Baghdad Attack Counters Wolfowitz's Upbeat Message

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20090-2003Oct26.html

BAGHDAD, Oct. 26 -- The al-Rashid hotel quaked when a volley of rockets battered its walls early Sunday morning, fatally wounding a U.S. army officer who was staying just a floor below the visiting Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz.

Until the rocket attack, the theme of Wolfowitz's three-day visit to Iraq had been the increasing stability of the country. But that upbeat image was shaken by the rocket blasts that pounded the hotel just after 6 a.m. Baghdad time (11 p.m. Saturday in Washington).

<snip>

When the firing stopped, this reporter went down the hall to Room 1124, where one of the rockets had exploded. The wooden furniture inside had been shattered by the explosion and a water pipe had burst, sending water gushing ankle-deep into the hall.

Another reporter traveling with Wolfowitz, Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard, entered the room and found a man slumped in a chair in a corner, seriously wounded from shrapnel and broken glass. A medic arrived soon and began treating him.

...more...

[acmavm]

1. Well, at least they captured the rocket launcher. Although since it was

parked across the street, I don't imagine that was a feat of major proportions.

Wolfie is a putz. He looks, like one, acts like one, and talks like one. But now the world has evidence.

[UpInArms]

2. and don't you just love how they bash the French once again

Army officers said that the 40 rockets in the launcher included 20 that appeared to be French-made and designed for use with the Alouette helicopter. The officers said these rockets were of relatively recent vintage, and might have been obtained by Iraq illegally after the imposition of a U.N. arms embargo. The other 20 missiles appeared to be Russian-made, the officers said.

this has been thoroughly discredited (although the MSNBC link no longer works - google cache does)

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:WpGs9cm2Uo4J:famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters10-04-080051.asp%3Freg%3DEUROPE+french+missiles+polish+apology&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

He said Polish troops were likely to have interpreted the 2003 inscription on the missiles as the year of their production. ''And this could have been, for example, the date up to which they are fit to be used,'' he said.

The Defence Ministry said on Friday that Polish troops in Iraq had discovered four French-made Roland missiles, which are part of short- range air defence systems in many countries including France and Germany.

Ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak told Reuters the missiles were manufactured in 2003, but the French Foreign Ministry promptly denied that, saying production of the most modern Roland 3 rocket ended in 1993.