News from the Colonies - America's War in Iraq

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What the hell is going on in Fallujah?!
Chaos! Bloodshed! What the #@*% is going on?!

Quite simply, reports coming out of Fallujah include accusations that US soldiers are shooting at and destroying ambulances. The BBC report sounds simply chaotic. And while I can picture an ambulance or two being waxed accidentally by our troops, the widespread belief that US soldiers are indiscriminately killing civilians and medical workers ... well, that just isn't good.

Dr. Salam Obaidi described the situation to the BBC:
Speaking to BBC News Online, he described seeing colleagues blown up in an ambulance - also clearly marked - travelling in front of him as his team tried to enter a US-controlled area.

"I saw the ambulance disappear - not all of it, but the front of it, the side where the driver and paramedic were," he said.

He said he and two more colleagues were injured in a second explosion. He still does not know the fate of the two people in the first ambulance.

In a separate incident, Dr Obaidi said, a driver and paramedic in an ambulance were shot in a US-controlled area - one in the chest, the other in the eyes.

The injured civilians inside the ambulance bled to death during the next two days as warning shots were fired when the team tried - four times - to return to collect the ambulance, he said . . . .

. . . . Dr Obaidi said he had seen the bodies of two men, one aged about 70, the other about 50, both shot in the forehead, in an area controlled by the US.

They had been lying at the front gate of their home for two days, he said, because the family did not dare step outside to retrieve the bodies.

Is he sure they were shot by US troops?

"You are joking?" he said. "There are people dead in an area just controlled by America snipers. Nobody, either civilian or resistance, could enter the area. Who could kill them? We know American bullets. We are not a stupid people" . . . .

. . . . Dr Obaidi also said he had seen the body parts of a family in a bombed-out house: "There were seven women and five children. I saw the head of a child away from the body. Only one girl, aged four, had survived," he said.
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The American response to the accusations has been about what we can expect. But if the Coalition can't control the spread of these stories, or--in the worst case--can't stop creating them by their actions, we'll end up pitching the "hearts and minds of Iraqis" right back into the fire.
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• BBC News Online. "Picture emerges of falluja siege." April 23, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3653223.stm
 
Does this actually shock anyone really? This is what has been predicted, Iraq is becoming America's West Bank. The lines btwn combatants and civilians are indistinguishable, and the American military cannot win against this force (surely the Israeli’s haven’t). This is way too complex to simply be dealt with a military response. But the question becomes what response? It would seem the only solution is to liquidate the entire city, but that is not going to happen. The more the US kills the more the insurgents gain momentum and followers. I fear this is becoming a nationalistic/tribalistic movement to which there is no end.
 
The vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Forecast for the "new" Iraq unsure

​

This is another week in which it does well for President Bush to ignore the news media. Of course, there might be a good suggestion or two in there, but the news is mostly bad if you're a president trying to put a good spin on a long, hard slog in the middle of an election year.

One bright spot, apparently, is the new Iraqi flag, which could appear in days. The crescent, of course, is for Islam, the two blue stripes for the Tigris and Euphrates, and the gold band for the Kurds.

Such happy colors.

Where to start? The war appears to be a budgeting nightmare beyond even the hawk-wing's worst dreams:
Army leaders told Congress that it would take years to restore the pre-po stocks. The Army and GAO agree that it will cost $1.7 billion to reconstitute the Army's pre-po sets being used in Iraq, but only $700 million of that has been found so far. This expense was never built into any of the White House's regular or supplemental funding requests for Iraq. Rebuilding these stocks, which are critical to the Army's ability to deploy overseas in a hurry, will have to wait in line with billions of dollars in other unfunded requirements . . . .

. . . . Changes in the defense industry also undermine military readiness. Since the start of the war, the military has faced a shortage of critical spare parts—including Bradley fighting vehicle treads, helicopter rotor blades, Humvee tires, and other items without which the Army cannot fight. The Army's demand for these items has skyrocketed since the war began last year, but the defense industry has struggled to keep up after trimming all of its excess manufacturing capacity during the consolidation wave of the last decade. Spare parts for the forces in Iraq have been diverted from units in the States, creating a cascade effect . . . .

