Dead Japanese, Spanish and US haunt general's "great two weeks" in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031130/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_worldwrap&cid=1514&ncid=1473

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Violence flared again across Iraq (news - web sites) where seven Spanish intelligence officers, two Japanese diplomats and two US soldiers died at the weekend just as the top US general hailed a major decline in attacks.


Buoyed by President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s visit and a relative lull in fighting, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez spoke Saturday afternoon of "a great two weeks for the coalition" which he said had seen insurgent attacks dip by more than 30 percent.


However the effort to raise troop morale was quickly buried by the latest wave of bloodshed.


The seven Spaniards were killed around dusk in a mortar and grenade attack on their convoy south of Baghdad.

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[opihimoimoi]

1. It appears the Military and the Bush Admins are so HUNGRY

for good news they grab for any small sign and declare it to be true.

Yeah, right!

[Flubadubya]

8. Yeah, it's amazing how often they declare things "over"...

like "major combat effots", and "serious increase in insurgent attacks", and "coalition bloodshed".

Well fellas, I take my cue from the one who said... "It ain't over 'til it's over". And by God, that means when every single American troop is on home soil! :grr:

[leftchick]

2. Bloody November Indeed....

I found this on an AP link.....

<With the latest deaths, guerrillas have killed 106 coalition troops in Iraq in November, with 79 American soldiers slain along with 25 other allied soldiers. It has been the bloodiest month of the war that began March 20. > :(

[RebelOne]

3. That's because they are celebrating the month-long religious holiday.

[lumpy]

11. That's because they want us to

get the H out of their country. People don't take well to being invaded especially when thousands are killed and the country is in
ruins from the effects of being bombed on the pretext of liberation.

[dArKeR]

4. I haven't seen a story reporting on how many 10000s troops actually missed

Thanksgiving dinner only because of the Junior visit. (I've been busy lately and didn't read too much though.)

I know I can swear of a stack of Bibles, that every street for 10 miles, surrounding the path Junior took into Saddam International had hundreds of troops deployed. It's only common sense to figure that out.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Junior never left Baghdad airport

and while in the hangar with the troops, he wore a flak jacket underneath his big Army jacket and was closely surrounded by nervous Secret Service agents.

[Scurrilous]

5. General Sanchez...

...just had his very own little 'light at the end of the tunnel' moment.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

6. a sign of progress will be

when the general stops packing a pistol at press conferences.

[saigon68]

14. SANCHEZ IS A COWARD

seen this little Rambo Wannabee at a lot of Photo ops. The little weasel is always packing heat.

the problem with his LIES about things getting better----IS he's always surrounded by 50 or so guys with machine guns. Oh, its safe there all right

NOT

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Looks like Ramadan is over

The people in charge don't have a clue, do they?

[lumpy]

10. Japanese diplomats killed near Tikrit.

Spanish intelligence officers killed
So. Koreans killed
Columbian contractors killed - supposidely all killed by Iraqis
Powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric killed- in road 'accident'
Helicopter collision possibly caused by enemy fire
and some higher up military claim that in Nov. a 30% decrease in
attacks- everythings rosie? I would guess our allies in Iraq don't
agree with that assesment. Don't know how many US soldiers have been
killed in the month of Nov.

[Beetwasher]

12. Damn Lies and Statistics!

This is how it's done. Keep redefining a sample period. So November was the bloodiest month in the war, but the past 5 Days showed a 30% decrease! Next it will be "We've seen a 100% decrease in attacks! In the last 10 minutes no one was attacked! It's progress I tells ya!"

[tabasco]

13. It's a NEW and IMPROVED war! Now with 30% less attacks!

This Sanchez guy would not make a good used car salesman. I guess the resistance is getting more efficient. Less attacks, more dead bodies.

[opihimoimoi]

15. If it wasn't so sad and tragic for the families/friends..... this whole

god damn thing would be a friggen JOKE.

Its the Blind leading the blind. Its Keystone Cops, its Abbot and Costello, Dean and Jerry, its Pissant.

BTW, that poor Female GI trooper who was kissed by the First Smirk, she had to scrub her face raw. All she could manage on the way to the rest room was "EEEEEHHHHHHHHHHhuuuuuuuuu shit!!"