Iraq War News

The first of three planes landing here Wednesday carried a mixed bag of Army troops from the 18th Airborne Corps Support Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo., and 3rd Corps Artillery and Support Forces from both Fort Sill, Okla., and Fort Hood, Texas.


Spc. Jessica Siewert of Philadelphia, a paralegal assigned to the 18th AB Support Group, was stunned by the welcome and eager to get back home. "We did two very successful convoys on my 21st birthday, May 17th," Siewert said. How was Iraq? "HOT!"


Spc. Brian Henry of Newbury, Ohio, of the 100th Engineer Company at Fort Bragg, said, "This is awesome. I never expected anything like this." Capt. Thomas Naugle of Johnstown, Pa., said simply, "It is so good to be back." Warrant Officer Ray Torres of Imperial Valley, Calif., just stood there grinning at the flags and banners and friendly people before turning to find one of those free phones.




Sgt. Dana Upshaw of Fayetteville, N.C., said the 18th AB Support Group handled all the records of every soldier who came into the war zone. "We kept the records on everyone who was there," she said.


Cpl. David Penfield of Nashville, Tenn., of the 3rd Armored Cav, was coming home from Iraq only to return to Iraq. Once he checks out of his old outfit at Fort Carson, he'll be reassigned to Germany to the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion. That unit is in Iraq and he will join it there. "I just hope I get a little leave in between," he said. "But I don't mind. This is what I am here for. I will give it all I've got."


Penfield, who is single, said it wasn't that hard on him, but "my mom and dad aren't very happy."


He said the 3rd ACR continued to see action in Iraq in the Ramadi area, west of Baghdad. "A remote-detonated mine killed three people in a convoy I was supposed to be on," Penfield said.


Another likely to have only a brief time at home is Maj. John Webb, operations officer for the 64th Corps Support Group at Fort Hood, who calls Portland, Ore., home. Webb said he was being promoted to lieutenant colonel in two months and his next assignment probably would take him right back to Iraq.




The second plane of the day came an hour after the first had departed. There were 152 sailors aboard, most of them belonging to a reserve Seabee unit, NMCB21, out of Lakehurst, N.J.




Their commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Rick Sherer, said they were called to active duty Jan. 31 and rode in the invasion of Iraq, first to Umm Qasr and then to Samawah in support of 2nd Battalion 5th Marines.


"This time next week we'll be home," Sherer said. First, they'll go to Gulfport, Miss., to do all the paperwork and medical records and demobilize. Sherer said his Seabees were from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Delaware.

KR Washington Bureau | 08/01/2003 | Small town America embraces soldiers returning from war

RAMADI, Iraq - (KRT) - Some call them "Miami Vice." They call themselves the Wolf Pack.

They are Alpha Company, 124th Infantry, Army National Guard, with some reinforcements from Delta Company. They come from Florida and Puerto Rico and Jamaica and Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A lifetime ago they were weekend warriors, but they are anything but that now.

Today they are the law in the hot, dusty streets of this hostile town an hour's drive east of Baghdad, the town the fugitive dictator Saddam Hussein praised as the "jewel in the crown" of stubborn bloody resistance to the Americans.

Their commander, Capt. Richard Rouig of Hollywood, Fla., used to be a code enforcement officer for Dade County, Fla. Today he and his 124 men enforce a different code in Al-Ramadi. They have lost six men wounded in their seven months at war in Iraq.

At first they were attached to a special-operations unit and trained for a weapons recovery mission in a secret location. Then that special-operations force shifted to another mission and left the 124th Infantry to make its own way to Baghdad. Once in Baghdad they were assigned to back-breaking duty hauling out hundreds of tons of deadly weapons and munitions strewn across the Iraqi capital.

Now they police the bleeding edge of Ramadi. They are lean and mean in the 125-degree heat, patrolling the streets by night and trying to catch a few zzz's by day in what was once a livestock-holding area near one of the late Odai Hussein's palaces. The searing heat and rumbling trucks make that hard to do.

James Warren, known as "Sgt. Dickie," works in Lou's tattoo shop in Miami. Here, he's trying to punch holes in Fedayeen fighters. This company is the typical Guard unit hodgepodge of intellectuals, industrialists, bankers and cops. They share the bond of the soldier, and another thing - Florida.

"Nothing bad about Florida," says Jason DeSousa, fresh out of boot camp and on his first deployment. "Anybody says something negative about Miami, man, they get whipped."

Col. Hector Mirabiles, commander of the Wolf Pack's parent 1st Battalion, could not be prouder of this bunch; even Army veterans say they're a crack combat unit.

The soldiers living in the stable and the tents around it see daily combat, nightly raids and endless patrols as they try to maintain some sort of law and order in this contested region. They get and return fire, know the sound of incoming mortars too well and lately have been learning about deadly "IED's" improvised explosive devices.

Attacks on U.S. soldiers claim casualties at a steady clip, and the mortars that bang away at the American bases in Ramadi and Fallujah have not abated. The Wolf Pack answers each attack in a way that minimizes civilian involvement and gives the enemy a dose of Miami street justice.

A checkpoint nets C-4 plastic explosives, AK-47 assault rifles and grenades. A hotel raid, set up in three hours after an informant tipped them about a Syrian with al-Qaida connections, picks up a detainee who provides another piece in the puzzle.