. . . . A December 2003 study by the Army War College concluded that the war in Iraq had stretched the force to near its "breaking point." The cumulative effect of logistical problems, spare parts shortages, and unprepared reserves is that the Army will be significantly less ready to fight for the next several years. Should another threat appear on the horizon, these issues will make it exceedingly difficult for the Army to respond with anything close to the force it mustered to invade Iraq last year. (Carter, Slate)
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In addition to difficulties addressing the depletion of pre-positioned stocks, the Army faces funding issues for everything from combat helmets to underwear, replacement equipment, and perhaps most unsettling, nearly a billion dollars for repairing damaged equipment.

The Slate article notes a certain irony, that such readiness issues as criticized by Bush of the Clinton administration° during the 2000 campaign have come 'round to haunt George Bush. It seems a hollow defense to say that September 11, 2001, changed everything. Was it the forty-five minute scare? The Nigerian uranium? What, if September 11, 2001 makes unreadiness a sound strategy? Certes the armchair generals study strategy while the big boys play with logistics, and perhaps this is too political a shot, but how does a Republican administration--e.g. of the party known for counting pennies--fail to account for financing the logistical miracles demanded of the American services? With the war budget unaccounted-for in the 2005 Pentagon budget--those numbers to be requested in a supplemental budget by the President after the November elections, one is given to wonder about the balance between foresight and the needs of the moment.

In the meantime, hints of the significance of this state of affairs float into BBC considerations of the upcoming transfer of power in Iraq:
. . . the US army is making a world-wide search for armoured Humvees. This is not a war which is getting easier, therefore.

At the moment, these ubiquitous vehicles are often soft skinned and are especially vulnerable in attacks on convoys. According to figures used by the Associated Press, of 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, only 1,500 to 2,000 are armoured.

Some are even being made safer by having steel sheets fixed by local Iraqi workshops . . . . (Reynolds, BBC)
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Will the movie version star Ralph Macchio? It's hard to not laugh at the image of an Iraqi body shop, Arabs hustling to weld ugly steel plating onto the sides of military humvees--somewhere in there it occurs to me to ask why there isn't a better solution? I actually heard a pundit on one of the cable shows considering thousands of armored personnel carriers from the Vietnam War, apparently sitting in storage.

The BBC article actually tags the humvee issue onto a brief analysis of the expected curtailing of power transferred to the new Iraqi government; the fact that the interim government will be appointed and not elected seems the least of Iraq's worries. The Transitional Administrative Law stipulates that no amendments can be made except by a 3/4 majority° of the National Assembly--which won't be elected until January. Additionally, CPA laws currently in force will remain in force.

This could be problematic in and of itself if Iraqis view such limitations as an extension of the occupation.
. . . . in an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Powell said that while the new government would take full sovereignty over the country, it would have to give some of it back to the Americans so that the US would still be in command of its own troops.

"I hope they will understand that in order for this government to get up and running - to be effective - some of its sovereignty will have to be given back, if I can put it that way, or limited by them," Mr Powell said.

"It's sovereignty but [some] of that sovereignty they are going to allow us to exercise on their behalf and with their permission." (BBC News Online)
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On the surface, it seems easy enough: there's no way in hell US troops will be under anyone's command but the President's. Well, the Baby Blues from time to time, and some compromising with NATO, but still ... they will definitely not be subordinate to Iraqis.

Perception is the value to the politicians of the hearts and minds of Iraqis. And whether or not anything the US gets itself into goes as simply as it should is its own question.

The obvious question is how budget and procurement difficulties affect the war, occupation, and reconstruction processes. Can the lacking funds threaten the forward progress of our military? The eventual outcome is not in doubt; the US will get what it wants come hell or high water. But as the situation grows more and more challenging across Iraq, will the world see three steps back before the beleaguered nation crawls forward a couple inches?

War is hell, and things are never what they seem, but is it really supposed to look like this?

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• BBC News Online. "Iraq unveils new 'inclusive' flag." April 26, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3660663.stm
• BBC News Online. "US sets limits to Iraqi self-rule." April 27, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661871.stm
• Carter, Phillip. "Hollow Force - Has Iraq stretched the US military to its breaking point?" Slate, April 23, 2004. See http://slate.msn.com/id/2099408/
• Kaplan, Fred. "Trimming the Fat -How to put the military budget on a diet." Slate, February 3, 2004. See http://slate.msn.com/id/2099408/
• Reynolds, Paul. "Humvees more telling than handover." BBC News Online, April 26, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3660389.stm

(Kunax - Way to scoop me, damn it .... ;) )
_____________________

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

(W.B. Yeats)
​
 
you can hardly call that a scoop, i just brougth a link you told a stories.
+ i could have posted it 3 day ago.

notices the date
http://politiken.dk/visartikel.asp?string=irak&TemplateID=15314
7th from the bottom, "Irakisk regering uden magt (Udland - 24 apr 2004)" (Iraqie gov. without power)
1st from the top, USA begrænser irakisk suverænitet (Udland - 27 apr 2004) (US Limites Iraie suveranty

There also was a good one yesterday that would make all the US anti-french wet there pants with joy, but im not going to give them that pleasure.
 
Mixed bag: Iraqis not impressed by new flag
Something about perception goes here

BBC News asked Iraqi readers to respond to the proposed new Iraqi flag; the reaction has been less than enthusiastic:
• "I think the so-called Governing Council has no right whatsoever to change the flag of Iraq . . . . They are not a legitimate government and their decision would not be accepted by most Iraqis."

• "Iraq has more important issues to be dealt with now . . . The old flag didn't represent Saddam. It represented Iraq. Changing it means uprooting part of Iraq."

• "We had over 30 designs to choose from for our new flag. Surprise, surprise he chose his younger brother's design which a lot of Iraqis say resembles the Israeli flag! Iraq is still a corrupt state."

• "This new flag adds to the list - we have a new flag which has similar colour markings to that of the Israeli flag? Coincidence? Highly unlikely!"

• "[The flag] makes me shiver since it resembles the death to Arabs."

• " . . . it would have been nice if they had included something for the Christians, like myself, in the design also."

• "I am a part of the design team for the new Camden Town [underground] station in London. For the past months, we had to listen to every word, change our design according to the public interest . . . . That was for an underground station. A country's identity is a much bigger issue, isn't it?"

Source: BBC
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Something about hearts and minds goes here.
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• BBC News Online. "Iraqis unimpressed by flag design." April 27, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3663387.stm
 
Remember this colony?

Afghanistan:

Afghanistan has carried out its first execution since the fall of Taleban hardliners more than two years ago.
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Abdullah Shah received a single shot to the head after President Karzai gave his approval, the attorney general's office told the Associated Press.
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Amnesty International, the human rights group, says Abdullah Shah was denied even basic standards of fairness.
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The group said it feared the "execution may have been an attempt by powerful political players to eliminate a key witness to human rights abuses".
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He was found guilty of killing one of his wives by pouring boiling water over her body.
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Abdullah Shah was being held in the feared Pul-e-Charkhi prison
Another wife, who said he had tried to burn her to death after dousing her with petrol, was one of those who testified against him.
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The court heard Abdullah Shah murdered his baby daughter by banging her repeatedly against a wall, officials say. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3662935.stm
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What is shocking is that he was killed it was that it seems he was not given his due process. Now if Afghanistan wants to proport the barbaric tradition of capital punishment it's their decision (although that is not a sign of a free nation imo), but he should have been given his due process. Not being signed off by the "president" if I dare call Karzai that.
 
Pretty lights over Fallujah

Picture of the Week: US thrashes Fallujah
"Numerous violations" lead to 3-front aerial assault


No more patty-cake: "Smoke rises over Fallujah as an AC-130 Spectre Gunship hits a target during military air attacks on insurgent activity in the city on Wednesday." (Hayne Palmour IV - North County Times via AP)​

Progress is a frustrating risk in Iraq, as "numerous violations" of a cease-fire by Iraqi insurgents led US forces to launch a three-front aerial assault at Fallujah. The continued violence has forced the further postponement of plans to join Iraqi police officers and civil defense troops with US Marine patrols. The joint patrols, it is hoped, will aid the transition to Iraqi authority. Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne--1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment--said, "The whole purpose is to see how [the Iraqi police and civil defense troops] hold up .... This is what it will take to tame Fallujah. You will have to go out and look for the bad guys."

