GI Special C/o 7.26.03 Print it out. Send it on.

GI SPECIAL #63:

“ALL DONNE; GO HOME” IRAQI

MESSAGE TO THE OCCUPATION

ON BASE OF FORMER SADDAM

HUSSEIN STATUE; May 31, 2003

BRING THEM HOME NOW;

A NEW MOVEMENT IS BORN


BRING THEM HOME NOW! STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

BRING THEM HOME NOW! is a coordinating committee of military families, veterans, active duty personnel, reservists and others opposed to the ongoing war in Iraq and galvanized to action by George W. Bush's inane and reckless challenge to armed Iraqis resisting occupation to "bring 'em on."
Our mission is to mobilize military families, veterans, and GIs themselves to demand: an end to the occupation of Iraq and other misguided military adventures; and an immediate return of all US troops to their home duty stations.
The truth is coming out. The American public was deceived by the Bush administration about the motivation for and intent of the invasion of Iraq. It is equally apparent that the administration is stubbornly and incompetently adhering to a destructive course. Many Americans do not want our troops there. Many military families do not want our troops there. Many troops themselves do not want to be there. The overwhelming majority of Iraqis do not want US troops there.
Our troops are embroiled in a regional quagmire largely of our own government's making. These military actions are not perceived as liberations, but as occupations, and our troops are now subject to daily attacks. Meanwhile, without a clear mission, they are living in conditions of relentless austerity and hardship. At home, their families are forced to endure extended separations and ongoing uncertainty.
As military veterans and families, we understand that hardship is sometimes part of the job. But there has to be an honest and compelling reason to impose these hardships and risks on our troops, our families, and our communities. The reasons given for the occupation of Iraq does not rise to this standard.
Without just cause for war, we say bring the troops home now!


Not one more troop killed in action. Not one more troop wounded in action. Not one more troop psychologically damaged by the act of terrifying, humiliating, injuring or killing innocent people. Not one more troop spending one more day inhaling depleted uranium. Not one more troop separated from spouse and children. This is the only way to truly support these troops, and the families who are just as much part of the military as they are.
Bush says "Bring 'em on." We say "BRING THEM HOME NOW!"

www.bringthemhomenow.org
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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 other social protest movements here in the USA. Send requests to address up top.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS:

Four U.S. Soldiers Die in Iraq Attacks

By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer, July 26, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A grenade attack Saturday killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded four as they guarded a children's hospital northeast of Baghdad, scuttling hopes a widespread guerrilla insurgency might lose strength after the deaths of Saddam Hussein's elder sons.

Another U.S. soldier died and two others were wounded later in the afternoon when their convoy was attacked west of Baghdad near the Abu Ghraib prison.

The soldiers killed outside the hospital Saturday morning were part of the 4th Infantry Division, which came under grenade attack in Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Witnesses told an Associated Press photographer that the soldiers were guarding the hospital because some of their wounded comrades were being treated there.

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

US soldiers stand next to their colleague after he was killed in

another attack on a military convoy July 16, 2003 in Baghdad

(AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Maj. William Thurmond, a coalition military spokesman, said three of the injured soldiers were treated and returned to their unit, the fourth was evacuated to a military hospital.

In the second attack, about two hours later, an engineer unit attached to the 3rd Infantry Division was attacked with small arms and rocket propelled grenades, the U.S. military said. Two soldiers were evacuated to a combat hospital, where one died. A third was treated at the scene and returned to duty.

The violence marred an otherwise quiet day. (!!!!!!)

A number of explosions and bursts of gunfire were heard in the capital throughout the day, but there were no reports of casualties among U.S. troops. Guerrilla-style attacks on American forces have been averaging 12 a day, according to the military.

There were also reports that shots were fired along the main highway leading from the capital to the northern city of Mosul, where Odai and Qusai were killed in a gunbattle with American troops Tuesday.

In Baghdad's al-Shoala neighborhood, the commander of Iraq's national police academy, Brig. Ahmed Kadhim, was wounded while leading a raid on suspected hijackers about 1 a.m., police told The Associated Press.