The Syrian was building the deadly IED's and showing others in Ramadi how to do it. He was taken down by the 124th in a night raid in one of the city's nastiest neighborhoods without a shot fired. This time the intelligence was good.

The Wolf Pack has not always been that lucky.

On the night of June 13th, they approached the gates of a house they wanted to search for a reported weapons cache. When Rouig arrived with his unit, the welcome mat was already out - they were met with fire from all directions. The ambush cost the company the six wounded men.

Soldiers doing dangerous checkpoint duty live on the edge of fear and caution and that can breed quick, aggressive responses. Yet at each briefing, the brass reminds them that the vast majority who approach them are innocent civilians, caught in the middle of a nasty struggle.

The average Iraqi at a checkpoint is hot, frustrated, confused, doesn't understand the English commands, and the troops don't have the benefit of a translator. Spec. Carlos Ojeda is sympathetic. "How you treat them in the day is how they will treat us in the night," he says.

One nightly briefing included a "correction" in the Arabic commands being taught to soldiers. Apparently, the command to "get out of here" that they had been using was derogatory and demeaning. But it wasn't until a government-contract translator overheard it and brought it to their attention that the soldiers got a better phrase to use. Now, at least, curious children are not being sworn at when they approach for candy or attention.

Mirabiles has the tough job of trying to integrate the intelligence and "heart-and-minds" war with the street war. Some of his week is spent schmoozing with the local sheiks, another initiative that Rouig and the 124th Wolf Pack brought to the scene.

One night, a Wolf Pack patrol encountered a heavily defended house, with guards and guns and generators. A tense standoff ensued at the gate. The occupants recognized the soldiers and did not fire, but the gates remained closed.

Before the situation escalated, an English-speaking sheik emerged, and some differences were resolved. The Americans wanted to check the house for things that would do them harm. The Iraqis wanted to keep their guns to protect their sheik from "harami" (thieves) and political rivals. Each of the 23 area sheiks have their own guards in the absence of a functioning police force.

From a tense standoff came an invitation to dinner. After the troops ate lamb, chicken and rice, they moved back to patrol. Later, a meeting involving the sheik was hosted by the American command, in hope of gaining some cooperation in fighting the increasingly sophisticated guerrilla war. The sheik promised to help, insisting that the resistance was from the outside, not from their citizens.

Rouig pores over the pieces of artillery shells and large bombs circled in fuzzy pictures found in a house that also contained a Russian sniper rifle and a recently manufactured Russian shoulder-mounted anti-tank weapon. He's trying to figure out the mechanics of the potent command-detonated roadside bombs aimed at American convoys - and he is sure the Syrian detainee, the bomb maker, has some answers.

The daily grind is taking its toll on the Wolf Pack. No air conditioning, little sleep, dangerous missions, and no certain date for a return home are facts of life. Soldiers gripe, but qualify their pain. "We're here to finish," says one. On their wish lists: To return to their lives at home, back at the Home Depot or the tattoo parlor. Back to their wives and kids. Back to Florida. Back to Puerto Rico.

A soldier gets word that his pregnant wife was in a car accident. He longs for more information, but phones are hard to come by. They are available for calls home only during the few daylight hours when Wolf Pack sleeps, and no one can afford less rest than he's getting.

Divorces, birthdays, home foreclosures, leaking roofs, sewer backups, grandma's illness, life at home goes on without them. Some wonder if Florida Gov. Jeb Bush even knows where they are.

A satirical comment board provides a forum for the running joke: When are we going home? Answers range from comments about finding Jimmy Hoffa to when pigs learn to fly. Laughter eases the pain.

It is harder to ease the private pain. When a soldier waits hours in line to call home and another man answers the phone, that's a wound no medic can fix.

During a recent mortar attack, Rouig ordered everybody indoors. His command center has a laptop, and a young soldier taking shelter from the mortars got a rare opportunity to access his e-mail. While two explosions rocked the night sky, and the command scrambled to locate the source and get permission to return fire, the soldier opened the "Dear John" e-mail letter from his girlfriend that he had feared was coming.

Sgt. Dickie, the tattoo artist, tried his hand as a counselor, sitting with the jilted soldier in a jeep, talking about war, women and the meaning of it all. As the sun crept up, both agreed that the folks at home could never understand life out here.

The soldier kicked the dirt, spun in alternating circles of logic and rage, while Sgt Dickie waited for a chance to apply his only psychological tourniquet: "At the bottom of it all, and it's always been this way, soldiers have only themselves to believe in out here. You've learned this. Now it's time you believe it inside."

Or in the words of a recent Vietnam War movie: Learn to depend on each other because out here, each other is all we've got.

---

KRT Wire | 08/01/2003 | 'Wolf Pack' polices hostile streets of Iraqi town

more U.S. soldiers develop severe pneumonia, put on ventilators



Neusche


By Eric Eckert
News-Leader Staff

Two more U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East were placed on ventilators this week after developing severe pneumonia, Army officials said Thursday.
Since March 1, approximately 100 troops have been afflicted with the illness, according to a news release from the Army Surgeon General. Of those cases, 14 have been placed on respirators and two have died — including Missouri National Guard Spc. Joshua Neusche of Montreal, in Camden County.

