Iraq War News

Dear brandonblog,

Hello. My name is Sue Ahn, and I am an editor at e-thePeople, a non-partisan electronic town hall. We are a growing communal super-blog, with over 250 posts per day and 6,000 regular users. This week we have started a discussion on United States foreign policy concerning the war in Iraq and the situation in Liberia. I am writing to invite you to participate in this conversation on our website and give exposure to your individual blogs as well.

We have also invited several expert scholars from organizations such as The Heritage Foundation and The Brookings Institution to share their professional insight. The discussion is regarding the humanitarian rationales for the war in Iraq, and its comparison with the situation in Liberia. I hope you can participate in this dialogue and share your views. Please take a moment to look at the conversation at http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/22837.

Participating in the conversation is a way to have your views heard and your individual blog promoted. If you have any questions regarding the format or content, please do not hesitate to contact me at sue@e-thepeople.org. I greatly look forward to seeing your participation.

Sincerely,

Sue Ahn
sue@e-thepeople.org
www.e-thepeople.org

About e-thePeople
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e.thePeople : Article : Iraq vs. Liberia: Where do we go from here?

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 556-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jul 29, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today that Spc. William J. Maher III, 35,
Yardley, Pa., was killed on July 28 in Baghdad, Iraq. Maher was in a convoy when he
was injured by an improvised explosive device. Maher died of his injuries.

Maher was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 36th
Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, based at Ray Barracks, Germany.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20030729-0268.html]

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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 554-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jul 29, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the identities of two soldiers who were
killed while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom:

Pfc. Jonathan M. Cheatham, 19, of Camden, Ark., was killed on July 26 in Baghdad,
Iraq. Cheatham was in a convoy that came under rocket propelled grenade attack.
Cheatham was assigned to the 489th Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve, North
Little Rock, Ark.

Sgt. Heath A. McMillin, 29, of Canandaigua, N.Y., was killed on July 27 South of
Baghdad, Iraq. McMillin was on patrol when he came under attack from rocket
propelled grenade and small arms fire. McMillin was assigned to the 105th Military
Police Company, Army National Guard, Buffalo, N.Y.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20030729-0266.html]

-- News Releases: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/
-- DoD News: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html
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A country in search of a vision in IraqWar.ru (English)



Iraqi Mortars Get Closer To "Sergeant Sean" in IraqWar.ru (English)



Second Senior Sheik in Saddam's Tribe Questions Sons Killing in IraqWar.ru (English)



U.S. soldier killed in daylight bombing in IraqWar.ru (English)



UK troops reveal their new ordeal in 120F Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



Saddam sons 'found with $100m' [Raid Story Changes Again!] in IraqWar.ru (English)



It's time to bring American troops home from Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



US soldier killed in Baghdad attack as council inches toward cabinet: "A US soldier has been killed in a Baghdad bomb attack, a day after an American raid in which five Iraqis died, as Iraq's Governing Council inched closer to naming its president and cabinet. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



US seizes 'Saddam guard' in BBC: War in Iraq



Victims of trigger-happy Task Force 20 - Rage triggered by US raid that claimed five lives (29 July 03) in Radio Free USA

