Today in Iraq

War News for Thursday, November 5, 2004 draft Bring ‘em on: Nine Iraqis, one British contractor killed by car bomb near Baghdad airport. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, eight wounded in air strikes near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded by roadside bomb near Salman Pak. Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqis killed by car bomb at Education Ministry in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US contractor kidnapped in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Three ING soldiers executed by insurgents. Bring ‘em on: ING officer executed near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Three ING soldiers killed, four wounded in car bomb ambush near Iskanderiyah. Bring ‘em on: Two ING soldiers killed by car bomb in Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Massive attacks on oil pipelines near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: US troops attacked by suicide bomber near Taji. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi children wounded in mortar attack on US positions near Balad. Bring ‘em on: British troops mortared near Mahmoudiyah. Hungary leaves Lieutenant AWOL’s coalition. Bulgaria announces troop reductions. Netherlands announces troop withdrawal in March 2005. MSF withdraws from Iraq. Osama bin Laden vows revenge for Bush’s War in Iraq. Equipment shortages. “The Oregon Army National Guard lacks the most effective armored vehicles in Iraq to protect soldiers from roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, the Guard's highest-ranking officer said this week. In an interview Monday, acting Adjutant Gen. Ray Byrne said the military was not equipped to fight a grinding conflict with an insurgency that attacks convoys with powerful roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.” Seven retired flag officers sound off about Lieutenant AWOL’s quagmire. “LTG Odom: ‘It's a huge strategic disaster, and it will only get worse. The sooner we leave, the less the damage. In the months since the invasion, the U.S. forces have become involved in trying to repress a number of insurgency movements. This is the way we were fighting in Vietnam, and if we keep on fighting this way, this one is going to go on a long time too. The idea of creating a constitutional state in a short amount of time is a joke. It will take ten to fifteen years, and that is if we want to kill ten percent of the population.’” Al QaQaa. “In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material away from the Al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting. The soldiers said about a dozen U.S. troops guarding the sprawling facility could not prevent the theft because they were outnumbered by looters. Soldiers with one unit — the 317th Support Center based in Wiesbaden, Germany — said they sent a message to commanders in Baghdad requesting help to secure the site but received no reply.” Commentary Editorial: “For four years many hoped that the course charted by President Bush - a muscular go-it-alone view of a world divided between the forces of darkness and those of light - would prove to be a blip. Come November 2, 2004, they wanted to believe, normal service would be resumed. The United States would return to the old way of doing business, in concert with allies and with respect for the international system the US itself had done so much to create. The norms of foreign policy pursued by every president from Roosevelt to Clinton, including the first George Bush, would be revived. Senator Kerry promised as much. Now that fantasy will be shelved. The White House is not about to ditch the approach of the last four years. Why would it? Despite the mayhem and murder in Iraq, despite the death of more than 1,000 US soldiers and countless (and uncounted) Iraqis, despite the absence of weapons of mass destruction, despite Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration won the approval of the American people. If Bush had lost the neo-conservative project would have been buried forever. But he won, and the neo-cons will welcome that as sweet vindication.” Casualty Reports Local story: California Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Nevada Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: West Virginia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Georgia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Maryland soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: South Carolina Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Arizona Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: New York Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Colorado Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Georgia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Indiana Marine wounded in Iraq. Note to Readers Take a few minutes and go read Jo’s comments at Democratic Veteran. He’s got some interesting thoughts that are worth reading.