Today in Iraq

War News for Thursday, February 4, 2005 Bring ‘em on: Two US Marines killed in al-Anbar province. Bring ‘em on: Twelve Iraqi Army recruits executed near Kirkuk. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi policemen killed, 14 wounded, 36 missing in ambush near Diwaniyah. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed, five wounded in ambush near Abu Ghraib. Bring ‘em on: Local official assassinated near Hilla. Bring ‘em on: Governor of al-Anbar province survives assassination attempt. Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed, one wounded in roadside bomb ambush near Mosul. Bring ‘em on: One US Marine killed fighting in Babil province. Bring ‘em on: Insurgents kill two Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad. Bring ‘em on: Two Iraqi civilians killed by mortar fire near Tal Afar. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi civilians killed by roadside bomb near Ishaaq. Bring ‘em on: Three Iraqi soldiers killed in bomb ambush near Yathrib. Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi killed, three wounded enroute to work at US base near Baquba. Al-Sadr’s list wins election in Maysan province. Progress report. “Less than a third of the 136,000 members of Iraqi security forces that the Pentagon says are trained and equipped can be sent to tackle the most challenging missions in the country, and Iraqi Army units are suffering severe troop shortages, two top Pentagon officials told a Senate panel on Thursday….Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told senators that Iraqi Army units had absentee rates of up to 40 percent partly because many new soldiers had failed to return to duty after going home on leave.” Cheneyburton. “Against the advice of its own auditors, the Army said yesterday that it would not hold back tens of millions of dollars each month from the Halliburton Company until the company justifies bills for past work in Iraq. Under a logistics contract that could total more than $10 billion over time, the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root provides meals, housing, fuel and other services to the military in Iraq. In the rush that followed the American invasion of 2003, KBR started work without the detailed agreements on scope and reasonable costs that are normally required, and it handed in nearly $2 billion in invoices that Pentagon auditors said lacked proper backup.” Commentary Opinion: “The fundamental right in the case of the Guantánamo detainees is the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law. A government with the power to spirit people away and declare that's the end of the matter is exactly the kind of government the United States has always claimed to oppose, and has sometimes fought. For the United States itself to become that kind of government is spectacularly scary.” Casualty Reports Local story: Illinois Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Virginia Marine killed in Iraq. Local story: Connecticut Department of the Army civilian employee killed in Iraq.