Sunday, March 23, 2003

Up to 9 U.S. Troops Die in 2 Iraq Battles [AP World News] U.S.-led forces suffered their worst casualties of the war Sunday in two bloody battles near An Nasiriyah that raged for hours before Iraqi resistance was vanquished. Marines said they would move around the city rather than march through it on the road to Baghdad. Fortunately "worst casualties" isn't too bad (unless you're one of them, of course). No word on Iraqi casualties yet, though. Hopefully news of approaching soldiers will convince most of the defenders of Baghdad to desert or surrender. 10:05:06 PM    comment () PoW footage 'breaks convention'. Footage of captured US soldiers broadcast on Iraqi television violates the Geneva Convention, according to the Red Cross. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] The broadcast of the videotape - which received a worldwide airing on the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera - has been condemned by the US and British governments, and by commanders of US-led coalition forces in Iraq. It's easy to understand why the government objects, but I wonder what the families of the prisoners think? If I was in their place I'd rather know my family member was a prisoner of war than have him or her be "missing in action." This way they can't just be abandoned if the government decides it's politically expedient, as so many American soldiers were in Vietnam. 3:36:02 PM    comment () US forces endure 'toughest day'. Five captured US soldiers are paraded on Iraqi television as coalition forces meet determined resistance in the push to Baghdad. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] The government should call on Jesse Jackson to make himself useful. When he's not running some extortion scheme, he's had considerable success at getting American prisoners released without having to give anything in return. Maybe he could get the Iraqis to release those soldiers. 3:29:37 PM    comment () MSNBC - U.S. soldier dies in Kuwait assault - and 13 injured. The radio reports last night were calling this a "terrorist" attack. Get a clue, folks. We're at war. The objective is to kill the enemy. Any way you can. Strangely, an American soldier is a suspect. [End the War on Freedom] I think it's premature to say it was part of the war. The news has reported the grenadier's motive as "resentment," which is so vague it could mean anything. He may have just gone postal. Even if it is part of the war, it's pretty clearly not a terrorist attack. This guy went after a high-value military target (a division HQ) with no civilians around and then tried to escape--definitely not the way terrorists operate. 1:05:00 PM    comment () Background - History - A review of the earlier British invasion of Iraq. The New Yorker: Letter from Baghdad - Invasions [nosi News] A brief history of the fighting during World War One in which the British "liberated" Iraq, and the fighting afterwards when the Iraqis realized they'd traded one set of foreign overlords for another and tried to throw the British out. 2:15:32 AM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 1:52:13 PM.