"The 14 cases were geographically dispersed and came from different units," the release stated, adding there's no evidence soldiers were exposed to chemical or biological weapons, environmental toxins or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Neusche's parents, Mark and Cynthia Neusche, say doctors told them their son's liver, kidneys and muscles broke down — occurrences the surgeon general's office say are rare in cases of pneumonia.

"There's definitely something out there," Mark Neusche said Friday. "We need to find out what it is and get it fixed. The numbers are climbing."

The Army has deployed two epidemiology units to study the outbreak. One team has been sent to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where the majority of the severe cases have been treated. The other team will be sent to undisclosed areas of Iraq. The teams are looking for similarities among the cases.

The surgeon general's office says young, healthy soldiers dying from pneumonia is rare, but does occur. From 1998 to 2002, 17 soldiers have died from pneumonia or complications from the illness.

News-Leader.com | True Ozarks | 2 more U.S. soldiers develop severe pneumonia, put on ventilators

The Army is trying to figure out what is causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities - one of whom was a soldier from Montreal, Missouri - among U.S. troops serving in Iraq.

A six-person team of specialists was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and evacuated from the region, the Army Surgeon General's office said Friday.

Two soldiers, including Spc. Joshua Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo., died. Nine others recovered and three were still hospitalized as of Thursday, spokeswoman Lyn Kukral said.

The team on its way to Iraq includes infectious disease experts, laboratory officers and people who will take samples of soil, water and air.

So far, officials have identified no infectious agent common to all the cases. There is no evidence any of the cases were caused by exposure to chemical or biological weapons, environmental toxins or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), officials said.

Neusche's family told KOLR10 they believe the military isn't telling the full story about their son's death. "I know there's something there," said Mark Neusche, Josh's father. "From what I understand, he complained about having a sore throat after the mission, and the next thing we know he's in a coma."

Members of Neusche's unit collected money to pay for his family to travel to Germany, where they were able to see him before he died.

"When he passed away, they sealed the room," recalls Ted Cone, Josh's grandfather. "They sterilized it and sealed it for 24 hours. You don't do that with pneumonia patients. Something doesn't compute."

"I've been through the military," agreed Mark Neusche. "I know the military's ways. They've swept things under the rug too long." Neusche said he planned to keep pressing for answers about Josh's death. "It's gotta be done. Josh would want us to do this. He's got a lot of friends in Iraq now and he would want us to help them in any way we could."

A two-person team already has gone to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where most of the cases were treated after evacuation. The two teams also will review patient records and laboratory results and interview health care workers and patients, if possible, said a statement from the Army Surgeon General and U.S. Army Medical Command.

The teams will be looking for similarities among the cases, which so far have hit troops in geographically dispersed areas and from different units, said the Thursday statement. They also were spread over time, with two in March, three in April, two in May, three in June and four in July.

Though only 14 cases were considered serious, there have been 100 cases altogether since March 1 among troops that began deploying late last years to the Persian Gulf.

Army-wide, pneumonia cases serious enough to warrant hospitalization happen in about 9 of 10,000 soldiers per year. Given the number of troops deployed, the 100 cases "do not exceed expectations," the surgeon general's office said.



Army Sends Teams to Probe Deadly Illness Among Soldiers in Iraq

Iraqi Gasoline Pipeline Ablaze North of Baghdad: "Firefighters tried in vain toextinguish a blaze at a gasoline pipeline near the Baijirefinery in northern Iraq on Friday and U.S. authorities saidthey would have to shut down the line briefly. (Reuters)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



ATTACKS AVOIDED, WEAPONS CONFISCATED IN NORTHERN IRAQ in CENTCOM: News Release



Four Iraqis killed, three US troops wounded as attacks mount: "Four Iraqi men were killed and three US troops were lightly wounded in separate attacks against American forces near the town of Fallujah, amid a rise in violence in the flashpoint region, the US military told AFP. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Israel fires rubber bullets at protesters: "Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets Friday at protesters who approached the disputed "security fence" Israel is building around - and sometimes through - Palestinian areas. A protest group said 11 demonstrators were injured."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



New Purported Saddam tape urges attacks: "An audiotape broadcast Friday purporting to carry the voice of Saddam Hussein issued a new call to arms and said the former leader will "at any moment" defeat the American occupation forces and return to power."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



For an Iraqi Family, 'No Other Choice': "THULUYA, Iraq -- Two hours before the dawn call to prayer, in a village still shrouded in silence, Sabah Kerbul's executioners arrived. His father carried an AK-47 assault rifle, as did his brother. And with barely a word spoken, they led the man accused by the village of working as an informer for the Americans behind a house girded with fig trees, vineyards and orange groves. (washingtonpost.com)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



US troops wounded in attack on convoy near Fallujah: witnesses: "An unknown number of US troops were wounded when assailants fired several rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a US convoy west of the rebel city of Fallujah, witnesses said. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Polish troops come under fire, new alleged Saddam message appears: "Polish troops received their baptism of fire and Australian forces were told they are unlikely to return home soon, as sabotage, attacks and the voice of the still elusive Saddam Hussein continued to plague the US-led coalition three months after the war in Iraq was declared over. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Text of Purported Saddam Audiotape: "Text of remarks purportedly made by deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in an audiotape aired Friday by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. The text is translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press. There was no immediate way to confirm the tape's authenticity. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 565-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 01, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today that 1st Lt. Leif E. Nott, 24, of
Cheyenne, Wyo., was killed on July 30 in Belaruz, Iraq, while supporting Operation
Iraqi Freedom. Knott died of wounds received from hostile fire.

