Military Resistance 9K12
“So Far This Year, These Cheap, Hard-To-Detect Bombs Have Wounded About 3,200 U.S. Soldiers And Marines”
“Up 22 Percent From 2010”
“We Are Sweeping More And More Of This Stuff Off The Battlefield,”
“But It Just Keeps Coming, And It Keeps Growing”
November 25 By Greg Jaffe, The Washington Post [Excerpts]
To grasp the severity of Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero’s $40-fertilizer-bomb problem, it helps to consider some much bigger numbers.
Barbero heads a U.S. military command, with an annual budget of about $2.8 billion, that was created to stem U.S. casualties from insurgent bombs. In just the past few months, he has shelled out $24 million for a new hand-held ground-penetrating radar, $33 million for mini-surveillance robots and $19 million for bomb-resistant underwear.
The insurgent’s weapon of choice in Afghanistan is at the other end of the price spectrum: a plastic jug filled with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. So far this year, these cheap, hard-to-detect bombs have wounded about 3,200 U.S. soldiers and Marines, up 22 percent from 2010, according to the Pentagon.
“We are sweeping more and more of this stuff off the battlefield,” Barbero said of the fertilizer bombs. “But it just keeps coming, and it keeps growing.”
IRAQ WAR REPORTS
Resistance Action
Nov 16 (Reuters) & Nov 17 (Reuters) & Nov 18 (Reuters) & Nov. 19 PUKmedia & Nov 20 (Reuters) & Nov 21 (Reuters) & Nov 22 (Reuters) & Nov 23 (Reuters) & November 24, 2011 Associated Press & Reuters & Nov 26 (Reuters) & Nov 27 (Reuters) & Nov 28 (Reuters) & By Sahar Issa, McClatchy Newspapers
BASRA, Iraq — A string of bombings in a southern oil city killed 19 people Thursday evening and injured dozens more. Three bombs went off in a popular open-air market in Basra, police and health officials said.
The third bomb exploded a few minutes after Iraqi army and police forces arrived on the scene in response to the earlier blasts, officials said. The third blast caused all the fatalities and almost all of the injuries, the officials said.
Among the dead and wounded were many policemen and Iraqi army soldiers.
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11.28: A rocket slammed into the fortified Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government's offices just after 4 p.m. The rocket struck in a parking lot near the city's convention center, which houses the Iraqi parliament. No casualties were reported.
TAJI - A bomber driving a minibus struck an Iraqi military base, killing 19 and wounding 24, in the town of Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad.
SHIRQAT - A bomb exploded at a location frequently used by police as a temporary security checkpoint, killing a policeman and wounding another, in central Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad.
A car bomb driven by a bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded 26 others at the entrance to al Hoot prison in north Baghdad.
MOSUL - A roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol, killing one soldier, in a village near the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - Insurgents stormed a restaurant frequented by soldiers and police and killed the owner in central Mosul, police said.
BAQUBA - Insurgents carrying silenced weapons shot dead an off-duty policeman on Saturday at a farm north of Baquba, the Baquba security operations centre said.
MOSUL - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol exploded in the western Mosul on Saturday, wounding one soldier, police in the Nineveh province security operations centre said.
DOUR - Insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles attacked a farm belonging to Dour Mayor Othman Ahmed al-Douri and exchanged fire with his security guards, killing one guard and wounding the mayor, in Dour, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the Salahuddin province security operations centre said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb went off near a temporary police checkpoint and wounded three policemen, in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - A bomb left at the window of a local mayor’s office went off and wounded him in the southern outskirts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
SAMARRA - A roadside bomb exploded late on Wednesday near an Iraqi police patrol, wounding four policemen, in central Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad.
SAQLAWIYA - Two bombs planted inside a policeman’s house went off and killed his wife and his four children in Saqlawiya, 2 km northwest of Falluja, police said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb planted near a mosque killed two policemen and wounded two soldiers, when it exploded in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb planted near a mosque killed a policeman and wounded two policemen, in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, police said.
HAWIJA - Insurgents shot and wounded an off-duty policeman near his house in Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.
BAGHDAD - A bomb exploded as Iraqi soldiers tried to defuse it, wounding eight soldiers and two other people, on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police said. Other police and hospital sources said the blast was caused by a roadside bomb and wounded three soldiers, two members of a bomb disposal team and four traffic policemen.
BAQUBA - A sticky bomb attached to a car exploded, killing a member of the government-backed Sahwa militia, in a town near the city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.
MOSUL - Armed men killed an off-duty soldier inside his house in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.
MOSUL - A roadside bomb wounded one soldier when it went off in eastern Mosul, police said.
BAGHDAD - Four Iraqi army personnel were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in central Baghdad, a police source said.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi soldier was killed when a bomb attached to a vehicle went off near a security checkpoint in Baghdad’s eastern Sadr City district, police and hospital sources said.
HAWIJA - Militants attacked with car bombs and mortars near the police headquarters and government buildings in the town of Hawija, 210 km (130 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding two soldiers and a policeman, police and hospital sources said.
MOSUL - Insurgents opened fire at an Iraqi army checkpoint and killed one soldier in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.
