Mortars Kill 2 U.S. Soldiers, Wound 13 in Iraq

Yahoo News ^ | 9-21-03 | Reuters

[PatrioticCowboy]

Mortars Kill 2 U.S. Soldiers, Wound 13 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 13 were wounded in a mortar attack on a U.S.-run prison west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a military spokeswoman said on Sunday.

The death of the troops, from the 800th Military Police Brigade, brings to 78 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire since major combat in Iraq was officially declared over on May 1 following the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Two mortar rounds struck the prison compound at 9:54 p.m. on Saturday evening, the spokeswoman said.

"There were two soldiers killed and 13 wounded," she said. "No detainees were injured."

Attackers also fired mortar rounds at the prison on August 17, killing six Iraqis and wounding 59.

Abu Ghraib was one of the largest and most notorious prisons in Iraq during Saddam's rule. U.S. forces now hold both common criminals and Iraqis suspected of guerrilla attacks against them at the jail.

[PatrioticCowboy]

Prayers Heavenward for the brave soldiers and their families.

May the Lord comfort them

[PatrioticCowboy]

Sadly, your services are needed here

[PatrioticCowboy]

ping

[PatrioticCowboy]

This mortar attack looks like an attempt to spring these prisoners out of prison.

FARC in Colombia has used rockets and improvised mortars a lot to over-run prison security to break their comrades out

[AntiGuv]

[PISANO]

I just wish PEOPLE knew we are in a WAR. A War to preserve the Western Civilisation. This constant drumbeat of scoring deaths of our troops is minimizing their sacrifice to a scorecard and reducing their deaths to a statistic that does harm to those on the front lines and to those back home praying for their loved ones return.

[pickemuphere]

COME up from the fields, father, here’s a letter from our Pete;
And come to the front door, mother—here’s a letter from thy dear son.

2

Lo, ’tis autumn;
Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio’s villages, with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind;
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang, and grapes on the trellis’d vines;
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat, where the bees were lately buzzing?)

Above all, lo, the sky, so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds;
Below, too, all calm, all vital and beautiful—and the farm prospers well.

3

Down in the fields all prospers well;
But now from the fields come, father—come at the daughter’s call;
And come to the entry, mother—to the front door come, right away.

Fast as she can she hurries—something ominous—her steps trembling;
She does not tarry to smoothe her hair, nor adjust her cap.

Open the envelope quickly;
O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d;
O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother’s soul!
All swims before her eyes—flashes with black—she catches the main words only;
Sentences broken—gun-shot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.

4

Ah, now, the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio, with all its cities and farms,
Sickly white in the face, and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.

Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs;
The little sisters huddle around, speechless and dismay’d;)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.

5

Alas, poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul;)
While they stand at home at the door, he is dead already;
The only son is dead.

But the mother needs to be better;
She, with thin form, presently drest in black;
By day her meals untouch’d—then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed—silent from life, escape and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.

-Whitman

[Austin Willard Wright]

Minimizing their sacrifice by reporting their deaths? What a weird theory you have there, but that defenders of no-win wars usually make such arguments.

[Archangelsk]

Yes, friend, I remember that during WWII allied casualties were never reported.

[fortaydoos]

The one thing that our boys need to know is that we KNOW what they are going thru over there. They get the news, even tho it is late, and are pissed that various conservatives cannot even be bothered to mention the daily deaths and injuries.

The war was just, the war was won, but the cleanup is messy and we need another 100,000 troops over there to do it right.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Your comparison doesn't work. World War II was a war that was fought for clear objectives. This is a different kind of war which lacks these clear objectives. It is a Wilsonian war to create a unitary/nation state in a multi-ethnic, multi-religiouis medieval stew.

Also from a purely practical standpoint if this slow bleed continues into next year the American people will not stand for it.

Pretending otherwise will not change this.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Clean-up? Well, a suppose that is one way to decribe a futile nation building effort a la Bosnia.

[WillowyDame]

"Also from a purely practical standpoint if this slow bleed continues into next year the American people will not stand for it.

Pretending otherwise will not change this.
"

i agree!
that is why i feel that if this situation is not arrested right away that bush will be a one-term. god-forbid!

we have to figure out the best way to DEAL with the iraq situation. but pulling out will seem TACKY and WHIMPY. smart people should figure the situation out and implemnt it right away.

i organized a few support the troops rallies earlier this year and the families that helped me out with that event are even having second thoughts about the war...but that is to be expected, they have kids down there. but still we need to figure something OUT NOW!!!

this muslim boys do not mind dying!!! we do!

[MEG33]

It isn't a matter of being tacky or wimpy..it will throw the Iraqis to the dogs. Our soldiers have died to fight terror,create a safer Iraq and help bring a more just form of government,hopefully to start a transformation in the Middle east someday.God Bless our armed forces.May the mourning be comforted.

[TomB]

Do you post ANYTHING other than stories of the killed or injured in Iraq since you joined last month?

How many threads have you started on the "quagmire"? 40? 50?

Read this article:

Media's Dark Cloud a Danger (Falsely bleak reports reduce our chances of success in Iraq)

"These are goals worthy of a fight, of sacrifice, of more lives lost now to save thousands, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands in the future. In Mosul last Monday, a colonel in the 101st Airborne put it to me quite simply: "Sir, this is worth doing." No one I spoke with said anything different. And I spoke with all ranks.

But there will be more Blumbergs killed in action, many more. So it is worth doing only if we have a reasonable chance of success. And we do, but I'm afraid the news media are hurting our chances. They are dwelling upon the mistakes, the ambushes, the soldiers killed, the wounded, the Blumbergs. Fair enough. But it is not balancing this bad news with "the rest of the story," the progress made daily, the good news. The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy.

I question your motives.

[NYC Republican]

I question your motives

Thanks. I was going to blast that poster as well.

If you take a look at the top Bloomberg stories today, the #1 story is the bomb blast that killed 1 Iraqi... Even when there are no U.S. casualties, the media plays up any and every (relative) bump in the road... Where are the stories on the various successes? They are so few and far in between, unfortunately.

[oceanview]

lets have an "accidental" fire at that prison, real soon.

[TomB]

If you take a look at the top Bloomberg stories today, the #1 story is the bomb blast that killed 1 Iraqi... Even when there are no U.S. casualties, the media plays up any and every (relative) bump in the road... Where are the stories on the various successes? They are so few and far in between, unfortunately.

The article I linked to does a very good job of laying out the situation in Iraq, and it is written by, of all people, a Democratic Congressman! And don't get me wrong, every soldier that pays the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan deserves our respect and prayers, but I really have to question the fact that a newbie has managed to post so many stories on casualties, almost NEVER posts to threads he doesn't start, and nothing else.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but this smells wrong to me.

[NYC Republican]

The article I linked to does a very good job of laying out the situation in Iraq, and it is written by, of all people, a Democratic Congressman!

Yep- good point. I actually posted that on FR (;-)

And don't get me wrong, every soldier that pays the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan deserves our respect and prayers, but I really have to question the fact that a newbie has managed to post so many stories on casualties, almost NEVER posts to threads he doesn't start, and nothing else.

Absolutely.