Roadside Bomb In Iraq Kills 3 Americans

U.S. Soldier, State Department Official And Civilian Contractor Dead In Fallujah

(CBS/AP)  Three Americans, including a State Department employee, were killed by a roadside bomb that struck a convoy in Iraq's western Anbar province, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The blast killed a U.S. soldier, a State Department official and a civilian contractor working for the Defense Department as their convoy headed through Fallujah to a nearby construction site on Monday, the military said. Two others were wounded.

The Associated Press reports that Terry Barnich, deputy director for the Iraq Transition Assistance Office, was the State Department official killed.

Barnich, 56, was a former Illinois Commerce Commission chairman and also had worked as chief counsel to former Gov. Jim Thompson.

Barnich's sister, Rochelle Barnich, described her brother as a person with a great sense of humor who had great pride in his country and had been interesting in politics since they were children.

Like many cities in Iraq, there are a number of U.S.-funded or backed reconstruction projects, many of them aimed at improving essential services as well as promoting businesses.

American military and government officials see the projects as essential to helping maintain security gains in the region. Some of the projects are overseen by provisional reconstruction teams, a joint U.S. civil-military office, and others are overseen by the State Department's U.S. Agency for International Development.

Insurgents once held sway over Anbar, which was the scene of some of the deadliest fighting of the war. But violence fell off dramatically after Sunni fighters turned on al Qaeda in Iraq and joined U.S. forces in what has become known in Iraq as "the Awakening."

Insurgents, though, have continued to sporadically target American and Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, where four Blackwater employees were ambushed in 2004 by insurgents and their remains strung from a bridge.

The U.S. military has withdrawn from most of the cities in the vast Anbar province, including Fallujah.

The military said the identities were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

As of Monday, May 25, 2009, at least 4,301 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,443 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

[hoseobama]

yeah not too bad considering Barry was willing to throw the whole country away.

OH, Don't do the surge, it will fail !




From the way I hear it, it is safer to be in Iraq right now than the state of Illinois, given the murder rate in Illinois. There were only 752 murders in Illinois last year compared to the 215 US dead in Iraq.

Phew. Folks - that means that Illinois is worse than a WAR zone.

But do we hear about that - NOOoooooooo. That would make Barry look like a loser.

You liberals are all freaks of nature !

[ibsteve2u]

Terry Barnich?

A surprise, that...that a person who swam in the depths of the Republican cesspool with the likes of "Big Jim Thompson" - the guy who came up with the idea of testing for the correct ideology before hiring for civil service positions - would actually have the guts to go to Iraq to work sans circling Black Hawks and their very own, dedicated company-level protective force.

Verrrryyy unusual...most of the righties talk war, rebuilding, and "spreading democracy", but they don't actually participate. If more of 'em had the courage, they wouldn't be so eager to start wars for profit.

[batchitcrazy]

actually, he said exactly that. And if you'll note the date he said it, you'll also note that he's way behind schedule. ....................

Obama calls for the immediate withdrawal of US combat troops from 12 September 2007 ....................
Posted by jgg00000008 at 9:04 AM : May 26, 2009
--------------------------------
That was Senator Obamas opinion in 2007. You must be very uninformed to think that a senator has the power to override the entire US government and pull the troops out of Iraq.

[hermitdave]

May the relatives of these 3 dead Americans forever get FREE GAS from EXXON. Courtesy of Uncle Dick Cheney and Crusader George.

[mysteriousjz]

These three lives are being mourned and valued so high that it is evident that loss of over 1 million Iraqi and Afghani people is considered miniscule. Murdering so many people in their own indigenous lands is surely calling for "defensive attacks" against the agressors. You just have to be little bit of intelligent and smart to understand that.

[Livinontheedge]

"If I am elected President, I will withdraw from Iraq immediately. Not a year from now. Not six months from now. Today!"
--> Barrack Obama

Obama lied and more soldiers have died.
Posted by indivthinker
=======================================
Obama never evr said any such thing. He gave a 16 month timeline and it is far from 16 months yet.

[Livinontheedge]

Cheney and Bush havn't been in office for a 1/2 of a year now, and North Korea is launching missiles and conducting nuclear tests. And now another 3 citizens won't be coming home, and you think I want to read about Wall Street again, the bailouts were a mistake and all of the pseudo inflated money is gone in a world where there wern't any bailouts and the DOW is now at 4000.
Posted by spaceatoms
=======================================
Don't know where you are living or what news you are listening to but the Dow has never been at 4000 since the late 70"s early 80's. If Bush had upheld his end of the agreement the Un chartered with Nk they would have disposed of their nukes and would not be launching missiles right and left and setting off underground tests.

[indivthinker]

"If I am elected President, I will withdraw from Iraq immediately. Not a year from now. Not six months from now. Today!"
--> Barrack Obama

Obama lied and more soldiers have died.

[Livinontheedge]

They will name the state dept. man killed but not the soldiers. Seems CBS is still in bush era mode and ignoring our troops that give their lives in this illegal war.

[spaceatoms]

Cheney and Bush havn't been in office for a 1/2 of a year now, and North Korea is launching missiles and conducting nuclear tests. And now another 3 citizens won't be coming home, and you think I want to read about Wall Street again, the bailouts were a mistake and all of the pseudo inflated money is gone in a world where there wern't any bailouts and the DOW is now at 4000.

[iam4honesty]

More blood on the hands of Cheney and Bush.

Arrest - convict - execute!!!!

[ajjaxtheleast]

An American contracter on his way to the
construction site with visions of whipping workers
into more production dancing in his head,,,,

Not an AMERICAN CONTRACTER!!!,,,,

How eeviiiile can these terrorists be???