Specialist Chaz Jackson was among the first wave of U.S. soldiers to cross the border into Iraq and begin the daunting work ahead of crippling Saddam Hussein's regime, which had held a tight grip over the Iraqi people for decades.
Jackson, 23, a native of Powell and member of Charlie Company 269, 3rd Infantry Division Mechanized, knew that this was the beginning of a tough road, he said.
This road would eventually take the U.S.-led coalition to victory, and yielded a Medal of Valor to Jackson; one of 14 to get medals of that significance in the war.
"About five o' clock in the morning we could see again. On our left flank there were about 100 Iraqi soldiers giving up," he explained, "That meant that they were there with us that night, regardless of whether they were giving up. They didn't know we were there, and we didn't know they were there. We were in the middle of a wide-open road field, sitting on a road."
Close encounters like this were something Jackson and the rest of his unit had to get used to.
"We were the 'Tip of the Spear' going up. We were the first unit to go into anything," he said.
After crossing the Iraqi border they encountered no resistance for the first 130 kilometers, but then were engaged constantly by pockets of guerrilla resistance.
This was all kind of new for men like Jackson, a tank driver, who was now called to perform infantry tasks -- and adapt to new situations to stay alive.
"We do not train for guerrilla warfare," said Jackson. "You have to react to the situation you are in. If you are taking fire, you get into the building and clear it.
Getting shot at was another thing the members of the group had to get used to as they were fired upon the whole way through as they pushed toward Baghdad.
Jackson explained that taking fire was a strange experience, and that nothing really went through his mind except to locate the source of the fire.
"They were always around us," he said, "They didn't just bring it from the front or behind, they would come from all around. If they couldn't get us on all four sides, they would start dropping 82 mm mortar rounds -- or 172 mm Howitzer rounds -- on us.
The threat of chemical weapons was always on the mind of the soldiers, and they were required to wear full chemical suits on top of their regular military uniforms, in the 110-140 degree heat. Jackson equates this to putting on full winter clothing over regular clothes.
In the event that they were exposed to agents, they had to use masks until given the sign that it was clear. Mustard gas was used on his group at times, but nothing any stronger.
"We were staying up days at a time," he said, and started to run into some problems of making too much ground -- as supplies lines started to fall behind.
Soon they began to be "super-rationed." They would go down to one -- possibly two -- MREs a day and less than 2 liters of water, which Jackson said would be sweated out quickly.
The U.S. strategy of going in with the ground troops right on the heels of bombers gave an advantage to the "spearhead' as Iraqi soldiers had no organization or means of communication and were surrendering in large numbers.
His unit would then find trucks of abandoned munitions in the wake of the deserting enemy. All captured Iraqis were taken care of with the same respect as if they were U.S. soldiers. They were sent back to intelligence crews to sort out as well. Jackson recalled taking large numbers of prisoners throughout the ordeal.
He also recalled doing emergency medical aid on wounded soldiers until they were stabilized and could be sent to medics -- and wondered if his countrymen were getting the same treatment.
On the road they saw both urban and rural combat, but civilians did not pose as much of a problem as reports may have made them out to be, he said.
"The civilians stayed in their houses. They were told to stay inside during the war," said Jackson.
As they approached Baghdad, Jackson's true courage was shown.
"We were in battle right outside of Baghdad, and there were some men trying to get into a car," recalled Jackson, "We went and checked them out and found them to be military. One man turned out to be a lieutenant general ...and the whole time we were doing it, people were shooting at us trying to protect him."
This capture was a major accomplishment as the man was later identified as No. 17 in the Baath Party and a very wanted player in the hunt for Saddam's cronies.
Jackson's recollection of the capture does not sound like much, but it earned him the Medal of Valor.
Military documents explained his actions as heroic. Having no regard for his own safety, he held down people firing at their position with only an M4 carbine, until the prisoners could be evacuated.
"I got a reward for doing my job," he says modestly. "I was just doing what I get paid to do."
Bob Jackson, a Vietnam veteran, and Chaz's father, appreciates the accomplishment of his son. Upon listening to Jackson's commanders speak of his bravery, "it was determination on his part to really help what was going on," he said, "Nobody told him he had to do what he did."
After the regime fell, Jackson said it took a few days for the civilians to come out of hiding, but they all seemed to want to thank the U.S. soldiers.
He describes the conditions the people were living in as inadequate. Many did not have power. They had no means of communication. There was little food and water.
Of post-war attacks, Jackson said that occasionally there would be drive-by shootings at their positions -- but no real threats of organized resistance.
"You are never going to clear the whole country out," he said.
He said that by the time they left, the people were like family to the soldiers. "They would invite you into their homes to have tea with them," he said.
"We had a moral obligation to the people of Iraq to liberate them," he said, "We did the right thing."
Of his company's brave march through the country, no one was killed -- and only three people were lost from his battalion.
Jackson joined the military at age 19 and still has five years left on his enlistment. He said he is happy with being in the military.
He comes from military blood as both his father and grandfather have been in combat. His father was an engineer during the Vietnam War, and his grandfather served as a tanker in Korea.
He did his basic training in Kentucky -- and is currently stationed in Fort Benning, Ga.
He has been stationed in Korea and twice in Kuwait. The first time in Kuwait was a six-month training period, and then he was redeployed before the war in Iraq began.
Daily and Sunday Review

Defensive coordinator Chad McGhee, with the program since its inception, is missing as the Rams prepare for the 2003 season. A reservist called to active duty, McGhee is in Ft. Bragg, N.C., serving as a part of homeland security.
Called to active duty in March, he left his new wife and his old school with thoughts he’d be deployed to Iraq. The Iraqi regime was toppled before that happened, but McGhee was not sent home.
Instead, he and his unit were given new orders, landing them at Ft. Bragg.Grayson�s key reserve

Company aid goes beyond financial assistance

THE DAILY HERALD on Tuesday, July 29

Justin Hill

This summer, Loralee Miller and her husband, Clayton, planned on installing a lawn around their American Fork home. Because the development is new, their home was surrounded by dirt and there was no place for her two young children to play.