Meanwhile, at the SuperCrats Headquarters in New York, the UN Secretary General advised caution to the US: "Violent military action by an occupying power against inhabitants of an occupied country will only make matters worse," Annan told the Associated Press. "It's definitely time, time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard .... The more the occupation is seen as taking steps that harm the civilians and the population, the greater the ranks of the resistance grows."

Annan's words also seemed to echo a rising concern about the absence of a moderate Iraqi voice to speak against the insurgency.° The long, hard slog gets harder, longer, and deeper.

For Americans, we're back on familiar ground--watching with grim, and sometimes not-so-grim fascination at the eerie green footage of burning buildings, listening to correspondents tell of plumes of jet-black smoke. The present mission will not be accomplished so easily as President Bush's strutting about an aircraft carrier implied of the prior.

But oh, the pretty lights . . . .
_____________________

Notes -

° absence of moderate voice against insurgency - This may become a non-issue, as the battle for the Iraqis' hearts and minds may be a losing issue. The rumblings are presently coming across the cable news channels, and I haven't a direct citation at this time. To the other, that absence may be telling. See also, Washington Times.

• Chandrasekaran, Rajiv and Fred Barbash. "US Forces Launch Aerial Assaults on 3 Fronts in Fallujah." Washington Post, April 28, 2004. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48811-2004Apr28.html

See Also -

• King, Colbert I. "A Question of Credibility." Washington Post, April 17, 2004; page A25. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19001-2004Apr16.html
• Osman, Hiwa. "Moderates vs. Islamists." Washington Times, April 13, 2004. See http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040412-094510-5364r.htm
• Toensing, Chris. "Lost in Our Own Little World." AlterNet, April 20, 2004. See http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18477

And Also -

• Deane, John. "Coalition Needs to Win over Moderate Iraqis." The Scotsman, April 9, 2004. See http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2758532
 
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The Costs of War: B.D. wounded near Fallujah
Because we all make sacrifices . . . .

Running from April 19 through ... whenever, the Doonesbury world is once again turned on its ear. We lost Andy, in 1990, to AIDS, and Lacy Davenport to age and Alzheimers' several years later. And now B.D., the darling of Walden College's football huddle, on his second trip to Iraq and third trip to war, has paid a high price. Hit hard by RPG fire near Fallujah, B.D. has lost his left leg.
The strip's creator, Garry Trudeau, said he wanted to illustrate the sacrifices made by US soldiers. "It's a task any writer should approach with great humility, but it's worth doing. We're at war, and can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individual lives." (Associated Press)
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Not as lucky as last time; but lucky enough: B.D. and Ray, after the attack. (4.26.2004)​
 
US Surrenders to Fallujah

"The deal provides for a new force, known as the Fallujah Protective Army, to enter the city and provide security. It will consist of up to 1,100 Iraqi soldiers led by a former general from the military of Saddam Hussein, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said."
...
"Many of the guerrillas in Fallujah are thought to be former members of Saddam's regime or military."

Uhhmmm. How is this NOT a surrender or at least a retreat?

Nevertheless, it is a good and neccessary move.
 
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Rise up off your pallet and THINK!

An Open Letter to the President of the United States of America​

Mr. President? Mr. President! This is your country calling. Please fix the bloody mess you've dragged our country into. Yes, before November, if possible. Even if it does finally win you election.

Now would be nice.

And please forward me the head of Donald Rumsfeld. I shall provide my own silver platter.

Sincerely,
Tiassa :cool:
 
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The great escape

Thomas Hamill has escaped from captivity in Iraq.

...He was recovered near Balad, south of Tikrit, about 100 miles north of where he was captured, coalition officials said....

...he heard a military convoy come down the road outside where he was being held, pried open a door and ran about a half-mile down the road to catch up with it.

Hamill had escaped once before but could not find any coalition troops and was recaptured...
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http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/05/02/cheering.hamill/index.html

Congrats, Hamill. You are obviously a man who doesn't give up.
 
I'm just glad nobody shot a guy for running down the road after a convoy. That would have been ... yeah.

