GI Special C/o 10.12.03 Print it out (color best). Pass it on.
GI SPECIAL #111
THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME; An injured soldier is carried to a stretcher Oct 7, 2003 after a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of U.S. troops near central Tikrit.(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
Soldier Just Back From Iraq Says “It’s Classic FUBAR”
(Fucked Up Beyond All Repair)
by Doug Thompson, Capitol Hill Blue, October 10, 2003
Vietnam. So long ago yet so vivid still in the minds of so many. Long enough ago that the history of the conflict is now taught in high schools and colleges - all too often by young men and women too young to have served there if - in fact - they served at all. Vietnam. A name conjured up now whenever somebody wants to question what is happening in Iraq. Another Vietnam, they say. Another debacle for America.
Had lunch the other day with an old friend, a career soldier just back from Iraq. He missed Vietnam. Too young. He used to say he was glad. Vietnam raised too many questions for someone who wanted to make the military his life.
"I missed Vietnam," my friend said at lunch. "I thought about retiring after Desert Storm. I should have."
I couldn't help but notice how much older he looked. More lines in the face. More gray in the hair. More emptiness behind the eyes.
Was it that bad? I had to ask.
"Bad," he said. "Classic FUBAR."
In military terms, FUBAR is the worst-case scenario. Most military operations start out as SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up). If things get worse, they graduate to TACFU (Totally And Completely Fucked Up). When things get really bad, they reach FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Repair).
"A mission without a goal," he said. "An engagement without rules. The intel was pure FUBAR. No exit strategy. We're going to be there for a long, long time. Maybe people are right. Maybe it is another Vietnam."
The news out of Iraq usually brings reports of more American deaths at the hands of Iraqis who use snipers, ambushes and car bombs to continue a war that President George W. Bush says ended months ago. Those who support the Bush administration say the press is exaggerating the problems in Iraq.
"No," my friend said. "They're not. The situation is worse. Far worse."
So why not speak out? Won't people listen to a career soldier?
"Not this career soldier. I want to get out on my own terms, with my rank and pension intact. My family's future is more important. I'm no fool."
From the restaurant window we could see the Pentagon, including the section taken out by a hijacked airliner on September 11, 2001.
"I've been a professional soldier most of my adult life," he said. "I've been proud to serve my country even when I thought we might be wrong. But I'm not proud now. And that makes me want to puke."
As my friend, a no-longer-proud career soldier, walked away to his car, I fought back my own tears.
Good morning Vietnam.
My apologies to my friend Adrian Cronauer for the use of his signature sign-on during his tour with Armed Forces Radio - Saigon. We've known each other for more than 30 years and often debate -- and disagree on -- not only Vietnam but the war in Iraq.
Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and in Iraq, and information about othersocial protestmovements here in the USA. Send requests to address up top. For copies on web site see:
IRAQ WAR REPORTS:
3 U.S. Soldiers Killed, Six Wounded In Convoy Attacks
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer, 10.7.03
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Roadside bombings in central Iraq killed three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded six other service members, the U.S. military said Tuesday. They were the first reported deaths of American soldiers by hostile fire in Iraq since Friday
The first bombing came Monday night, just west of Baghdad, killing one soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and wounding another, the U.S. Central Command said.
About an hour later, another roadside bombing killed two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and their Iraqi translator, the military said. Two other soldiers were injured in the bombing, inHaswah about 25 miles south of Baghdad. Another roadside bomb exploded Tuesday near a convoy of U.S. troops driving near central Tikrit, slightly wounding three soldiers.
US Military Chopper Down Near Fallujah
FALLUJAH, Oct 7 (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on Tuesday, witnesses said.
The chopper fell into a ravine outside Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital, according to two local people who said they saw the chopper go down.
They said they did not hear any explosion while the helicopter was in the air but did hear one when it crashed.
Shortly after the crash, an AFP correspondent saw several military helicopters, including an ambulance chopper, head to the scene, and armored trucks driving to an area overlooking the ravine.
The US military did not immediately confirm the crash.
Iraq Foreign Ministry Hit By Mortar Round
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer, 10.7.03 and ABC News Online
Large sections of Baghdad were in turmoil after an explosion inside the Foreign Ministry compound,
Iraq's Foreign Ministry compound had been hit by a mortar shell, minutes before a firefight broke out between US soldiers and resistance fighters officials say.
"One mortar hit inside the compound," Captain Khadim said.
There were no known injuries in any of the incidents, but traffic in the center of the capital was at a near standstill. Streets around the Foreign Ministry and Saddam's former Republican Palace — headquarters of the U.S.-lead Coalition Provisional Authority — were blocked by U.S. soldiers in armored vehicles and Iraqi police.