Knott was assigned to A Troop, 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, Fort Hood, Texas.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20030801-0281.html]

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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 565-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 01, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today that 1st Lt. Leif E. Nott, 24, of
Cheyenne, Wyo., was killed on July 30 in Belaruz, Iraq, while supporting Operation
Iraqi Freedom. Nott died of wounds received from hostile fire.

Nott was assigned to A Troop, 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, Fort Hood, Texas.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20030801-0281.html]

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-- Today in DoD: http://www.defenselink.mil/today/
War blog home

Look at this hypocrite's hair, check out the 6 carat diamond earrings. I am glad she is safe but geesh has she seen the mass graves?...Too much.
Patti Bader

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Saddam Hussein's daughter said Friday that the swift fall of the Iraqi capital on April 9 came as a "great shock" and she blamed it on a betrayal by associates of the deposed leader.

Raghad Saddam Hussein, who received sanctuary a day earlier with her sister Rana in Jordan, appeared relaxed as she gave an interview to the Arab satellite station al-Arabiya.

"With regret, those my father trusted, whom he had put his absolute confidence in and whom he had considered on his side -- as I understood from the newspapers -- betrayed him," Raghad said.

She did not specify who betrayed Saddam in the portion of the interview that was broadcast.

"They betrayed their country, before (they betrayed) Saddam Hussein or his family," she said, wearing a white head scarf that partially covered her light brown hair.

The station showed a brief segment with excerpts from the interview, which was to be broadcast in full later Friday. Al-Arabiya reporters said the interview was conducted at an Amman royal palace, where the two daughters and their nine children were staying under the protection of King Abdullah II.

Raghad and Rana Saddam Hussein -- who had reportedly been living in humble circumstances in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, since their father's ouster -- arrived in the capital Amman on Thursday, Information Minister Nabil al-Sharif said.

The two daughters had lived private lives and -- unlike their brothers, who were killed in a shootout with U.S. troops on July 22 -- were not believed to be wanted for crimes linked to their father's brutal regime. Instead, the women were seen by some as victims of Saddam, who ordered their husbands killed in 1996.



Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP

US forces detain two in raid near Saddam's hometown


TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops seized two men described as Saddam Hussein loyalists in a raid near the deposed president's home town of Tikrit Friday, an army officer said.

"We have detained two Saddam loyalists in a raid around Tikrit," the officer, with the 4th Infantry Division, told Reuters at a U.S. base in one of Saddam's former palaces in Tikrit.

But he played down the importance of the arrests, saying the men were not "particularly significant."

Senior U.S. officials say they believe they are honing in on Saddam following the killing of his two sons in a raid on a house in the northern Iraq city of Mosul last week.

Officials said some key Saddam loyalists, including a top bodyguard, were captured in raids on houses near Tikrit earlier in the week.

The army has handed U.S. soldiers digitally enhanced pictures of Saddam in various possible disguises, including with his head shaved and with a beard. Officers hope the pictures will help troops identify Saddam if they come across him.

Arab news channel Al Jazeera Friday played a tape recording purportedly of Saddam in which he urged Iraqis to resist the U.S. occupation and promising them that he would return to rule the country some day.

08/01/03 11:33 ETWar blog home

patti (spliffslips@aol.com) thought you might be interested in this
Las Vegas Sun (http://www.lasvegassun.com/) story:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/news/2003/aug/01/080109365.html


==================================================================

U.S. Forces Capture 2 Saddam Associates

By D'ARCY DORAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS


TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -
Dozens of U.S. forces raided two houses in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Friday, capturing two men they said were important Saddam associates.

The soldiers from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division did not identify the captives but said their arrests came in a continuing search for the fugitive former Iraqi dictator.

"These are important associates of the former regime," Lt. Col. Steve Russell said.

The military said 100 soldiers swept into the two houses at 4 p.m. and caught the men napping in the afternoon heat.

U.S. forces believed the capture of the men could bring them a step closer to catching up with Saddam.

"We believe the information they may possess will further help destroy the regime," Russell said.

U.S. forces have given mixed assessments over the past two weeks of their search for Saddam, with some commanders saying they were on the verge of capturing him and others trying to lower expectations, saying he will be caught at some point.

Military sources further north in the city of Mosul, meanwhile, said the Americans were now focusing on a band of Iraq stretching from the Tigris River to the Syrian border between Tikrit and Mosul.