BAAJ - An Iraqi soldier was killed and an officer wounded when clashes erupted between insurgents and an army patrol in Baaj, 375 km (235 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a local police source said.
MUSSAYAB - Three bombs went off at the house of a member of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia in the village of Bahbahan, near the city of Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad. A police source said two men were inside the house and were wounded in the explosions.
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
Foreign Occupation “Servicemember” Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan:
Nationality Not Announced
November 27, 2011 Reuters
A foreign servicemember died while conducting combat operations in southern Afghanistan Saturday.
Rifleman Sheldon Lee Jordan Steel Killed In Babaji
28 Nov 11 Ministry of Defence
It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Rifleman Sheldon Steel, from 5th Battalion The Rifles (5 RIFLES), was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday 27 November 2011.
Rifleman Steel was taking part in a foot patrol to disrupt insurgent freedom of movement and to reassure the local population in Babaji, in the Lashkar Gah district, which is in the Nahr-e Saraj (South) area of operations, when he was caught in the blast from an improvised explosive device (IED). He was airlifted to the field hospital at Camp Bastion where he was declared killed in action.
Soldier With County Ties Killed In Afghanistan
November 17, 2011 By MADELINE DeJOURNETT and NOREEN HYSLOP, Managing Editor; Dexter Daily Statesman
A US Army soldier with roots in Brownwood in northern Stoddard County died Wednesday, Nov. 16 in Afghanistan, just weeks after telling his family, “I'm in a bad place. Pray for me.”
The soldier's father, James Burnett, Sr., and stepmother, Cheri Burnett, were told of their son's death Wednesday night when a pair of uniformed soldiers, one a chaplain, approached their door in Brownwood.
A young sibling of the fallen soldier told her father, “Daddy, there are two men in suits here.”
Cherie Burnett says when her husband heard those words, "He knew. He knew.”
James Burnett's mother, Rebecca Metcalf, currently lives in Wichita, Kan., and that is likely where the fallen soldier will be buried. He had split his time between Wichita and Brownwood since his parents divorced several years ago, having spent most of his time after the age of 12 in Wichita.
The family was told their son was in an Army Jeep at the head of a convoy in the Kandahar Province when the vehicle was struck by an Improvised explosive device (IED). It is not known if any other soldiers were killed in the blast.
James Burnett, Jr. turned 21 years old in September. A patriot, he enlisted in the Army before high school graduation while still 17, completing basic training and boot camp before his high school graduation. He completed further training in Alaska before his deployment to Afghanistan in April 2011.
During a two-week leave in July, Burnett spent one week in Brownwood and the other in Wichita, during which time he became engaged to Amy Keeler, from Wichita.
“When he went back to Afghanistan (after his July leave),” said his stepmother Thursday, “it was good reports, good reports, until about six weeks ago. Then it was, 'I'm in a bad place. I'm scared. Pray for me.'“
Burnett is survived by his father and stepmother, James and Cheri Burnett of Brownwood, Mo., his mother and stepfather, John and Rebecca Rogers of Wichita, Kan., by his grandparents, Neil and Sally Rogers, of Chafee, and by eight siblings.
The body of Specialist James Burnett, Jr. was flown to Dover, Del. on Thursday. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced, but will be published as soon as they are received by The Daily Statesman.
Attack In Kabul Kills Austin Soldier
02 Nov 2011 By Calily Bien, KXAN
AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin soldier died in Kabul province, Afghanistan on Oct. 29.
The Department of Defense said Sgt. James M. Darrough, 38, died when enemy forces attacked the NATO convoy he was traveling with.
Three other soldiers, one of which was from Abilene, Texas, were also killed in the attack.
On Saturday, an SUV strapped with explosives rammed into the armored bus carrying US and NATO troops as well as civilians. A total of 17 people were killed in the attack – including 10 Americans and two Afghan school children.
The attack happened during broad daylight and was the single deadliest ground attack in Kabul against NATO forces since the start of the war in 2001.
Darrough was a Financial Management Technician assigned to Charlie Detachment, 101st Finance Company, 101st Special Troops Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
He joined the Army in February 2005 and arrived at Fort Campbell in July 2009. His awards and decorations include: Bronze Star Medal; Purple Heart Medal; Joint Service Commendation Medal; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Meritorious Unit Commendation; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal with service star; Southwest Asia Service Medal with service star; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Armed Forces Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officers Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; United Nations Medal; North Atlantic Treaty Organization Medal; Kuwait Liberation Medal; Expert Field Medical Badge and Combat Action Badge.
Darrough is survived by his father, Robert Darrough of Charlotte, N.C. and mother, Janelle Darrough of Livingston, Texas. He is also survived by his wife, Isaura Darrough; sons, Justin and Jared Darrough and daughters, Julianna and Jenna Darrough, all of Clarksville, Tenn.
POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WARS
Great Moments In U.S. Military History:
Six Kids Blown Up In Zheray
[Thanks to Felicity Arbuthnot who sent this in.]
November 24, 2011 BBC News
Seven civilians, including six children, have been killed in a U.S. air strike in southern Afghanistan, local officials say.
District Governor Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi told the BBC the civilians died late on Wednesday in the Zheray district of Kandahar province.
He said the strike had been launched in a remote area after Taliban insurgents were seen planting roadside bombs.