Today in Iraq

War News for August 20 and 21, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Two US Marines killed in fighting in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers killed, three wounded by roadside bomb ambush near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, four wounded in ambush of US convoy near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Thirteen Iraqis killed, 107 wounded in fighting in Baghdad during last 24 hours. Bring ‘em on: Seventy-seven Iraqis killed, 70 wounded in fighting in Najaf during last 24 hours. Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting reported in Kufa. Bring ‘em on: Dutch patrol ambushed in Samawah; two Iraqis killed. Bring ‘em on: US Army patrol ambushed near Khalis. Bring ‘em on: One Polish soldier killed, six wounded by car bomb near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Pipeline sabotaged near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Pipeline sabotaged near Amarah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, two wounded in Baghdad RPG ambush. Bring ‘em on: Senior Iraqi police official assassinated near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian troops shelled near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi policemen killed in bombing at Nasiriyah police station. Bring ‘em on: Two Polish soldiers killed, five wounded in ambush near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, eleven wounded in two US air strikes in Fallujah. Abu Ghraib. “U.S. military doctors working in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, an article in the British medical journal The Lancet said on Friday.” Iraqi Olympic soccer players sound off. “Speaking after winning their group stage at the Games in Greece, one player said he would take up arms against US troops in his country. And the team attacked Mr Bush for running re-election campaign adverts featuring the Iraqi team. ‘Iraq as a team does not want Mr Bush to use us for the presidential campaign,’ said midfielder Salih Sadir. ‘He can find another way to advertise himself.’ Sadir was angered at Mr Bush’s adverts, which show pictures of the Afghan and Iraqi flags with the words: ‘At this Olympics there will be two more free nations – and two fewer terrorist regimes.’” Morale. “Playing cards one recent evening while on call to respond to any sudden outburst of violence, Lance Corporal David Goward and the rest of his squad voiced two growing concerns: that the U.S. military would linger here indefinitely and that the troops' very presence was provoking the fighting it was meant to stop. They are ready for any battle, they said, but a pervasive sense that Iraqis do not want their help has killed their enthusiasm for the larger goals of introducing democracy and rebuilding the country.” Commentary Editorial: “As we write this, the outcome of the tense standoff at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf remains uncertain. What is clear is that this potentially decisive showdown began when and where it did because of serious lapses in the American military command structure in Iraq. As The Times reported earlier this week, the confrontation began when a newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf started skirmishing with Moktada al-Sadr's Shiite militia without its officers first clearing that decision with top American commanders in Baghdad or with Iraqi political leaders.” Editorial: “We don’t see the flag-draped coffins of American soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base, thanks to the Pentagon’s rigid enforcement of a policy banning news photographers. And the media, either out of squeamishness or a desire not to be accused of being unpatriotic, have all but ignored those who have been seriously injured. In Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 there is a segment on soldiers who have lost limbs and who are undergoing slow, painful rehabilitation. What’s almost shocking is the realization of how little of this we’ve seen in the mainstream media. Young men and women are giving their lives and their limbs in a war that was launched under false pretenses, to ferret out weapons and terrorists that didn’t exist. And now those who actually paid the price for Bush’s war are being forgotten. The media must be held accountable for not showing the war’s true face, regardless of the obstacles. Their failure stands as yet another example of caving in to Bush and company.” Editorial: “Preparations for the elections cannot proceed without U.N. assistance. The Security Council resolution, mindful of the bombing of the U.N. office in Iraq, called for the creation of a force to protect U.N. staff. If this force remains neutral and independent of the multinational forces, it will be easier to win over the Iraqi people. But no country has yet raised its hand to take part in this plan. The Iraq war has left such a bad taste in people's mouths that countries feel reluctant to send forces-even if it is just to protect U.N. personnel. We must continue to question the responsibility of the Bush administration, which bulldozed its way toward war and occupation of Iraq. The global ramifications of a failed attempt to rebuild Iraq would be dire.” Analysis: “Self-censorship, conformity, and craven bowing to Bush administration propaganda of the sort admitted to by the Washington Post are, however, just the tip of the media iceberg. The Post, via Kurtz, is only not-apologizing for what was actually written and where it was placed in the paper. It remains beyond anyone's wildest dreams to hope that the United States' major papers would devote the slightest thought to stories that logically should have been covered but simply went missing in action (MIA). So for the rest of this dispatch, let me just focus on US Iraq reportage since the taking of Baghdad and offer my own little non-inclusive list of occupation/war stories that seem to me to have gone MIA - and these are only the ones that, with my limited public sources and limited knowledge, I can see from here. Then, because every war has its war words that are meant to bend embattled reality to someone's advantage, I want to consider a few recent examples of Iraq war words and how the press has dealt with them.” Casualty Reports Local story: Colorado soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Connecticut soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Washington State Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Indiana soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Two California Marines killed in Iraq. Local story: Virginia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Virginia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Oregon soldier injured in Iraq. Local story: Massachusetts Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: New York airman wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.