3 U.S. Soldiers Killed in 2 Iraq Attacks

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

TIKRIT, Iraq - Insurgents hit a U.S. base in central Iraq with mortar shells, killing one American soldier, and two other soldiers were killed by a homemade bomb while patrolling south of Baghdad, the military said Saturday.

The mortars struck a base of the Army's 4th Infantry Division near Balad, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad on Friday night, Sgt. Robert Cargie said.

One of the shells exploded near a trailer used as a bedroom by some troops, and a soldier standing in its doorway was killed, he said. Two other soldiers were struck by shrapnel and taken to a combat support hospital, where they were in stable condition, Cargie said.


In response, helicopters took to the air to help in the search for the assailants, checkpoints were set up and vehicles searched on the ground, and six people were detained for questioning, he said.


More: http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/01/03/ap/Headlines/d7vrf8p81.txt

My god, the death toll seems to be increasing since the capture of Saddam. We are on "high alert" and Our pResident plays great white hunter in Texas.

I think he needs to learn to play a violin so he can fiddle as the world burns.

[Sideways]

1. He can't play the violin while his hands are in the cash box

Sheesh give the idiot chimp a god damn break will ya? It's real hard to be a stealing cretin and a musician.

[saigon68]

30. "BRING EM ON" cried the Violin Playing AWOL CHIMPANZEE

6 today.

WOW

Yes, kids Welcome to IRAQ-NAM ™

[IndianaGreen]

2. We are "safer" now that Saddam is captured

We are so much safer now living with a permanent Orange Alert and the continuing casualties in Iraq.

We are so blessed! Pat Robertson said yesterday that GAWD told him that Bush was going to win in a landslide.

What, me worry?

[Rose Siding]

3. And how DARE anyone say otherwise!

The mortar attacks used to never hit anything, we were told.

[bluestateguy]

4. Despicable

The whole "War on Terrorism", which I used to support, has become a fraud. It's not about hunting terrorists anymore, rather, it's now about imperial conquest and occupation.

I will not participate in such endeavors.

[mike_c]

15. the "war on terrorism" has been a sham from the start...

...like the "war on drugs." It's not winnable. It's really a "war on bad public appearances" co-opted as the underlying reason for all kinds of neo-con mischief. That's all it's ever been: a political and financial opportunity.

We have always been at war with Oceana.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Down with the ‘War on Terrorism’

The September 11 massacre was a pretext for the USA to launch its ‘war on terrorism’. This bloody campaign has already seen the USA murder more civilians than were killed in the World Trade Centre attacks.

In reality, the ‘war on terrorism’ is the continuation of globalisation by military means.

Just as capitalism demands the right to enter every area in the world and exploit every people in the world, so the USA now demands the right to take military action anywhere in the world, against anyone it declares a ‘terrorist’, including the governments of sovereign nations.

This global military offensive proves beyond doubt that Imperialism is not a thing of the past – it is the essence of global capitalism today.

http://www.worldrevolution.org.uk/Downloads/Revolition%20Manifesto%202003.pdf



http://www.worldrevolution.org.uk/

[qanda]

5. So very sad!

What's left to say that hasn't already been said? I wish these attacks would mark the end of the dying to take place in Iraq, but we all know that won't be the case. I really feel for those poor families who must be beside themselves with worry and grief.

[zanana]

6. When did this happen?

Do you have a more specific time for this? It gets so confusing when there's a new fatality every other day. Did this happen on Saturday? (Our time)?

[alcuno]

7. Read it again. It says Friday night.

Friday night their time is Friday morning our time. Sometimes news out of Iraq is "delayed."

[wryter2000]

9. None of these

None of these are the guys in the helicopter, so they must be three new ones. (One of the three was listed earlier, though.) I can't keep track any longer.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. The one fatality during the base attack was reported earlier...

The two that died in the roadside bomb are newly reported.

All three were reported Saturday (today).

That's all the information I have on it right now. No specific times.

[wryter2000]

8. I feel so much safer

With Saddam out of the way.

[AlinPA]

11. This (see link) is from a soldier's father and it was in the Pitt P-G

this morning.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04003/257368.stm

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. Wow! Powerful and well written piece. You ought to post that

in GD or Editorials & Opinions. More people should read this and pass it on.


BTW, Are you the author? (Al in PA, Alex?)

[karlschneider]

24. Stay safe, Christopher, and all your comrades in arms. We wish you well.

...

