Posted on 12/21/2004 9:07:21 AM PST by Destro
There doesn't seem to be much damage to the tables
and chairs. I would like to see more photos from
different angles.
man...I sincerely hope your friend is alright and comes home
safe and sound
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Insurgents fired explosives at a dining tent during lunchtime at a U.S. Army base in Iraq's northern city of Mosul today, killing more than 20 people, including soldiers and employees of military contractor Halliburton Co.
``The killed include U.S. military personnel, U.S. contractors, foreign national contractors and Iraqi army,'' Brigadier General Carter Ham said in a Pentagon video from Mosul, according to a transcript. He did not provide an exact number of those dead, and said more than 60 were wounded.
Ham is commander of Task Force Olympia, a roughly 8,000- soldier force that includes 5,000 soldiers from Fort Lewis, Washington. Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, was the scene of a violent flare-up last month in which insurgents seized most of the town's police stations.
Today's attack pointed up the widespread violence aimed at U.S. forces and Iraqis as the country readies for its first democratic vote since the Saddam Hussein dictatorship was toppled last year. Three election workers were shot dead on a Baghdad street Dec. 19 and at least 63 other Iraqis died in bombings elsewhere the same day.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose organization is helping prepare for Iraqi elections next month, warned of the threat of insurgent attacks.
``Violence, if it continues, will have an impact on elections,'' Annan said at a news conference today in New York.
Rockets Suspected
The attackers in Mosul fired suspected rockets just as hundreds of soldiers sat down to eat, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter on the scene. The newspaper posted a photograph shot inside the tent showing wounded soldiers being treated. The roof of the tent was in shreds and sunlight streaked the smoke-filled air.
The force of the blasts knocked soldiers from their seats, and a fireball reached the top of the tent while shrapnel hit diners, according to the Times-Dispatch report on its Web site. Soldiers overturned tables to use as stretchers, carting off the wounded.
Among the dead in Mosul were two American soldiers from a Richmond, Virginia-based engineering battalion, according to the Times-Dispatch. The newspaper said 24 people were killed.
``It's a sad day in Mosul,'' Ham said. Those surviving will ``do what they can do best to honor those who were fallen today, and that is to see this very important mission through to a successful completion.''
`No Road Map'
Houston-based Halliburton issued a statement saying it was ``deeply saddened'' by the deaths of four employees of subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root and three subcontractors.
``There is no road map for coping with events like this and we are doing everything we can to support our KBR personnel in Mosul,'' the e-mailed statement said. The deaths today raised the toll of Halliburton workers and subcontractors killed in Iraq and Kuwait to 62.
About 250 miles south of Mosul, in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise visit and met with Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Blair, the staunchest ally of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, said holding elections Jan. 30 will help stabilize the country.
The U.S. force in Mosul force includes a Stryker armored- vehicle brigade that has about 300 wheeled units. The Strykers have been patrolling Mosul since a widespread campaign of intimidation against city police started last month.
Insurgents took advantage of the U.S. focus on a military operation in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, last month to launch their Mosul attack. U.S. and Iraqi commanders were forced to deploy troops to the northern city on Nov. 11 after insurgents seized most of Mosul's police stations.
"What, are we now going to play Israel's game, tit for tat."
If the Americans allow Israeli soldiers in Iraq to use the same tactics thay use in Israel, we may put an end to the insurgency sooner than expected and spare the lives of many American soldiers.
If it was projectile delivered ordnance, there would probably have been gaping holes in the tables from shrapnel coming DOWN on them. The only damaged tables seem to be in the immediate blast area (which I assume to be generally under the instant skylight in the tent roof).
This would suggest that most of the frag was going HORIZONTALLY, as it would from a ground or waist-level blast.
Most of the casualties were probably secondary to fragmentation, consistant with a placed / IED weapon.
That's a lot of casualties from a body-borne bomb, but in a target rich environment like that (or a crowded Israeli Bar or Resturant) not unheard of. The MO stinks of HAMAAS, whom we are pretty sure are operating TDY in Iraq these days.
I will not be surprised if there is a connection.
FOX News is saying a "rocket" may have been fired from "miles away".... I still vote for an inside snuck-in IED.
I suspect that will change.
bunkers...what a novel idea!
Plus, they would be cooler, in the blistering desert heat.
Not to debate this but I would that first they (Israel)will have to contain their own problem. They have had less attacks because of the wall, but they are still being attacked
Four Israeli Soldiers Killed, Nine Wounded, in Tunnel Bombing Dec. 12, 2004
I have to say I'm not impressed with the way we are using our resources in this war. Can someone explain to me why we don't start sending cruise missles to visit these Islamic web sites? Are we that impotent that we can't figure out where the computer is sitting or where the IP host is located? If the computer is in Syria or France - tough. Light it up.
This is horrible. And curious timing. Did the Ansar terrorists have some intel that one of the coalition leaders was coming and thought it would be President Bush? Because Tony Blair just left.
It's time we start making plans to get out of there. Tell the Iraqis to start defending their "own" country.
When it rains, it pours. This is just the beginning, but we're in it to win now. This is our nation's honor and credibility at stake here. If we back down, this will be a clearcut muhajadeen victory over the US military, an unacceptable outcome.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
A mess tent crowded with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers at lunchtime. A CNN photographer who recently spent time at Camp Marez near Mosul says the G.I.'s there felt vulnerable and one even said it was only a matter of time before the attack took place.
Well, as you know if you've been watching CNN, the time was today. And more than 20 U.S. and Iraqi troops and contractors are dead.
Joining me on the phone from Camp Marez is U.S. Army Colonel Paul Hastings.
Colonel, not a good time to talk, but, sir, I appreciate your time. Can you describe the scene for us now and how you've been responding to this?
COL. PAUL HASTINGS, U.S. ARMY: Well, as you know, it was a pretty difficult day, a terrible day here in Mosul in Camp Marez. And we lost 24 soldiers -- or actually, 24 people were killed. That included soldiers and contractors and Iraqi security force personnel.
And, you know, I think it's certainly a difficult time, but we're responding well. And we've taken all the -- all the wounded. And they're being taken care of. And we're doing the best I can.
PHILLIPS: Sir, I was reading in one of the newsletters that you put together, and this was a few months ago, you said that -- this was referring to another attack just days ago when a car bomb detonated outside the Mosul airfield. "Our quick response was noticed at secretary of Army level in the Pentagon."
Has this become standard operating procedure, this thought process of expecting the unexpectable, and knowing how to respond? And what is the mindset and how do you respond?
HASTINGS: I think in that newsletter, in the response, what we were talking about was trying to get the most accurate and credible information back to the American people through public affairs channels and through our technology and satellite network systems.
And our response there was the same as we did today, where we got General Ham out and was able to explain to the people in America what exactly happened and how we're responding to that.
PHILLIPS: Sir, a number of soldiers told one of our photographers there that they felt vulnerable. Do you feel vulnerable where you are? And how are soldiers dealing with the mixed feelings that they have about being there right now?
HASTINGS: I think when soldiers are talking about vulnerabilities, it's -- they're probably talking about the dining facilities, where it's not in a hard span. There's -- in the dining facility here that was hit, it was a -- a large tent area.
And so there is a level of vulnerability when you go in there and you don't feel like there's a hard -- hard roof over your head. And when there's mortar attacks and explosions that happen, there is a level of vulnerability.
And interestingly enough, a new dining facility is under construction now at Camp Marez. And it just hasn't been completed yet. And so the vulnerability there is the unexpected relating to indirect fire.
Vulnerability to attacks, when you're on a forward operating base, you have good protection. It's -- we have security forces on towers and gates. And so the vulnerability is not -- you don't really consider ourselves too vulnerable there.
Certainly, when you're moving between operating bases and when you're going on operations, there's a level of vulnerability. But all our vehicles are up armored, and we -- we take all appropriate actions to try to strengthen our positions wherever we are.
PHILLIPS: Sir, that's interesting that you bring up the issue of armored vehicles. Let me ask you this question. If you had the chance to go before Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, if you were able to be in an open former -- forum, rather, with your fellow soldiers, what would you tell the secretary what you need right now in Mosul, where you are? What is the biggest need for you and the men and women that are there?
HASTINGS: Well, you know, I think we've got what we need here. I mean, we constantly work hard to improve our positions, whether it's armoring our vehicles or hardening where we live in our -- whether it's in trailers or hard stands, in the dining facilities. And you can't do everything at once. And there's always priorities and tradeoffs.
And so we're -- I mean, everybody's on the same sheet of music. It just doesn't happen overnight. And we're working each and every day to, you know, get our position to be a little bit stronger.
In the military, we always say -- we always talk about, you know, we want to always, every day improve our fighting position, and that's what we do here. It's just not going to happen overnight.
