Today in Iraq

War News for July 30 and 31, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Iraqi chief of a teachers’ college assassinated near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Twenty insurgents killed in heavy fighting near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Two Pakistani hostages executed by insurgents. Bring ‘em on: One Polish soldier killed, eight wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Madlul. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed in ambush near Hawija. Bring ‘em on: US troops under rocket attack near Tirkit. Bring ‘em on: Italian soldiers in firefight near Nasiriyah. Bring ‘em on: Eleven US Marines wounded, two US helicopters damaged in multiple attacks near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: US Marines under mortar fire near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian troops under mortar fire near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi children wounded in Baghdad mortar attack. Ransom demands. “The governor of Iraq's Al-Anbar province said on Saturday that he would happily resign if kidnappers released three of his sons, snatched from their home by gunmen four days ago. ‘I am ready to give in to your demands, and if you believe my presence in Ramadi does not serve the interests of the region, I am ready to go,’ said Abdel Karim Berges in an open letter to the province.” The unreported war in Iraq. Powell visits Baghdad. “His one tangible promise was to speed up the flow of the $18 billion in American reconstruction aid, less than $500 million of which has been released so far, so that Iraqis could see the realization of long-promised improvements in water, electricity and other areas.” Water shortage in Basra. “A humanitarian crisis could erupt in Iraq's second largest city of Basra with the shortage of drinking water at the peak of summer made worse by power cuts, a senior U.N. official warned on Thursday.” Election of Iraqi interim national assembly postponed. Al-Jazeera. “Alongside the conflict in Iraq, Al Jazeera's viewers are witnessing a second drama. The Arab channel is coming of age and struggling for respect while covering a war opposed by the Arab world — and fending off a round-the-clock blitz of impassioned criticism from all sides. In the midst of the mayhem, the young, influential and controversial Qatar-based news organization is setting its sights beyond the Middle East, breaking into English-language news and striving for a place among international institutions such as the BBC and CNN. ‘My country is collapsing, and my job is to watch the collapse,’ correspondent Audday Katib said. A government engineer under Saddam Hussein, Katib landed a job with Al Jazeera months after the U.S.-led invasion.” Crooks. “A comprehensive examination of the U.S.-led agency that oversaw the rebuilding of Iraq has triggered at least 27 criminal investigations and produced evidence of millions of dollars' worth of fraud, waste and abuse, according to a report by the Coalition Provisional Authority's inspector general. The report is the most sweeping indication yet that some U.S. officials and private contractors repeatedly violated the law in the free-wheeling atmosphere that pervaded the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild the war-torn country.” Lieutenant AWOL’s shabby coalition. “For the first time, administration officials are acknowledging the delicate nature of their ‘coalition of the willing’ - the group of some 30 nations that lent their names and limited numbers of troops to the occupying force built mainly of American and British forces. The multinational force, which the administration stitched together as traditional NATO allies balked, is increasingly tattered.” Ukraine bails. “Ukraine is negotiating with the United States and Poland to reduce and eventually withdraw its troops from Iraq, a top defense official said Thursday, becoming the latest country to consider pulling out its mission.” Contractors killed in Iraq. Commentary Analysis: “Most Americans realize that people are dying, even if they don't see photos or footage of the body bags. Yet they haven't heard enough about the many costs of the Iraq War. The facts are startling. The government has spent more than $150 billion in taxpayer money thus far, and that price tag is likely to grow by at least $50 billion a year while Iraq remains occupied. Economist Doug Henwood estimates that this war, if the U.S. military stays there for three more years, will cost U.S.households an average of $3,415.” Analysis: “The United States in principle handed over authority in Iraq to an appointed Iraqi government a month ago. There were hopes at the time that the change to indigenous, if not representative, government by Iraqis would bring about some improvement in the situation there. So far it hasn't worked. There was, first of all, some hope that the security situation in the country would improve: Iraqis' opposition to the status quo would no longer have as its direct target foreign, non-Muslim rule - occupation by foreigners.” Opinion: “The Bush administration no doubt had its real reasons for invading and occupying Iraq. They've simply chosen not to share them with the American public. They sought justification for ignoring the Geneva Convention and other statutes prohibiting torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners but were loath to acknowledge as much. They may have ideas worth discussing, but they don't welcome the rest of us in the conversation. They don't trust us because they don't dare expose their true agendas to the light of day. There is a surreal quality to all this: Occupation is liberation; Iraq is sovereign, but we're in control; Saddam is in Iraqi custody, but we've got him; we'll get out as soon as an elected Iraqi government asks us, but we'll be there for years to come. Which is what we counted on in the first place, only with rose petals and easy coochie.” If Ron Reagan, Jr. is writing stuff like this about Lieutenant AWOL, the little monkey is going down hard in November. Casualty Reports Local story: West Virginia Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Vermont Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Kansas soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Oregon Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Three West Virginia Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: Two Oregon Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: New York Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Two Arkansas Guardsmen wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 28, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Fifty-one Iraqis killed, 55 wounded by car bomb at Baquba police station. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, three wounded by roadside bomb near Balad. Bring ‘em on: Seven Iraqi soldiers killed, 10 wounded in firefight near Suwariyah. Bring ‘em on: Indian truck driver wounded in convoy ambush near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi policeman assassinated in Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Nine Iraqis wounded in roadside bomb attack against US convoy near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian troops mortared near Karbala. Bring ‘em on: Bomb explodes at entrance to Polish base camp near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Two insurgents killed in attempted pipeline sabotage near Kirkuk. Jordanian company pulls out of Iraq to save kidnapped employees. “The company provides construction and catering services to the U.S. military. Chief executive Rami al-Ouweiss would not say when the company would leave but indicated it was in the process of doing so.” Foreign truck drivers refuse to deliver goods in Iraq. “On his first journey to Iraq in eight months, Jordanian truck driver Faisal Suleyman was followed, pulled over and robbed by four men in a sky-blue taxi brandishing automatic weapons. The trip will be his last, he said Tuesday, placing him among a growing number of foreign drivers whose cargo is vital to Iraq's reconstruction refusing to brave the gantlet of kidnappings, robberies and other violence plaguing the country.” Shanghaied. “In Kenya, where half the population lives on less than a $1 aday, the lure of a two-year contract worth $360 a month, plus allowances and the promise of overtime, was too good to resist. But within months of the first Kenyans arriving in Kuwait, many of their expectations were dashed. They found themselves forced to drive through the frontlines of the insurgency in neighbouring Iraq, delivering supplies to US and British troops, according to several drivers and a former manager of the Kuwaiti company that employed them.” Two hundred Jordanian truck drivers killed in Iraq since last year. “The president of the Jordanian syndicate of truck owners, Abdel Rahim al-Jamal, said Wednesday that land transportation services had sustained severe losses in human lives and vehicles as a result of armed robberies and U.S. fire inside Iraqi territory.” Power shortages continue. “This is the second summer since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and people here widely expected power to be restored by now. Instead, the city's electricity shuts off four or five times a day under a government energy-rationing scheme while officials struggle to revive a power system ravaged by war, vandalism and years of neglect.” Not