But when Miller's husband, a specialist with the Utah Army National Guard 1457th Engineer Battalion, was deployed and sent to Iraq earlier this year, plans to put in grass were postponed.

It turns out Miller didn't have to wait until her husband came home. His civilian employer, Stake Center Locating, paid $4,685 to install sod around Miller's home.

"We're so grateful," Miller said. "There's no way we could have done it ourselves this summer. It was on the top of our list of priorities."

As families of soldiers continue to feel the economic hardships caused by military deployments, local businesses are offering their support. Although company contributions help financially, for many of the families the aid is much more. In addition to financial help, employees of local companies also regularly make sure the families of their co-workers are doing fine. Such attention is special because it comes at a time when people don't realize thousands of Utahns are still deployed, military spouses said.

Those deployments are expected to continue despite many soldiers who have returned home. In the Utah Army National Guard, some 2,000 troops remain deployed, according to Lt. Col. Brad Blackner, a spokesman for the Utah National Guard. More activations could come soon, and the length of current deployments could be extended, he said.

Because several months have passed since the soldiers were activated, families of activated troops are in a lull, said Charn Burton, a spouse volunteer whose husband is the battalion commander of the 1457th. Donations from businesses, in addition to their fiscal support, offer emotional support by recognizing their loved ones are still oversees.

"It just really, really helps the family here, and it really, really helps the soldier over there," Burton said. "It just helps you get through the hard days."

She has heard stories of local grocery stores donating gallons of Gatorade, businesses supplementing the soldiers pay and a company that built a huge playhouse behind a home. Blackner's office also has received several care packages.

Employees at the Provo office of Stake Center Locating have been sending care packages to Miller's husband, said Lennon Stonebreaker, the company's area manager for Utah County. He said the employees miss Miller's husband, and a picture of him hangs on the wall in the office.

"We just wanted to help out the best we could," Stonebreaker said. "We just want to make sure his family's taken care of."

That includes regular phone calls to Miller to make sure everything is going OK.

Similarly, Michelle Johnson, whose husband, Sgt. David is also in Iraq with the 1457th Engineer Battalion, has received assistance from her husband's civilian co-workers. When her husband was activated earlier this year and went to military pay, he took a 50-percent cut in pay, but his co-workers at the University of Utah took up a collection and gave Johnson $200.

"We have an emergency savings, and we didn't have to go into it that month to buy groceries," said Johnson, adding that her husband's co-workers also call and visit her to make sure she's doing well.

For Miller, the greatest thing about her new lawn is the fact that her husband doesn't have to spend time working on it when he gets back.

"When my husband does come home, he can spend time with us instead of the yard," she said.



♦ Justin Hill can be
reached at 344-2548 or jhill@heraldextra.com.



HarkTheHerald.com

David Baker, a business reporter for The Chronicle, is on assignment in Iraq and Kuwait, covering the reconstruction efforts of Bechtel Corp. as well as humanitarian aid organizations in the region. He will also give us a taste of what it's like on the (searing hot) sands of Iraq in a semi-regular Internet notebook.


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Sunday, 7/27 -- The Jordanian man died.
I learn this through a coincidence almost as freakish as his death.

Ed Kashi, a San Francisco photographer, has joined me for a drink at the Al Hamra hotel. The Al Hamra has a reliable generator, a clean pool and a café that serves beer. For all of these reasons, it has become home to the international press corps, whose members gossip poolside once sunset drops the temperature below 100.

Kashi just arrived in Baghdad from the north. He's on his way out of the country and has hired a driver to take him down Highway 10 to Amman, Jordan, where he will board a plane for the States. The driver also will be bringing back, in another car, a body.

The man's name, according to people at the travel agency, was Muhammed Al-Ardani. He died even though he was standing inside a building when the explosion Ã? targeting American soldiers - went off. Laborers working on a storefront directly across the street from the blast survived unscathed.

Now Al-Ardani's body will accompany Kashi back across the border.

As we're talking, several reporters straggle in from covering the latest military raid to find Saddam. No sign of the dictator, they say, but members of a local family died in the raid.