Just a couple of things that occurred to me while staring blankly at CNN last night:

• Hamill took the job in Iraq in order to afford heart surgery for his wife.
• Have they gone back to investigate/destroy the place he was held?

And what seems an obvious question: What does this say of his captors who did not execute him according to their threat?
 
It seems strange that Hamill wasn't killed. I believe I remember hearing that 6 others that were captured with him were all found dead. Maybe they saved him, because he is the one that was shown on television. They didn't want to give up their last prisoner.

What amazes me is that he escaped twice. You'd think they'd watch him a little better after the first time.
 
hehe : Danish soldiers buys black market weapons.

Danish soldiers has bought 337 107mm rockets from the black market, but not to restock there own weapon cache. No instead the enginering troops are busy blowing them up.
Ofcause this has created a few bad rumers, so the local political leaders have been invited to view the fire works, so far none has show up.

04-0504_irak3_spraenges_b.jpg

04-0504_irak3_raketter_lad_b.jpg
04-0504_irak3_slaebes_b.jpg
 
What amazes me is that he escaped twice. You'd think they'd watch him a little better after the first time.
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Well, what gets me is that it costs to feed and house a prisoner.

It's kind of like that punk in a bad cop movie: "Don't make me do it, man!" Yeah, you're not going to do it or else you would have by now.
 
Amid Savagery and Calm
Polish TV crew killed in shooting; al-Sadr leaves Najaf to preach

A veteran Polish journalist and colleague have died after a gunmen shot up their car. Waldemar Milewicz, 47, was killed in the initial attack; Mounir Bouamrane, 36, died in the second pass. Cameraman Jerzy Ernst was injured in the attack, shot in the arm.

Polish network TVP led its midday news broadcasts with a tribute to Milewicz, who once said of the dangers of covering international conflicts, "You can get killed in downtown Warsaw."

Meanwhile, over in Kufa, Moqtada al-Sadr made the short trip from Najaf under heavy guard--including anti-aircraft weapons--to preach strong condemnations of the United States and the Coalition occupation to an enthusiastic crowd that chanted "Yes to freedom! Yes to independence!"

Al-Sadr's blistering address capitalized on the prison scandal:
"What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners? . . . . [Bush's] statements are not enough . . . [The guards] must be punished in kind." (BBC)
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Despite seeking to arrest the Iraqi cleric, US troops did not intervene in his travel.

Also on Friday, Sheikh Sadreddin Kubanji appealed to al-Sadr and his supporters to leave Najaf: "The Najafis will be responsible for protecting Najaf."
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• BBC. "Polish TV crew attacked in Iraq." May 7, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3693389.stm
• BBC. "Cleric urges Sadr to leave Najaf." May 7, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3693001.stm
 
Did he say "slaves"?
Cleric goes insane at Kufa

Just as I never thought it would actually come to the WMD scandal President Bush has called down from the heavens, nor did I expect ....

I mean ....
In a sermon at Friday prayers in a Kufa mosque, al-Sadr rejected Bush's apology for the abuse. And an al-Sadr aide, Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli, offered worshippers in Basra up to $350 for the capture of a British soldier - adding that anyone capturing a female soldier can keep her as a slave - apparently in retaliation for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners. (Guardian Unlimited)
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Understand, my first reaction was, "Okay, this war is out of hand!" But ... compared to what?!

Slaves?!

I think this is evidence that militant religious fundamentalism just isn't smart. I mean . . . .

A note to Moqtada al Sadr -

Quite simply: Such open misogyny and a call for slavery are among the things you can do that will most quickly see the patient clearance given your religious fanaticism among pacifists who recognize the reality of resistance to an illegal military occupation revoked. Welcome to the twenty-first century; you ought to try it out before you make your exit. I seriously doubt there is a middle ground left to find in your dispute with the occupiers. In all honesty, I will be very surprised if the Bush administration tolerates you into June. And before you shoot your mouth off, you might wish to consider what the world will allow the Americans and British to do in retaliation if anyone takes you up on the slavery bit.
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• Guardian Unlimited. "Bremer First Heard of Abuse in January." May 7, 2004. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4064803,00.html
 
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