American Soldier Deaths back on the rise in Baghdad

Mortars Strike Baghdad Iraqi PrisonBy ROBERT H. REID
BAGHDAD (AP) — Mortar shells crashed into an Iraqi prison at a major government complex Monday, landing in a cellblock and killing at least five inmates. Elsewhere, an explosive fire erupted in a storage tank at Baghdad's only oil refinery, sending smoke and flames high above the capital.
The U.S. military said an "industrial accident" caused the fire at the Dora refinery in Baghdad. But the chief Iraqi military spokesman, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, told The Associated Press that a rocket struck a storage tank, triggering the blaze.
The attack on the prison was part of an increase in violent incidents throughout the city over the past few days, which have included mortar or rocket fire on the U.S.-controlled Green Zone.
Also Monday, a suicide car bomber killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two others in Salahuddin province, a mostly Sunni area north of Baghdad, the military said.
The recent attacks are nowhere near the level or intensity of those earlier this year. Still, they show why the U.S. military is concerned about the fragility of the relative calm which took hold in Baghdad over the last two months.
Full story and photos on AP

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Kurds become pawn for gas

By STEPHEN FARRELLPublished: December 9, 2007KIRKUK, Iraq — Even by the skewed standards of a country where millions are homeless or in exile, the squalor of the Kirkuk soccer stadium is a startling sight.
Michael Kamber for The New York TimesThe Kurdish authorities ordered people born in Kirkuk to move back there for a referendum on the city’s future. More than 2,000 of the displaced Kurds moved into the city’s soccer stadium.
A Kurdish woman and a girl bake bread at their makeshift home, a stadium in Kirkuk, Iraq. VideoMore Video » On the outskirts of a city adjoining some of Iraq’s most lucrative oil reserves, a rivulet of urine flows past the entrance to the barren playing field.
There are no spectators, only 2,200 Kurdish squatters who have converted the dugouts, stands and parking lot into a refugee city of cinder-block hovels covered in Kurdish political graffiti, some for President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
These homeless Kurds are here not ....more from NY Times

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Soldier from Minnesota Dies in Iraq

Minnesota Soldier Dies in Iraq
by Sea Stachura
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Day to Day, December 7, 2007 · The family and friends of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John Tobiason are in mourning this week.
Tobiason died Nov. 28 in Baghdad of injuries from an incident that is under investigation. A 14-year veteran of the military, he was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.
The 42-year-old had built a life in the small town of Hayfield, Minn., where he decorated his home with American flags and was an active member of the American Legion. Friends said he was kind-hearted and very patriotic.
Tobiason was buried on Thursday.
Sea Stachura reports for Minnesota Public Radio in Saint Paul, Minn.

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Photojournalism - Images of the Year 2007

WINNER: Kamber's photo of a wounded soldier being evacuated in Latifiyah, Iraq, 2007. Click photo for more images from the competition.

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VEHICLE EXPLOSION KILLS U.S. SOLDIER IN BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD: A U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicle explosion during a recovery operation west of Baghdad, the military said Tuesday.
The soldier died of injuries sustained in the blast Monday during a vehicle recovery operation in Anbar province, a former insurgent stronghold that has seen a recent drop in violence, according to a statement.
Two other service members were wounded and transported to a U.S. military medical facility for treatment, it said.
The brief statement gave no further details, saying the incident was under investigation.
The death raised to at least 3,883 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

American Soldier AWOL in Canada

American finds hope in NDP MP Libby Davies' lobbying efforts
Andy Ivens, The ProvincePublished: Monday, December 03, 2007
Uncle Sam wants Brad McCall.
The U.S. Army wants the AWOL private from Kentucky to go to Iraq to fight George W. Bush's "war on terror," but McCall's conscience won't allow it.
He applied to be a conscientious objector, but as his date to ship out approached, McCall realized that, like many other "COs," he'd be in the war zone before a decision came down.

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Army’s program designed to honor Soldiers and give them opportunities to thank the Americans

Every day, Soldiers fighting the Global War on Terrorism risk their lives in operations that help secure the freedom of all American people. Whether they are veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, there is only one operation that matters when they return home: Operation Tribute to Freedom (OTF) – the Army’s program designed to honor Soldiers and give them opportunities to thank the American people for their support.
Just as Soldiers vow to never leave a fallen comrade, Operation Tribute to Freedom refuses to leave a Soldier’s story untold. By working with Army Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) around the country, OTF identifies ongoing media, speaking, and recognition opportunities to ensure that homecomings last longer than one day and that American Soldiers stay connected with the American public.
The OTF Homecoming Support Service, Soldier News Service, and Speaker and Recognition Services provide resources and opportunities that enable PAOs and event coordinators to help Soldiers tell their stories. No audience is too big or too small. Your support of Operation Tribute to Freedom will help the American people better understand the Global War on Terrorism -- one Soldier’s story at a time.

Visit OTF Website

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Should we torture our enemy to save the life of an American Soldier?

My son recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is fine. Thank God! This week, I asked myself the following question: If through some divine revelation I found out that an American soldier had tortured an enemy combatant and extracted information that had saved my son's life or kept him from being wounded, what would be my reaction? The answer is that I would find the soldier that had inflicted the torture and thank him or her from the bottom of my heart.

I have already outlived my first child and do not want to outlive another!

My son spent all of 2005 in Iraq. In January, he was already there. By February, I realized that every man and woman in uniform was my son or daughter! I agonize each time one is wounded or killed. Ever since World War II, the U.S. has been obsessed with being politically correct. The American people and the American politicians should realize you cannot fight a politically-correct war and win. When you go to war it means that all the talk, threats, diplomacy and sanctions have failed. The civilized rules are out of the window. You cannot kill someone nicely.
The only "Rules of Engagement" should be to win - win as soon as possible, in the shortest time possible, with the fewest injuries and deaths of American soldiers. We owe that to our troops. They are our sons and daughters.

Doug Daniel Lafayette

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So called "Church Members" attempt to spread Hate of Amerian Soldiers

By CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 News
Westboro Church members try to preach their hatred of gays and the military at a memorial service for Sgt. First Class Johnny Walls. PORT ORCHARD, Wash. – Members from a controversial Kansas church were in Western Washington Friday. They tried to disrupt a memorial service for a Bremerton soldier who was killed in combat. But counter-protestors kept them at bay.
A war of words erupted on a Port Orchard street Friday afternoon as five members of the Westboro Church preached their hatred of gays and the U.S. military. They shouted insults and carried signs.
A couple hundred counter protestors shouted down the church members – including one child – who were escorted by sheriff's deputies.
The church members say God is killing soldiers in retaliation for America's tolerance of homosexuality. They have appeared at military funerals across the country, and Friday, they were a block away from a memorial service for Sgt. First Class Johnny Walls.

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