The top American commander in Iraq has decided to move reserve troops now deployed in Kuwait into the volatile Anbar Province in western Iraq to help quell a rise in insurgent attacks there, two American officials said Monday.
Although some soldiers from the 3,500-member brigade in Kuwait have moved into Iraq in recent months, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. has decided to send in the remainder of the unit after consultations with Iraqi officials in recent days, the officials said.
The confirmation that the number of American forces in Iraq would grow came on a day of soaring violence in Baghdad. Two Britons working as members of a CBS News television crew were killed on Monday and an American correspondent for the network was critically wounded when a military patrol they were accompanying was hit by a roadside bomb.
The above is from David S. Cloud's "U.S. Is Sending Reserve Troops to Iraq's West" in the New York Times this morning. (For more on the journalists, see the links in yesterday's entry.) The increasingly useless John F. Burns attempts to come roaring to life this morning. His heart may be pumping but the brain's stuck which is why he offers this:
The police said at least 31 other people were killed in bombings and shootings in one of the worst days of bloodshed in the capital for weeks.
31? (Plus the two British employees of CBS News.) Already those who read yesterday's second post are saying, "What!" But hold on. Here's more from Burns:
*The Iraqi police said the attack that killed the CBS crewmen was only one of a sequence of at least eight bombings which, together with a series of drive-by shootings, killed at least 33 people and wounded dozens of others, a fresh surge in violence that has brought hundreds of deaths in the capital in recent weeks.
31+2=33. So far Burnsie supports himself. Hold on until you read the next excerpt:
*At least 25 other people were killed in bombing and shooting attacks elsewhere in the country, including 10 Iraqis working at a camp for members of an exiled Iranian Communist group who died shortly after dawn when a roadside bomb hit their minivan near Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
25 more? Does he mean on Monday? If so that would raise the total.
Let's note the AFP article we noted yesterday:
At least 52 people were killed in a bloody explosion of violence across Iraq on Monday, including a spate of bombings against buses carrying people to work.
At least 52. That's AFP, reporting yesterday on Monday in Iraq. Someone else figure out Burnsie's counting and math.
But we'll note, it only took the deaths of two British and the wounding of one American to get Burnsie all riled up. It's a shame when you consider he's in charge of the Iraqi reports, a shame because Iraqis die day after day, every day and they're left faceless for the most part (even when other outlets report details about them -- or in the case of a child who turned up as one of many corpses discovered recently -or about them and their families. (Remember, he brags of catering his coverage to American tax payers).
(Erika notes that Kimberly Dozier doesn't get a great deal of play in the article, before adding, "But when do women ever in John Burns's reporting?" Agreed.)
Picking up on the deaths that followed the traffic incident in Afghanistan (noted at all community sites on Monday morning), Carlotta Gall's "Anti-U.S. Rioting Erupts in Kabul; at Least 14 Dead" adds this:
But the crash tapped into a latent resentment of the American military presence here, and violence radiated quickly through the city as rumors circulated that the crash might have been deliberate. Gunfire rang out as Afghan police officers and army soldiers tried to contain rioters who rampaged through the streets for about six hours, burning and looting a dozen offices, cars and police posts. By the end of the day at least 14 people were dead and more than 90 injured, hospital officials said. It was the bloodiest day in the capital since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
Remember to listen, watch or read (transcripts) Democracy Now! today. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the new york times
david s. cloud
carlotta gall
