Heavy Clashes in Iraq; Hostage Crisis Spirals

[psychopomp]

Top News Article | Reuters.com
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's police and National Guard killed 13 suspected militants in heavy clashes near Baghdad on Sunday in one of the fiercest battles the fledgling security forces have faced since the handover of sovereignty.

The police and National Guard were attacked by rebel mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades as they provided security to U.S. forces conducting raids near the rebellious town of Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

During the fighting, which lasted around an hour, U.S. warplanes patrolled the skies and U.S. artillery guns opened fire to suppress the insurgents' mortar positions, Major Neal O'Brien of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division said.

It was one of the first major battles between Iraq's security forces and insurgents since the handover of sovereignty on June 28 and by far the largest death toll. No Iraqi security forces or U.S. troops were killed.
-more


< http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&s... >
This sounds all too familiar..."Iraqization" in its first crisis.

[jmcgowanjm]

1. U.S.artillery guns opened fire to suppress the insurgents' mortar position

So the Iraqi police were spotting for US artillery?

And the "rebellious town of Buhriz"-I like that better
than the Zarqawi angle.

No Iraqi security forces or U.S. troops were killed.
Were attacked by rebel mortar fire and RPG's,
no casualties.

So to review:

US forces conducting raids, Iraqi Police, supporting US
(Laughing here), take mortar and RPG's (no casualties),
and then call in US artillery and helos strikes against
"rebellious town of Buhriz" successfully killing 17 of
the "rebellious town's inhabitants."

[0007]

2. The Zarqawi angle was getting run in the ground, 'eh?

I think this propaganda is trying to show that the Iraqi Army is very powerful.

"It was one of the first major battles between Iraq's security forces and insurgents since the handover of sovereignty on June 28 and by far the largest death toll. No Iraqi security forces or U.S. troops were killed."

Bet the U.S. moms and families are relieved to hear this good news, 'eh?

[jmcgowanjm]

3. Yeah, you're right, 0007

BTW-

The actual U.S. military losses in Iraq may have reached
2,000 personnel, more than twice the official figure of 900,
as Washington badly understates its casualty statistics,
a military diplomatic source told the Itar-Tass news
agency.

"Official statistics do not include casualties among
non-U.S. nationals who sign up to serve in the American
armed forces in order to get a U.S. `green card.' According
to reliable information the share of non-Americans in the
U.S. force in Iraq may be as high as 60 per cent," the
source said.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/07/24/stories/200407240240140...

[0007]

4. Bill Moyers was gonna do an expos on the Iraq death count,

and how the Pentagon was manipulation the numbers, he mentioned this several weeks ago. Haven't heard anything about it since.

? ? ?

Wish someone would.

[Barkley]

9. I can't prove it but I think they're fudging the numbers because

I know of four military people in Iraq. That seems odd because of the size of the military and the size of the U.S.

Its the same with several of my friends; and we don't all know the same people.

What are the chances?

I understand the population of American soldiers in Iraq is not a random sample of the U.S. so a simple ratio will be biased.

The only thing I can compare it to is the Million Man March in 1995, when I knew about the same number of people attending. Again this is not a random sample but I still think four is a bit high.

I think the Pentagon has deployed more than 130,000 Americans in Iraq.

[mom cat]

10. A massacre by any other name is still murder.More hearts and

minds blown to hell.

[The Night Owl]

5. Everyone send the Reuters article to Whorge Stephanopolus...

... and tell him to do his job.

[Halliburton]

6. Stephanopoulos: "Iraq is stabalizing."

Did you guys see "This Week" today? During the weekly roundtable segment of the Stephanopoulos said that Iraq was stabalizing since the handover and said that it was a positive indicator for Bush. Is this guy getting his information from Fox News? 53 soldiers have died since the handover, at the rate of 2 per day. Knight Ridder and the Boston Globe report that violence actually increased after the handover. Hostage-taking has become an almost daily occurence. Reuters and AP report that Samarra has become another Fallujah. Yet according to George Stephanopoulos Iraq is stabalizing?

Write a comment to ABC's "This Week" to express your outrage over these erroneous statements from this media whore at this link.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/ThisWeek/ThisWeek/tw0104...

[Disturbed]

7. More BS from Right Wing Media and Bush Junta.

Major Network Ownership Rundown:

CBS: Westinghouse Power
NBC: General Electric
FOX: Rupert "Satan" Murdoch
ABC: Walt Disney Corperation

Saddam's People are Winning the War
by Scott Ritter


(clip) “The truth is that there never was a significant people-based opposition movement inside Iraq for the Bush administration to call on to form a government to replace Saddam. It is why the United States has instead been forced to rely on the services of individuals tainted by their association with foreign intelligence services, or drawn from opposition parties heavily infiltrated by agents of Saddam's former security services.
(clip) Regardless of the number of troops the United States puts on the ground or how long they stay there, Allawi's government is doomed to fail. The more it fails, the more it will have to rely on the United States to prop it up. The more the United States props up Allawi, the more discredited he will become in the eyes of the Iraqi people - all of which creates yet more opportunities for the Iraqi resistance to exploit.
(clip) We will suffer a decade-long nightmare that will lead to the deaths of thousands more Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. We will witness the creation of a viable and dangerous anti-American movement in Iraq that will one day watch as American troops unilaterally withdraw from Iraq every bit as ignominiously as Israel did from Lebanon.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0723-08.htm

*Kerry and Edwards should read this article and hire Mr. Ritter as a consultant.

[Barkley]

8. " Iraq's police and National Guard killed 13 suspected militants..."

I thought we're were there to keep Iraq from spiraling into an all-out 'civil war'?