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, four wounded in patrol ambush near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Three US Marines killed in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed, two wounded by roadside bomb near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Romanian security guard killed, one wounded in ambush near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Eight Russian citizens kidnapped in Iraq. Bring ‘em on: Three Kurds killed in gunfight with Iraqi police near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Spanish troops attacked, mortared near Kufa. Bring ‘em on: Four Italian security guards taken hostage by insurgents near Fallujah. Report that another US helicopter crashes near Fallujah. “It was not immediately known how many the members of the crew are, nor the cause of the crash, AFP reported, citing an officers from the Marine Infantry. Reports say the helicopter does not belong to the Marine Infantry, but to an yet unknown American governmental agency. ” The MH-53 is used by US Army Special Forces and Delta Force. I'm fairly certain that this incident involves a different helicopter from the other helicopter reported shot down near Fallujah which was reported to be an AH-64 Apache. It's pretty hard to confuse the two. General Abazaid says he needs two more combat brigades “if not more.” New Zealand troops remain in base camp due to hostilities in Iraq. Al-Sadr’s top aide in Baghdad arrested by US troops. CPA relinquishes control of Najaf. US losing control of supply routes in Iraq. “Over the weekend, U.S. forces fought pitched battles to clear the main routes to and from Baghdad, and also near Fallujah, for trucks to haul food, fuel, water and ammunition to soldiers and Marines, they said. Many convoys have been delayed; others suspended, officials said…Gunmen battered U.S. supply lines around Baghdad on Monday, attacking and burning a convoy of flatbed trucks carrying M113 armored personnel carriers south of the capital. A supply truck was burned and looted on the road from the airport.” Last year the neo-cons said an Iraqi Thomas Jefferson would emerge from post-Saddam Iraq. Looks like we found the Iraqi Francis Marion instead. Bad stuff: “In an e-mail, a defense contractor who asked not to be named said the situation was getting worse, and that while the coalition controlled pockets within Iraq, the rebels ‘own the roads.’” There is also a story in today’s LA Times that Halliburton has suspended supply convoys in some areas. Hope the troops have plenty of ammo! The puppets are pissed. “Members of the Iraqi Governing Council, picked by the United States to serve as a transitional authority here, say they were never consulted over the large-scale American military moves last week, exposing deep fissures between the council and the occupation authorities. The council, which said it would have opposed the decision to confront Sunni insurgents in Falluja and Ramadi, sent in a delegation to negotiate an end to the offensive, offering it a taste of what lies ahead after the United States turns sovereignty over to Iraqis on June 30.” Bremer and his buddies didn’t consult the Council because they knew the Council would oppose such a bone-headed response. That’s how these ideologues operate. If you don’t bring the advice they want, they don’t want to hear it. Bulgarian president tells soldiers’ families that he is considering pulling out of Karbala. Germany warns citizens to leave Iraq. Australia warns citizens to stay out of Iraq. French government tells citizens to leave Iraq. Poland considers troop cuts in Iraq. Mahdi Army tells Bulgarians to stop patrols in Karbala. “At-Tay said that his people are grateful to Bulgaria for the tasks its troops executed but added, should the Bulgarians stay in Karbala ‘there would be a massacre’. He pointed out that in his opinion the Polish troops are actually taking care of the peace in the region, while the Bulgarians are assisting the US soldiers in their special operations.” Blowback. “‘The action the Americans take in Fallujah is not right,’ Amanooel says, shaking his head in dismay. ‘We used to say we wanted Saddam Hussein overthrown, but now people say Saddam is better than the Americans. I wish there would be someone like Saddam to run the country to ensure the safety of the people.’ It is a revealing statement from a member of Iraq's silent majority, which is no longer quite so silent. And few places better reflect the recent change in mood than in the Karada District of Baghdad.” About Face! “The US military has begun recruiting former officers of Saddam Hussein's military to staff the new Iraqi army, an acknowledgement of the serious problems it has faced in trying to build reliable security forces…As part of the de-Ba'athification process put in place by the US-led coalition after the overthrow of Mr Hussein's government, Paul Bremer, the chief civil administrator in Iraq, insisted on disbanding the Iraqi army despite suggestions from some in the US military that experienced officers would be needed to staff the new army.” When I first read this article, I thought it was a effort to put the toothpaste back in the tube. After all, the CPA has already wasted an entire year trying to field an effective and loyal Iraqi security force and it will still be a long and difficult process to constitute new units even with experienced and trained leadership cadres. But this policy reversal might mean that there is finally somebody in the decision tree who can over-rule Bremer's more idiotic ideas. Since I strongly suspect that Bremer's original decision to disband the Iraqi regular army had less to do with de-Ba'athification than eliminating an Iraqi officer corps of uncertain loyalty to a future Chalabi/INC government - which has been Bremer's unspoken goal since the beginning - this reversal might mean the beginning of an even deeper policy change. Commentary Opinion: “In his Saturday radio address, George Bush described Iraqi insurgents as a ‘small faction.’ Meanwhile, people actually on the scene described a rebellion with widespread support. Isn't it amazing? A year after the occupation of Iraq began, Mr. Bush and his inner circle seem more divorced from reality than ever.” Analysis: “‘What's really needed is a viable political process and the building of a consensus -- internationally, regionally and locally -- to work our way out of this mess,’ retired Army Gen. William Nash, a U.S. commander in the Gulf War, told Reuters. ‘That's what I don't see anybody doing,’ said Nash, now with the Council on Foreign Relations… Still, one U.S. official said Falluja should be ‘flattened’ and prominent Republican, William Kristol, wrote in his Weekly Standard magazine: ‘We trust that U.S. troops will soon move to uproot what seems to have become a kind of terrorist sanctuary in Falluja.’” General Nash also commanded the 1st Armored Division during the successful implementation of the 1995 Dayton Accords in Bosnia. William Kristol is a right-wing professional scribbler who mysteriously avoided the Vietnam draft and has never served his country in uniform. Casualty Reports Local story: Kansas Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Alabama Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Georgia airman killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier missing in action in Iraq. Local story: North Carolina soldier missing in action in Iraq. Local story: Arizona Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Idaho soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Colorado soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Florida soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Illinois Guardsman wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Bring it on.