Nothing But Politics

[Rick Faurot]

War News for Friday, October 29, 2004

Bring ‘em on: One US soldier killed in ambush near Balad.

Bring ‘em on: Insurgents execute eleven Iraqi soldiers.

Bring ‘em on: One US soldier wounded in patrol ambush near Mosul.

Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi policeman killed, one wounded in attack on police station near Hilla.

Bring ‘em on: Deputy governor of Diyalah assassinated near Baquba.

Bring ‘em on: One Iraqi killed, three Iraqis and two US soldiers wounded by car bomb in Mosul.

Allawi sends negotiating team to Fallujah. “Iraq's prime minister will send a team to insurgent-held Fallujah to discuss clearing the city of insurgents and heavy weapons in a last-ditch bid to avert a full-scale military assault, officials said on Friday. The comments came as some 1,000 US and Iraqi troops who have encircled the city for more than two weeks, said they were prepared for action if ordered.”

US prepares for major assaults in Fallujah and Ramadi.

More weapons and explosives looted. “Many U.S. officials and other experts blame the massive disappearance of Iraqi weapons-related materials on the Pentagon's failure to anticipate the waves of looting and lawlessness that convulsed Iraq after Saddam's ouster in April 2003. They also cited decisions by Rumsfeld and former Gen. Tommy Franks, the overall commander of the invasion, to deploy far fewer U.S. troops to stabilize the country than U.S. ground commanders had sought. Al Qaqaa was on a classified list of Iraqi weapons facilities that the CIA provided to Pentagon and military officials before the invasion, said the U.S. intelligence official. But when the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command produced their own list of sites that a limited number of U.S. ‘exploitation teams’ should search, priority was given to those identified by exiled Iraqi opposition groups, he said. Al Qaqaa wasn't one of them.”

British medical journal estimates 100,000 Iraqis killed.

Wounded troops. “Since the war started in March 2003, more than 8,000 U.S. troops have been wounded - roughly seven for every death. And about half of the wounds have occurred in the last six months. The 31st Combat Support Hospital is in the former Ibn Sina Hospital, a private hospital built by Saddam Hussein for the exclusive use of his family and closest friends. It is located inside the heavily fortified Green Zone and admits about 10 patients a day, though that number changes according to insurgent activity, officials said.”

Cheneyburton. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether the Army's handling of a large Iraq contract with the Halliburton Company violated procurement rules, according to lawyers for an Army official who made the charges of improprieties. F.B.I. agents have requested an interview with the official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, the chief of contracting with the Army Corps of Engineers, on her allegations regarding a 2003 contract with Halliburton to repair Iraqi oil fields, her lawyer, Michael D. Kohn, said in an interview yesterday. Ms. Greenhouse, in an Oct. 21 letter to the acting Army secretary, charged that officials had shown favoritism toward Halliburton, the Houston-based conglomerate formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney, in the awarding and oversight of the oil contract. She also said officials at the Army Corps of Engineers had tried to remove her as chief contract monitor after she raised persistent questions about Halliburton contracts. The Army says it has referred her letter to the Pentagon's inspector general for review.”