Shame on Them and Shame on Us

By Joseph L. Galloway McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/31672.html

This week, the Iraq war claimed its 4,000th American killed in action, but that sad and tragic milestone came as the war seems to have slipped off the evening news, off the front pages and from the minds of the American people.

I suppose this benign neglect of so important and damaging an event is combat fatigue on the part of the public. No doubt the White House is happy to see Iraq shoved to a back burner, just as all three presidential candidates are relieved to talk about something else, anything else, but their half-baked ideas about the war.

Shame on them, and shame on us, for such callous indifference to the service, sacrifice and suffering of the families of the dead, wounded and injured troops who’ve given so much for so little in return.

Vice President Cheney again stuck both feet in his mouth by saying and then repeating that we should remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers; that our troops all volunteered for this duty, this burden, this sacrifice.

What’s your point, Mr. Vice President? That because they volunteered to serve our country in uniform it’s okay to squander their lives in a war of choice, your choice and your president’s, and that it somehow matters less than if they’d been dragooned into service by press gangs or a draft like the one you dodged with five deferments during the Vietnam War because, you said, you had “better things to do”?

The 58,249 Americans who were killed in the war of your youth had better things to do than rest under their white marble, government-issue tombstones. I’m certain, too, that the 4,000 Americans who’ve died in the war that you and President Bush launched five years ago for no good reason and several that weren’t true had better things to do than die under your command.

No sooner did you and your boss begin celebrating “victory” in the surge in Iraq than new problems erupted in one of the most critical parts of the country, the southern Shiite Muslim city of Basra and nearby oilfields and ports.

Iraq government soldiers are fighting it out with the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr for control of Basra, and the truce that’s helped keep a fragile peace in Baghdad’s toughest neighborhoods began to unravel. Sadr’s militiamen rained mortars and rockets on the Green Zone - the headquarters of the Iraqi government and American diplomats and military commanders - as a pointed reminder of who still holds some good cards in this game.

Sadr turned off his murderous militia for reasons of his own last August, and casualty figures for American forces began falling sharply because Shiite militias were responsible for as much as 65 percent of U.S. casualties. If Sadr now turns his war back on, our casualty figures could rise as swiftly as they fell.

We’ll get a good idea from the fighting in Basra about how strong the American-trained Iraqi Army really is as it goes up against Sadr’s militiamen. The Iraqi police - American-trained but heavily infiltrated by another militia, the Iranian-backed Badr Organization - ran for their lives early in the fighting.

By the time the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, arrives in Washington during the second week of April to report to the president and the Congress on the achievements of the surge, he may have less good news to report.

But none of this makes a damn bit of difference if most Americans don’t care and don’t want to know anything, good or bad, about Iraq, the war and our troops.

That’s the sort of apathy and know-nothingness that elected and then re-elected Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. They’re what happens when fewer than half the eligible voters in this great experiment in democracy and freedom even care enough to vote on Election Day.

Meantime, our volunteer troops - who comprise about one-half of 1 percent of our population of 300 million - soldier on, bearing the burden and making all the sacrifices on behalf of all the rest of us.

The war that Americans don’t want to know about drags on because its authors don’t care what you think or even if you think. In fact, they’d prefer that you didn’t think or ask any pesky questions that they can’t answer without lying.



Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq - Wednesday 26 March 2008
By Laith Hammoudi McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/31661.html

The daily Iraqi violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.

Baghdad
At least 20 people were killed and 115 wounded in clashes that broke out on Tuesday evening and lasted until Wednesday morning between Mahdi army militia and the Iraqis security forces supported by the American forces in Sadr city in east Baghdad.

US embassy in Iraqi said that three US officials were wounded seriously in one of the attacks that targeted the green zone on Wednesday morning.

Around 5:30 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. No reports about casualties.

Around 8:00 a.m. the US forces left Sadr city after clashing with Mahdi army. The final toll of the casualties is 20 people killed and 115 wounded.

Five people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in al Kifah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 8:30 a.m.

Six people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in Sadoun Street in downtown Baghdad around 9:00 a.m.

Around 9:15 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. A fourth shell hit one of the buildings in Salhiyah street near the green zone. One civilians was killed and 6 others wounded.

Two civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in al Fallah intersection in Sadr city in East Baghdad around 11:00 a.m.

Three civilians were killed and fifteen others were wounded when four mortar shells hit different parts in Karrada neighborhood.

Three civilians were killed and twelve others were wounded when threemortar shells hit Risala neighborhood southeast Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.

Around 1:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone in downtown Baghdad. No reports about Casualties.

Two civilians were killed and five others were wounded when two mortar shells hit Sayd Idrees shrine and the social car house in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 1;30 p.m.

Four civilians were inured in clashes between insurgents and the Iraqi national police in Shaab neighborhood in north Baghdad around 1:30 p.m.

Around 2:00 p.m. clashes broke out between the Iraqi army and members of Mahdi army in Kadhemiyah neighborhood in North Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

Around 3:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone. No casualties reported.

Four civilians were wounded when a mortar shell hit Beirut intersection in east Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.

Three civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in Darwish intersection in Saidiyah neighborhood in South Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.

Around 5:30 p.m. a mortar shell hit Kadhemiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad. No Casualties reported.

Clashes broke out between the US army and Mahdi army militia in jisr Diyala area south of Baghdad. No news about casualties reported. . .

Police found three unidentified bodies . . .

Tikrit
A source in Tikrit hospital said that a patrol from the 1st battalion the 14 brigade brought the body of Mohammed Shakir Mahmoud who died after being tortured by a US sponsored militia near al Mamlaha village east of Samara on Wednesday morning.

Eight people were killed including Judge Munaf al Azawi a court judge and his two sons, two women, a child and a man when U.S. soldiers raided two houses in al Qadisiyah neighborhood north of Tikrit, Iraqi police said. The US military said that the Coalition Forces were targeting an Al Qaida member suspected of organizing car bombs for the group. During the targeted raid they came under fire and responded. . . .

Basra
Medical source in Basra province south of Baghdad said that 33 people were killed and 150 others were wounded in the clashes that took place between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi army in different neighborhoods of the province.

Four policemen were killed when their vehicle was targeted with RBG7 rocket near Basra police directorate on Wednesday afternoon. . .

At least seven detainees were wounded when mortar shells hit the detainees affairs department in downtown Basra on Wednesday afternoon.

Najaf
A mortar shell hit al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city south of Baghdad around 8:15 p.m. causing casualties among the staff of the police station, police said. The police of Najaf announced a curfew in the city until further notice. . .

Two policemen were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city on Wednesday evening

Babil
At least 60 people were killed and wounded when the MNF helicopters bombed the neighborhoods of al Askari and Nadir in Babil province south of Baghdad, the spokesman the Iraqi police in Babil province Muthanna Ahmed said. The MNF couldn’t immediately confirm the strike. '



Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes;
Mahdi Army Occupies Kut
by Juan Cole
Thursday, March 27, 2008
http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/dozens-dead-in-basra-clashes-mahdi-army.html

Gunmen blew up an oil pipeline in Basra province. Such sabotage of the pipelines down there is rare, in contrast to the situation in the north around Kirkuk. But if the Sadrists feel unfairly attacked by the government, they clearly are willing to play spoiler, just as some Sunni Arabs have in the north.As it is, if the fighting goes on a few more days, the next shift of oil workers won't be able to reach the fields, which will shut down some production. Basra fields produce between 1.8 million b/d and 2 mn b/d, and export 1.5 mn b/d. The Iraqi government is heavily dependent on that income.