to mention the entire year wasted by Baghdad fashion maven and incompetent administrator L. Paul Bremer. The insurgency incubated during the summer of 2003, when the CPA couldn't get electricity to the population. Anybody with a lick of sense should have known that restoring electrical service should be a top priority for the CPA. Summers are hot in Baghdad, and summer happens every year. The "war, vandalism and years of neglect" defense cut ice in 2003, but not in 2004. This year, the power shortages are a direct result of the failed CPA led by Bremer. Today, it's 114 degrees in Baghdad. Bremer’s legacy. “Even patrol leaders now carry envelopes of cash to spend in their areas. The money comes from brigade commanders, who get as much as $50,000 to $100,000 a month to distribute for local rehabilitation and emergency welfare projects through the Commanders Emergency Response Program. There are few restrictions on the expenditures, and officers acknowledge they consider the money another weapon. The targets at which it is aimed are the restless legions of unemployed Iraqi men, many of them former soldiers, policemen, and low-level members of the Ba'ath Party of ousted president Saddam Hussein. They were put out of work when the US administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, ordered a de-Ba'athification of Iraq. US soldiers say those men are vulnerable to entreaties to carry out an attack on the Americans for pay.” New Europe is starting to sound like Old Europe. “Reisz, a 47-year-old accountant in Budapest, is among many people in mostly pro-America Eastern Europe who are bristling at Secretary of State Colin Powell's exhortation to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to '’not get weak in the knees.’ ‘I don't know what our politicians told Powell, but if he thinks we want to keep our soldiers there, he is very mistaken. No one wants friends and relatives in a war zone like that,’ he said Tuesday. ‘We're grateful to the Americans for a lot of things, but they can't expect us to sacrifice lives just to be friends.’” Halliburton. “Halliburton Co. has lost $18.6 million of government property in Iraq, about a third of the items it was given to manage, including trucks, computers and office furniture, government auditors claim. The auditors couldn't account for 6,975 of 20,531 items on the ledgers of Halliburton's KBR unit, according to a report by Stuart Bowen, auditor for the coalition provisional authority inspector general. Halliburton is providing services to U.S. troops under a contract that has generated $3.2 billion in revenue so far.” Philippine foreign minister red-asses the Australian ambassador in Manila. Look, US media, this isn’t about the weakness of Spain, the Philippines, Thailand, El Salvador, or every other country that backs out of the “Coalition of the Willing.” It’s an international referendum on the leadership and competence of George W. Bush in prosecuting both a war against al-Qaeda and the war in Iraq. The leaders of those countries, as well as their citizens, are voting with their feet. Commentary Analysis: “Among the most dangerous instances of this neglect occur in Pakistan. The present US administration appears to have substantially ‘outsourced’ the management of its security interests in this region to what it perceives as a pliant, even servile, military dictatorship headed by President General Pervez Musharraf, and there is a belief that this regime will bring about the "enlightened moderation" that the United States hopes for in its favored ally. It is useful, consequently, to identify where precisely, within this arrangement, the ideologies of hatred are articulated, what their constituent elements are, and what relationship the Musharraf regime has with their most visible advocates.” Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. Awards and Decorations Local story: Illinois Guardsmen decorated for valor. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 27, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi civilian killed, 14 US soldiers wounded in Baghdad mortar attack. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi hospital director assassinated near Mahmoudiyah. Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline ablaze near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi interior ministry official assassinated near Latifiya. Bring ‘em on: “Several” Iraqis wounded by bomb in Tikrit. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier wounded by roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Filipino contractor wounded in rocket attack on US base near Balad. Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqis wounded in explosion near Fallujah. Insurgents threaten to close Amman – Baghdad main supply route. And this article in Der Speigel clearly indicates they have the capability to do so. Leaflets. “United States aircraft dropped leaflets on the rebellious Iraqi city of Fallujah on Tuesday, warning residents they will lose $102-million (about R637-million) in rebuilding funds if they do not halt attacks and allow US troops to enter freely.” The most dangerous jobs in Iraq. “Several assassination attempts against high-ranking officials in the emerging Iraqi government, some successful, have been widely publicized. But insurgents also are waging a campaign of intimidation and assassination against Iraqis who work for the U.S. in relatively low-level jobs. Dozens have been killed: laundry workers, interpreters, construction workers, security guards and general laborers. Low-ranking police officers and soldiers in the Iraqi National also are targets, even when off-duty.” Iraqi translator's story. “From anger to idealism to simple cash flow, each of the 30 Iraqi translators employed by the Oregon Army National Guard has his or her own reason to risk the wrath of insurgents by showing up for work every day. For Salam, an Iraqi veteran of the Persian Gulf War now working for the Americans, all three reasons apply.” Reality TV comes to Baghdad. “‘Labor and Materials’ is Iraq's answer to ‘Extreme Home Makeover’ and the country's first reality TV show. In 15-minute episodes, broken windows are made whole again. Blasted walls slowly rise again. Fancy furniture and luxurious carpets appear without warning in the living rooms of poor families. Over six weeks, houses blasted by US bombs regenerate in a home-improvement show for a war-torn country.” Terry Waite sounds off. “Waite identifies a clear link between the regime at Guantanamo and the abuses that took place in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib jail, and points an accusing finger directly at the White House.” Army War College monograph reveals the folly of Rummy’s “transformation” policy. “The study argues that the condition, morale and training of Iraqi forces had deteriorated so badly that they were unable to respond effectively even when weak points developed in the US attack. For example, the monograph noted that it was far from clear that the US had sufficient forces in the theater to surround multiple Iraqi cities simultaneously in the face of aggressive partisan action against coalition lines of communication. Since many of those cities controlled key bridges, the United States' ability to sustain a siege of other cities deeper in the country would have been reduced accordingly. With large numbers of forces tied down providing security, coalition forces would inevitably have been forced to leave many Iraqi cities - and possibly Baghdad itself - under Ba'athist control. And the countryside would have remained almost wholly in Ba'athist hands. This in turn would have reduced the ability of either standoff precision or air raids to destroy key nodes in the city centers. Fortunately for the US military, the Iraqi forces were not skilled enough to capitalize on these vulnerabilities.” Commentary Editorial: “The world will not be watching out of any expectation of witnessing the kind of gritty political dramas which occasionally still marked nominating conventions in those earlier times. Like British party conferences, but on a far more extravagant scale, US conventions long ago became entirely presentational events aimed at television viewers back home rather than at party enthusiasts in the hall. Yet the whole world will be watching Boston this week none the less. It will be doing so because there has never been a US presidential election in which the interests and sympathies of the peoples of the world are more at stake than this one. George Bush has been the most divisive and dangerous president to occupy the Oval Office. It is not just a narrow majority of American voters who, according to current polls, want Mr Bush to be defeated in November. It is an overwhelming majority of the citizens of other lands, those of this country very much included.” Analysis: “Terrorism has not been at the center of our foreign and military policy for the last two years: Iraq has. Everything else has been subordinated to this unexpectedly demanding mission. Though President Bush portrays the toppling of Saddam Hussein as a crucial part of the global war on terrorism, it wasn't. That's easy to forget, since we're now fighting a war in Iraq against enemies who use terrorist methods. But the terrorists we're fighting in Iraq are almost all people who were not terrorists before we invaded. They're the offspring of our invasion.” Historical analysis: “To conclude, imagine yourself an Iraqi. You've suffered terribly under a ruthless dictator. The Americans invade your country under false pretenses. They promise democracy but don't organize elections. They appoint exiles to rule you, exiles who spend most of their time out of the country and the rest in a few highly protected areas. The occupiers break into your homes in the middle of the night and arrest your men, who then disappear, with no accountability. They shoot Iraqis at roadblocks and from convoys. They declare war on the second most popular man in the country, announcing his death in advance. They open the economy to US corporations and give them sweetheart contracts, ignoring local business. Then they write hundreds of laws and establish commissions limiting any future government. They build permanent military bases on your soil. Then they turn your country over to a former associate of Saddam Hussein, also a former CIA agent, known for his ruthless brutality. Imagine that was your country. What would you do?” Opinion: “This is Hobbyism at its most egregious. She, too, was a wealthy Texan, and maybe there is a kind of softheadedness that afflicts that state's more affluent citizens. But it takes a New York kind of chutzpah for Bush to suddenly announce he will do what he has put off doing for lo these past three years. In that time the president steadfastly stood by his team of jolly incompetents who, rather than explain what had gone wrong, merely slapped Bush on the back and bonded with him in a manly fashion. George Tenet stayed at the head of the CIA even after he had assured Bush that it was a ‘slam-dunk’ that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction.” Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Kentucky soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. Note to Readers The Washington Post is running a feature that allows readers to nominate and vote on blogs. The contest is scheduled to run from July 26th through September 3d, so the focus is clearly on blogs that are covering the US national political conventions. Since the I thought readership here might be interested, you can go to this link to participate. And I'd like to thank the readers who nominated this blog for a similar contest run by the Guardian last year. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 26, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqis killed, five US soldiers, three Iraqi policemen wounded by car bomb in Mosul. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi wounded in three Baghdad mortar attacks. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis working for British forces killed in Basra. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi interior ministry official assassinated in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents threaten to kill two Pakistani hostages. Bring ‘em on: Jordanian Insurgents kidnap two truck drivers. Allawi says terrorist attacks have diminished since transfer of sovereignty. Daily bombings reported in Baghdad. “A heavy sense of dread hangs over the morning rush hour in Baghdad as Iraqis brace for the near daily explosion in a deadly game of Russian roulette, but most refuse to let the violence keep them at home.” No water. “Rising security and other overhead costs of Western contractors are cutting into the billions of dollars set aside for some 90 planned water projects, allowing them to supply only half the potable water originally expected, Iraqi officials say. Scaling back the projects by that much would vastly reduce the benefits for the citizens of a country that already meets no more than 60 to 80 percent of the demand for water on a given day, depending on the region. The Iraqi government estimates may also have wider repercussions, because they provide the first concrete measure of how the continuing violence in Iraq could affect the $18.4 billion reconstruction program approved by Congress last fall.” Low profile. “Some top U.S. military officers are questioning whether the practice of keeping U.S. troops highly visible in Iraq is doing more harm than good, challenging a key tenet of the Army's approach to occupying the country. Advocates of the new approach say U.S. troops would be more effective if they were kept out of view of the Iraqi public, and even removed to remote desert bases, appearing only when needed to conduct operations beyond the capacity of Iraqi security forces. For most of the Iraq occupation, the U.S. military has assumed -- based on lessons drawn from peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo -- that maintaining ‘presence’ through extensive patrols, large-scale raids and other highly visible operations would increase stability. Now, however, some officers are saying that such operations are doing more to inflame anti-American feelings among Iraqis than to secure the streets, and the resulting debate may shape the military's future structure and tactics in Iraq.” This “strategy” is a crock of shit on two levels, and I can’t believe any professional officer would propose such nonsense. First, the “lessons learned” from Bosnia and Kosovo are entirely inapplicable to the occupation of Iraq. In Bosnia, there was a functioning, recognized civil government in both the Republica Srpska and in the Bosnian Muslim Federation that had the authority to accept a multinational peacekeeping force. NATO forces patrolled only in the Zone of Separation between the RS and the BMF, on designated main supply routes, and in the direct vicinity of NATO base camps. NATO troops had power of detention only in the ZOS. Law and order functions were the responsibilities of the civil government, augmented and supervised by UN a police force. None of those conditions apply in Iraq. The Iraq campaign was an invasion followed by an occupation. The civil government was the CPA followed by an appointed interim government. Law and order functions were and remain the responsibility of the occupying power in the absence of a functioning Iraqi security force. You cannot defeat an insurgency unless you can secure the population by isolating the insurgents, and you cannot secure the population by isolating security forces from the population. This policy appears an attempt by the Bush reelection campaign to reduce American casualties during the next few months. Again, US policy in Iraq is driven by the reelection fortunes of Lieutenant AWOL rather than any coherent military or reconstruction considerations. I wish these so-called military correspondents would call bullshit on this foolishness rather than regurgitate GOP talking points. Analyst says Iraqi forces are undertrained and underequipped to deal with insurgency. Commentary Editorial: “To attempt, as Mikolashek apparently has, to whitewash what happened, is simply unacceptable. More investigative reports on what happened at Abu Ghraib are due in August. Here's hoping they are credible. As a nation, we have to figure out how this happened and make it perfectly clear that not only will we not stand behind anyone who permits or participates in such abuse, we will hold them wholly accountable for the damage they have inflicted, not only on potentially innocent people, but on America.” Editorial: "US troops have lost territory - including the town of Samarra in an impeccably synchronised attack by insurgents - and more troops. About twice as many American soldiers have been dying daily since the handover - 36 in the first 17 days of July, against 42 in all June. Iraqis, meanwhile, remain subject daily to rampant criminality and random terror." Opinion: “But the core question still is whether to stay or not, whatever the incidentals. The thing is, the Philippines should not have found itself in the mess that was Iraq had it not been too quick in throwing its support to this American-sponsored race and having our troops sprint into the game. Now most everyone agrees that the world would be a much safer arena if Australia, the United Kingdom and America itself followed our lead and ran out of Iraq as quickly as they broke in.” Casualty Reports Local story: New Jersey Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Louisiana soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: South Carolina Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Florida soldier wounded in Iraq. Awards and Decorations Local story: 1st Infantry Division soldier decorated for valor in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 25, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Beiji. Bring ‘em on: Former Ba’athist official assassinated in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Thirteen insurgents killed in heavy fighting near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Five Iraqis killed in ambushes and assassinations near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi translator working for US forces assassinated near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Car bomb detonates on Baghdad highway. