Today in Iraq

War News for May 14 - 15, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting reported in Najaf. Sh'ite shrine, cemetary damaged. Bring ‘em on: Sixteen insurgents killed, two British soldiers wounded in three coordinated ambushes near Amarah. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents control bridges, besiege CPA offices in central Nasiriyah. Bring ‘em on: Fighting reported as Shi’ite militia seal off central Samawah. Bring ‘em on: US forces in Iraq face 50 attacks per day. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed in mortar attack near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed by sniper fire near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqis killed, 18 wounded in mortar attack on Mosul recruiting office. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded by car bomb ambush near Balad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi insurgents killed in heavy fighting near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Two British soldiers wounded by RPG fire near Amarah. Bring ‘em on: CJTF7 reports five separate mortar attacks in central Baghdad. CENTCOM reports one US Marine died in a non-hostile incident at Camp al-Asad. One US soldier dies in vehicle accident in Iraq. Six hundred Filipino contractors working at Camp Anaconda quit. Coalition of the not-so-willing. “Allies of the United States are giving a lukewarm response to quiet requests that they send more troops to Iraq, amid escalating violence and public outcry over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.” Unacceptable risk. “Though many dozens of U.S. corporations have government contracts to help rebuild the country, relatively few American companies have invested their own capital. The volatile security situation has kept many potential investors away, and even as the U.S.-led coalition government has called on businesses to come to Iraq, the State Department has warned Americans to stay out of the country.” Great Moments in Bush Diplomacy: “Pre-war transatlantic tensions surfaced again, with the foreign ministers of France, Russia and Canada all telling a Washington news conference that their countries would not send troops to Iraq even if their demands were to be met in a UN Security Council Resolution.” Army Times poll: “Do you think Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard Myers should keep their jobs, in light of allegations of prisoner abuse at Al Ghraib Prison in Iraq?” The numbers don’t look good for Rummy. Commentary Editorial: “If any of the goals Americans wanted to achieve in Iraq can still be salvaged, it will take more than fumbling crisis management driven by the needs of the Bush re-election campaign. A clear and coherent new course needs to be set without further delay, beginning with aggressive policy and personnel changes to undo the damage of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The U.N. should be given clear authority over transitional political arrangements after June 30, with Washington fully backing Mr. Brahimi's efforts to assemble a caretaker government of credible Iraqis who are not associated with the occupation and are willing to put aside their own political ambitions.” Analysis: “Here in Egypt, the ACIJLP and a number of human rights groups have launched a campaign to pressure the Egyptian government to cancel its bilateral agreement with the US that grants US personnel immunity from prosecution before the ICC. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHR) sent a statement to the Arab League urging its secretary-general to add the issue of similar US bilateral agreements with Arab countries on the agenda of the coming Arab Summit. ‘The stance of Arab states,’ a statement by CIHR said, ‘must not be limited to meaningless verbal condemnation [of human rights violations] in light of the immoral bilateral agreements some of these governments signed which protect war criminals, giving them free reign to commit their crimes.’ But CIHR's call might fall on deaf ears.” Editorial: “Because his policies are so badly off track, President Bush's repeated assurances that he will soldier on through hard times sound more like folly than fortitude. ‘We will stay the course,’ he has said time and again. After Nicholas Berg was killed in Iraq, Bush repeated his resolve: ‘We will complete our mission. We will complete our task.’” Casualty Reports Local story: Washington State Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Iowa Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Florida contractor dies in Iraq. Local story: CNMI soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: California soldier wounded in Iraq (twice). Local story: Massachusetts soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: West Virginia Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Idaho Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: South Dakota soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts soldier wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.