--



==================================================================

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Support Our Troops

Support Our Troops

U.S. soldiers pray for safety on Baghdad streets

By Cynthia Johnston


BAGHDAD, Aug. 1 — Every time Private Kyle Jason leaves his Baghdad barracks, he asks God to protect him from attacks that have killed 19 U.S. soldiers in the past two weeks.
''I just say a little prayer to myself. I just ask him to watch over me and keep me safe, to let me see my family again,'' said the U.S. soldier from Detroit who has just turned 19.
''I feel there is danger... I feel a threat every time I walk out the gates, and I ask God to watch over me.''
The streets of the capital have grown deadlier for U.S. soldiers as shadowy attackers try to drive out the forces occupying Iraq since the invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein.
Fear also stalks Iraqi civilians who never know when they might be caught in the crossfire -- the U.S. military has admitted killing up to five innocent people who strayed into the path of troops hunting for Saddam in a Baghdad house this week.
American soldiers, led to expect only gratitude from Iraqis glad to be rid of their iron-fisted ruler, now say they are homesick and scared. Some chainsmoke. Some can't sleep. Some rely on superstition, wearing pendants and crosses for safety.
Guerrilla attacks in Iraq have killed 52 U.S. soldiers since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. In the latest fatal assault, a soldier died on Thursday when his armoured personnel carrier hit a mine on the road to Baghdad airport.
The U.S. military says the attacks have not multiplied in recent weeks, but have become more sophisticated and lethal.
The soldiers all say they try not to think about the danger, but it is never far from their minds.
''The way I look at it, if you can hear the gunshot, that's good. It probably didn't hit you,'' said Private Rory Mannino of Texas as he smoked a cigarette atop an armoured vehicle.
''You've got to have a different mindset,'' he said.

LUCK RUNNING OUT?
Sweating under a searing summer sun in heavy body armour on Palestine Street, soldiers say they depend on their training to keep them safe.
''We look to each other. There are no weaknesses,'' Sergeant Mark Chavez of Los Angeles said. ''A guy is shooting in the air every other day. You find a bomb. You stop worrying about it.''
Despite the rising death toll, some soldiers sense a brighter atmosphere, saying more Iraqis smile and wave at them.
Others say they can understand Iraqi frustration with the slow pace of restoring services in a city where half the phones don't work and power outages are common.
Exhausted by the heat and sick of monotonous daily rations -- endless crackers with cheese or peanut butter -- they say they wonder if their luck is running out.
''I think we've got it too good. I am just waiting for something to happen. I feel like something is going to happen,'' said Sergeant Kenny Raynor, adding that he frequently rubs his wedding ring to make him feel close to home.
Another soldier, Specialist John Eads of Kentucky, pulls out dog tags from under his shirt to show a tiny pendant his father gave him that he believes keeps him safe.
Soldiers say they don't air their worries to families at home and hope to avoid night patrols and dangerous places. But in the end, they say, all they can do is stay alert.
''The people that wave at you during the day, you wonder if they are the ones who are shooting at you at night,'' said Specialist Jason Boyle of Salem, Massachusetts. ''There's really nothing you can do.''

Support Our Troops
STOP THE PRESSES!
By Steve Outing
JULY 31, 2003

Blogs Have a Place on News Web Sites
Reporters and Readers Can Contribute

I hope you're not sick of Weblogs (AKA blogs) yet, because they're not a fad that will go away soon. Blogs, it is becoming obvious to me, are where much of the innovation in online content is taking place.

Let's dig deeper into the intersection of Weblogs and journalism. (Not all blogs can appropriately be called "journalism," though many can.) Because if your news Web site isn't publishing blogs of some sort, you are, like, so 1990s. It's past time to get with it.

Who writes your blogs?

N. Korea OKs multilateral nuclear talks: "North Korea said Friday that it has agreed to multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons but will push for one-on-one talks with the United States during the proposed negotiations."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press



July unemployment numbers due today: "The Labor Department is getting set to release the July unemployment numbers this morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press



New purported Saddam tape urges uprising: "A new audiotape attributed to Saddam Hussein aired Friday urges his supporters continue the uprising against U.S. occupation forces and keep control of former state property to use in the rebellion. The voice said the tape was made Sunday."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press

Militants kill 2 American soldiers, wound 7 more
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, IRAQ--Iraqi insurgents killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded at least seven others in a series of attacks late Wednesday and Thursday, dashing hopes that two days of relative calm would continue.

Nevertheless, L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, predicted Thursday that general elections could be held within a year to form a government to replace the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, which was announced two weeks ago. Many Iraqis question the council's legitimacy because Bremer appointed its members, many of whom are former exiles, and because he maintains veto control over its decisions.

Bremer, a former ambassador and terrorism expert, said elections would be held once the council wrote a new constitution and Iraqis ratified it in a referendum.

"It's certainly not unrealistic to think that we could have elections by midyear 2004," Bremer said during a tour of the partially refurbished Iraqi Foreign Ministry. "And when a sovereign government is installed, the coalition ... will cede authority to the government and my job here will be over."

Thursday's attacks on soldiers brought to 174 the number of U.S. troops who have been killed in Iraq by hostile fire since the war began in March. According to American military officials in Baghdad on Thursday, 59 U.S. troops have died in combat and dozens more have been wounded since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations May 1.

Military officials said a 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed and two were wounded when they came under small arms fire about 11:45 p.m. local time Wednesday. Four Iraqis also were injured in the assault, at a tactical operations center about 24 miles east of the city of Baquba, in the heart of the "Sunni Triangle," where most attacks have occurred.

In the second fatal attack, one soldier from the 1st Armored Division was killed and three were wounded when their armored vehicle hit a land mine just after noon Thursday on a road to Baghdad International Airport.

"We've had five like this today," said 1st Lt. Andrew Crump, 25, of Henrietta, Texas. "The last one was about 10 minutes ago, down the road. We're pretty sure this one was a land mine, from the damage to the bottom of it."

