BAGHDAD, Oct. 26, 2006
U.S. Casualties In Iraq Hit One-Year High
5 U.S. Troops Die In Ramadi, Bringing October Total To 96; Clashes Between Iraqi Police And Militia Kill 30
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Play CBS Video Video Some Encourging News In Iraq A top U.S. commander says violence in Iraq has lessened. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says he's not satisfied with Iraqi forces' progress and plans to hike their budget. Aleen Sirgany reports.
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Video Fear And Loss Americans sometimes need reminders that the casualties in Iraq are real people, not just numbers. National correspondent Byron Pitts spent the day with one grieving family.
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Video Protesters Denounce Iraq PM Iraq's Prime Minister faces opposition inside his own country after a U.S. military incursion in Sadr City. Chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan has more.
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Relatives cry by the body of a policeman in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Oct. 26, 2006. The policeman was one of five killed in clashes pitting Iraqi security forces against gunmen of the Mahdi Army militia, who are loyal to fiery anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. (AP)
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172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers man a checkpoint in central Baghdad's Karradah district, Oct. 26, 2006. U.S. and Iraqi forces threw a security cordon around Karradah on Monday night and continued door-to-door searches through Thursday in search for missing officer of Iraqi descent. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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A man waits for his car to be inspected at a checkpoint, manned by the172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, entering Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Oct. 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, speaks to the media at a news conference on Oct. 25, 2006, in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Wathiq Khuzaie)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Who's Who Iraq Insurgency More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
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Interactive Attacks Map Details on the insurgency and terrorism that has continued to take lives since the fall of Saddam.
The U.S. military spokesman, meanwhile, said the capital's spiraling murder rate had eased since the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan early this week — possibly because of the massive deployment of U.S. troops searching for a missing soldier.
Police in Baqouba said at least 42 people were injured in the fighting there, while in Najaf, south of Baghdad, authorities temporarily closed Iraq's holiest Shiite shrine after receiving a tip that suicide bombers wearing explosives belts had infiltrated city.
The military released news of five new American deaths, those of a Navy sailor and four Marines, all of whom died in fighting Wednesday in the volatile Anbar province, west of Baghdad and a hotbed of the Sunni resistance to U.S. forces and their Iraqi government allies.
At least 96 U.S. troops have died so far this month, equaling the level for the whole of October 2005 — a factor in rising anti-war sentiment in the United States that has prompted calls for President Bush to change strategy.
Mr. Bush says he is dissatisfied with the way the war is going in Iraq, but he does not want the United States to pull out the troops or set timetables for withdrawal.
In related developments:
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- observantX well spoken
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- So Herr Rumsfeld wants me to "Back off"?
Rummy: You clueless dolt! You can take your "Back off" and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. YOU are supposed to be working for ME. And as far as I can see you have totally mucked up the entire job. You are responsible for thousands of needless American deaths and loss of limbs, eyes, and scorched skin because of your total incompetence, lack of coherent planning and arrogance.
I'll back off , maybe, after you do the right thing and resign. - Reply to this comment
- I think we are totally leaderless. Dubya, Chaney, Rummy and our legislative branch are completely clueless. We should probably blame ourselves as we elected all of them. We need to get people back in the voting booth and voting for whats right, not what they force feed us in the media.
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- "Heck of a Job Rummy", Stay the Course, He has performed all his jobs to my satisfaction".
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- Rumsfeld%u2019s head and hind end have been interchanged so much he does not know which end is doing the talking.
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- I hope people take note of Rumsfeld's assinine comments today, particularly, that the Iraqi troops need more training and more dollars. Unfortunately, a lot of that cash will get funneled back into the insurgency.
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- STEP BACK FROM FEAR!
We in America need to pull back from this Frenzy of Fear that has spellbound us since September 11, 2001. I am not saying to let down our guard or not be prudent with our Law enforcement, Intelligence agencies or Military as their constant job is to protect the American people and they do it well. Rationally speaking it is more likely that a person will be killed in a car accident on the way to get milk than killed by a Terrorist in America. Hispanics coming across our border for work are not the terrorist or the enemy. Unfair trade practices initiated by our government are the cause of our jobs leaving and the demise of the Middle Class in America not some Terrorist plot. Political Parties have been using fear in an attempt to maintain power in this country. Americans do the math you are more likely to do yourself bodily harm than to be harmed by a Terrorist. America is a Land of Opportunity and hopes where people live in Freedom. America is not a land were people will be governed by Fear.
Michael C. Boetjer
Captain U. S. Army
Double Blue Star Father - Reply to this comment
- I had already stated that I was going to vote for the democrat candiate in the Nov.7th. election.Some interesting reading can be found in the latest edition of Time magazine on ways for us to bring our troops home and bring a measure of stability to Iraq.The author is not an ex military commander but he still makes some valid points.Many of which I have already suggested and many more that I have not.Here is the link http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1549305,00.html
I still beleive that we have an obligation to try to salvage what we can.Look at this way if the police(U.S.) broke into your house,destroyed the major infractsture of it and killed some of your family based on false information. Would you not want redress?Would you not feel that you were owed redress?Make no mistake I am not advocating stay the course nor am I defending the premise in which we went to war.I have read far to much before the war and after to justify it.I cannot justify the invasion.There is a credible reality though that if we leave Iraq without some form of stabilty that the region will become worse.Read the entire N.I.E. report that is available.I am neither a hawk nor a pacifist just a realist.Once again I will tell you that if the democratic party sweeps both houses,there is no plan to cut and run.There are options that are being discussed on how to stabilize Iraq and bring our soldiers home.It will not happen overnight but the options and strategies are better than the current policy. - Reply to this comment
- Not to worry, Bush recently said,
he "understood how tough the Iraq battle is."