Kadhim's assistant, Capt. Mushtak Fadhil, said five other officers also were wounded, one critically, when shots were fired as police confronted five suspects.

The hunt for Saddam intensified Friday with the arrests of 13 men believed to include some of his bodyguards in a raid near the former leader's hometown, Tikrit.

"We continue to tighten the noose," said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division.

(Comment: Odious Odierno back in the news again. B writes: “This time the 4th ID is hit. They use the same the-noose-is-tightening shit with bin Laden at Tora Bora, and where the fuck is he?”)

Humvee Blown Up

July 24, 2003 10:21 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. military vehicle blew up in a Baghdad street on Thursday, an amateur cameraman who filmed the smoldering wreckage told Reuters.
Local people said the explosion happened in the late afternoon in the capital's southern Dora district. The cameraman's film showed the still smoldering wreckage of what appeared to be a Humvee. U.S. soldiers cordoned the area and inspected the site.
There was no word on casualties but it seemed likely that no one traveling in the car could have escaped injury. A U.S. military spokesman said he was unaware of any incident.
It was not clear what caused the explosion. U.S. vehicles have fallen frequent victim in Iraq to improvised mines, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenade attacks.

Roll Call

Latest Fatality Date: 7/24/2003
07/25/03 Department of Defense
DOD IDENTIFIES 4 ARMY CASUALTIES FROM JULY 23RD & JULY 24TH
07/25/03 Department of Defense
DOD IDENTIFIES 4TH DEATH ON JULY 24TH: VEHICLE MAINTENANCE ACCIDENT
07/24/03 CENTCOM
3 US SOLDIERS KILLED IN CONVOY AMBUSH NEAR MOSUL ON JULY 24TH
07/23/03 CENTCOM
ONE SOLDIER KILLED, 7 WOUNDED: IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE NEAR MOSUL
07/23/03 CENTCOM
ONE SOLDIER KILLED, 2 WOUNDED: IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE AT AR RAMADI
07/23/03 British Ministry of Defense
BRITISH OFFICER COLLAPSES AND DIES IN SOUTHERN IRAQ, JULY 18TH

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Ambushes Grow More Sophisticated

July 25, 2003, By Vince Crawley, Army Times staff writer

Attacks against Americans in Iraq’s so-called Sunni Triangle have decreased over the past month but also have grown in sophistication, particularly in the use of remotely triggered bombs, the Army’s 4th Infantry Division commander said Friday.

“When we count the number of attacks … it’s been cut about 50 percent from June to July,” Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno told Pentagon reporters in a satellite news conference from his headquarters in Tikrit, Iraq.

However, the nature of those attacks has evolved, said Odierno, whose 27,000 soldiers patrol the hardcore Baathist enclave north of Baghdad.

“Some of them have become more sophisticated,” Odierno said of attacks against Americans. Specifically, attackers are making more effective use of what he called IEDs, or individual explosive devices. These are remotely triggered bombs which attackers have used against American convoys. They can be triggered by radio from 200 to 500 meters and by wire from up to 2 kilometers, he said.

However, such attacks are more widespread in other U.S. sectors outside his 4th Infantry Division area. Odierno said he has the impression that a small number of experts are traveling the countryside to help local attackers improve their ability in handling the remote bombs.

(This is not good news for the troops. In place of random pop-up attacks, fewer but more professionally staged ambushes indicate better planning and growing command-and-control capability.)

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Attacks a Constant Threat Along ‘Ambush Alley’

July 25, 2003, By D’arcy Doran, Associated Press

AMBUSH ALLEY, Iraq — A flash shattered the darkness and a bomb blew up in front of Sgt. First Class Mike Mizell’s tank. Within seconds, a rocket-propelled grenade whistled overhead.

“Driver, stop! Gunner, reverse to the left!” the 35-year-old tank commander from Orangeburg, S.C., shouted into his radio.

