Bomb Attack Kills U.S. Soldier West of Baghdad 8/12/03 11:49 AM EST

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=11&u=/nm/20030812/ts_nm/iraq_ambush_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded Tuesday in a bomb attack in the restive Sunni Muslim town of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.

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[Rose Siding]

1. This must be from the "6 explosions" reported

last night- BBC. I'm glad Reuters got it. Can the resistance be so coordinated that they waited for "Ivy" op (whatever) to attack?

Rest in peace, kid.

[Randi_Listener]

2. No, no, no...

...the war is over. Pretzel Puss said so. Why are soldiers still dying?

[teryang]

3. "Die Hards"

I'm afraid that there is an inexhaustible supply of "die hards" willing to expell us from their country.

[catmandu57]

4. And the number rises

I think this makes the official number at 118, however I counted 118 weeks ago. No word yet from last nights attack, I keep hearing the jingle from Flintstones vitamins ten million strong and growing. Whether that is how many troops we'll have in the region or the number of Iraqis that will kick our collective asses remains to be seen.

[Maeve]

5. If it wasn't for the date stamp, a person could lose track

Thanks, NNN0LHI, for helping us keep the "incidents" seperate.

Have we had as many deaths SINCE "mission accomplished" as before yet?

[Minstrel Boy]

8. by my count

17 to go before deaths "after" equal deaths "before." Should probably be there by the end of next week.

[catmandu57]

9. Actually we passed that long ago

It was the one thing cable and network news got right. They were all over that story, being as how there weren't any celebraty murders or other crimes, nor any shark attacks.
The interest in Iraqnam grows and diminishes on the speed of domestic news. Sometime near the end of June the media was all over the number of dead, since then sporadic at best on a story that should lead screaming every night.

[mistertrickster]

6. Actually 3 died yesterday--several others wounded

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-08-12-iraq-oil_x.htm>

The U.S. soldier killed Tuesday morning was riding in a Humvee in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. A military spokesman said the soldier's convoy was hit by three roadside bombs wired to exploded one after another. Two soldiers were wounded.

A soldier died in his sleep at a U.S. base in Ramadi and his body was discovered in his bunk at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. In Mosul, in the far north of the country, the military reported a soldier died when his Humvee collided with a taxi.

****************

The headlines the media runs are misleading.

[NickB79]

10. Humvee collided with a taxi?

Methinks an angry Iraqi decided to get revenge for his murdered family by playing chicken with a US vehicle.

[htuttle]

13. What the heck kind of taxi was it?

In most areas outside the US, taxis are typically small vehicles (for efficiency). Most of them wouldn't be much mass as far as a Humvee was concerned.

Was this 'taxi' built from the chassis of an old Russian tank, or what?

[northzax]

15. this is the problem with reservists

who are mostly awesome people doing a crappy, underappreciated job. There is no fucking way that you can actually train well enough in one weekend a year to be an active duty soldier for a long period of time. Many simply don't have the stamina or physical training to survive the desert heat, endless guard duty and high stress situations. That takes full out training for 19 year olds, and a lot of reservists are older than that by far (50 year old part time gunnery sergeants?) The military is asking too much.

ON EDIT: let me give an example.

NBA rookies. despite the fact that some are insanely good at what they do, and have trained their whole lives for it, the part time training of the collegiate off-season is usually only good enough to get them through 30 games or so. They haven't trained to play hard for 82 games, so they hit the wall. Veterans have trained full time, and don't hit the same wall. Our reservists are hitting the wall, the spirit is willing, but the body can only take so much.

[jmcgowanjm]

16. slow/no mail &3 liters of water/day-is that expected northzax?

I need to Know.

[northzax]

21. er, I don't understand

is it expected to ge no mail? in a war zone, sure, mail takes a while. And little water? again, full time soldiers are TRAINED for this. If you are in full battle shape, you can operate on less water, food and other supplies than someone who is older and trains less. Hardship is to be expected in the military, I'm sorry if this sort of thing wasn't expected by people who signed up full time, but them's the breaks. I cannot expect a part time soldier to deal with the same hardship, on a long term basis, that a full time soldier can deal with.

Look, being a soldier sucks sometimes. you get shot at, you live in uncomfortable conditions, you have a high stress job. comes with the territory. my arguement is that our excessive reliance on reservists means that we are exposing people to these conditions who are not trained to deal with them. How many litres of water do you think the average Iraqi gets a day? or the average IDF soldier? a 21 year old who has been training for two years can deal with this. a 35 year old who five months ago was riding a desk will have more trouble.

[silverchair]

7. so is bush

still enjoying his vacation at the ranch?

[joshcryer]

11. F* you Bush*!

FUCK YOU.

[jenk]

12. but we captured some useless loyalists! PROGRESS BEING MADE!

just look at the fox news headline

"US Troops Bag Key Saddam Cronies"

and they expect to be taken seriously as a network

sure just put anything on the front page, but make sure you bury the story of US troops being killed daily.

[DeaconBlues]

14. This is outrageous

How can the press bury these deaths the way they do? How many deaths have to occur for the cable channels to consider the fighting to be newsworthy? The American corporate media makes Soviet-era Pravda look like the epitome of free press.

[jmcgowanjm]

17. We have just enough soldiers to keep anyone from taking control

Rand and Carnegie reports,
along w/ Edward Luttwak(neo-neo-con?)'s report
reach the same conclusion:

-250k USsoldiers minimum to enforce Iraq.

We have 150K(including Brits) now.

What will have happened in a year?

[jmcgowanjm]

18. 4:15pm CDT-this was not the 6 EXplosions

Ramadi is HOT.

It will now become as big as Fallujah.

[jmcgowanjm]

19. How will Networks spin this

A thick dark cloud turned Baghdad's day into dusk as flames shot 60 meters (200 feet) into the air from a burning oil pipeline. Guerrillas attacked an American convoy with three roadside bombs west of the capital, killing one soldier and injuring two.

http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-iraq0812,0,4748617.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

[jmcgowanjm]

20. An AP photographer saw another pipeline blaze

northwest near the town of Haditha. The fire at a junction box burned out of control, and neither Iraqi nor American authorities were at the scene.

http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-iraq0812,0,4748617.story?coll=bal-home-headlines