Posted on 11/25/2008 6:21:21 PM PST by WilliamReading
BAGHDAD – Two American servicemen were killed Tuesday when a gunman in an Iraqi army uniform opened fire while they were distributing humanitarian aid in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
It was the third such shooting in the Mosul area in less than a year purportedly involving Iraqi soldiers, raising concerns about infiltration of the Iraqi security forces in one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq.
The shooting, southwest of Mosul near the Syrian border, came on the eve of a parliament vote on a pact that would allow American troops to remain in Iraq three more years. Iraq's government says its police and army are not ready to maintain security on their own.
The attack killed a Marine and an Army soldier on a transition team working with the Iraqis, a military statement said. Two Marines and three Iraqi civilians also were wounded, it said.
"The attack appears to have been unprovoked," Col. Bill Buckner, a U.S. military spokesman, was quoted as saying.
He said it was unknown if the attacker was an Iraqi soldier or an insurgent in disguise, saying a joint investigation was under way. The statement said another man also was involved.
Other U.S. military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said the gunman was in Iraqi army custody and appeared to be an Iraqi soldier.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Prayers for their eternal rest...
This has been happening a lot recently. Iraqi soldiers killing American soldiers. Not a lot of publicity on this, a lot of people don’t want to be thinking about the Iraqi War right now.
I think GWB has been completely wrong about exposing our brave American troops doing “nation building” and humanitarian tasks in Iraq. Let them build their own damn nation. Bush got elected in 2000 promising not to engage our troops in “nation building”. Another broken promise here.
Anyone who thinks that the Sunnis and Shiites are grateful for what we have done in Iraq doesn’t know the Arab mind. Enough.
I guess the American people sent a message in November. I voted for McCain-Palin of course, but can’t blame those who said let’s lower our profile in Iraq.
God Bless Them.
There were some cops killed in my town recently. I think we should just pull out.
So you know the Arab mind? As a Desert Storm vet, I think Bush (and the USA) did the right thing. Iraqis are thankful for being liberated. Iranian and AQ insurgents, not so much. We are moving in the right direction, unfortunately it was not as quick and clean as everyone hoped.
Bingo. So tragic, nonetheless. May God Bless them and comfort their families. Oh, and d*mn the supporters and enablers (that’s you certain Democrats and presstitutes) of the terrorists, here and abroad..
Looking back at some of your posts, are you sure you would not be more comfortable at DU?
I can agree with you wholeheartedly. Slowly back out and count our blessings. Within a year or our leaving some new Islamists dictator will assume power, and all will be as it was. That is their nature.
The only way to beat this is to stay in Iraq for 5 to 10 years until they are completely stable and democratized. Are we willing to commit to this strategy and are the Iraqis willing to accept us for this period of time?
Please show me some evidence that the Iraqis are thankful for being liberated. The Kurds are very pro=American.
The Sunnis and Shiites have been launching one anti-American protest after another in Baghdad. 10,000+ in the main Baghdad Square demanding that the US leave Iraq, this was last week.
Show me the big demonstrations of Iraqis thanking America for its sacrifices, as I haven’t seen them.
Iraqi protesters burn George Bush effigy
The crowd of tens of thousands, gathered in Baghdad where a Saddam Hussein statue once stood, protests a security pact that would keep American troops in Iraq through 2011.
I will also mention that when Iraq was exporting oil for $150 a barrel, they wouldn’t discount the price a nickel for the American Armed Forces. Is this just another example of GWB mismanagement or what? And people wonder why we have such a big budget deficit? What is “conservative” about running up huge deficits?
The fact that 23 million Iraqis are not swarming all over 130,000 Americans says enough. Of course they don’t like check points and searches and want the “strangers” to leave as soon as possible. The attacks on Americans have been dwindling and they are not carried out by anyone but foreign insurgents.
I’m with you so far..
Oil being one of Iraq’s only exports, letting them get as much as possible on the open market is as “conservative” as it gets. The war may be expensive, but having bases within a stones throw of Iran and Syria is priceless in the war on terror.
Try to absorb the big picture. We invaded Italy and France in WWII first for a reason.
Oh, by the way, the new agreement with Iraq forbids the United States from launching any attacks against a foreign nation from Iraq. That was put in at the behest of Iran. In case you weren’t aware, Prime Minister Maliki lived in Iran for several years and is on good terms with Ahmadinajad.
He is no George Washington, but he fled to Iran to avoid his head being lopped off by Saddam. He has little or no say on what the US does from bases in Iraq, as we saw several weeks ago in the operation across the border in Syria.
According to the Iraqi news agency (VoI), the assailant was an Iraqi soldier and has already been arrested by an Iraqi army checkpoint.
Check the link:
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=103742
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