Staff Sgt. Robert Simonovich, with wounds to the face and eardrum, was comforted after an attack.
The mission the USA is on a chaotic and dangerous path. As noted on this blog last week in "The Army Times" (click here) the mission the military is on is completely unclear. The generals are taking credit for a 'new type of soldier.' A soldier that 'takes risks' with no guarantee of outcome. One where a diplomatic solution accompanies loyalty with a USA military unit standing among locals seeking better militarization from the radicals they currently have providing their security.
Iraq from the beginning was destined to divide into provinces, but, at the beginning it was destined to divide into enclaves of 'security/power' whereby 'law and order' forces took control and conducted business. Warlord enclaves if you will. Refugee enclaves. People already living in an area but rather than a government there were factional units and militias to provide a semblance of order. That still exists today and the Bush initiatives are simply killing those that feel they can hold their ground while calling it progress. The 'idea' behind the Bush initiative is to provide a 'central authority/Unity government' called Iraq. With that the USA can secure it's oil and gas interests and conduct business. It is to that end, the USA military on the ground in Iraq is simply 'turned loose' to 'find a way.' As a result there is a larger death toll on all sides of this mess.
Our soldiers are not acting in secure parimeters or within conventional parameters. What happened in An Albar was destined to happen. The wealthy left the country and the people remaining allied with whomever could protect them and if that meant fighting the American troops than that is what that meant. They fear for their religion and they don't necessarily have access to communication other than what can be shouted down the street. Not in a war torn nation with bombs going off ten times a day. There is no way one border of Iraq knows what the other one is doing without 'Pony Express' if you will.
So, given the anarchy and chaos that still is Iraq, the USA military generals have literally thrown up their hands in disgust and called it a strategy to defeat insurgents. In that strategy is an element of anarchy in that the soldiers are their commanders by making 'arrangements' with the locals to stop the killing they are experiencing and substitute their units instead of other paramilitary already in the country. The ONLY 'condition' is that 'at the time' the warlords/community/shieks say they will align with the Unity Government.
After all the fighting is done and the community is secure by American forces these enclaves of ethnicity and alliance are left as they were before without any formal Iraq government assistance. They are left to recruit the same folks that were their militias into being Iraqi police and soldiers. This 'game' is simply a way of getting their needs met. It doesn't change any of their reality, but, simply changes uniforms. The Bush initiative is a faux front of authority with the soldiers assigned to 'plan as you go' strategies designed to bring the locals to 'their side' and not the alliance of extremist paramilitary. Simply put, it's a vicious cycle of which there is no victory so much as survival.
U.S. troops raid safehouses but don't find 3 missing (click here)
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press Writer May 21, 2007
BAGHDAD --U.S. soldiers raided suspected safehouses near the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Monday in their search for three captured comrades, including one from Massachusetts, but found them empty after the militants apparently were tipped off and fled, a military spokesman said.
It was the latest in a series of frustrations for exhausted U.S. troops hunting for any sign of the trio missing since a May 12 assault on an outpost by insurgents linked to al-Qaida. Four other Americans and an Iraqi soldier died in the attack. Spec. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., is among the missing.
Maj. Webster Wright, a spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, said 27 airborne operations had been staged during the widespread search the last nine days, dropping off soldiers to gain the element of surprise and avoid bomb-studded roads.
"It's very quick, it's very sudden," he said. "You can come from any different angle and drop down on a house without being pinned to the roads."
But he said the insurgents were catching on to U.S. tactics and had fled ahead of raids near the river Monday.
Imagine being the family of the missing.
US has body found in river but no ID so far (click here)
Associated Press - May 23, 2007 7:43 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AP) - The US military has taken custody of a body found in a river south of Baghdad today but has not determined if it is that of a missing American soldier.
Major General William Caldwell, the chief US spokesman, confirmed at a news conference today that Iraqi officials recovered the body of a man they think may be 1 of the three missing US soldiers. But he says the body has not been positively identified.
Thousands of US and Iraqi troops have been searching for the three Americans since they were ambushed a week and a-half ago in a town south of Baghdad. Four other US soldiers and their interpreter were killed.
General Caldwell says it the body is 1 of the missing Americans, his family will of course be notified before there's any public announcement.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
We don't belong in Iraq.
We never did.
We have seen this before. The USA miltiary/Iraqi military start an initiative of some kind and the paramilitary forces leave the area only to return later and/or return to kill the invading military aligned with the Unity Government. The Unity Government has no military or police that are reliable and trustworthy of their own.
The Bush Surge is a complete failure and it is the obligation of the generals to stand up to their commander and chief and stop playing games with our soldiers lives !!!
