Three Dead in Four Days

“Following is the official list of American military personnel killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom as of 2:30 p.m. EDT Friday, July 11:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 39, of Spooner, Wis.

Army Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26, of Eagle Pass, Texas.

(Third death, possibly more, reported on CNN at 12:14, no link available yet)


-----------------------

Posted: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 23:45 AEST

Rumsfeld predicts violent summer for US troops


"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld predicts that US forces in Iraq face a violent summer and more deaths in attacks by militants loyal to ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

"I'm afraid we are going to have to expect this go on, and there is even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Baathist events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks," Mr Rumsfeld told NBC television's Meet the Press program."

---------------




---------------

CIA got uranium mention cut in Oct.

Why Bush cited it in Jan. is unclear

By Walter Pincus and Mike Allen
THE WASHINGTON POST

July 13 — CIA Director George J. Tenet successfully intervened with White House officials to have a reference to Iraq seeking uranium from Niger removed from a presidential speech last October, three months before a less specific reference to the same intelligence appeared in the State of the Union address, according to senior administration officials."”

““This was a war made in Washington, pushed by a handful of neoconservatives and pursued for reasons of U.S. foreign strategy and domestic politics,” Cook wrote in the London daily The Independent on Friday. Cook’s broadside coincided with new statements from anonymous British Cabinet members saying they now had very little expectation that any banned weapons would ever be found in Iraq.

MSNBC's take”

“Casualties Aside, War Costing 4 Billion a Month; Duration Unkown.

Rumsfield Expects Long Occupation: "How long were we in Germany? How long were we in Japan?"

------------------

"Rumsfeld said estimates he provided Congress last week that the occupation was costing $3.9 billion to $4 billion a month are based on current costs and cannot be projected into the future. He also rejected suggestions that the Iraqi occupation has evolved into a guerrilla conflict.

"We've been there less than 10 weeks, is that bogged down? How long were we in Germany? How long were we in Japan?" he said. "The president has said we are going to use as many forces as are necessary for as long as it takes."

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/6295712.htm”

“Good thing our economy is in such good shape to afford all this.”

“I just feel sorry for all the young men and women that are sacrificing their lives for this.

Do we really feel safer now?”

“This war is such a tax burden. We need more tax breaks to pay for this war.”

“Impeach the bastard!”

“Good Grief, is this all you folks can do?

We have heard it all...

"The US and Britain are going alone!" Wrong. The reality was that just about every nation except France, Germany and Belgium supported the war.

"Turkey won't allow the US to deploy troops, the lack of a pincer move will cost us the war."
Wrong

"We should have waited until the 4th Infantry Divsion could come in from the South." Wrong again

"We did not commit enough troops!"
Wrong

"The rush to Baghdad has left our flank exposed and we will be cut off."
Wrong

"The supply line is over extended and the front lines are running out of ammunition and food." Wrong

"The troops will be gases to death once they near Baghdad."
Wrong

"There will be bloody street fighting for years to come."
Wrong

"When President Bush told the nation, incorrectly, that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa, he did so despite being told by the CIA that it wasn't true.
Wrong again.

When are the liberals gonna get it right?”

“liberals bask in the glow of any bad news they can conjure up. their entire existance depends on peoples misery and suffering, and ultimately poeples dependance on liberals in exchange for their votes. it's a sad sack of $h!t

and they think americans will trust them with national security....



"Rough road behind. Rough road ahead. Bring it on. ...[T]he
prize we seek, at this time in history, is a way of life.
It's called freedom, liberty. Freedom is worth whatever it
takes." --Gen. Tommy Franks


"CentCom will continue to take
the fight to the enemy on his ground. ...[W]e will defeat these
terrorists who kill innocents." --Gen. John Abizaid”

“"The US and Britain are going alone!" Wrong. The reality was that just about every nation except France, Germany and Belgium supported the war.

Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. These were the original 30.

We eventually got Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Iceland, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Palau, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Uganda to join... On paper.

Now let's talk troops...

Afghanistan 0
Albania 0
Australia 2000
Azerbaijan 0
Bulgaria 150*
Colombia 0
Costa Rica 0
Czech Rep. 1 NBC* Team
Denmark 1 warship
Dom. Rep. 0
El Salvador 0
Eritrea 0
Estonia 0
Ethiopia 0
Georgia 0
Honduras 0
Hungary 0
Iceland 0
Italy 0
Japan 0
South Korea 0
Latvia 0
Lithuania 0
Macedonia 0
Micronesia 0
Netherlands 360*
Nicaragua 0
Palau 0
Philippines 0
Poland 0
Portugal 0
Romania 278*
Slovakia 0
Spain 1 medical ship
Solomon Isls. 0
Tonga 0
Turkey 0
Ukraine 500*
UK 45,000
Uzbekistan 0
USA 350,000
*denotes NBC experts in supporting role only


Looks a lot like the US and UK to me...

