Today in Iraq

War News for July 13, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Turkish truck driver, Iraqi civilian killed in attack on US convoy near Baiji. Bring ‘em on: US patrol attacked in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police launch security sweep in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported in central Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed by roadside bombs near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi soldier killed, nine wounded in ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed by car bomb near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi government official assassinated in Baghdad. Little Fallujahs. “One especially disturbing trend, from the U.S. standpoint, is the intermingling of conservative religious ideology with the insurgency. Fighters are regularly acclaimed as mujahedin, or holy warriors, their exploits celebrated in teahouses, living rooms and mosques. The conservative Salafi, Wahhabi and Sufi teachings that have proliferated in Sunni Iraq since the fall of the regime last year provide a moral basis for the armed opposition.” Philippines announces immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. Retention crisis. “Almost two-thirds of Indiana National Guardsmen in a battalion that spent a year in Iraq chose not to re-enlist when their service time expired. Over the past 21 months, the service contracts of 102 soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the 152nd Regiment expired. Of those, 32, or less than one-third, chose to re-enlist. The unit typically keeps 85 percent of its members, a sergeant in charge of retaining members said.” Tanker crew refuses to dock in Basra. Lieutenant AWOL doesn’t read this blog. “’Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq,’ Bush said. ‘We removed a declared enemy of America who had the capability of producing weapons of mass murder and could have passed that capability to terrorists bent on acquiring them.’” Eloquence. “Former Ambassador Joe Wilson can sum up his opinion of President George W. Bush’s post-Sept. 11 administration quite simply. ‘Everything they have put into play since Sept. 11 has come up horse turds,’ Wilson said when he spoke Sunday at the Sopris Foundation State of the World Conference.” Must be that diplomat training. Commentary Opinion: “When it comes to telling you right to your face that black is white, maybe no one compares with George W. Bush. Last week, for example, he responded to yet another report that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction by saying that it didn't matter. ‘Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons, I believe we were right to go into Iraq,’ Bush said. ‘America is safer today because we did.’” Opinion: “The 511-page Senate Intelligence Committee report makes it clear that despite the haughty posturing of national security heavyweights, we do not have adults watching the store. The report's epic series of embarrassing conclusions about how the intelligence on Iraq became distorted is a testament to how political ideology and ambitions consistently trumped logic and integrity. The Senate report is a thoroughly damning indictment of the Bush administration's doctrine of ‘preemptive’ war based on intelligence. In the case of Iraq, the intelligence that was false was adopted by the administration, while the intelligence that was true was ignored as inconvenient. And it is telling that the CIA, try as it did to accommodate the White House, couldn't find any evidence that Al Qaeda and Iraq were collaborators.” Analysis: “President Bush's government was unrelenting in trying to convince Americans that Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to us, that he had scary weapons, that he was tied to al Qaeda and thus to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It is wholly inadequate to shuck all this off on the CIA. The president was determined to scare the hell out of the country and make the case for war by whatever means necessary.” Opinion: “One might say -- indeed, many have said -- that the Bush administration has a problem with truth. That's true, but I think the real problem is something different: It has a problem with reality. It does not like data that contradicts its assumptions and beliefs. This is what a "faith-based" presidency turns out to be. If the facts interfere with the faith, go with the faith. Better yet, suppress opposing viewpoints entirely, so people won't even have to perform the distressing chore of separating faith from truth.” Casualty Reports Local story: Nebraska Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Nebraska Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Florida Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Missouri Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio sailor wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.