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Friday, 7/25 -- We're driving to lunch in Baghdad when an army vehicle topped with serious gun barrels passed our car and veers onto a side street. Annas Mazin, a 23-year-old college graduate working as my driver, says, "Shooting!" and follows the soldiers.
We pull up to an intersection cordoned off by Americans. In the center, on a median strip dotted with trees, something has exploded. Chunks of concrete, rock and metal, topped by fallen tree branches, litter the street. A crowd has gathered to watch the soldiers, point out blast damage and swap versions of what happened.

It isn't exactly clear. Some people say men drove through the intersection and tossed a bomb into the median just before a cluster of American military vehicles passed by. Others didn't notice a car. A man holds up a palm full of spent shells, but most people say they didn't hear shooting.

U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Ketron says he isn't sure if the bomb was planted there or dropped at the last minute. The soldiers searched the area for attackers, with no luck. A few soldiers received "just scratches," Ketron says, but the unit escaped serious injury.

The men are tense. A middle-aged Iraqi man, speaking through a translator, tells some of the Americans that the blast knocked electrical lines into the street. The neighborhood is in the midst of one of Baghdad's rolling blackouts, but when the power returns, he says, someone could get hurt. A soldier says, "They just tried to blow us up, and they want us to help them," as he walks back to his vehicle.


The soldiers may have escaped serious injury, but one bystander didn't. The man, a Jordanian visiting his friend's travel agency at the intersection, was standing just inside the business's front door when the bomb blew. Debris shot through a side window and struck him behind the ear, as agency employee Mazan Malik watched.

"He just saw him fall down on the ground," my translator, Wada Qasimy, says after talking to Malik. The injured man is gone, rushed off to the hospital, but a slick of his blood remains, seeping into the blue carpet. The man's polished Passat sits in the driveway, shrapnel holes punched through the doors.

Qasimy asks Malik whom he blames for what happened, and Malik shrugs. "It's resistance," he says, through Qasimy's translation. "It's not personal revenge. He just arrived from Amman to say 'hi' to the owner. He didn't deserve anything like this."


A short drive away, middle-class families crowd into the White Palace restaurant for a big meal on the Muslim holy day. Adults laugh and talk as children dressed in their Friday best squirm in their seats. The waiters bring us plates of hummus, olives, pasta, cucumbers and big pieces of bread. It's delicious.



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Thursday, 7/24 -- The road to the Iraqi border is a perfectly smooth line of dark asphalt in a bright, flat and empty land. With the sun just up, long caravans already crowd the lanes, fuel trucks trundling north from Kuwait City, UN workers in white SUVs and blue shirts, Humvees bearing armed Americans. On the roadside, the occasional sheep peck at sparse bushes.
Aside from the sheep, the bushes, the road and the power lines shadowing it, the land holds nothing but dust. Nothing visible, anyway. Distance hides military bases farther out in the desert.

The border itself is a raised berm of dirt, maybe ten feet high, with a few flags stuck in front. At this crossing, used by the military, a sign reminds readers to wear seat belts and Kevlar. Another sign shows a photo of two children and asks drivers not to toss food or water at kids. Trucks inch forward in a line a half-mile deep, many marked "KBR" for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root.

Anyone driving in from Kuwait City would notice the border even without the guards or the berm. Kuwait is rich -- its flawless roads packed with Land Cruisers and Mercedes. But a few hundred yards inside Iraq, children in stained clothing appear in small groups along the roadside. They smile and wave as nearby men patch mud-colored bricks into the broken walls of homes or spread bags of dark manure on the parched earth.

Marks of poverty show everywhere. Signs of a recent war don't. Scour the countryside and you'll find a few burned-out vehicles, an abandoned and blackened gunnery post, part of an artillery shell lying alone in a field. Along the highway, however, there's little sign of the invading army that charged through months ago.



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Wednesday, 7/23 -- The highway works for quick trips to southern Iraqi cities like Umm Qasr and Basra. For Baghdad, however, the best route is by air.
This route has drawbacks. The only planes are military -- American or British. They don't fly every day, and passengers often get bumped in favor of more important cargo. The coalition governing Iraq had hoped to reopen Baghdad's airport to commercial passenger flights earlier this month. A few rocket-propelled grenades fired at landing C130s changed that.

So far, the grenades have missed.

The inside of a C130 is dark, hot and very loud -- a deep, engulfing buzz that vibrates your face. The seats are simple rows of fabric benches slung underneath exposed pipes, wires and metal frames. Red stripes by the emergency exit suggest watching out for the propellers.

Considering the noise and the earplugs the flight crew gives you, it's doubtful the pilot could make an announcement if he tried. So there's no warning when the plane makes a sudden, gut-tugging turn so sharp that the few windows on the airplane's left side point nearly straight down. They show Baghdad International Airport, far below. Although still at cruising altitude, the plane appears to be right over the runways. The pilot dives into a corkscrew descent as passengers grab the metal bars beneath their benches.