PHILLIPS: Colonel, I've got to ask you one final question. Just days before Christmas, how do you rebound? How do you prepare for the holidays?
HASTINGS: Well, I'd say that -- you know, it's never easy to lose soldiers. It never is. And certainly, during this Christmas period time of peace and joy, it's that much more tragic.
But that's what soldiering is about. And that's what we signed up for. We knew the risks. We know the risks. And the best way that we honor our fallen is to pick up the mission and to continue it and to do it the best that we possibly can each and every day.
And the soldiers demonstrated that here today, in the dining facility. And they helped the fellow wounded, no matter if they were Iraqi or not, and -- or race, religion or color. We take care of each other. And we did that today, and we'll do that tomorrow. And we'll be able to -- we'll rebound. I have no -- no doubt about that.
PHILLIPS: Sir, that mindset is incredible. It inspires a number of us. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, U.S. Army, right from Mosul there. Sir, thank you for your time today.
HASTINGS: No problem. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: The Mosul attack would seem to be a part of a surge in pre-election violence that U.S. and Iraqi officials long said they expected. An Islamist group calling itself Jaish (ph) Ansar al-Sunnah is claiming responsibility.
Our coverage continues now with CNN's Karl Penhaul, live from Baghdad -- Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Earlier on in the evening, we heard from Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. forces up in the region in and around Mosul. He described this as a single explosion. It was midday, local time.
This was the chow hall, the dining facility, several hundred soldiers packed in there. And we've seen now the dramatic photographs taken by a photographer from the "Richmond Times-Dispatch." He was one of the group of embedded reporters up there. He was up there with a print reporter from that same publication.
And what they describe, these horrendous scenes, as this impact from the mortar or rocket came into the chow hall, soldiers were sent reeling, were sent flying across the dining room. And at one stage, these reporters say that their buddies even picked up the dead and wounded and loaded them on to dining tables, using those as impromptu stretchers to get them out and get them some kind of medical attention.
We see in also that photo a big yawning hole in the -- in the canvas roof of the dining facility, and that was engulfed in a fireball, according to the photographer who took that picture.
We've heard there from U.S. military commanders on the scene there, that the death toll, they're putting that now at 24 people killed, in excess of 60 people wounded.
We've still not got a specific breakdown of how many of the dead are U.S. soldiers, how many may be U.S. and Iraqi civilian contractors and how many may be members of the Iraqi security forces.
We do know, though, Camp Marez, they all shared this facility and all had different functions at that base. What we know for sure is that that dining facility was packed at that time.
As I say, we don't yet know whether this was a rocket or mortar attack. But obviously, the size and the caliber of the artillery that was used in this attack would also determine how close the insurgents were to that base at the time of the attack.
If it were 105-millimeter artillery shell, for example, those things can fly in excess of 15 miles. If it was a smaller caliber mortar, the insurgents could have been as close as four to six miles.
What we've also seen in the past, though, is insurgents staging these random attacks on U.S. military bases around the country, and very hastily packing up their mortar equipment and going away again. So this could have been just a lucky strike at a very busy time in that dining hall -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Karl, there had been some concern expressed by some of the soldiers about this particular facility and whether it was hardened enough, in other words, provided enough defense against precisely what we just saw. What are you hearing about that? PENHAUL: That is correct. One of our CNN photographers, Gabe Ramirez, was actually up in Camp Marez about three weeks ago now. That was the height of the U.S. offensive there against insurgent groups who were operating in and around Mosul, in particular, attacking police bases there.
Gabe Ramirez did have occasion to eat in this dining hall that was hit today. And he says some of the soldiers there said to him that they didn't feel that this facility was sufficiently protected and, in their words, that it was an accident waiting to happen.
As we've seen from those photos and as Gabe Ramirez has described to us, this dining facility was in part a canvas tent. There was some -- a thin metal structure around there that also formed part of the dining facility, but nothing that could withstand the blast from a mortar or from a rocket. And that's the same on most of the U.S. bases around Iraq -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Kyra.
Ditto. So sick of tiptoeing on eggshells around people that would see our troops' heads on poles--oh, wait those are the people on DU. Heck, what's the difference?
This is an unspeakable monstrosity; like all of the terrorist scum actions. I am praying hard for your buddy and for all the victims.
We've given it way too much time already, and way too many lives. (PS Glad to see you back, you were missed)
Israel is only trying to defend herself. Frankly I think they show more restraint than we would if, say, Mexicans or Canadians were coming across the border and killing our citizens by blowing them to bits.
This is not a debate about Israel.
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