In downtown Baghdad on Thursday, two other soldiers were wounded when a lone attacker fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a self-propelled artillery vehicle and fled around 10:30 a.m.

In the northern city of Mosul, soldiers with the 101st Airborne foiled a rocket-propelled grenade attack while escorting a fuel convoy, officials said. The soldiers spotted the attacker and opened fire.



Charleston.Net: News: War on Terror: Militants kill 2 American soldiers, wound 7 more 08/01/03

''Only the actions of the faithful who struggled and fought can evict the invaders,'' said the taped message, which was aired on Al Jazeera television and dated July 28. ''Our belief is strong that God will grant us victory.''
The CIA says an earlier taped message broadcast on Tuesday was almost certainly recorded by Saddam. That message mourned the deaths of Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay, killed by U.S. forces last week, and vowed to fight a holy war to avenge them.
Units hunting Saddam, including the secretive Task Force 20 that is leading the search, have been given new photographs showing how Saddam may look if he has disguised himself during his months on the run, a military spokesman told Reuters.
''The photos have been distributed to units and commanders who are actively involved in the search. The main purpose of the photos is to ensure the soldiers have an idea of what Saddam may look like,'' Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Gainer said.
''They are a series of photos that are digitally enhanced to show Saddam in various states -- shaven, unshaven, bald and all the things of that nature. We are trying to anticipate what he may do to hide his appearance.''
Washington is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture or proof of death of Saddam. The man who betrayed Uday and Qusay is being paid a $30 million bounty.
U.S. troops say many more Iraqis have come forward with information on Saddam since his sons were killed in a hail of machinegun and rocket fire in the northern city of Mosul.

SADDAM'S DAUGHTERS GIVEN ASYLUM
Officials in Jordan said two of Saddam's daughters -- Raghd, 36, and Rana, 34 -- had arrived on Thursday and were offered asylum by King Abdullah along with their nine children.
Iraqi exile sources in Amman said the women had been hiding with their mother Sajida, Saddam's first wife, since the war. Saddam ordered the execution of their husbands in 1996 after they returned from a shortlived defection to Jordan.
U.S. officers say die-hard Saddam loyalists and some foreign fighters, possibly including members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, are behind a guerrilla campaign that has killed 52 U.S. troops since Washington declared major combat over on May 1 -- 19 of them in the last two weeks alone.
In the latest deadly attack, a U.S. soldier was killed and three wounded on Thursday when their armoured personnel carrier hit a landmine on the road to the U.S. base at Baghdad airport.
The U.S. military says attacks are becoming more sophisticated and more deadly. Officers say there is little their troops can do to prevent attacks by an unseen enemy.
Washington says it wants to put a democratic Iraqi government in place as soon as possible so it can end the occupation and pull its troops out.
It is also trying to persuade other countries to provide more soldiers and more money for Iraq.
Polish troops who arrived in June to help police the country came under attack for the first time on Friday. Poland's Defence Ministry said mortars were fired at a base near Hilla, south of Baghdad, but there were no casualties.
Paul Bremer, the American governor of Iraq, said on Thursday that democratic elections could be held as early as the middle of next year for an Iraqi government to take over from the widely resented U.S.-led administration.
The United States appointed a Governing Council of 25 Iraqis earlier this month as an initial step on the road to self-rule. But political progress since then has been slow.




US troops hunt Saddam as new tape urges resistance

Twice wounded, soldier is home
Colonie-- Tears of joy flow at airport as Army sergeant, survivor of 2 ambushes in Iraq, returns to his family

By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer
First published: Friday, August 1, 2003

Shawn LaValley, a 22-year-old Army sergeant twice wounded in combat in Iraq, was showered with a chorus of cheers Thursday night as he got off Delta Flight 362 at Albany International Airport. He gleefully waved his visor at his relieved parents and a crowd of relatives and friends gathered at the gate.
LaValle"Here comes the hero," one man yelled as the crowd spotted the grinning Schenectady man.

LaValley hugged his teary-eyed father, Larry, his arms making a loud pounding thud as he clutched the older man. Then he grabbed his mother, Debbie Ozmon.

"It feels great," said LaValley, who is on leave for a month. "After being over there and seeing what they go through, I thought I'd never be back again."

LaValley was injured in two ambushes by the Iraqis. He was wounded by a grenade in May and then injured a second time by flying shrapnel in July when his 3rd Armored Cavalry convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.


Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com

Welcome home
City offers warm embrace for returning troops
By Joseph L. Galloway
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE

BANGOR, Maine - They gather on an hour's notice, racing to Bangor International Airport with cakes and cookies. Another planeload of American troops is inbound for its first stop on American soil. These volunteers, many old veterans themselves, are determined that no new American war veteran will come home without anyone noticing or caring.

So they throw a loud, raucous and heartwarming surprise party two or three or four times a day, and they don't care if it seems a little quaint. They love doing it, and the troops coming home love them for it.

In 1991 and 1992, crowds of up to 2,000 Bangor volunteers turned out to celebrate the return of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Flight schedules were published in the local newspaper. That was before Sept. 11. Now there is only an hour or two advance notice, and airport security prefers that no more than a hundred or so greeters gather to meet the planes.