"Nuff said............ - Reply to this comment
- emhawks
I can agree with everything you said except that 9/11 was an inside job.No matter how bad an American may be,he or she won't let so many Americans get killed for his or her financial interest.I know these days some women divorce their husbands for making money on the name of alimony and child support and some hubands kill their wives for making mony on the name of Life Insurance policies but my mind doesnt want to accept that killing of thousands of Americans could be an inside job.You also had said that Bush amn.is capable of anything.I also disagree with that.Majority of Bush admn. people are Neo cons religious bigots who don't wannna use their common sense at all and want to make the US forieng policies on the basis of religious prophecies.I think most of em don't have any idea of Middle East politics or cultures.IGNORANCE and ARROGANCE are the main problems of this admn. - Reply to this comment
- Many of you have made some excellent points about Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, war profiteering & oil. That's what the Iraq war is all about. The Bush adm. could care less about democracy in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, protecting the American people from terrorists or how many soldiers are being killed / maimed in Afganistan/Iraq.
I think the Bush adm. is capable of anything & I think they have proven this by their actions. I believe if they had wanted to capture bin Laden, they would have done so by now. I also believe that 911 was an inside job & I think history will prove this to be true. The 911 investigation should be re-opened. The Middle East terrorists are murderous fanatics.
The real terrorists are in the White House. - Reply to this comment
- rsoxfan1123
Thanks for understanding and appreciating this point.I just raised this point as a lesson for the future.We should think a lot before getting emotional and doing something which our enemy wants us to do.Our enemies look like goat handlers,cave men but actually they are not that dumb.Whereas unfortunately,some of our leaders who wear nice BUSINESS SUITE act so dumb,they screw they whole nation. - Reply to this comment
- patriotic9- good point. I thought the same thing myself. by saying "oh no, don't vote for Bush..." he's practicaly guaranteeing we will. bin Laden wanted us running around Iraq.
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- diamtool
"Al Queda and the insurgents love the neo cons"
You are absolutely right about that.If we remember,2 days before the last Presidential Election,Bin Laden had released a video tape in which he was talking against President Bush.It was very obvious when the worst enemy of USA was talking against President Bush,American people were supposed to vote Bush which Bin Laden actually wanted.He played with our psychology and we got trapped,now our whole nation is paying the ultmiate price. - Reply to this comment
- For the record: My grandfather left portions of his right leg and hip in France in 1918 and earned a Purple Heart for it. Two of my nephews were marines in Viet Nam, one of them serving two tours. Neither of them talks of this experience to this day. My youngest nehpew was in Air Force Intelligence reading aerial reconaissance photos during the Gulf War. One of my best friends in college left most of his right leg behind during the Tet offensive; he didn't talk much about it. I never served, but I have empathy for all of those who have. The Bushies who misled us into Iraq have no clue what military families go through.
We, the USA, put Saddam Hussein in power in the first place; when he outlived his usefulness to us, King Dubya decided to take him out. Now Saddam's successor, Moqtada al-Sadr, has taken hold and what are we doing to stop him? Nothing. Zip. Nada. The time is long past for us to put this Iraqi misadventure behind us, protect the homeland AT HOME, and let the Middle East take care of its own problems.
Oh, wait, there are huge oil reserves in Iraq. Silly me...what was I thinking? - Reply to this comment
- peterbaldwin- yes, Halliburton was indicted for war profiteering during the Viet Nam war. This Texas based have turned HUGE profits in both Iraq and Viet Nam under Johnson and Bush (texas presidents). As a matter of fact, Cheney was CEO of Halliburton.
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- Ike warned us about the "military-industrial complex". Maybe this war is about nothing more than feeding that avaracious beast. Haliburtin was around sidling up to the trough during Vietnam, too. The French told us point black after Dien Bien Phu: Stay the f... out of this s...hole!" The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution? Same story - different war.
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- diamtool-excellent points. maybe the goal never was to win this war. maybe the extreme right is not as stupid as they appear, and are aware of these things. Maybe, just maybe, the goal was to get as much profit out of Iraq for as long as possible (which is until Bush gets out of office) for certain groups, esp. halliburton and specific investors and contriburots to this administration.
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- I don't know if splitting Iraq into three parts will solve the problem or result in more or less bloodshed. I do think it's a less ridiculous idea than the policy we've got in place now. It's pretty clear that the Kurds want nothing to do with the rest of Iraq, and the sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni speak to the fact that those groups are irreconcilable.
Split them up. If they fight, they fight. What we have now is a failure of monstrous proportions. - Reply to this comment
Remember the Great Russian Bear left Afghanistan in 1989 with his tail between his legs after getting bled and beat up for years. The puppet government they propped up lasted a few months. And this was almost on Russia's border. The same thing happened to the Brits in Mesopotamia in 1918-1920. That area is now called Iraq. These were both superpowers of their time.
The right wing nutjobs must have studied bible prophecy and skipped all of their history classes. Now our brave kids are doomed to repeat it.
God Bless our Troops
God forgive George Bush- Reply to this comment
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