Army Maj. John Frisbie said the explosion at the Foreign Ministry blasted a crater about a foot in diameter in the parking lot but caused no injuries.
Hussein Amin, a witness, said a mortar shell was fired at the ministry compound and landed near the office of Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who was not present.(Highly professional!) Workers in the compound came streaming out.
Two U.S. armored personnel carriers and five Humvees were sent to the scene. They found nothing and nobody.
The ministry is also about a half-mile from the Al-Rasheed Hotel, where many U.S. officials live. The hotel was attacked Sept. 27 with rockets.
The area, also home to the coalition's main offices in Saddam's former republican palace and the Baghdad convention center, is among the most heavily guarded neighborhoods in the city. (Now there’s “encouraging news” for Bush to babble about.)
Mortar Rounds Fired At Bulgarian Forces In “Quiet” Part Of Iraq
KARBALA, Iraq Oct 6 (AFP) - Mortar rounds were fired at coalition troops stationed outside the Iraqi city of Karbala Monday.
"Early this morning two mortars were fired at Camp Kilo. One round landed outside the camp, one inside the wire of the camp. There were no injuries, deaths or damages," said Major Andrzej Wiatrowski of the Polish-run multinational brigade. (Hey, just getting the range right. We’ll be back.)
Local police said Bulgarian troops were at the base just outside Karbala, 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Baghdad.
The attackers managed to flee in the car from which they fired at the camp. The troops searched the area and set up roadblocks, but failed to track down the attackers, police said.
There are 473 Bulgarians in the multinational brigade.
REAL BAD PLACE TO BE. BRING THE CANADIANS HOME TOO. An Afghan warns Canadian soldiers about mine threats near Kabul Oct. 11, 2003. Light infantry soldiers have resorted to armored vehicles in some areas after a mine blast killed two paratroopers in a jeep Oct. 2. (AP PHOTO/ Stephen Thorne)
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The Phone Bill Is Due
For 110 issues, GI Special hasn’t asked for help.
Now, reality has set in.
With the birth of Traveling Soldier in September ( we need a bit of help.
You have a right to know why, so here it is, for both Traveling Soldier and GI Special:
(Monthly averages) (X1 MEANS ONE TIME ITEM)
Printer paper $20.00
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Printer ink HP 1210 (hp inkjet print cartridge #56
BLACK) 21.50 each 86.00
Internet space & securing name Traveling Soldier x1 30.00
Electricity bill………………………………………………… 25.00
Extra on phone bill for computer use……………………… 20.00
Cell phone used for organizing: 56.00
(unpaid and due $143.87)
October special item: Army Times ad:…………………… 102.00
(Running in Oct. 20 issue: “Get Some Truth:
An unauthorized take on service life, the war, and
military families who say Bring The Troops Home Now:
”)
Total $452.00
Because service pays so miserably, no soldier has ever been asked for money, and none ever will be, so if you’re in service, please save your money for your family or a friends’ family.
If you have a civilian job, we would appreciate some help.
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Solidarity, T.
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IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP
Commands’ Treachery In Baghdad
The GI Special 10.10.03 reported a fight between armed Shiites and U.S. troops in Baghdad, in which two U.S. soldiers were killed.
The article (World Class Goat Fuck) pointed out the incredible stupidity of the occupation command in picking a fight with the Shiites, who are the majority in Iraq, as if they think enough U.S. troops aren’t already being killed by Sunni and other Iraqi resistance fighters.
Here’s the background story, of betrayal and deceit by the scum in command, who ordered the clerics, who left their armed militia guards behind, arrested on their way to a scheduled and agreed upon negotiating session.
By the traditional customs of war, that kind of treachery merits summary execution by the resistance armed forces of those who gave the orders. Since U.S. troops were killed as a direct result of the fighting that followed the betrayal, the same applies to a trial of U.S. command by U.S. soldiers, whenever and in whatever form that someday may become possible.
Here’s the story:
Shiites Hold Anti-US Protest In Baghdad; Demand Release Of Clerics Arrested By Command Cowards On Way To Negotiation
Agence France-Presse and STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer, 10.7.03
AP reporter Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.
BAGHDAD, Oct 7 (AFP) - US soldiers surrounded a Baghdad mosque Tuesday where thousands of Iraqis demanded the release of two Shiite clerics who had publicly denounced the Americans, an AFP correspondent reported.