So the word is passed by a telephone tree run by Becky Davis, the mother of a Marine and two Army soldiers - one in Iraq today, another bound for duty in Afghanistan shortly.

No one has to call Bill Knight, though. The 82-year-old veteran of the North African and Italian campaigns in World War II usually is already at the airport, checking on the supply of little American flags and getting black bunting hung around a list of the Americans who have died in Iraq.

The chartered jets release 150 to 200 weary soldiers, sailors and Marines. They clear U.S. Customs here and have an hour or so while their plane is refueled and serviced. They have flown for 20-plus hours, coming from Kuwait to Cyprus or Crete to Shannon, Ireland. Now they're almost home. They wander down a long hall with no idea what's waiting for them.

Young and old alike line the hallway on both sides. As the first soldier appears, they burst into applause and cheers and HOO-AH's. Some stop, figuring they are in the wrong line, and start to turn back. "No, no! Come on down!"

In a few steps they are in the warm embrace of small-town America, being hugged by Becky Davis, Evelyn Bradman and Sylvia Thompson, their hands shaken by Bill Knight, Ray Davis, Ron Bradman, Kevin Mooney and Harold Hanson. A dozen uniformed deputies of the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office line up as part of the welcome.

The volunteers have arranged for dozens of cell phones with free airtime, courtesy of a local company, Unicel. A big discount store - Sam's Club - sends out cakes decorated with "Welcome Home" for the troops. Some soldiers grab the first cheeseburgers they've seen in months or cold beers, then dial home to tell wives and kids and mothers and fathers they've made it out safely and will be there soon.

The first of three planes landing here Wednesday carried a mixed bag of Army troops from the 18th Airborne Corps Support Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo., and 3rd Corps Artillery and Support Forces from both Fort Sill, Okla., and Fort Hood, Texas.

Spc. Jessica Siewert of Philadelphia, a paralegal assigned to the 18th AB Support Group, was stunned by the welcome and was eager to get back home. "We did two very successful convoys on my 21st birthday, May 17th," Siewert said. How was Iraq? "HOT!"

Spc. Brian Henry of Newbury, Ohio, of the 100th Engineer Company at Fort Bragg, said, "This is awesome. I never expected anything like this." Capt. Thomas Naugle of Johnstown, Pa., said simply, "It is so good to be back." Warrant Officer Ray Torres of Imperial Valley, Calif., just stood there grinning at the flags and banners and friendly people before turning to find one of those free phones.

'This is what I am here for'

Sgt. Dana Upshaw of Fayetteville, N.C., said the 18th AB Support Group handled all the records of every soldier who came into the war zone. "We kept the records on everyone who was there," she said.

Cpl. David Penfield of Nashville, Tenn., of the 3rd Armored Cav, was coming home from Iraq only to return to Iraq. Once he checks out of his old outfit at Fort Carson, he'll be reassigned to Germany to the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion. That unit is in Iraq, and he will join it there. "I just hope I get a little leave in between," he said. "But I don't mind. This is what I am here for. I will give it all I've got."

Penfield, who is single, said it wasn't that hard on him, but "my mom and dad aren't very happy."

He said the 3rd ACR continued to see action in Iraq in the Ramadi area, west of Baghdad. "A remote-detonated mine killed three people in a convoy I was supposed to be on," Penfield said.

Another likely to have only a brief time at home is Maj. John Webb, operations officer for the 64th Corps Support Group at Fort Hood, who calls Portland, Ore., home. Webb said that he was being promoted to lieutenant colonel in two months and that his next assignment probably would take him right back to Iraq.

A tearful welcome

The second plane of the day came an hour after the first had departed. There were 152 sailors aboard, most of them belonging to a reserve Seabee unit, NMCB21, out of Lakehurst, N.J.

When one of them, EO1 Ray Simonson of Middletown, Del., walked down the hall toward the Bangor volunteers he had eyes for only one person. His daughter, Molly, a student at the University of Maine, was working a summer job in Bangor and got word that morning that her dad would be on this flight.

Molly burst into tears when she saw him and couldn't stop hugging him. Her tears were shared by more than a few of the Bangor volunteers who watched the scene.

There's one volunteer who wasn't here this day; hasn't been here in nearly 12 years. Army Sgt. George Nye, a 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) Vietnam veteran who fought in the Battle of LZ Xray in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965, was one of the charter members of the Welcome Home project.

Nye knew what it was like to come home to no welcome, or worse, and he was determined that every returning Persian Gulf War soldier would have the warm welcome he and his comrades never got. Nye died of a heart attack during the Christmas season of 1991. He had just come back from Bangor Airport, where he had decorated a Christmas tree for "my soldiers."

Becky Davis said, "George Nye's work is still being done in Bangor."