[markses]

13. I count six dead for yesterday, January 2

To wit:

January 2: 1 - Accidental (5 ton truck overturns near Lake Habbaniyah, on the Baghdad Airport road):

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20040102.txt

January 2: 1 - Accidental (82nd Airorne soldier killed in accidental weapon discharge, near Tanif border crossing):

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20040101.txt

January 2: 1 - hostile fire (Soldier killed when OH-58 Delta Kiowa Warrior helicopter shot down over Fallujah):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3362953.stm

January 2: 1 - hostile fire (Soldier killed in mortar attack on "forward base camp," Balad):

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/01/03/sprj.nirq.main/index.html

January 2: 2 - hostile fire (Killed in Improvised Explosive device attack, Baghdad):

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/01/03/ap/Headlines/d7vrf8p81.txt

That's 4 hostile, 2 accidental, or 6 total.

[alcuno]

19. Go to Lunaville

I read an article about the website when I was down in Florida. Two people keep that site going and have stuff up very fast.

http://lunaville.com

[markses]

22. It's actually

www.lunaville.org

That's where I got the CENTCOM notices for the accidents. Last time I checked, they hadn't updated to include the mortar attack or the two killed in the IED attack. It's 6, in any case.

[alcuno]

23. They both work.

Are you saying 6 on January 2?

[markses]

25. Yes

It's not quite clear why lunaville itself is still only listing 5, since they have the documentation for 6, as noted in my post above. perhaps they are waiting on CENTCOM confirmation, but all six are documented (two by accident, with CENTCOM confirms, two killed in Baghdad IED attack, one killed in helicopter shootdown, one killed in shelling of Balad basecamp).

[leftofthedial]

14. "Nero" Bush

very apropos

[jamesinca]

16. Oh good we are safer now

That is one less bomb at their disposal. We are safer because there are more people killed in Philadelphia then what have been killed in Iraq now. With Hussein gone that makes all of this a pointless argument because he was the leader of the Iraq resistance so this will stop real soon.

Every day proves the point one more time that this war is not over, the mission is not accomplished. Every day proves that it was not a cake walk or a house of cards. Every day there is one more reason why Bush and his lies should be exposed along with all of his supportes lies both (R) and DINO. No man is an island and every day we should not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for America.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/02/international1333EST0535.DTL

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I tell yuo all those flowers and candy

must be makinig our troops sick, since they are getting killed

Damn Wolfowitz and his crew!

[ozymandius]

20. It seems, of late, that their mortar attacks are getting more accurate.

Whereas a month ago mortar attacks would cause little or no damage; we now are seeing mortar attacks either damaging buildings or injuring and killing soldiers.

[markses]

27. Actually, they've been hitting from time to time

Here's my count, according to documented reports:

1 June - Soldier wounded in mortar attack
4 July - 16 wounded in mortar attack on Balad basecamp
11 July - 3 wounded in mortar attack, Samarrah
21 September - 2 MPs (800 MP Co.) killed in mortar attack, Abu Gharaib Prison (13 wounded, same incident)
24 October - 2 4th Infantry Division soldiers killed in mortar attack on Samarrah basecamp (4 wounded, same incident)
24 October - 13 wounded in mortar attack in Bacquba
25 October - 3 wounded in mortar attack, Baghdad
26 October - 1 killed in mortar attack, Abu Ghairab Prison (2 wounded, same incident)
28 November - 1 101st Airborne soldier killed in mortar attack, Coalition HQ, Mosul
25 December - 2 Task Force Iron Horse killed in mortar attack, Bacquba
27 December - Bulgarian and Thai peacekeepers killed in coordinated car bombing/ mortar attacks, Karbala
2 January - 4th Infantry Division soldier killed in mortar attack, Balad

[catmandu57]

21. Jesus H. damn computer spazzes, blink your eyes, now it's 485

dead american soldiers. Sometime, someone has got to start thinking about the mounting death toll. How many? How many more people have to die in this insane venture?

[underpants]

31. 485 now?

Damn. Sad.

[IndianaGreen]

26. LTC Russell said "an engagement of some kind and a civilian car was hit",

Meanwhile, the Iraqi police chief in Tikrit - home town of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - told the AFP news agency that a vehicle had been hit by a hail of US shots and careered off the road.

"The car, a grey Chevrolet Caprice, was hit by 27 shots and skidded, resulting in the death of four people, including a woman and a nine-year-old child," said Colonel Osama Adham Abdel Ghaffer.

US Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell, head of the 4th Infantry Division battalion that patrols the area, said he aware of "an engagement of some kind and a civilian car was hit", but his troops were not involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3366029.stm

[Sean Reynolds]

28. Howard Dean proven wrong again.

Wait, yet again he's proven right.

:eyes:

[0007]

29. LOL!!

[dusty64]

32. The ONLY thing that

has changed since the "capture" of saddam is the downplaying of our dead. Notice how it seems the same number are dying yet it is no longer headline news. Even the shooting down of the helicopter the other day never made it past page 5 of my local rag.

[mbperrin]

33. Page 9 of OUR

local rag. That's about all I can afford to say this morning.

[yelladawg]

34. When we we reach 1,000 deaths?

I predict by Christmas 2004