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed near Mahmoudiya. Report from Ramadi. “The ferocity of the fighting in Ramadi and the tenacity of the mujahedin — as the insurgents are widely known, though one commander favors the snappier ‘Johnny Jihad’ — have produced a very specific view of who the enemy is here: A mostly home-grown mix of anti-U.S. nationalists, loyalists of Saddam Hussein's former regime and a seemingly endless supply of part-time fighters — many former members of the Iraqi army — willing to pick up a rifle or grenade launcher to fire at U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies.” Let freedom reign. “The Intelligence Service has its own secret prison. Criminals wear uniforms and collect police salaries. Senior security officials hand out jobs to family members. Investigators charged with being watchdogs over the police say they have little or no power. They report to the interior minister rather than to justice itself. The police arrest the innocent, beat them, and imprison them without charge; and in at least one case, police shot dead an innocent bystander. This is not Saddam Hussein's corrupt police state. This is the new Iraq run by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, the man the international community is hoping will shepherd Iraqi democracy into being early next year. There are so many corrupt, violent and useless police officers in the new Iraqi police force that, according to a senior American adviser to the Iraqi police, the U.S. government is about to pay off 30,000 police officers at a cost of $60 million to the American taxpayer.” Names of our dead and wounded are a “political statement.” “Town officials in Duxbury have removed dozens of yellow ribbons that were mysterously tied around trees in a conservation area. The ribbons bore the names of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Selectmen Chairman Andre Martecchini said the display, which also included ribbons in honor of wounded Americans and Iraqi civilians killed in the war, made a political statement that just couldn't be allowed on town property.” More Bush progress. "To an extent which would previously have been unthinkable, Iraqi hospitals, doctors and medical workers have become the targets of violence and kidnappings aimed at undermining the fabric of the new Iraqi state.” New Iraqi Army chief of staff cashiered. “Al-Sabah and al-Mashreq dailies quoted Iraqi Defense Ministry sources as saying army chief Gen. Amer Baker al-Hashemi and his aides were fired following last week's assassination of the head of contracts at the ministry in Baghdad by unidentified assailants. Al-Mashreq daily said the defense ministry was also taking ‘tough disciplinary measures’ after the leaking of security information to rebels related to the movement of employees at the ministry.” Kenya orders citizens to leave Iraq. Snafu. “The first raid by all-Iraqi security forces on suspected terrorist hide-outs in Baghdad descended into chaos when members of the two teams involved turned their guns on each other, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. The captain in charge of a detachment from the newly-formed Iraqi civil defence corps threatened to shoot anti-terrorist squad officers who were using strong-arm tactics against a taxi driver trying to get through a road block.” Lieutenant AWOL finally wins an election. “The November elections may still be ahead of him, but U.S. President George W. Bush has already come out a big winner at the World Stupidity Awards… Stupidest Statement of the Year was Mr. Bush's pronouncement that "combat operations have ended in Iraq," where fighting still rages more than a year after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush beat out pop princess Britney Spears, nominated for saying, ‘I do,’ at her brief Las Vegas wedding, and singer Jessica Simpson, who wondered aloud on TV: ‘Why does Chicken By the Sea taste like tuna? Is it chicken or tuna?’” It's pretty sad when you're dumber than a couple of pop-tarts like Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears. Commentary Editorial: “In Afghanistan, a war strategy directed toward removing the Taliban government left Al Qaeda leaders in their mountain redoubts. In Iraq, the administration vastly overestimated the military threat posed by a cornered dictator and was totally unprepared for the violent resistance that followed his swift overthrow. And when it comes to the military budget, President Bush has failed to acknowledge either the real costs of his policies or the need for a radical shift from expensive superweapons to increased numbers of adequately trained and equipped ground forces.” Opinion: “What I’m worried about here is the amnesia factor. Am I the only person around who distinctly remembers an entire 18 months ago? This is what happened: The CIA was wrong, but it wasn’t wrong enough for the White House, which kept pushing the spies to be much wronger. The CIA’s lack of sufficient wrongness was so troubling to the anxious Iraq hawks that they kept touting their own reliable sources, such as Ahmad Chalabi and his merry crew of fabulists. The neo-cons even set up their very own little intelligence shop in the Pentagon to push us into this folly in Iraq.” Analysis: “Negroponte is yet another member of the Bush administration with a long history with the Bush family and -- like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld -- Negroponte's familiarity is more with the father than the son. Negroponte became the U.S. representative to the United Nations a week after 9/11, which muted the criticism to his appointment. The Bushes do not like to go very far afield when they do their most sensitive business -- be it arms for hostages in the Iran-contra case, or overseeing Iraq's transition from a military government headed now by Allawi to its ‘march toward democracy.’ Negroponte's specialty in Honduras was setting one rebel group against another, getting them to eliminate one another. Whether he can do that on a much larger scale in Iraq -- setting tribe against tribe, sect against sect -- remains to be seen.” Opinion: “Bush's United States disgusts and frightens many American citizens who come November pray to whatever god they believe exists that their vote will actually be counted and the half-brained monkey in the White House will not be reappointed. I realize that the election is more important than a fictional character, but I will not allow somebody who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about to sully Batman's reputation by comparing him to a waste of skin like George W. Bush. Do not look to super-heroes for a George W. Bush comparison. Look toward the super-villains.” Casualty Reports Local story: Illinois Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Puerto Rico soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Illinois Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Maine soldier wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 23 and 24, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Senior Egyptian diplomat seized by insurgents in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier and 13 US Marines wounded in heavy fighting near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: Five Iraqi civilians wounded in US air strike in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed near Abu Ghraib. Bring ‘em on: Retired Iraqi general assassinated near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Six Iraqis wounded by bomb in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Eight Iraqis wounded by roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis wounded in two separate attacks in Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis wounded in firefight with US troops in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline ablaze near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed in action in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed in Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Baghdad police chief ambushed near Mahmoudiya. Two bodyguards killed. Bring ‘em on: US troops under mortar fire near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents kidnap Iraqi construction official in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police and US troops foil car bomb attack in Mosul. Nine Iraqis killed in collision with US tank near Tarmiyah. CPA bungling lives on. “One of the main problems is waste water pouring out of Baghdad's main sewage plants. Iraq's ancient sewage system collapsed during the war and insecurity is hampering efforts to repair it. Not a drop has been treated yet at the Rustumiya works, which was damaged during the war and then looted. Much of Baghdad's untreated waste, the sewage of more than two-and-a-half million people, is now flowing straight into the River Tigris.” Progress. “An Arkansas soldier serving in Iraq says that the children's attitude toward the Americans has changed in the last few months. Pine Bluff soldier Johnny Center said a few months ago when members of his National Guard squad waved to children in Baghdad, the youngsters smiled and waved back. Now, he sees parents slap children's hands if they wave, he told the Pine Bluff Commercial.” DoD issues today’s ration of shit. “’They're losing, because hope is spreading,’ secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in a Pentagon press briefing Wednesday.” Support the troops! “Making a tough choice with U.S. troops still in Iraq, the House on Wednesday sided with the chamber's Republican leaders to embrace spending restraint over an expansion of a program to improve family military housing. In a near party-line 212-211 procedural vote, lawmakers signaled their willingness to remove a $500 million expansion of the housing program from a $10 billion military construction bill for next year… Without the expansion, the program is expected to exhaust its current $850 million spending limit by November. Supporters said that would delay new housing for 50,000 military families over the next two years.” 