Ten U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Tuesday, one of the bloodiest days of the war for American forces outside of major combat operations.
The toll included four soldiers killed by a single bomb in Baghdad, and another soldier killed by small-arms fire in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said.
North of Baghdad, a soldier was killed when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device, the military said.
Three soldiers died in the northern province of Diyala and one Marine in the western province of Anbar. The U.S. military gave no details of those deaths, saying only that they came in "enemy action.''
The above is from Ellen Knickmeyer's "Violence in Iraq Kills 10 U.S. Soldiers" (Washington Post). This is the eighteenth day of October and the US military fatality count for the month stands at 69. 2782 is the number of American troops who have died in Iraq since the illegal war began.
In Balad, what passes for 'calm' includes this from Borzou Daragahi's "Troops Try to Curb Warfare North of Baghdad" (Los Angeles Times):
Thirteen carloads of Shiites from the town of Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, were reported Tuesday to have been kidnapped the previous night. Their fate was unknown.
U.S. military officials tallied at least 63 killed in fighting between Shiite and Sunni villagers around Balad since Saturday. Witnesses and police gave higher estimates of fatalities. The violence has been notable for its character of open warfare and its overtly sectarian targeting.
And Lori zeroes in on this section of Mike Whitney's "America's Other War Party" (CounterPunch):
One small footnote: Prensa Latina News Agency reports that "Luis D. Elia, Undersecretary for the Social Habitat in the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, issued a memo in which he spoke of the purchase by Bush of a 98,842 acre farm in Northern Paraguay, between Brazil and Bolivia". (Oct 13)
Bush bought a 100,000 acre ranch in Paraguay!?!
Paraguay? Well war criminals have always found a haven there, Bully Boy should feel right at home.
Yes, there are Blogger/Blogspot problems this morning. There is a second post planned but that's dependent on this one ever posting.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
the washington post
ellen knickmeyer
mike whitney
the los angeles times
borzou daragahi