Today in Iraq

War News for June 28, 2004 Bring ‘em on: US prisoner of war executed. Bring ‘em on: Three US Marines killed by roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed in Baghdad; one Iraqi killed. Bring ‘em on: Senior police official wounded in assassination attempt near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed in attack on police station in Mahmudiyah. Bring ‘em on: Fighting reported in Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported near Green Zone in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi civilians killed in roadside bomb attack against US convoy in Baquba. More troops. “The U.S. Army is planning an involuntary mobilization of thousands of reserve troops to maintain adequate force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials said on Monday. The move -- involving the seldom-tapped Individual Ready Reserve -- represents the latest evidence of the strain being placed on the U.S. military, particularly the Army, by operations in those two countries.” Crooks. “According to documents posted on its own web site, the CPA’s little-known Program Review Board (PRB) has quietly committed billions of dollars in Iraq’s oil revenues to new contracts that critics say will enrich US and British corporations while limiting the amount of revenue Iraq’s new interim government will have at its disposal when it assumes authority from the CPA on June 30.” Stranded. “According to the Foreign Ministry, 33-year-old Gana Trading employed Choi Wook has wanted to come home to Korea since receiving word of Kim Sun-il's murder, but because overland travel is almost impossible due to the threat of attack from armed groups and Mosul Airport is closed, he has remained in Mosul.” Commentary Analysis: “U.S. commanders concede that they are far from quelling a stubborn and increasingly sophisticated insurgency. It has extended well beyond supporters of Saddam Hussein and foreign fighters, spreading to ordinary Iraqis seething at the occupation and its failures. They act at the grass-roots level, often with little training or direction, but with a zealousness born of anticolonial ambitions. U.S. commanders acknowledge that military might alone cannot defeat the insurgency; in fact, the frequent use of force often spurs resistance by deepening ill will. ‘This war cannot be won militarily," said Major General John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, which oversees a swath of the northern Sunni triangle, as the area is called. ‘It really does need a political and economic solution.’” Analysis: “As has happened so many times regarding Iraq, ideology clouded analysis. The best-equipped, best-trained army in the world has not been able to crush or even find the ‘dead-enders,’ whose operations have grown in size, skill and organization. Fourteen months after the fall of Baghdad, Iraq's main airport remains closed, the road from the airport to Baghdad is a free-fire zone, several other key routes linking the country are extremely dangerous, and attacks on infrastructure, civilians and troops are a daily occurrence.” Opinion: “Let's say the obvious. By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor.” Opinion: “The American torture of Iraqi prisoners was not especially helpful to Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin, who was shot dead by "the Sharp Sword against the Enemies of God and his Prophet." Torture is a two-way street. Nor does it seem so helpful today to U.S. Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. He has been missing since June 21 and now he is being shown on Arab television with a sword over his head. Voices say they will cut off his head. This is simultaneously impossible to contemplate and yet so familiar that you flinch at the mention. I wonder what these dangerous fools in Washington, Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, think about the Marine.” Opinion: “When Allawi was first picked for the prime minister post through an opaque selection process ostensibly run by a U.N. representative, former CIA Iran-Iraq analyst Kenneth Pollack justified the agency's earlier use of Allawi as a terrorist with the comment "send a thief to catch a thief." But the question now is: Do you send a thief to build a democracy?” Casualty Reports Local story: Illinois soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New Hampshire Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Three Oregon Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: California soldier wounded in Iraq. Awards and Decorations Local story: Pennsylvania soldier decorated for valor in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.