"Today we hold banners, tomorrow we pick up our guns," the crowd shouted at the Ali al-Baih mosque in Bayaa neighborhood, where about 100 American soldiers arrived in about 20 Humvees as two helicopters overhead circled. They surrounded the protest briefly before leaving as the crowd swelled to about 4,000 when demonstrators arrived from the Shiite slum of Sadr City in the east of Baghdad but later dispersed on its own.
U.S. soldiers withdrew from the area around the mosque, leaving about 200 people inside.
Last week, U.S. soldiers fired warning shots over the heads of stone-throwing Shiites outside al-Karzraji's mosque after the cleric was questioned by U.S. and Iraqi authorities for allegedly inflammatory sermons.
The demonstrators, estimated at more than 4,000, accused the Americans of arresting Shiite clerics Moayad Kazrajy and Jaleel al-Shumari on Monday.
Sheikh Mohammed al-Sudani said mosque preacher Moayed al-Karzraji was arrested Monday as he led a 12-man delegation to negotiate with the Americans in the municipal council building.
The group was briefly detained and handcuffed by soldiers, al-Sudani said. Everyone later was released, he said, but the imam who was taken to an unknown location.
Al-Sudani accused the Americans of planting hand grenades in the mosque as a pretext for arresting the imam and sealing the building.
Protesters shouted “America equals Saddam!”
The US military had no confirmation of the arrests, but last week US soldiers and Iraqis skirmished outside the mosque.
Cleric Mahmud al-Sundawi told the crowd that Kazrajy, a supporter of young anti-US cleric Moqtada Sadr, and Shumari had voluntarily gone with several tribal sheikhs to meet with US commanders Monday when the Americans decided to detain the pair.
Last Friday, Kazrajy told prayergoers that Americans should respect the symbols of Islam or face the wrath of the people.
"We will not be silent against any aggression against us," Kazrajy told some 800 worshippers at the Ali al-Baih mosque.
"We said before, we want peace with the Americans but this does not mean we will be slaves, endure aggression, or humiliation," Kazrajy also said.
His warning came after his supporters accused US troops of searching the mosque and trying to arrest one of its clerics, Salah al-Obeidi, on Tuesday, before a crowd rushed to his defence.
The following evening, an American convoy came across a demonstration outside the mosque in support of Obeidi and when the protesters refused to leave the area fighting broke out with the soldiers, two guards at the mosque told AFP on Thursday.
Aba Thar Abd al-Sada, 26, and Omar al-Sadary said the Americans opened fire and that gunmen in the crowd shot back, with one mosque guard injured in the melee.
What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to the E-mail address up top. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.
Resistance Force In Iraq Reports Huge Supply Of Weapons;
“We Prefer U.S. And British Targets” But Spanish Will Do In A Pinch
MADRID, Oct 5 (AFP) - Combatants fighting US forces in Iraq claimed in an interview published Sunday in a Spanish newspaper to have large stocks of weapons and intelligence from tens of thousands of sympathisers.
"We have missiles" (in particular Russian anti-aircraft Strella missiles) "thousands of detonators, tonnes of TNT explosives and enough RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), machine guns and ammunition to fight them and force them to go," representatives of the Ansar al-Sanna rebels told El Mundo.
They said their group had nothing to do with ousted president Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
According to Husein, a name assumed by one of the four spokesmen interviewed by the paper, the group was made up of ex-soldiers, Sunni Muslims and radical Salafists whose aim was not to take power but to expel US troops.
"We take advantage of the night to transport thousands of arms from arsenals and abandoned factories by truck," said Qais, one of the group interviewed.
"If we need a rocket launcher we can get it in 24 hours," added his companion Abu Ali.
"Tens of thousands of people are working with us throughout the country, bringing us intelligence about troop movements, and looking for or hiding weapons and munitions," the group claimed.
"We carried out our biggest attack three weeks ago -- there were 30 of us, 20 with rocket propelled grenades, the others with machine guns," said Abu Ali. The target had been an American base northeast of Baghdad.
"The attack lasted 45 minutes. Thirty (US) soldiers were killed, eight vehicles and a helicopter destroyed," he said, admitting only to one wounded among the attackers.
The occupying US-led coalition has not reported any incident on this scale.
"We prefer US and British targets but in the future there will also be Spanish victims," said Husein who said that Spain, which has 1,300 troops in Iraq, had betrayed the country.
Ansar al-Sunna claims to have 25 to 30 units, each made up of four or five men, active in Baghdad while training other groups elsewhere in Iraq.
Baghdad Airport Not Reopened Due To Missile Attacks
Hi Pakistan. October 10, 2003
The United States military has been unable to locate a large number of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles that were part of the arsenal of Saddam Hussein.