Posted on 04/23/2007 6:13:26 PM PDT by jdm
BAGHDAD - Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded Monday in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base northeast of Baghdad, the military said.An Iraqi civilian was also wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
Of the 20 wounded, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said.
Identities were not released pending notification of relatives.
It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a suicide car bomber.
On Feb. 19, insurgents struck a U.S. combat post in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding 17 in what the military called a "coordinated attack."
It began with a suicide car bombing, then gunfire on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station, where fuel storage tanks were set ablaze by the blast.
Militants have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.
Sorry. Just frustrated myself. I have one just got out (AF) and another just went in (AF). We're spending too much time trying to win the damn peace and not enough time in trying to win the damn war!
They will have the capability to destroy the oilfields and oil shipments, plunging the world into economic chaos.
The problem is the neigbors, Iran and Syria, are making a major effort to sabotage the new democracy in Iraq. Meanwhile fools like Pelosi go over there and make kissy-face with the Syrians while they’re bombing our troops. I’ve heard that 90% of the car bombers drive over from Syria. Somehow we have to find a way to motivate Syria to shut down the car bombers. There has to be some way to gain more cooperation from Syria. Why not make a deal and give them an economic aid package in return for shutting down the car bombers...or have we already tried that proposal?
Doesn’t it seem to you that this car bombing is now so serious that it justifies UN Security council action against Syria? Why can’t the US, with all our power, get a resolution through the UNSC to put economic sanctions on Syria if they don’t shut down these car bombers? We should use a reward and penalty approach, and give them economic assistance if they cooperate, or economic sanctions if they don’t.
True, and if they build nukes, they’ll also have the ability to privately threaten and blackmail all the world’s biggest countries. They may not have much success with blackmail, but this would be highly destabilizing.
Yes, thank you Senator Reid for giving support to the terrorists.
It is my belief that Senator Reid is making our soldiers targets by his statements. The Terrorists know if they can get enough negative press (US Soldiers dying), they can the US to withdraw...
This means THE TERRORISTS will be more aggressive and will not mind dying because they can achieve their objectives because of people like Senator Reid...
I apologize for pinging so many, but this is an important point that Poster Parley Baer makes...
This is really Senator Reid's fault!!!
May God bless these wonderful men and women who answer our nation’s call. May He surround the loved ones of these brave ones who gave their all for each of us. May God bless all of us and our nation. Amen.
He's weak because the constitution makes him weak. I don't know what to do about it now, but it would have been better if we'd written the constitution for them (a la MacArthur in Japan) and then stipulated a strong executive. It's hard enough to transition to democracy without a constitution that mandates weak, easily sabotaged leadership.
Agreed. Well, maybe dejihadification would be better.
Though I'm not sure how we get this to fly with Reid in charge and the GOP knee-knocking Senators trembling in the shadows.
that is probably the strategy that will happen. the sooner, the better. If we are not going to have 300,000 troops patrolling around knocking out suicide cells, and IED factories, then we need to hole up like Fort Apache. Use specfor and CAS to conduct strikes based on intel. No more patrols. The Iraqis do the patrols. Their land. Their blood. Their civil war. And after enough of the aggressive matyrs have killed each other, then the rational people step up and say enough and hammer back to form a coherent govt. It took a civil war for the U.S. to straighten out.
Yours is a very legitimate question.
Why do you think these suicide bombers do what they do? Basically it’s because they have nothing to lose. They don’t have the opportunities we have here, where we work hard to make our lives better. They have little hope for a better tomorrow. Their family is hungry, dirty, desperate, afraid, full of fears and sorrows...
Extremists prey on such people, luring them with the promise of money, honor bestowed upon brave martyrs, and a false hope of paradise where everything is happy (as opposed to their life now).
It’s a very powerful play on people’s desperation. (Ignorance plays a part in this as well.)
The only way we can win this War on Terror is if we are able to offer them a better alternative.
If people have the opportunity to work like we do here, then they will be inspired to work and make a better life for themselves and their families. They will not want to blow themselves up because they want to buy that car, or take their kids to the zoo on the weekend, or ask their girl to marry them next month. They would have hope, something to look forward to. Hope is a powerful thing and a strong incentive.
Free people also have access to truthful information, and that can only help people overcome their ignorance. They’ve been lied to for centuries about so many things that it’s hard for us to comprehend what their world has been like.
That’s the only way we will be able to win this war. The only other option is to kill every single Muslim man, woman, and child in every country of the world, and I don’t think that decision is up to us humans.
...and may God comfort their families.
It looks like there were other incidents as well, much like Feb 19.
Amen
We have a stake in the Middle East due to oil. Therefore, let's be honest about it, secure the oil fields for ourselves, use the military to pull forcepro on those fields while we drain them, and let the muzzies have it out with each other. They are not worth American lives, period. Constantly driving around waiting to be blown up as a battle plan is so incredibly frustrating, you can't even really appreciate it until you've had to do it. Yet, it's about all we can do under the restrictions placed on us and the bureaucracy that's been created for us to play "Cops in Iraq."
I don't mean to be condescending to anyone, but I get seriously tired of people on FR who demonstratively know nothing about the reality of this dump yet are all about throwing more and more troops at the problem, as if that's gonna do something. We just need to pull out, concentrate on Afghanistan, which actually is improving since the people give a damn, and get the rest of the military rested and refit for the next fight (Iran).
How could the ROE’s be altered to prevent this? Doesn’t make sense to me.
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