Title: Mcgowanjm Wire 2012 Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Feb 26, 2012 Author:Various Post Date:2012-02-26 09:15:13 by A K A Stone Keywords:None Views:1370222 Comments:2390
So is he going to be our new National Wire Service????
Don't know. This is all news to me....8D
The Taliban, who have claimed responsibility for the attack, said 'a hero mujahid Abdul Rahman' killed four advisers over the burning of Korans at a US-run military base.
The killer of a US Colonel and Major (and 'two more'?) has telephoned a progress report to the Taliban, who have already put this story on their 'wire'...
I'd evac the Afghans right now. The entire Op has been compromised.
As the Taliban take credit for shooting down a drone over Waziristan... which would be huge news (like the Taliban control Pakistan air space better than the Pakis themselves) except for the dead US Col and Major.
The killer of a US Colonel and Major (and 'two more'?) has telephoned a progress report to the Taliban, who have already put this story on their 'wire'...
The killer is still at large last I heard. What a mess. US advisers are being evacuated from 'safe and secure' buildings.
That Sound you're hearing coming out of DC is the Eye on every neck of every 'chief' of every Intel Agency being violently pulled away from whatever they thought was pressing....;}
"University of Wyoming political science professor Jim King said the potential for a complete unraveling of the U.S. government and economy is “astronomically remote” in the foreseeable future...."
Which translated means the USSA has mere months now before going Non Linear.
"The BBC's Andrew Gilligan in Baghdad, whose activities and reports are monitored by Iraqi authorities, has visited the airport and says there is no sign of increased military activity or any US forces. "
By Sean Loughlin and Jamie McIntyre CNN Washington Bureau | April 4, 2003
Pentagon officials raised the possibility Thursday that coalition forces might try to isolate Baghdad and render the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein "irrelevant," avoiding urban warfare within the city to topple the government. Asked at a Pentagon briefing whether coalition forces were gearing up for an urban conflict within Baghdad, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested that might not be the case. "The tactical situation could be very different from what we suppose," Myers said.
Few in Baghdad believe these recurrent fires were provoked by the "remnants of Saddam's regime" - as goes the official Washington line. They don't know for sure for whom the arsonists are working. But they are asking themselves three questions. Who profits from the destruction of the whole infrastructure of the Iraqi state? Who profits from the destruction of Iraq's invaluable cultural wealth? And why are Americans soldiers just blank-stared, gum-chewing spectators of all this pyromania?
``What you have is the making of a humanitarian catastrophe,'' said Sid Balman, spokesman for InterAction, an umbrella group of 165 relief organisations.
Baghdad went dark on Thursday for the first time since the war began on March 20, just as spearhead troops of America's 3rd Infantry Division closed in on the international airport on the capital's south-western outskirts.
U.S. officials denied targeting the electric grid. ``We didn't do it. It's as simple as that,''' said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, chief spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar.
"I would love to give them a hug," said Richard Korn, whose only child, Captain Edward J. Korn, died April 3, 2003, in a burst of friendly fire. "I think they need it.
"Captain Korn, a member of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga., was killed as his unit and others were attacking Iraqi positions on a two-lane road about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad.
The convoy of American tanks and armored vehicles was stopped on the road when they spotted an Iraqi tank, a Russian-made T-72. They fired and the enemy tank exploded.
As the vehicle burned, Korn and a sergeant apparently dismounted and walked to the tree line near the tank, searching for Iraqi positions, Major Kent Rideout, the senior officer on the scene, told the Los Angeles Times.
At some point, Korn spotted a second tank and sent the sergeant back for an antitank rocket before going on alone.
Korn was wearing a brown T-shirt, a flak vest that was left open and no helmet, according to Rideout, who was scanning the tree line for more Iraqi positions.
"Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw behind the tank what looked to be an old campfire," Rideout told The Times. "I could see tea or coffee steaming, sleeping bags, chickens. It had all the hallmarks of a place where people were living. I put 2 and 2 together that this was a place a tank crew was living.
"All of a sudden, we saw movement. Someone dropped down, like he was going to fire, and then stood up and got behind another T-72."
Rideout's driver also indicated he saw an enemy. He leveled his M-16 and the major ordered him to fire.
"He fired one shot," Rideout recalled. "I'll never get over it. It was 200 to 250 yards away. He dropped him. I slapped him [the driver] on the head and said, 'That's the greatest shot I've ever seen.' "
The shot had hit Korn, a Desert Storm veteran and Bronze Star recipient who had left Fort Knox, Kentucky, to volunteer for war duty in March.