For commanders like Mizell, the attack along the dangerous Highway 1, dubbed “Ambush Alley,” wasn’t unexpected. The goal on this patrol, like many others, was to bait the enemy into attacking armored infantry units and draw them away from more vulnerable targets. (Old Vietnam tactic, and everybody knows how well that one turned out.)

“It’s as dangerous as hell,” 68th Armored’s commander Lt. Col. Aubrey Garner, 39, said. “But soldiers are willing to put themselves in danger to kill the enemy.”

(Unlike you, you worthless, loudmouth piece of shit. And they don’t “put themselves” anywhere. You give the orders putting your soldiers “in danger,” don’t you?. Why so shy about your tactic, staking them out like tethered goats to get killed? That’s your responsibility, isn’t it? That’s your fucking bright idea, while you sit on your fat ass safe in hq. giving out this shit-eating boast to the press. Clearly “the enemy” Lt. Col. Aubrey Garner refers to is Lt. Col. Aubrey Garner.)

The gunners sprayed machine gun tracer fire a line of palm and eucalyptus trees where the attacker took cover to fire the RPG. Two Apache helicopter gunships clattered in to chase down anyone running away. The other pair of tanks in Mizell’s patrol fired their machine guns toward the spot, guided by the initial tracer rounds. It was impossible to tell if any Iraqi fighters were killed or wounded. (And very wise not to go looking to try to find out.)

The road links the capital, Baghdad, with the volatile area to the north and west known as the “Sunni Triangle.”

The high number of attacks on the road forced the Army to move the 4th Infantry’s Third Brigade into the Balad area about 30 miles north of Baghdad in June.

“Every night, it’s knock on steel,” said Staff Sgt. David Gonzalez, 33, master gunner for the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment. Despite a month of regular enemy contact and a few close calls, no 3rd Brigade soldier has been killed by hostile fire. (Just hang on, Lt. Col. Aubrey will fix that deficiency.)

The attacks came earlier than usual this Wednesday night, about 11:20 p.m., just minutes after the tanks rolled onto the highway. After taking hits but no damage from homemade explosives and RPG fire, they circled back, hoping to draw the enemy out to attack them again.

A U.S. soldier from the 1st Armored Division walks at the site of the wreckage of U.S. Humvees in Baghdad, Iraq, July 21, 2003. A U.S. soldier and his Iraqi interpreter were killed and three soldiers were injured when a roadside bomb was detonated as their convoy passed. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Mizell’s tank was hit again less than an hour later.

“Contact! Contact!” Mizell called into his radio. “Engaging with direct fire! Yee ha!”

The Apaches overhead spotted two or three people running away, about two miles from the site of the initial attack. The attackers had rigged artillery shells to fire at the lead tank from the sides of the road.

Mizell’s tank drove off the road to chase the attackers into the trees, but lost their trail. They were picked up again by the Apache pilots.

The tanks sped off to the depot, but a room-to-room search yielded nothing. Before returning to base, the patrol blew up a stash of enemy artillery rounds spotted through night vision scopes.

Fifteen soldiers raided the depot again later Thursday looking for possible escape routes and found an anti-aircraft gun, sights for mortar launchers, three AK-47s and more than 1,300 rounds of ammunition buried in the area, said Lt. Phil Blanchard, from Pittsfield, Mass., who led the raid. The army also detained 10 men for questioning, he said.

“I always tell my wife, ‘The more we get attacked the closer we are to getting home,”’ Gonzalez said. (Actually, Staff Sgt., the more you get attacked, the closer you are to getting dead, but then you know that already, whatever you tell your wife.)

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IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Deaths of Saddam & Sons Will Strengthen Iraqi Resistance Against US Occupation

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Adnan Abu Odeh, a former advisor to Jordan's King Hussein and one of the region's real wise men, offers another scenario. He suggests the Iraqi people see themselves struggling against two enemies now: Saddam on the one hand, the American occupiers on the other. "Ironically, if Saddam is killed as well as his two sons," says Abu Odeh, "that will accelerate the process of seeing the Americans as the real enemy."