Grenade Attack in Baghdad Kills U.S. Soldier

Reuters ^ | Sun June 22, 2003 09:34 AM ET

[IoCaster]

Grenade Attack in Baghdad Kills U.S. Soldier

Sun June 22, 2003 09:34 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded in a grenade attack on a military convoy south of Baghdad Sunday, the U.S. military said.

A U.S. statement said the two soldiers had been evacuated by road after the attack in Khan Azad, 20 km (12 miles) south of the capital. One was dead on arrival at hospital.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks on U.S. forces in which 19 soldiers have been killed since President Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1.

The assault came less than a day after an Iraqi oil pipeline was set ablaze near the town of Hit, about 140 km (90 miles) northwest of Baghdad, by a late-night explosion blamed by an Iraqi Oil Ministry official on sabotage.

Two U.S. soldiers were wounded in the same area Saturday afternoon when their vehicle detonated a land mine.

[BagCamAddict]

I hate losing even one of our troops too. And I too would like to see a little better PM over there. But I have to commend the administration for realizing so quickly that it wasn't going well under what's-his-name (the first guy in charge of the reconstruction) and replacing him with Brenner. I've worked places that are so afraid to admit they were wrong that they keep a lousy PM in place for YEARS rather than make a rightful change.

The media is and will always focus on the negatives - it makes for better shock reading. But you might be encouraged to read the following articles:

WE ARE CURRENTLY TESTING DNA to see if we got SADDAM AND UDAY this past week (June 16) in a missile strike on a convoy that was heading in the direction of Syria

And:

Here is a tidbit of GOOD second-hand news from Iraq

And this is a good article:

GOOD NEWS out of Fallujah

And if you figure out a way to go over there and help with the PM, let me know and I'll go too... I'm also a PM and I would LOVE to help out if I could.

[jwalsh07]

Imho, it's better to have soldiers confronting the jihadists over there than the jihadists confronting civilians here.

Yes, and while that's easy for me to say sitting here in Ct at my keyboard I none the less agree wholeheartedly. I've served my time but if they need 52 year olds with my skills I'd be willing to put my body where my mouth is.

There is no sense in having another President Bush sending hundreds of thousands of troops to the ME in 2013 when a we can make a major effort now to change the situation there.

[A. Pole]

Imho, it's better to have soldiers confronting the jihadists over there than the jihadists confronting civilians here.

The problem is that Baath party was secularist and not islamist. This is the exact reason why Iraq supported by the West was waging war on islamic Iran in the 1980's.

[Archangelsk]

I'd like to know what you think should have been done better. Should we have been able in two months time to get an energy grid back up that had been neglected for years? Should we have been to please every single person in Iraq so that no demonstrations were held against the U.S.? Should we have been able to capture every single renegade fedayeen so that no-one shot or killed a U.S. troop post-Baghdad? I would like to get some specifics on exactly what you think should have been planned for, but wasn't.

To answer your question, I'm no fan of Eric Shinseki, but I would have quadrupled the force immediately after the ground campaign had secured Baghdad. Historical precedence includes post war Germany and Japan. (Ever wonder why there was none of this nonsense in those two theatres?) I would then make sure that every swinging Tom, Dick and Harry engineer was drafted into the Army Corps of Engineers to fix the infrastructure (and for every engineer there should be five roughnecks/technician/electrician to do the heavy grunt work necessary). Finally, and I know I'll get pummeled for this (so be it, grrrr-woof) I would invite everyone to the party (that includes the French, Germans, Russians, Chinese and Japanese). The reason why we were able to rebuild Western Europe under the Marshall plan (unlike the slip-shod effort of the Warsaw Pact) is because we were able to marshal every resource needed to do so.

[Diverdogz]

WE ARE CURRENTLY TESTING DNA to see if we got SADDAM AND UDAY this past week (June 16) in a missile strike on a convoy that was heading in the direction of Syria

I can't remember, is this the 4th or 5th time that we've "killed" Saddam?

[ContentiousObjector]

they are pissed off Iraqis who don't like having invading armies around, it's kinda human nature

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

According to blogs from the front and family members - what the troops have a problem with is the daily, dishonest press coverage of this war. If anyone's endangering the troops, it's the press - by wilfully misreporting the situation on the ground - hyping the bad, ignoring the good, handing their precious pens to the enemy to use against us.

The military's been upfront, professional and trustworthy. You want to know what's going on? Check the Dod and CENTCOM websites for briefings and updates.

---

*Encouraging news from Fallujah

*Maj. Gen. Odierno Videoteleconference from Baghdad [4th ID ~ Our troops rock!]

