Today in Iraq

War News for August 25, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Four former Iraqi policemen killed in ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqis killed in fighting with British troops near Amarah. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqis killed in fighting and air strikes near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Aid convoy ambushed near Latifiya; two Iraqis killed. Bring ‘em on: Italian journalist kidnapped by insurgents near Najaf. Bring ‘em on: British troops fighting insurgents near Basra. Bring ‘em on: Japanese troops under mortar fire near Samawah. Bring ‘em on: Fighting reported in Kufa. One US soldier dies in road accident near Fallujah. Indonesia urges citizens to leave Iraq. Sistani returns, calls for march on Najaf. Najaf police chief says crisis will end today or tomorrow. “US-backed Iraqi forces have approached to the Imam Ali shrine and will end Najaf standoff ‘today or tomorrow,’ police chief of Najaf said Wednesday. ‘Our forces are very close to the revered shrine, and the Najaf crisis will end within today or tomorrow,’ police chief Brigadier Amer Hamza told reporters in a news conference in Najaf. US tanks and armored vehicles came closer to the shrine early in the morning as artillery and machine gunfire resonated throughout the area, Xinhua correspondent in Najaf Aziz al-Shammary said.” Commentary Editorial: “The comments would be bad enough from a buck private. From a three-star general whose job includes gathering information for the campaign against Islamic radicals, they are unforgivable. Let Boykin retire and speak out as much as he wants. But do not give others the chance to assume that the general speaks for the Pentagon, the administration and the nation. Two months ago, Bush told the graduating class at the U.S. Air Force Academy that a clash of ideologies should not be viewed as a fight between civilizations or religions. He called Islam a religion that ‘teaches moral responsibility that ennobles men and women.’ Fine words, those, and incompatible with letting one of his generals get away with preaching bigotry.” Opinion: “Thirty-eight years ago this very month, a young congressman told his colleagues that something was seriously amiss about huge wartime contracts awarded to a company with a big friend in a high place. ‘The potential for waste and profiteering under such a contract is substantial,’ he warned. It is ‘beyond me,’ he went on, why the contract ‘has not been and is not now being adequately audited.’ The war was Vietnam. The company was Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton that is now known as KBR. The big friend in a high place was Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. And the impassioned young congressman was Donald Rumsfeld.” Casualty Reports Local story: Arizona Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: New York Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: California Guardsman wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.