The plane spirals down for minutes, the ground surging closer. The pilot straightens out for a moment, then throws the plane into a one last, hard left. The turn's force pulls blood from your head. You stop breathing, clench and stave off fainting.

Then you're down. The runway rushes up to meet you, and what looks like a standard urban airport terminal appears on the horizon. You pass military helicopters parked on the asphalt and pull up to a cluster of tents with armed vehicles nearby.

You are in the capital of occupied Iraq.


David Baker's Iraq Journal

Oklahoma Soldier Killed In Iraq Grenade Attack

POSTED: 8:02 a.m. CDT July 29, 2003

COWETA, Okla. -- An Oklahoma soldier is among three U.S. servicemen killed in a grenade attack in Iraq.

Spc. Jonathan Paul Barnes, 21, died Saturday while guarding a children's hospital in Baqoubau, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Kim Riley, Barnes' sister.

Barnes was a member of the 4th Infantry Division, his sister said.

"What are the odds that out of the whole the 4th Infantry, one of the three (killed) would be him?" Riley said.

She heard news of the attack Saturday, and military officials notified her family of Barnes' death Sunday, Riley said.

Barnes and two other soldiers were killed after a grenade was thrown from a window of an Iraqi civilian hospital, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense.

"He was assigned to the children's hospital because they were storing weapons there," Riley said.

Barnes was born in Muskogee and attended school in Coweta. The married father of a 2-year-old girl, joined the military after a recruiting visit to Joplin, Mo., and underwent basic training in Fort Benning, Ga., Riley said.

Barnes served in Korea and Kuwait before being sent to Iraq.

He had taken law enforcement classes while in the military and wanted to become a state trooper, Riley said.

"He wanted to find a way to better his education and also support his family better," Riley said. "He chose to join the military. He thought that way, not only would he have housing for them but that he would be a better provider."

Barnes' body is expected to arrive in Fort Hood, Texas, next week, Riley said. His wife has requested that Barnes be buried in a cemetery in Anderson, Mo., Riley said.

Barnes is believed to be the first person from Coweta to have died in Iraq.
ChannelOklahoma.com - News - Oklahoma Soldier Killed In Iraq Grenade Attack

US seizes 'Saddam guard' in BBC: War in Iraq



Saddam Bodyguard Captured in U.S. Raid: "U.S. soldiers captured one of Saddam Hussein's bodyguards during a raid early Tuesday in the former dictator's hometown, where hours earlier troops found enough anti-tank mines and gunpowder for a month of attacks on American forces. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



GIs Capture Saddam Bodyguard During Raid: "American soldiers captured one of Saddam Hussein's bodyguards and at least two other suspected associates in pre-dawn raids Tuesday, the U.S. military said. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Victims of trigger-happy Task Force 20 - Rage triggered by US raid that claimed five lives (29 July 03) in Radio Free USA



U.S. Unearths Cache of Explosives in Iraq: "U.S. soldiers discovered 40 anti-tank mines, dozens of mortar rounds and hundreds of pounds of gunpowder on Monday buried in Saddam Hussein's hometown - enough for a month of attacks on U.S. troops. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



U.S. Soldier Killed, Three Hurt in Baghdad Attack: "A U.S. soldier was killed in a bombattack in broad daylight in Baghdad on Monday, bringing to 50the number of U.S. troops to die from hostile fire sinceWashington declared major combat over on May 1. (Reuters)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Bush Praises Japan for Iraq Role Approval: "President Bush phoned Japan's prime minister Monday to welcome parliament's vote to authorize sending Japanese troops to help in the policing and reconstruction of Iraq. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



No petrol in the land of oil: "Heide Feldmann knows how to proceed in crisis areas. The 31-year old women, born in Chemnitz (Germany), has coordinated the humanitarian aid of HELP in favour of victims of the war in Chechnya. She has also seen the destruction caused by an earthquake in India two years ago. She and Fadhil Kanje Ali have been operating in Iraq since the beginning of May 2003. The plan is to provide hospitals and other social institutions in Baghdad with fresh food. The present situation in Iraq is hot, in more than one way."

In Electronic Iraq



U.S. Forces Were 'Hours' Behind Saddam, Armitage Says: "U.S. forces conducting raids onMonday in Iraq missed Saddam Hussein by just "hours," U.S.Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said. (Reuters)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq