Today in Iraq

War News for September 14, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Car bomb at Baghdad police station kills 35 Iraqis. Bring ‘em on: Twenty Iraqis killed in US air strikes in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers killed, three wounded in Baghdad ambush. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents execute Turkish truck driver in Iraq. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents capture two Australian security contractors in convoy ambush near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Camp Zulu mortared again. Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqis killed, seven wounded by US artillery fire near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Eight US soldiers wounded in Baghdad car bombing. Bring ‘em on: Eight Iraqi police killed, two wounded in ambush near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline ablaze near Beiji. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, five wounded in patrol ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported near al-Muthanna airport in central Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi soldiers wounded by roadside bomb near Baquba. How to screw up a counterinsurgency. “Even now, the get-tough approach is showing signs of backfiring. On Sunday, when a suicide bomber crippled an American personnel carrier, a gun battle broke out, followed by an airstrike by two American helicopters. At least 15 Iraqis died and 50 were wounded, including a 12-year-old-girl and a television journalist. Inside the grim and chaotic wards of Baghdad's hospitals on Sunday, the Americans seemed to have made more enemies than friends. On Monday, the scene repeated itself in another corner of Baghdad. When three insurgents opened fire on an American sport utility vehicle, American soldiers sprayed the area with gunfire, destroying three cars and killing at least one Iraqi civilian and wounding three others.” Another US ally alienated by Bush’s War. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned the U.S. to halt military operations in the northern Iraqi town of Tall Afar, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported on its Web site. Gul said he told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that, if the action continues, ‘Turkey's cooperation on issues tied to Iraq would be brought to an end,’ Anatolia reported.” Letter from Baghdad. “I waited in the car as U.S. soldiers set up a roadblock at a major intersection. An angry American hollered at an Iraqi officer not to let any vehicles through. ‘I decide when the cars come,’ he yelled. The Iraqi cop wasn't having any of it, and he began yelling back in Arabic until a second U.S. officer calmed them both. Just then a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles charged by. An armored tow truck was pulling a still-blazing Bradley fighting vehicle through the intersection, spreading oily residue in its wake. Some of those who had been blocked at the intersection got out of their cars to cheer. Others angrily honked their horns and ordered the celebrants to get back into their cars -- not in defense of the Americans, but because they simply are sick of the bloodshed.” Commentary Editorial: “Fallujah offers a stark example of what's gone wrong in Iraq. Entrenched insurgents hold the city, giving lie to U.S. hopes of control over the country, and military actions to dislodge them amid tight urban quarters risk civilian casualties that wave the red shirt for further Iraqi resistance and world disapproval.” Editorial: “Where we are now is that George Bush is getting our soldiers killed -- a thousand so far -- in pursuit of a war to make himself a war president, a president whom the rest of us are supposed to support and give another term. Yet this is a war that he got us into, with unclear objectives, a war he doesn't know how to get us out of. He is also spending way too much of the public's money -- at least $200 billion so far -- in pursuit of his war, putting money into the pockets of Halliburton and other companies that finance his political campaign. Yet you know what we need that money for -- to fund Medicare, to preserve Social Security, to repair our roads and bridges, to put enough teachers in our schools so that Mr. Bush's claim of ‘no child left behind’ will not be just a cruel joke.” Opinion: “U.S. news organizations are under constant pressure to report good news from Iraq. In fact, as a Newsweek headline puts it, ‘It's worse than you think.’ Attacks on coalition forces are intensifying and getting more effective; no-go zones, which the military prefers to call ‘insurgent enclaves,’ are spreading - even in Baghdad. We're losing ground. And the losses aren't only in Iraq. Al Qaeda has regrouped. The invasion of Iraq, intended to demonstrate American power, has done just the opposite: nasty regimes around the world feel empowered now that our forces are bogged down. When a Times reporter asked Mr. Bush about North Korea's ongoing nuclear program, ‘he opened his palms and shrugged.’” Casualty Reports Local story: Virginia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Texas Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Iowa Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama contractor killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.