Tallahassee Democrat | 08/01/2003 | Welcome home

In the absence of civilian flights, banned by U.S. forces because of the risk of being hit by shoulder-fired missiles, the land route across the desert from Amman, Jordan, has become the tried and tested method of getting to Baghdad.
But it is not without its dangers and it comes at a price.
For around $500, cash in hand, willing punters can be picked up after midnight from swish hotels in the Jordanian capital and rocketed across the country's western wilderness to arrive at the Iraqi border an hour or so before sunrise.
There, after a Byzantine series of passport controls in a cluster of administrative buildings packed with exhausted regulars, drivers line up to await the sunrise.
On a recent morning, several hundred vehicles were assembled in the faceless space that marks the area between Jordan and Iraq, tall floodlights illuminating the darkness as groups of men boiled water to make cups of coffee.
Those in need of petrol drive through the murk towards small concrete huts where, once shaken from makeshift beds, attendants will fill the tank using an old hosepipe attached to a rusting barrel, cigarettes dangling from their lips.
The drivers, many of whom have been plying the route regularly since the war, ferrying businessmen, journalists, aid workers and others back-and-forth, form convoys of several vehicles, seeking safety in numbers.

GUERRILLA ATTACKS
The fear is that bands of Iraqi militia will attack this commercial traffic, either as part of a guerrilla campaign against Iraq's foreign occupiers or just to rob the convoys.
U.S. forces have accompanied some convoys in the past, but that has often made them more of a target. Some drivers ferried passengers between Iraq and Jordan even at the height of the war that toppled Saddam, and at least one lost his life when a U.S. missile hit a petrol station along the route.
Now the throng of vehicles -- ranging from old trucks and pick-ups to BMWs, Mercedes and SUVs -- travel the highway at blistering speeds, perhaps hoping to outrun any threat.
A convoy of 10 white Suburbans, glittering in the heat, roars across Iraq's western desert at 160 km (100 miles) per hour, covering the 540 km from the border to Baghdad in less than four hours.
Aside from militia attacks, the biggest danger seems to be accidents, with vehicles racing flank-to-flank and then suddenly having to slow to a near-halt as they come across a U.S. tank doing 40 km per hour in the fast lane.
There is no time for anyone to pull off and enjoy a picnic at the concrete tables and chairs Saddam's state built along the highway for hungry families in less dangerous times.
Travellers' nerves tauten as the convoy shoots past the towns of Falluja and Ramadi, where guerrilla attacks have been common.
Around a dozen airlines, from British Airways and Dutch carrier KLM to U.S. and Middle Eastern operators, are pitching to offer services from Amman or Kuwait City to Baghdad, but while security remains uncertain no one is flying.
Once flights are up and running, airlines are likely to do a swift trade, particularly with all the businessmen desperate to make a mark in Iraq. KLM estimates that the one-and-half-hour flight from Amman to Baghdad will cost around $800.
In the meantime, the money is all for the drivers' taking and they will continue to line up passengers for the hectic 12-hour dash from Amman to Baghdad, across the desert wasteland.

Racing convoys run gauntlet on desert road to Iraq

WASHINGTON - A CIA adviser told lawmakers Thursday that progress was being made in the hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but Democrats decried the so far fruitless searches and questioned the Bush administration's rationale for war.




David Kay, who is serving as a special adviser for the weapons search, said inspectors have found physical evidence of Iraqi activity on weapons of mass destruction, but he declined to discuss details. He said investigators had made a "tactical and strategic decision" to focus on biological rather than on chemical or nuclear programs, saying, "Those are the areas that we're principally talking about progress."

The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, expressed concern that the searches are being diverted away from finding actual weapons.

"Signs of a weapons program are very different than the stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons that were a certainty before the war," Rockefeller said. "We did not go to war to disrupt Saddam's weapons program, we went to disarm him."

"It's looking more and more like a case of mass deception," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said after Kay briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee. "There was no imminent danger, and we should never have gone to war."

Those concerns surfaced as the Bush administration approved payment of $30 million to the informant who helped troops find Saddam's two sons, the largest reward ever made under a U.S. program.

"It's actually for services rendered," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "It's a lump sum payment of $30 million."

The informant's tip led to the death of Odai and Qusai Hussein in a firefight July 22 in a villa in Mosul in northern Iraq. For his protection the tipster was not identified by the government.

"We're being very careful about the individual's identity in every possible way," Boucher said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell gave final approval to the award of $15 million each for the sons.

Military.com

Body of fallen soldier arrives in Brownsville

By Mariano Castillo
San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 08/01/2003 12:00 AM

BROWNSVILLE — The body of a fallen South Texas soldier arrived here Thursday following a memorial service in Corpus Christi.
Funeral services for Army Staff Sgt. Hector R. Perez, 40, will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church. A rosary will be prayed for Perez at the Darling-Mouser Funeral Home at 7 p.m. today.

Perez was killed July 24 when his convoy was ambushed by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades near the Iraqi town of Qayyarah, outside of Mosul.

Pfc. Raheen T. Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, N.Y., and Cpl. Evan A. Ashcraft, 24, of West Hills, Calif., also were killed in the attack, according to the Defense Department and Fort Campbell officials.

All three soldiers were in the 101st Airborne Division. Perez and Ashcraft were in A Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment based in Fort Campbell, Ky. Heighter was in the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment.

Perez, the sixth of seven siblings, graduated from W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi and attended college at the University of Texas at Brownsville. He met his wife, Elisa, in Brownsville. The couple was married 16 years, his sister Rosa Ann Garza said. They had three daughters, Marla, 14; Elisa, 11; and Lily, 5.

Several family members, including his father, live in Corpus Christi where a memorial service was held Thursday before his body was transported to the Rio Grande Valley for burial.



mcastillo@express-news.net
Staff Writer Kate Hunger contributed to this report.


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