[jwalsh07]

Thanks for the links. IMHO, the units that marched on Baghdad should be rotating out with fresh units rotating in. Different missions and tough to change the mindset from "kill'em all" to nation builder.

[jwalsh07]

To answer your question, I'm no fan of Eric Shinseki, but I would have quadrupled the force immediately after the ground campaign had secured Baghdad.

Which means you would have had a million US soldiers under arms in the Middle East. Where would you get them from?

[Wild Thing]

#67 Good post Ragtime Cowgirl.

If you have a ping list could you please put me on it.Thank you.
Wild Thing

[Wiggins]

Remember 9/11/01. 3,000 killed in just a few hours. I suggest we fight the Jihadist over there rather than here. The price of freedom is never cheap.

[BenR2]

Ah, but you're wrong, there was quite a bit. The Germans were stringing wires across the roads and decapitating our soldiers, that went on for months and once it was stopped it started up again the following year. We just didn't advertise every death the way we do now. We were also able to be a lot harsher in our response than we are now.

Although each death is a national tragedy, the cause is noble. Out of the 135,000 soldiers in country there really have been relatively few attacks. NOBODY in their right mind thought this would be a sanitary operation. What we are doing now is harder than the war itself, but it has to be done or the country will be lost, the war will have been for nothing, all those lives lost will have been wasted. If that country falls, THIS country is in serious trouble.

///////////////
I find your reply rather encouraging. I never realized that this kind of thing went on in Germany following Germany's surrender. How harsh were we in our responses to those decapitations?

Still, the level and nature of the resistance in Iraq seems to reach a much higher resistance: RPGs and mortars are LOT more military in nature than wires strung across roads.

[grania]

What did you realistically expect to occur in 2 months time in a country that had been governed for 25 years by a mass murderer and that had never previously experienced representative government or any type of western-style rule of law?

US and coalition forces got Saddam and his thugs out of office brilliantly and without much loss of life. However, even one US life lost is too much in that cesspool.

We good Saddam out. Let the Iraquis vote. If they still want a strict Shiite government, it's their choice. But, get our troops home!!

[Archangelsk]

The contempt I have for your "comment" to me goes beyond words. I retired as a Major, I served in tactical and strategic positions which left me with far more knowledge than I sometimes care to know.

As for your feeling safe under the present administration, know this: I lost friends under Reagan (Beirut and Grenada), under Bush I (Panama and Kuwait), and under Clinton (Somalia). Don't tell me about feeling safe because we are one more domestic terrorist attack from turning into the Soviet Union or worse.

[DocJ69]

Does anyone know how many men were killed in Europe at the end of WWII, or how many men were killed in the Pacific after WWII. As an old navy corpsman in Vietnam, I remember watching young Marines die during cease fires. I now have a son who is in the area of operations, any death is bad but we must all look at the future, as time makes its journey. We all know that they hate us, however time will make some positives. Don't let the press create what they are trying to do now with these attacks and that is separate and divide our Countire resolve.

[niteowl77]

Don't let the press create what they are trying to do now with these attacks and that is separate and divide our Countire resolve.

I believe wholeheartedly that this is the plan of America's enemies (foreign and domestic).

I have a son over there too, and while his unit has been fired on, he knows that there are plenty of Iraqis happy as all get out to have the Ba'athist yoke taken off.

[McGavin999]

The level of resistance isn't greater, the weapons are just better. But in a country where billions of dollars of weaponry were scattered from one end of the country to the other it's understandable. The number of people isn't greater, it's just the weapons they have access to are greater. We'll get it under control though it just takes time.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Most of the units are rotating out. The 3rd ID is overstaying their expected tour mostly because a press intent on stirring up trouble - IS. America's enemies know where to find the press. There's some truly rotten DNC mischief going on.

This sums it up, and should make every American furious:

...(I) get the same response from my hubby everytime he calls....he asks what the latest in the news is and I tell him...he just can't believe what they are reporting here.....they report all the negatives....

 

all of these negative stories are affecting troop morale...Mike(hubby) asked me last week *is anyone in the US happy Saddam is gone*...I couldn't believe he even had to ask that question...but all he hears is it's a quagmire, where's Saddam, where's the WMD.....all he knows is what's happening to him and his men and it's not being reported...pats on the back and handshakes from Iraqis, thanking them and the US.

20 posted on 06/22/2003 6:56 PM EDT by mystery-ak (The War is not over for me until my hubby's boots hit U.S. soil.)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks, Wild Thing. Don't have a ping list - been mostly over at the OIF war thread since March....until I discovered that Freepers who weren't following the news from military sources were getting the Baghdad Bob version.

I may put together a ping list. Be glad to add your name if I do.

[Atchafalaya]

Yep! And your plan was?