Staying The Course

The butcher’s bill for Tuesday, October 24th in Iraq:

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier missing on Monday was kidnapped by gunmen while visiting a relative’s house in Baghdad outside the fortified Green Zone compound, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

FALLUJA – A sailor attached to the U.S. Marines in Anbar Province in western Iraq was killed by enemy action on Monday, the military said. The force in Falluja includes Navy medics.

BAGHDAD – A carbomb killed two people and wounded 11 in the Hurriya district of northwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died on Tuesday from wounds when his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, the military said.

FALLUJA – U.S. troops pulled over a fire truck and killed four Iraqi firefighters in a case of mistaken identity on Monday after a report that a fire truck had been hijacked in western Falluja, the military said. The firefighters, who U.S. troops first believed were armed insurgents, were responding to a call.

BAGHDAD – Clashes erupted between gunmen and police in Baghdad’s southern Zaafaraniya district, killing two civilians and wounding eight others, police and an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD – A bomb inside an ice-cream shop killed one person and wounded seven others in Baghdad’s central Sadriya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

KIRKUK – Two roadside bombs exploded in quick succession in the northern oil city of Kirkuk. The first targeted the police deputy chief and wounded one of his security guards. The second exploded near a police station, wounding two policemen and two civilians, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE – Two U.S. Marines were killed on Monday due to enemy action in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

KIRKUK – A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed two soldiers and wounded another one in central Kirkuk, police said.

Monday’s butcher’s bill:

*HADITHA – About 70 residents demonstrate to demand release of local Imam detained by Iraqi soldiers on Monday in connection with insurgent activity.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier was reported missing in Baghdad on Monday, the military said.

AMARA – Gunmen dragged two police lieutenants from their homes and dumped their bodies on the city’s outskirts hours before a curfew went into effect, a local councillor said.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died on Sunday night when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb southeast of the capital.

BALAD – One Iraqi soldier was killed and four wounded in clashes between the Iraqi army and gunmen near Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAIJI – One policeman was killed in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BALAD – A mortar wounded three people in Balad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol north of Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded five, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE – A U.S. Marine died in combat on Saturday, the U.S. military said on Monday.

BAGHDAD – Eight bodies with gunshot wounds in the head, some of them bound, were found in different districts of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD – Gunmen killed four policemen from the Facility Protection Services (FPS) in al-Fadhil district in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. FPS protects the country’s infrastructure.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four others, including two civilians, in Baghdad’s western Ghazaliya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD – A car bomb killed a civilian and wounded 13 others near Beirut square in northeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed three and wounded 13 others, both police and civilians, near the shrine of a Sunni cleric in central Baghdad, police said.

AMARA – The Iraqi government imposed a curfew in the tense southern town of Amara after clashes between Shi’ite militia and police.

BALAD – The U.S. military said its forces killed five suspected insurgents, including four who were in a building that was destroyed in an airstrike south of Balad.

BAGHDAD – A civilian contractor working as an international police liaison officer was killed and four U.S. soldiers were wounded on Sunday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in east Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died on Sunday when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier was killed on Sunday by small arms fire while on patrol southwest of Baghdad, the military said on Monday.

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military said a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and two other soldiers were killed by small arms fire in the capital on Sunday.

If you follow these reports daily, as I do, the amount of violence is absolutely numbing. You can also check out this piece on the situation in Iraq.

In Hurriyah, a neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad, sectarian violence has been hard to fight because the area is controlled by the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Members of al-Sadr’s militia have targeted prominent families — Sunnis and Shiites — and taken over their businesses and offices, Nelson said. Mahdi Army members have also infiltrated the local police.

“They’ve infiltrated every branch of public service and every political office they could get their hands on,” Nelson said. “As soon as the U.S. leaves, they’ll be able to dominate the area with key citizens, key positions, key offices. They’ll pretty much have the lay of the land.”

“To fight these extrajudicial killings effectively, we need to be embedded, almost one to one, with the Iraqi security forces,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Nelson, an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, based in Baghdad. “We need to watch their every move.”

What that means is a one on one backalley slugfest betwen US Troops, mildly loyal Iraqi regulars and radical sects of Sunnis and Shiites. This will take years to sort out as the troops strength isn’t there and never will be for such a battle.

Are you still voting for “Stay The Course“?