Twin Samarra blasts hit US convoy

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BECE8194-1560-4554-830D-E4D6E2423EEF.htm

<snip>

Eight people, including four children, have been killed and at least 23 wounded in a double car bombing in the path of a US army convoy near a nursery school in the Iraqi city of Samarra, local officials say.


A US military spokeswoman said 11 US troops were among the wounded in what was the first major attack in Samarra since its was wrested from Iraqi fighters in a deadly offensive by US and Iraqi troops at the start of October.

"A pair of vehicle-concealed IEDs detonated near the city centre in Samarra" on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said.

She the bombs killed one child and injured 11 US troops and an Iraqi civilian.

.... I thought Samarra had been "pacified"! :(

[saigon68]

1. "We are creating a democracy in Iraq-Nam", The Chimp

need I say more?

[leftchick]

5. Hi saigon, I have a question.....

I know the actual casualty numbers for VC were inflated and for US troops deflated during the war. At least that is what I recall as a youngster. Could you tell me how and by how much the US killed/wounded rate was fixed until the real numbers were exposed, if you know? I suspect we are experiencing a repeat and 1100 for US killed is a drop in the bucket.

Thanks and peace,
lc

[saigon68]

8. Don't have a personal knowledge of this LC

The numbers KBA (killed by air) were very inflated --- as to ours the US I have no knowledge of how they did it, except that there was NO SCORECARD of death like some of us maintain here.

The GOVERNMENT or THE MILITARY never published a running list ever.

[happyslug]

9. When I was in the National Guard in the 1980s

Our Artillery would fire round into the impact area and the Forward Observers would than adjust the fire. When we hit the target (which tended to be just some spot on the ground) the Forward Observers would say something about "Killed 5 soldiers", Killed Enemy Squad etc. The purpose of this was to make the exercise more "Realistic" to both the forward observers and our Artillerist.

Now no one was actually hit in these exercises, just CLAIMS of hit were made. Take that to Vietnam, the Commanders were told to bring up the enemy killed, since we rarely went into the area where the Viet Cong retreated no direct counts were made, you just estimated. People were rewarded for high estimates so every one quickly learn to max the estimate. You fired 1000 rounds of Ammunition, you claimed 20 VC killed (whether you found any bodies or not, remember if no bodies all you have to claim was the bodies were carried off by their fellow VC).

AS you can see you can inflate Numbers easily, when it is numbers that can not be doubled checked.

On the other hand you were responsible for your own losses, but if you could get them off your "list" i.e sent to a hospital, it became the hospital's duty to take the lost. The Hospital knew that if it could get the kid to the States, it would no longer be their lost but the state Side Hospital's lost. Once State Side if the kid died, he did not DIE IN VIETNAM so was not counted as a death in Vietnam (Remember he died in the STATES from wounds incurred in Vietnam).

Now not to many losses could be covered up that way, for most cases once the Soldier arrived at a hospital he generally lived, but enough to keep down the losses in Vietnam.

The bigger reduction seems to be the same act the Army is doing now, writing off as many losses as "Accidents" as they can.

Another technique is not to count people who lost their life on the Carriers off the Coast of Vietnam (Mostly from losses do to the up beat in the tempo of the Carrier as it launched and recovered its Planes). Such losses were rarely "Combat" but were the cost incurred for having the planes in Combat.

I will not go into the "Black Ops" Missions who the US never counted at all, in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or any place else Spec Ops are operating in.

My point it there are ways to reduce "losses" by playing with the bodies, people will do it when they perceive that such manipulation is in their best interest (and in Vietnam and Iraq it is in the best interest of the President and Pentagon).

[leftchick]

13. wow happyslug! Thanks....

very good analysis!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. This is the problem for us and those idiots we back in Iraq

They will never be safe there. The best they can possibly hope for now is a perpetual police state where these attacks are common place.

[AntiFascist]

3. Jeez, and both Bush and Cheney are out on the campaign trail....

cracking jokes about camouflage.

[llmart]

4. "There will be no casualties".......

said the lying idiot-in-chief.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Why in the Hell

are they sending Army convoys past nursery schools? That strikes me as criminal negligence.

It's almost like they're deliberately trying to get civilian children blown up by insurgents who are targeting U.S. soldiers.

[leftchick]

7. I agree.. and why are they still allowed to throw candy...

to children when they know they are targets themselves? More War Crimes.... :grr:

[DrWeird]

10. But we liberated Samarra!

We just won it!

[jmcgowanjm]

11. Defeat in Latifiyah/Yusufiyah on the 9th

This defeat notably left the Marines in Anbar province -
Fallujah, Ramadi, etc. - cut off from Baghdad. If Latifiyah
isn't retaken, US losses will continue to spiral as supply
convoys desperately run the gauntlet of bombs, rockets,
RPG's, etc, while speeding past that resistance stronghold (
eg. the 343rd)

The reason BlackWatch is coming up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3761658.stm
According to Mafkarat al Islam:
Past 2 days-
U.S Dead.....................285
CIA Intelligence............ 20

Humvees Destroyed......46
Bradley Fighting Veh......11
Armoured personel carr...8
Trucks..........................13
Abrams Tanks................1

If this is anywhere near, we're losing about Avg 2 US/Hr.

[VegasWolf]

12. "Hey now, what's that sound, Everybody look what's going round"

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional