Today in Iraq

War News for Monday, January 3, 2005 Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed, 14 others wounded in Baghdad car bombing. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed, two wounded by booby-trapped corpse in Tall Afar. Bring ‘em on: Four Iraqi policemen killed, one wounded in ambush near Samarra. Bring ‘em on: Deputy governor of Diyala province assassinated. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi policemen killed in central Basra ambush. Bring ‘em on: US troops under rocket fire near Balad. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed by roadside bomb in North Babil. Bring ‘em on: US patrol ambushed in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two US soldiers wounded in Baghdad car bombing. Bring ‘em on: US and British consulates in Basra under mortar attack. Foreign fighters. “Large numbers of Al Qaeda fighters are still crossing freely from Saudi Arabia into Southern Iraq, according to senior military officials in Basra. Terrorists and weapons continue to flow into the country as it gears up for elections, said Colonel Jouke Spolestra, in charge of security sector reform in the southern Iraqi provinces. Col Spolestra, of the Royal Netherlands Navy, said that despite regular military patrols and raids on suspected insurgent strongholds, British-led forces had failed to halt the trafficking in personnel and arms.” Election workers quit in Beiji. Commentary Opinion: “The numbers may well be off by tens of thousands, but some estimates put the death toll at a shocking level, well over 100,000. Many more are expected to die. Countless livelihoods have been wrecked. How can we help? That is baffling, because I'm not talking about the massive destruction of life caused by the tsunami in and near Asia. I'm talking about the massive death and devastation in Iraq during our ongoing invasion and occupation.” Opinion: “While individual Americans are reaching into their pockets and donating money for the relief of the disaster victims, our government appears to have other priorities. We spent billions of dollars to destroy buildings and infrastructure in Iraq and now are spending further billions to try to rebuild what we destroyed. Our media spent countless dollars to rush to Asia and tell the story of the destruction there, but we focused much of the media attention on the plight of Western individuals. Maybe it is this form of media attention that allows us to be less helpful than other nations. And maybe the ‘compassionate conservatism’ of the Republican Party should focus more of their attention on the plight of our Asian brothers and sisters than on the Republican presidential inauguration.” Opinion: “We can argue all day that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whose defeat and humiliation should evoke no sympathy from us. But he did have a functioning country. There was a government in place. People went to work and to the market and to school in relative safety. Can anyone really believe that the U.S.-spawned anarchy has left the Iraqi people better off? We broke it. Do we have the moral right to walk away with the shards scattered across the floor?” Snark: “There are so many reasons, political and personal, that Bush should be the president of post-Hussein Iraq. Iraq could suit Bush a lot better than the Beltway culture of white-shoe lawyers and lobbyists and think-tank intellectuals. The man who is pleased to ‘see freedom on the march’ has earned the right to see it marching up close, from the reviewing stands of the Baghdad parade ground.” Casualty Reports Local story: Washington State Guardsman killed in Iraq. Local story: Kentucky soldier wounded in Iraq. Local story: Pennsylvania soldier wounded in Iraq.