CNN BREAKING: Mortar Attack Kills Two US Soldiers in Iraq

[VolcanoJen]

Walter Rodgers reports from Baghdad that at Abu Ghraib, a large prison complex, last night, two U.S. soldiers from the 800th Military Police Brigade, a Reserve Unit from Long Island, were killed. 13 were wounded.

Rodgers further reports that the Iraqi insurgents are changing their tactics, firing longer distance, stand-off weapons, such as the mortars fired last night. The last mortar shelling at the Abu Ghraib prison happened about a month ago.

Will post link and more info as it breaks...

:-(

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Damn!

eom

[gristy]

2. F**k

crap. 13 wounded. what fun. not.

[joshcryer]

13. 13 wounded! :(

I'm so glad I just got off the phone with my brother. I can breath easy.

Shit. :(

[alcuno]

39. That's good news, Josh

I'm glad you got to talk to him.

[spinbaby]

17. The wounded are almost worse

Our local news just had a story about a local boy was shot in the eye and came home blind and brain damaged.

[Bush_has_Parvo]

3. Oh so sick of the dying

When can they come home? This is just soo sick.
To the families I wish them the best, blessings.

[bluestateguy]

4. I told you so

Had the protestors been listened to....this would not have happened.

[armand76]

6. Had the popular vote

been counted, instead of the electoral college, none of this would be happening.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Had Florida been counted honestly,

this would not have happened.

[newyawker99]

47. Hi armand76!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DeaconBlues]

5. Heres a link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20030921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_soldiers_killed

Although there is still not much information on this incident. Once again America's youth is paying the price for the hubris, stupidity, and just plain evilness of our leaders. We'll never learn.

[expatriot]

7. very scary new twist... death by mortar...

we have been hearing for a long time about how they are firing mortars into our bases but there have been very few casualties from these attacks... perhaps a few wounded here and there... it looks like they are getting more deadly in their use of these mortars...

bad news.

[w13rd0]

8. previously...

...troops were trying to circulate among the Iraqi people to some small degree, which would have incurred civilian casualties, which would have likely run counter to causing a rise in anti-occupation sentiment. Now the troops are clustering, attempting to 'harden targets'. Also, anti-occupation forces are likely finding more cooperation from the locals in pinpointing targets...

[Code_Name_D]

33. I agree.

When they "harden the targets" of US compunds, they become new targets for more cordinated attacks.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

45. Damned if you do...

The alternatives are to have units dispersed in small teams (where they're subject to RPG attacks) or to have them concentrated in compounds, where you have the potential for catastrphic losses.

Option 3: Get them the hell out of there.

[Barrett808]

38. There's the possibility that casualties have been...underreported

I suspect the mortar attacks have been much deadlier than Centcom admits.

[demnan]

9. Where have all the flowers gone?

long time passing
where have all the flowers gone
long time ago
where have all the flowers gone,
gone to young girls every one
when will they ever learn,
when will they ever learn.

where have all the young girls gone?
long time passing
where have all the young girls gone?
long time ago
where have all the young girls gone?
gone to young men every one
when will they ever learn,
when will they ever learn.

where have all the young men gone?
long time passing
where have all the young men gone?
long time ago
where have all the young men gone?
gone for soldiers every one
when will they ever learn,
when will they ever learn.

PETE SEEGER/JOE HICKERSON

[joshcryer]

14. war pigs...

generals gathered in their masses
just like witches at black masses
evil minds that plot destruction
sorcerers of death’s construction
in the fields the bodies burning
as the war machine keeps turning
death and hatred to mankind
poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!

politicians hide themselves away
they only started the war
why should they go out to fight?
they leave that role to the poor

time will tell on their power minds
making war just for fun
treating people just like pawns in chess
wait ’till their judgement day comes, yeah!


now in darkness, world stops turning
as the war machine keeps burning
no more war pigs of the power
hand of god has sturck the hour
day of judgement, god is calling
on their knees, the war pigs crawling
begging mercy for their sins
satan, laughing, spreads his wings
all right now!

[UpInArms]

28. Lives in the Balance

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

[hadrons]

10. someone has to bring up the prospect of a draft returning ....

only way those idiot Bush voters will change their minds is if they/their kids are sent to that hellhole of Bush's making

[trogdor]

46. Problem is, recruiting is supposedly meeting quotas.

It was in the New York Whore Times this AM. This is mainly due to the shitty economy.

[Guaranteed]

11. Almost feels as if we've hit rock bottom...

...but that's only my hope. Their use of mortars is only going to make things worse. More and more reminiscient of Vietnam.

[saigon68]

15. IT IS IRAQ-NAM

No one said they couldn't adopt the tactics that worked in another war.
Mortars fired at night are more of a psychological weapon. sleep is lost.
Thousands of wild goose chases go on.

Everyone in the zone sleeps with one ear open at all times.
A fiend of mine at Tan Son Nhut told me he preferred the night shift on the flight line. He related that he hated the idea of being asleep when the mortars and rockets fell. He wanted to be awake. At least you can adjust more quickly when attacked, if you are awake as opposed to stumbling around trying to get your wits about you.