10th Mountain Division has had 645 deserters since 9/11. Commentary Editorial: “…The report effectively communicates the strategy of the military brass on the detainee affair, which is to focus blame on a few low-ranking personnel, shield all senior commanders from accountability, and deny or bury any facts that interfere with these aims. In that sense, the signal it sends to Congress is clear: The Pentagon cannot be counted on to reliably or thoroughly investigate the prisoner abuse affair. An independent probe by an outside authority is desperately needed.” Editorial: “Never mind any of that. The report pins most of the blame on those depressingly familiar culprits, a few soldiers who behaved badly. It does grudgingly concede that ‘in some cases, abuse was accompanied by leadership failure at the tactical level,’ but the report absolves anyone of rank, in keeping with the investigation's spirit. The inspector general's staff did not dig into the abuse cases, but merely listed them. It based its findings on the comical observation that "commanders, leaders and soldiers treated detainees humanely" while investigators from the Pentagon were watching. And it made no attempt to find out who had authorized threatening prisoners with dogs and sexually humiliating hooded men, to name two American practices the Red Cross found to be common. The inspector general's see-no-evil team simply said it couldn't find those ‘approach techniques’ in the Army field manual.” Editorial: “For anyone thinking that American forces and the new Iraqi government are getting things settled, consider Anbar Province. It covers 40 percent of the land in Iraq, from the outskirts of Baghdad west to the borders of Jordan and Syria. The U.S. has effectively given up trying to patrol it, tired of losing people to insurgent forces who have battled the Army and Marines to a stalemate. Iraqi security forces, largely reduced to doing guard duty for government installations, have no appetite for an offensive in Anbar, either, so the bad guys simply rule there.” Analysis: “The political class couldn't end the Vietnam war, even after its futility had become evident, because it was morally blackmailed by the war's supporters, who said withdrawal would show the United States ‘a pitiful helpless giant,’ and would inspire ‘totalitarianism and anarchy throughout the world’ (I quote Richard Nixon). The United States approaches a similar situation of political blockage today, with respect to Iraq. A situation exists to which the administration's explanations, expectations and promises are increasingly irrelevant. Its supporters nonetheless say that a policy of disengagement would be ‘to cut and run.’ The Democratic opposition is forced to deny that it would ever cut and run. It is reduced to claiming that it would go on waging the war, but would do it better. With Vietnam, the political blockage was ended by what happened inside the army, which was paying the price of the political failure. It began to come apart.” Casualty Reports Local story: Michigan soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Florida Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: West Virginia soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Colorado Marine dies of wounds received in Iraq. Local story: Ohio Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Louisiana soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Nebraska Guardsman wounded in Iraq. Local story: Tennessee Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Missouri contractor killed in Iraq. Note to Readers Actually, this is a note to all the pissed-off Turks who are emailing me about the Iraq Ethnic Distribution map posted in the Reference Maps links section. The map is extracted from the 2003 Iraq Country Profile developed and published by the Central Intelligence Agency. If you don’t think the map is accurate, go complain to the CIA. If you’re right it won’t be the first time they’ve screwed up. I was stationed in Turkey twice for a total of two years. Turkey is a beautiful country and the Turkish people are some of the most courteous and hospitable people I’ve ever met. Istanbul is one of my favorite cities. When I was in Turkey, the Turks always treated me well. I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality. Teşekkür ederim. Off Topic What a classy bitch. Rude Pundit has the goods on this arrogant twat. (Warning: This is not family-oriented commentary.) 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 21, 2004 Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, six wounded by roadside bomb near Duluiyah. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers die of wounds received in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed by roadside bomb near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, seven wounded if fighting near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Two US Marines killed in action near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi scientist assassinated near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Heavy fighting reported in Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi policemen wounded in bomb ambush near Baquba. Zarqawi demands Japan withdraw troops from Iraq. “Teahouse chatter.” “Few things have thrust the prime minister further into the spotlight than a recent tale whispered on Baghdad streets that that in most countries would be a political nightmare: According to the rumor, Allawi pulled out a gun and executed suspected rebels at a police station last month. U.S. diplomats and Iraqi officials say they have no evidence to support the story. But after circulating for weeks in teahouse chatter, the story gained greater attention last week when an Australian newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, quoted two unnamed people who claimed to have witnessed Allawi execute six handcuffed and blindfolded suspects at Baghdad's al-Amariyah jail days before the return of sovereignty June 28.” More US media hooey on Allawi. “Such apparent urban myths are particularly potent in a society frayed by violence and divided over whether democracy or dictatorship will best deliver the life people desire. They are also a product of a society stripped of any frame of reference for leadership other than a system that relies on the fear of violence.” BOHICA. “In yet another sign of the strains on the U.S. military after the Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war, the Pentagon is considering extending the mobilization of National Guard soldiers who will soon hit the federal limit of 24 months of active service, defense officials said yesterday.” Miserable failure. “In the wreckage of the security situation, Neemeyer said, U.S. officials have all but given up on plans to install a democratic government in the city, and are hoping instead that Islamic extremists and other insurgent groups don't overrun the province in the same way that they've seized the region's most infamous town, Fallujah.” Allawi discusses oil pipeline with King Abdullah. Baghdad report. “Its buildings are crumbling or pockmarked by bullet holes. People are as likely to be jolted out of bed by a car bomb or a mortar shell as an alarm clock. Ambushes and kidnappings are rife, jobs are scarce. The power is out almost as much as it's on. Add to that the closure of many of the riverside restaurants and cafes, amusement parks, theaters and cinemas, the looted museums, the decrepit zoo, and Baghdadis have few entertainment options. The chaos has not only crushed their spirits, many say, it has left them bored to death. If not political freedom, people here say, Saddam Hussein's regime at least brought the freedom of family outings unencumbered by the fear of suicide car bombing.” Rummy’s military outsourcing idiocy comes full circle. “Just when the U.S. military needs them most, senior Green Berets, Navy SEALs and other elite forces are leaving for higher-paying jobs. After getting years of training and experience in the military, they leave for other government jobs or for what defense officials said Tuesday has been an explosion in outside contractor work.” Army Times interview with Sen. John Kerry. Over the course of 45 minutes, Kerry ticked off what he called the ‘failures’ and ‘arrogance’ of the Bush administration, and confidently spelled out how he would deal with key defense issues such as transformation, troop levels and stop-loss, the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule for gays in uniform, relations with foreign allies, leadership and accountability and his suitability to be commander in chief. ‘Look at this administration,’ he said. ‘Four years ago they said, “Help is on the way,” and they criticized the Clinton administration. They didn’t do anything to change what was really the deployable capacity of the military at the moment they began this war. This is the Clinton military.’” Commentary Editorial: “America cannot cut and run. It has destabilized Iraq with its pre-emptive war and it owes it to the Iraqi people to stabilize the country. The Bush strategy for Iraq appears to be based solely on an irrational ‘optimism,’ which along with ‘values,’ are the nebulous terms at the core of a campaign strategy that can't resort to concrete accomplishments. The Kerry campaign offers an admirably detailed Iraq strategy based heavily on United Nations and NATO involvement, but those organizations are wary of wading into a mess the White House created with its go-it-alone strategy.” Analysis: “The same American media that promoted last year’s invasion with stories of murder, torture and rape-rooms under the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein is displaying no interest in the growing evidence that the US-installed regime of Allawi will rule in essentially the same fashion.” Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 20, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Basra provincial governor assassinated. Bring ‘em on: Pipeline sabotaged near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqis killed, two wounded by roadside bomb near Baquba. One British airman killed, two injured in helicopter crash near Basra. Eighteen months. “It could take another 18 months to bring the insurgency in Iraq under control, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said, raising fresh doubts about how long Australian troops will have to remain there.” State governors unhappy with Bush’s War. “With tens of thousands of their citizen soldiers now deployed in Iraq, many of the nation's governors complained on Sunday to senior Pentagon officials that they were facing severe manpower shortages in guarding prisoners, fighting wildfires, preparing for hurricanes and floods and policing the streets.” I’m sure Halliburton would be delighted to provide those services. Vultures. “About six weeks into his training - six weeks of combat drills and drummed-in lessons in Army ways - he tasted one of the less-honorable traditions of military life: a compulsory classroom briefing on personal finance that was a life insurance sales pitch in disguise. As he remembers the class and as base investigative records show, two insurance agents quick-stepped him and his classmates through a stack of paperwork, pointing out where they should sign their names, where they should scribble their initials. They were given no time to read the documents and no copies to keep.” Long article about the vultures who prey on young soldiers and the fat cat lobbyists who support their practices. Includes this little gem: “But barring sales agents from bases is not the solution, said Frank Keating, the former governor of Oklahoma, who is president of the American Council of Life Insurers, a lobbying group. ‘Anything that is unethical or inappropriate should not exist, period,’ Mr. Keating said. But ‘someone who is mature enough to fight and quite possibly die for their country,’ he added, "should be freely able to decide how much and what kind of life insurance they should have.’” You’re a real fucking patriot, Frankie. This is how the US media is spinning the Allawi murder story. “To Iraqis hurting from months of violence and chaos, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has developed the aura of a tough, perhaps brutal, leader. Surprisingly, that image has endeared him to many Iraqis, accustomed to strongman rule. ‘I heard that he goes to jails to kill criminals,’ said Salma Abbas, a 50-year-old government employee. ‘This is good. We want someone as strong as Saddam.’… One persistent rumor has him killing as many as six blindfolded and handcuffed terror suspects held at a Baghdad police station just days before taking power.” So the Heathers have decided that another Saddam Hussein is the best thing for Iraq. Crooks. “Right now, Mr Waxman has a question on Iraq. In fact, he has several - and in typically robust fashion, he is demanding answers. What he wants to know is whether the Bush administration has been fiddling with Iraq's oil revenues.” Lieutenant AWOL proclaims Captive Nations Week. I ain’t making this shit up, folks. Support the troops! “Ninety-five percent of soldiers at eight Army Reserve units sent to Iraq and other Middle East bases experienced significant problems getting paid, creating stress and concern about the financial well-being of their families back home.” Commentary Analysis: “Kirkuk is an explosion waiting to happen. A violent move by any group -- Kurds, Turkmen or Sunni Arabs -- could detonate the mix. It's the political version of that car bomb roaming the streets. ‘I tell my soldiers one of their most important responsibilities is buying time,’ says Col. Milo Miles, who commands the Army brigade based here. And in that, he sums up a basic truth about Iraq.” Opinion: “The war party also omits an important fact: Assessing the performance of the intelligence community is only half of the Intelligence Committee's task. The other half is evaluating how the administration used the intelligence data it got. Republicans insisted on putting that report off until later - almost certainly after the November election. Why do they want to wait? Not because they expect it to be a ringing vindication of President Bush.” Opinion: “As former CEO of the oil-services company whose employees cheated U.S. taxpayers during the Bush administration - and cheated U.S. troops in wartime - you'd think Cheney could get rattled about wrongdoing. Instead, he's more upset about legitimate questions raised about why a defense contractor that rips off the taxpayers keeps getting government contracts. True to form, this bad cop to President Bush's good cop has flipped off the public for daring to be curious.” Casualty Reports Local story: Michigan soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Oregon Marine killed in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 19, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Ten Iraqis killed by truck bomb at Baghdad police station. Bring ‘em on: Police chief kidnapped, assassinated in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: RPG attack on Baghdad police station wounds one. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Senior Iraqi defense ministry official assassinated in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: One Turkish driver killed, one missing in convoy ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis wounded by bomb near Baquba. Bring ‘em on: Turkmenistan broadcaster killed in ambush near Mosul. Allawi permits Al-Sadr’s newspaper to publish again. Bloody July. “Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics.” Poland plans to reduce troop levels in January. Philippines completes withdrawal from Iraq. Military retiree recall. “Seven years ago, Lexington psychiatrist Charles Ham retired from the Army. Or at least he thought so. Then, the other day, he got a call telling him to report to Fort Jackson for a physical examination. Ham, who wore a U.S. Army uniform for 41 years, knew 5,600 veterans who recently had left the service were being called up. But he never thought he would be on the list. ‘You know, I’m 67 years old. Why do you need me?’ Ham asked. The caller explained the Army needed psychiatrists to counsel troops.” The US media fumbles again. “The US media has surprisingly failed to pick up the shocking disclosure by Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s leading newspaper, that the Irqai Prime Minister Iyad Allawi personally executed six suspected insurgents in a Baghdad police station. The story by award-winning Australian journalist Paul McGeough said that the prisoners were handcuffed and blindfolded, lined up against a courtyard wall and shot by the Iraqi PM. Dr Allawi is alleged to have told those around him that he wanted to send a clear message to the police on how to deal with insurgents. Two people allege they witnessed the killings and there are also claims the Iraqi interior minister and four American men were present.” Robin Cook calls for ICRC investigation of Allawi allegations. “The former British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, has urged the International Committee for the Red Cross to investigate witness claims that the new Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, shot dead six insurgents last month. Revelations of the accounts of the killings by chief Herald correspondent Paul McGeough at the weekend and the refusal of US authorities to deny them outright sparked concerns around the world.” Army doctor at Landstuhl AMC. “We receive an average of three planeloads a week of U.S. patients from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's 60 to 100 patients per load, with problems ranging from simple infections and kidney stones, to multitrauma injuries from bomb and mortar blasts… The whole Iraq thing has certainly polarized our nation, but the news you hear every day doesn't even come close to scratching the surface on how rough things are in Iraq from what the soldiers tell me and from what I see.” The Fallujah Model: "With Fallujah being touted by Iraqi fighters as a successful example of how to liberate their country from the US-led occupation, and by the occupation leaders as a successful example of how to hand over the country to its people and avoid further bloodshed, I set out to discover the reality behind the ‘Fallujah model.’ What I found was a city run by the Iraqi resistance, itself divided between those who supported the ceasefire with occupation forces in May that ended a month's heavy fighting in the city and those who sought to continue the struggle throughout Iraq ‘and all the way to Jerusalem.’” This is a good article written by a journalist with a perspective other than a press release obtained from the media handlers in the Green Zone. You don’t see items like this in the US media. Of course, you don’t see many journalists in the US media, either. Commentary Opinion: “It is perfectly clear that President Bush had no proof of weapons of mass destruction until he pressured the CIA to manufacture some. It is clear that the President and Vice President told an outright lie when they said there was a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. Several former CIA operatives have reported that even the CIA told the administration on at least three occasions that that was not so. Even so, today Vice President Cheney continues to insist that they had evidence of a link.” Editorial: “But the report's concerns also lead back to the US company that has become inextricably linked with the occupation: Halliburton. Given that the US vice president Dick Cheney was previously chief executive of Halliburton, the potential conflict of interest over its business dealings in Iraq were always going to be a focus of concern. Yet when the monitoring board's auditors asked for details of contracts involving Halliburton being paid for out of the oil funds, the Pentagon repeatedly refused. At issue are three contracts, worth a total of $1.4bn, awarded in noncompetitive tenders - meaning Halliburton was the sole bidder. The monitoring board rightly concluded that further investigation is required.” Analysis: “With Bush's approval ratings dipping ahead of November's presidential elections, Musharraf is being forced to deliver on two poll-lifting promises - Pakistani troops for Iraq and a "high-value al-Qaeda target". He is under pressure from Bush administration heavyweights who have been streaming into Islamabad at frequent intervals bearing gifts and lists of demands.” Editorial: The man, who more than a year ago declared that the heavy lifting in Iraq was done, only to discover that the fight had barely started, is now back with another over-the-top pronouncement. ‘Today,’ Bush said last week, ‘because America has acted and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer.’” Casualty Reports Local story: Michigan Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Montana soldier wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 18, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Eleven killed in air strike in Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi policemen wounded by roadside bomb near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen wounded in attack on police station near Hawijah. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police chief assassinated near Iskandariyah. Bring ‘em on: Insurgent killed attempting to sabotage gas pipeline near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Sunni cleric assassinated in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed, five wounded in two Tikrit car bombings. Bring ‘em on: Three British troops wounded in mortar attack near Basra. Commentary Editorial: “More grim indicators of problems ahead: As of January, more than 1,000 soldiers had been evacuated from Iraq for psychological problems. And another: The Pentagon is concerned about low morale among troops in Iraq and a spike in suicides. That's unusual, because in times of war, the suicide rate among the military - normally lower than among the general population - usually drops even more, not climbs.” Editorial: “Many of the problems of terrorism and guerrilla violence Allawi confronts are the legacy of the Bush administration's ineptitude. A recent report on British intelligence cites a warning from British sources issued in February 2003, a month before the war, that ‘senior Al Qaeda associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has established sleeper cells in Baghdad, to be activated during a US occupation of the city. These cells apparently intend to attack US targets using car bombs and other weapons.’ The administration's inability to act upon this and similar alerts is an inexcusable failure to make proper use of intelligence.” Analysis: “The war in Iraq is proving to be a wake-up call regarding the role of contractors. Last month, the Senate approved amendments to the 2005 defense appropriations bill that would place controls on the Pentagon's use of outside companies. But that's unlikely to be enough. It is time to stop the hypocrisy of claiming to shrink government while hiring an ever-larger contingent of private contractors. If these employees are performing work crucial to the function of government, then we should integrate them more fully into the government workforce — with the same responsibilities and benefits as other government employees.” Analysis: “Already, the allotment of seats in the National Conference has widened a rift between the former Iraqi exiles and those who lived under Hussein's regime. The indigenous leaders argue that six political parties largely made up of exiles will have disproportionate influence over the conference. These groups have been allied with the United States during its 15-month occupation of Iraq, and they dominated the U.S.-appointed Governing Council.” 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 16 and 17, 2004  Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded by roadside bomb near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: One US Marine wounded by mortar fire near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Five Iraqis killed in attempted assassination of Iraqi Justice Minister in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqis killed, 25 wounded by car bomb at ICDC headquarters in Mahmudiyah. Bring ‘em on: Powerful explosion reported in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier, four Iraqi civilians wounded in Baghdad convoy ambush. Bring ‘em on: Ten Iraqis killed, 27 wounded by car bomb at Haditha police station. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi child killed, seven Iraqis wounded in firefight near Abu Ghraib. Bring ‘em on: Thirteen Iraqis wounded in fighting near Fallujah. Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline mortared near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Oil pipeline sabotaged near Beiji. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi policeman killed in Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi policeman killed near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two oil pipelines sabotaged near Basra. Bring ‘em on: Ninevah provincial governor assassinated in ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Pipeline sabotaged near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi civilians killed in mortar attack near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Second Bulgarian hostage reported executed. Bring ‘em on: Six killed in rocket attack on refugee camp near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Jordanian truck driver killed by insurgents near Ramadi. The lapdog US media reports tripe like this and expects me to believe it. “Iraq's new prime minister, Ayad Allawi, calls it his program of ‘outreach.’ Over the past several weeks, he says, he has been meeting secretly with supporters of the Iraqi resistance to offer them amnesty and a chance to participate in the political process of the new Iraq. The risky clandestine meetings are the most intriguing of a series of stability efforts Allawi outlined in an interview here Tuesday. The conversation was his clearest public explanation yet of how he hopes to work with the internal opposition, and with neighboring governments such as Syria and Iran, to reduce the chaos plaguing his country.” This story really frosts my ass. Does anybody really believe Allawi is running around Iraq meeting secretly with insurgents who want to cut him up into tiny pieces? Allawi feeds you media whores a bowl of crap like this and you lap it up like it's chocolate pudding. Give me a fucking break, you toadies. Meanwhile, the Australian press reports a different version of Allawi's outreach program. "Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad major crimes unit just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim Government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the executions. They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard next to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amriyah security centre, in the city's north-western suburbs. They say Dr Allawi told onlookers that the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they ‘deserved worse than death.’” The summer isn’t even halfway over yet. “Meanwhile in Ramadi, another Sunni cleric called on his followers to take arms against US forces in Iraq and threatened to turn the city into a ‘graveyard’ for American troops.” Fuck up and move up. “Fast, 50, one of the few female Army officers to reach the rank of two-star general, is currently Fort Huachuca's deputy commander. She is due to take control of the Army post in Sierra Vista by late summer or early fall.” MG Fast was previously the senior intelligence officer in Iraq and directly supervised the officers responsible for intelligence collection at Abu Ghraib. Thailand will withdraw from Iraq in September. Commentary Opinion: “Such is also the case with the other architects of Iraq war policy. 'Tis true, if Bush loses in November, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Cheney will be out of a job. But who thinks they won't land comfortably on their feet, making more money and living higher on the hog than they do now? They will be the toast of the lecture and talk show circuit, in great demand in the academy and in policy circles, when not attending corporate board meetings on private jets. No red jump suits or unemployment lines for them. And yet, consider the consequences of their collective actions: nearly 900 Americans killed, thousands maimed, billions spent, and 140, 000 U.S. troops still on the ground and in harm's way. That's not even counting the daily Iraqi casualties caused by insurgents opposed to the U.S. occupation.” Casualty Reports Local story: Florida soldier dies of wounds received in Iraq. Local story: Minnesota soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Colorado soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: New York soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Illinois soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: California soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Maine soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Alabama soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Arkansas soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Texas soldier wounded in Iraq. Rant of the Day As a public service, I'm offering free journalism classes for the US media. Today's lesson: Shit: Shinola: Any questions? 86-43-04. Pass it on.