(source BBC news)”

“"Turkey won't allow the US to deploy troops, the lack of a pincer move will cost us the war."
Wrong

Personally, I'm unsure how many ground troops went in through Turkey, and I don't fee like looking it up. Anyone who said this would lose the war for us was being silly, though. I don't know that there was any doubt about our military superiority.”

“"We should have waited until the 4th Infantry Divsion could come in from the South." Wrong again

"We did not commit enough troops!"
Wrong

"The rush to Baghdad has left our flank exposed and we will be cut off."
Wrong

"The supply line is over extended and the front lines are running out of ammunition and food." Wrong


I never heard these arguments nor wold I have supported them if I did. I can't speak to them.”

“How many zero troops on that list.Let's send the whole state of Texas to fill the voids.But, on the other hand ,I'm sure they have their reasons---have FAITH.”

“You have myopic vision.

You can't refute the truth so you bring up another topic?

I thought we cleared up the 'not enough troops' arguement.

Apparently not.”

“Maybe Scott Ritter was the only troop we ever needed.”

“"The troops will be gases to death once they near Baghdad."
Wrong

I did hear this argument, and if I'd have bought into the lie that there were stockpiles of WMD in Iraq, it might have been a concern. There was an expose' just before the war, though, on how little training was being done on NBC contamination in the military at a time they really should have been concentrating on it - if they believed the WMD were there...

Whatever the case, I believe that if saddam had WMD, he would not have hesitated to use them on our troops.”

“"There will be bloody street fighting for years to come."
Wrong

Wrong? There is not bloody street fighting happening in Iraq today? Or you have some sort of crystal ball?”

“When President Bush told the nation, incorrectly, that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa, he did so despite being told by the CIA that it wasn't true.
Wrong again.


No. YOU'RE wrong. Read Tenet's "admission". Read past the first few lines.

Also, here's a link to a story from the Washington Post:

Link.”

“Does it matter?

I am dizzy from all of your spin.”

“'I don't know what I'm doing here in this city'

Sitting ducks for snipers' bullets, far from home and unable to contact their families, US troops in Iraq are finding their morale slipping away. Lee Gordon talks to servicemen and women for whom victory in the Gulf now has a hollow ring

13 July 2003


'We didn't win this war, not at all," said reserve infantryman Eric Holt, on guard outside the Republican Palace in Baghdad. "I don't know what I'm doing here and I don't like what's happening in this city," continued the 28-year-old from New York State. "It ain't right for the folks here. You know, there are a whole lot of our girls getting pregnant just so they can go home quick."

Morale among troops in the Iraqi capital has plunged, not least because of new orders that could see them there for a year instead of six months. Four soldiers have been shot by snipers or at close range near Baghdad University in the last seven days..."


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=424006”

“"We're still in a war," he said on one of two television appearances... Since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared that major hostilities had ended in Iraq..."

"Rumsfeld said it was still unclear whether the attacks in Iraq, many of them ambushes or sniper attacks, were nationally coordinated.

What is increasingly clear, he said, is that "it's coordinated in regions and areas - cities in the north particularly."


http://www.iht.com/articles/102694.html”

“Where are the WMD?


Oh wait, that's your line! What's wrong with me today?”

“I wonder if they checked Saddam's sock drawer.”

“"We did not commit enough troops!"
Wrong

- bacpac
05:20:05 PM
07/13/03


Rumsfeld Says Iraq May Need a Larger Force
By ERIC SCHMITT NY Times

WASHINGTON, July 13 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that the United States might need to send additional troops to Iraq to quell an increasingly well-organized guerrilla resistance, and warned that more American soldiers would die in attacks this summer.”

“well....violin posted it, so it's true....sorry BP, he burned you on that one man....[ eyeroll ]”

“Wow Phagdrus you gotta it all figured out.”

“I like seeing you guys squirm when you're unable to counter facts with anything other than name-calling and whining.

Keep it up!”

“Oh, and while you're at it, post some more of that fiction so we can refute it and watch you squirm even more!

You guys are the as fun as a chainsaw and a sack of wet poodles!”

“Who decides which stories are fact and which aren't?”