Yes, mortars are very effective even if they cause no casualties. Bet the guards at the prison will be sleeping a little less soundly tonight.



edit for spelling sheesh it's Sunday (too early)

[saigon68]

20. Also diabolically good shooting

Any old mortar men out there who can attest to 2 rounds--- of I assume 81mm(Russian) causing this much accurate damage.

This is hard to do. They must have had a perfect zero---

Oh well (sad very sad)

Rest in peace Bros.

[Best_man23]

21. Wonder if any Iraqis

Are inside the camp incognito as police recruits, new soliders, etc, marking the position of targets.

[joshcryer]

23. Probably, it'd be hard to screen for that sort of thing.

Especially given the desire to 'rebuild as quickly as possible.' You're going to hire the willing.

Too bad the willing can quite possibly be the enemy.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. I thought ours were the 81's

& the Communist bloc used 82's.

But your point is right about the "accuracy" of those things.

[saigon68]

43. You are right.

I was thinking of the 51 cal --12.7 mm rather than the 50 cal. I was on too early. Duh

[GCP]

27. It's looking more and more like LBJ and Vietnam

Especially as it's now widely know that it was a lie that got the US into Vietnam.
We've been lied to again and American blood is being spilled again.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice - err - I won't get fooled again

ERR, MAYBE WE WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN, NEXT NOVEMBER, CHIMP.

AND IN THE MEANTIME, MORE BOYS DIE.

[joshcryer]

12. HOLY S*! F* YOU BUSH*!

FUCK YOU!

[Judi Lynn]

16. Later story on the attack

Last Updated: Sunday, 21 September, 2003, 09:14 GMT 10:14 UK

Iraqi mortars kill two US troops


Suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists are held at the prison
A mortar attack has killed two US military police officers and wounded 13 at a prison west of Baghdad, the US military says.

A military spokeswoman said the two soldiers from the 800th Military Police Brigade were killed on Saturday evening when two mortar rounds struck the US-run Abu Ghreib prison.

No inmates were wounded at the prison, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi insurgents have been launching daily attacks on US-led occupation forces.

Six Iraqi detainees were killed and 59 others wounded in a mortar attack on the same prison on 16 August. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3126508.stm

[nostamj]

34. "launching daily attacks"

CBS Evening News on Thursday reported 40 separate attacks against US troops in the previous 24 hour period.

[deutsey]

18. What wonderful news to wake up to

:puke:

[0007]

19. Fruit of a fraudulent war -

junior & this administration should be held responsible, this is beyond pale.

[Malva Zebrina]

22. haven't you heard?

this is the non-responsible-blame someone else administration! This time they are (still) hanging it on Saddam--his name gets the old"I am a flag waving, gun toting, pure bully of an American" testosterone crowd all fired up like a charm so Bush can continue his lying and his crimes against his own people----who knows if these resisters are Saddam loyalists?--they could very well be other, or even all,tribal groups--consider how many civilians and children of theirs we killed--shocked and awed--on Bush's lies of invasion and conquest. What a pitiful tragedy we find ourselves in day after day because of this evil Bush team--

[Cooley Hurd]

24. UPDATE: CNN link...

3 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

Three U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in two separate attacks in Iraq, according to the Coalition Press Information Center.

In the first attack, a soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed after an explosive device ripped through a U.S. military convoy traveling west of Baghdad. The attack happened at 9:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. EDT) in Ramadi, CPIC said.

Shortly afterward, a mortar attack killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded 13 others at Abu Ghraib prison just outside Baghdad, the CPIC said.

...a fraud made in Texas.

[alcuno]

30. Oh no. I pray for them and their families.

May they all find peace with God.

[argonne]

25. BUT Saddam's sons are dead! I thought that was

going to stop the attacks. Or was it when we completed the deck of 52 cards? Maybe let's pull down another Saddam statue with ropes. That was cool!

We are SO f* up in this country!

[catmandu57]

26. reminds one of charlie

pacing off the distance during the day, only to come back at night in black pajamas to fling a couple of rounds to where he had measured that day.

[snippy]

29. "Bring 'em On" Bush gets his wish. Again.

[karlschneider]

31. And a third killed outside Baghdad according to this latest AP report

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030921/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716

[sspiderjohn]

32. how many deaths/day is the price of Iraqi oil?

nm

[Cush]

35. MSNBC says 3 killed, 13 wounded

http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?vts=092120030605

[Cheswick2.0]

40. and the BFEE and their doltish freeper followers are blaming Clinton

Please Let this mess stop.

[symbolman]

41. I've added this senseless slaughter to my

15 second ad series called "Bring Em On" - I've got 4 of them now and am looking for a sponsor to run them - all they'd need to do is drop the name of their organization in them (ahem, MoveOn.org) and send them to market..

here's the url, links to the other three there:

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/bringemon4.html

Spread the word please.

[Rose Siding]

42. It's been taking about three days

(in the stories I've tracked) to notify the families. There will be thousands of people in turmoil over this, wondering if one of these dead is their loved one.

[Papa]

44. I got an email from my friend today, he heard the attack 1st hand

He just got to Iraq and heard the mortar that killed those soldiers. He was sleeping in his tent and heard a loud boom. He was thinking 'shit, it's already happening'.

He's a bit rattled it seems. The stress he is feeling makes his problems at home seem like chump change. I worry for his safety.