War News for July 14, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Iraqi Olympic head survives assassination attempt in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Ten Iraqis killed, 40 wounded by car bomb in central Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Bulgarian hostage reported executed by insurgents. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi killed, one wounded in convoy ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two ICDC members killed, 14 wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police ambushed in Mosul. Mahdi Army controls Sadr City. “The dominant presence of the Mahdi militia reflects the profound lack of security in Iraq. And it's a big challenge to the authority of the nascent Iraqi government, which has talked tough on security but lacks manpower. The Mahdi Army has entrenched itself despite taking heavy casualties while fighting American troops in Sadr City and in towns in southern Iraq following April's uprising.” Crooks. “As lobbyists, public relations counselors and confidential advisors to senior federal officials, they warned against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, praised exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi, and argued that toppling Saddam Hussein was a matter of national security and moral duty. Now, as fighting continues in Iraq, they are collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees for helping business clients pursue federal contracts and other financial opportunities in Iraq. For instance, a former Senate aide who helped get U.S. funds for anti-Hussein exiles who are now active in Iraqi affairs has a $175,000 deal to advise Romania on winning business in Iraq and other matters.” Iraqi bloggers. Commentary Opinion: “To absolve Bush of disqualifying responsibility for this true scandal, this is what you have to believe. The most glaring example involves one of the CIA's major National Intelligence Estimates about Iraq's unconventional weapons "programs" about six months before the invasion. Like any of these estimates, sent to the top security officials of the government, there is a brief summary and then gobs of more detailed material. You have to believe that in processing all of this, Bush never bothered to look beyond the summary or to inquire in depth whether it was supported. You then have to believe that Condoleezza Rice never had her large national security staff in the White House take a long look at the backup material on Bush's behalf. You have to believe that in getting ready for a war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his huge operation never snuck a peek, either.” Casualty Reports Local story: Kansas airman killed in Iraq. Local story: Idaho Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Virginia Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania soldier dies in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: California soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio soldier wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Vive La France. Today is Bastille Day. Thank you, Rochambeau. You too, Lafayette. Regards, YD.

War News for July 13, 2004 Bring ‘em on: Turkish truck driver, Iraqi civilian killed in attack on US convoy near Baiji. Bring ‘em on: US patrol attacked in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi police launch security sweep in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Explosions reported in central Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed by roadside bombs near Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi soldier killed, nine wounded in ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: US convoy ambushed by car bomb near Ramadi. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: Iraqi government official assassinated in Baghdad. Little Fallujahs. “One especially disturbing trend, from the U.S. standpoint, is the intermingling of conservative religious ideology with the insurgency. Fighters are regularly acclaimed as mujahedin, or holy warriors, their exploits celebrated in teahouses, living rooms and mosques. The conservative Salafi, Wahhabi and Sufi teachings that have proliferated in Sunni Iraq since the fall of the regime last year provide a moral basis for the armed opposition.” Philippines announces immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. Retention crisis. “Almost two-thirds of Indiana National Guardsmen in a battalion that spent a year in Iraq chose not to re-enlist when their service time expired. Over the past 21 months, the service contracts of 102 soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the 152nd Regiment expired. Of those, 32, or less than one-third, chose to re-enlist. The unit typically keeps 85 percent of its members, a sergeant in charge of retaining members said.” Tanker crew refuses to dock in Basra. Lieutenant AWOL doesn’t read this blog. “’Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq,’ Bush said. ‘We removed a declared enemy of America who had the capability of producing weapons of mass murder and could have passed that capability to terrorists bent on acquiring them.’” Eloquence. “Former Ambassador Joe Wilson can sum up his opinion of President George W. Bush’s post-Sept. 11 administration quite simply. ‘Everything they have put into play since Sept. 11 has come up horse turds,’ Wilson said when he spoke Sunday at the Sopris Foundation State of the World Conference.” Must be that diplomat training. Commentary Opinion: “When it comes to telling you right to your face that black is white, maybe no one compares with George W. Bush. Last week, for example, he responded to yet another report that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction by saying that it didn't matter. ‘Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons, I believe we were right to go into Iraq,’ Bush said. ‘America is safer today because we did.’” Opinion: “The 511-page Senate Intelligence Committee report makes it clear that despite the haughty posturing of national security heavyweights, we do not have adults watching the store. The report's epic series of embarrassing conclusions about how the intelligence on Iraq became distorted is a testament to how political ideology and ambitions consistently trumped logic and integrity. The Senate report is a thoroughly damning indictment of the Bush administration's doctrine of ‘preemptive’ war based on intelligence. In the case of Iraq, the intelligence that was false was adopted by the administration, while the intelligence that was true was ignored as inconvenient. And it is telling that the CIA, try as it did to accommodate the White House, couldn't find any evidence that Al Qaeda and Iraq were collaborators.” Analysis: “President Bush's government was unrelenting in trying to convince Americans that Saddam Hussein posed an immediate threat to us, that he had scary weapons, that he was tied to al Qaeda and thus to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It is wholly inadequate to shuck all this off on the CIA. The president was determined to scare the hell out of the country and make the case for war by whatever means necessary.” Opinion: “One might say -- indeed, many have said -- that the Bush administration has a problem with truth. That's true, but I think the real problem is something different: It has a problem with reality. It does not like data that contradicts its assumptions and beliefs. This is what a "faith-based" presidency turns out to be. If the facts interfere with the faith, go with the faith. Better yet, suppress opposing viewpoints entirely, so people won't even have to perform the distressing chore of separating faith from truth.” Casualty Reports Local story: Nebraska Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Nebraska Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Florida Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Missouri Marine dies in Iraq. Local story: Oklahoma Marine wounded in Iraq. Local story: Ohio sailor wounded in Iraq. 86-43-04. Pass it on.