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Saturday, December 11, 2004

War News for Saturday, December 11, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi election workers assassinated in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed by car bomb near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Four senior Iraqi police officers assassinated in ambushes near Ash Sharqat and Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US troops and ING soldiers ambushed in separate incidents near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi policeman assassinated in Beiji. Bring ‘em on: ING patrol ambushed by roadside bomb near Tikrit. Bring ‘em on: Turkish truck delivering US supplies destroyed by RPG fire near Beiji. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police captain killed in checkpoint attack near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi civilian killed, one wounded by mortar fire near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Oil production near Beiji halted due to pipeline sabotage. Two US soldiers killed, four injured in helicopter crash near Mosul. BBC Iraq Log. BBC contributors look to the future with some hope and discuss the power shortages, corruption and the ever present danger of kidnapping. Shortages. “With Iraq in the grip of winter, when temperatures drop close to freezing during 12 hours of darkness, electricity seems in shorter supply even than a few months ago, despite constant U.S. efforts to repair war and sabotage damage. Typically many households have two hours of power before a four-hour blackout. .. The cost of paraffin for heating has risen fivefold in the capital and bottled cooking gas tenfold, causing serious hardship for the many Iraqis without jobs or regular income. Lines several km (miles) long snake from the city's petrol stations where drivers can fill up for a subsidised 3 U.S. cents a litre. The choice is to pay 20 times as much to profiteers. Anger has boiled over, fights and shooting have broken out.” Intelligence collection. “For information, McCaffrey and his men are relying on the mass arrests that frequently antagonize the population, hit-and-miss traffic stops and the few frightened Iraqis who help U.S. forces, often to avenge the murder of a family member by the insurgents.” Raid. “Household goods were sent clattering to the floor, mattresses and bedding upturned, the contents of cupboards and drawers spilt on to a growing pile of personal effects and domestic items. Across the wakening town dogs barked and engines rumbled as US units converged on similar targets. ‘Er . . . we’re in the wrong house,’ Sergeant Hendrix announced quietly as the troops began questioning the blindfolded Iraqis. ‘Our target is 100 metres south.’” Iraqi police training. “Even as the foreign advisers push ready-made solutions, Iraqi police admit they are overwhelmed. Iraq's interim government, when it assumed power from the coalition in June, inherited a force largely assembled by the multinational forces with little screening of recruits. Officials are now working through a vetting exercise aimed at purging criminals from police ranks. In recent months they have stepped up training courses like the one at Apache, and recruited aggressively from former members of Saddam's army to form new elite units.” Debt relief. “Loria, 27, found himself stuck in Fort Hood in Texas this week when Army officials said he owed money for travel expenses and for lost equipment. Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton interceded on behalf of Loria after his wife, Christine Loria, told the Times-Herald Record of Middletown about the problem.” Casualty Reports Local story: New Mexico Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Two South Carolina Guardsmen killed in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania Marine dies from wounds received in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Arkansas soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Utah Marine wounded in Iraq.

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