A Bradley fighting vehicle from Korn's unit also opened fire on the second Iraqi tank, some of its 25-millimeter rounds striking the fallen soldier.
"This was the worst day of my Army career," Rideout said. "No doubt, the worst day. I get to go home with that. I get to live with that for the rest of my life."
And someone else thinks the above is bull shite as well:
"Korn's father, Richard Korn, said his son was killed when somebody on a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle opened fire on the tank, thinking Korn was an Iraqi soldier.
The Army did not return phone calls about Korn. A press release said only that the incident was under investigation.
Korn blamed the incident on a lack of communication and said he felt sorry for the soldier who shot his son."
Apr 4, 2003 – BAGHDAD April 3. The Iraqi capital plunged into darkness tonight as loud explosions rocked the city and tracer rounds raced through the sky near the airport.
8. Sgt. 1st Class Wilbert Davis, Alaska, age 40, died April 3, 2003. Davis was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
9. Staff Sergeant George E. Buggs, S.C., age 31, died March 23, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Co., 3rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
10. Private First Class Wilfred D. Bellard, La., age 20, died April 4, 2003, Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
11. Specialist Daniel F. Cunningham, Jr., Maine, age 33, died April 4, 2003, Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
12. Private 2 Devon D. Jones, Calif., age 19, died April 4, 2003, Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
13. Captain Tristan N. Aitken, Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, Pa.,age 31, died April 4, 2003, HHB, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
14. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, Fla., age 33, died April 4, 2003, Bravo Co. 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
15. Staff Sergeant Stevon A. Booker, Pa., age 34, died April 5, 2003, Alpha Co, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
16. Private First Class Gregory P. Huxley, Jr., N.Y., age 19, died April 6, 2003, Bravo Co., 317th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
17. Staff Sergeant Lincoln D. Hollinsaid, Ill., age 27, died April 7, 2003, Bravo Co., 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
18. 1st Lieutenant Jeffrey J. Kaylor, Va., age 24, died April 7, 2003, Charlie Battery, lst Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
19. Private First Class Anthony S. Miller, Texas, age 19, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
20. Specialist George A. Mitchell, Jr., Md., age 35, died April 7, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
21. Sergeant Henry L. Brown, Miss., age 22, died April 8, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
22. Sgt. 1st Class John W. Marshall, Calif., age 50, died April 8, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
23. Private First Class Jason M. Meyer, Mich., age 23, died April 8, 2003, Company B, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
24. Staff Sergeant Robert A. Stever, Ore., age 36, died April 8, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
25. Private First Class Marlin T. Rockhold, Ohio, age 23, died May 8, 2003, Bravo Co., 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
26. Sergeant Michael T. Crockett, Ga., age 27, of Soperton, Ga., died July 14 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
27. Specialist Joel L. Bertoldie, Mo., age 20, died July 18, 2003, Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
28. Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Hart, Jr., Ga., age 29, died July 28, 2003, 416th Transportation Company, 260th Quartermaster Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.
29. Private First Class Charles M. Sims, Fla., age 18, died Oct. 3, 2003, 549th Military Police, Co., 3rd Military Police Battalion, (attached to 1st AD for OIF1)
30. Captain James F. Adamouski, Va., age 29, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
31. Specialist Matthew G. Boule, Mass., age 22, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
32. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Eric A. Halvorsen, Vt., age 40, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
33. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Scott Jamar, Texas, age 32, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
34. Sergeant Michael F. Pedersen, Mich., age 26, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
35. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric A. Smith, Calif., age 41, died April 2, 2003, Bravo Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
36. Captain Edward J. Korn, Ga., age 31, died April 2003, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
37. Specialist Ryan G. Carlock, Ill., age 25, died Sept. 9, 2003, 416th Transportation Co., 24th Corps Support Group, 3rd Infantry Division.
38. Private 2 Kelley S. Prewitt, Ala., age 24, died April 6, 2003, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
39. Staff Sergeant Terry W. Hemingway, N.J., age 39, died April 10, 2003, C Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning.
40. 1st Sergeant Joe J. Garza, Texas, age 43, died April 28, 2003, Headquarters Co. 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning.
41. Specialist Donald S. Oaks, Jr., died April 2003, Delta Co., 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division.
42. Sergeant Todd J. Robbins, Mich., age 33, died April 2003, Charlie Battery, 13th Field Artillery (from Fort Sill, Okla., attached to 3rd Inf. Div.)
43. Sgt. 1st Class Randall S. Rehn, Colo., age 36, died April 2003, Charlie Battery, 13th Field Artillery (from Fort Sill, Okla., attached to 3rd Inf. Div.)
Artillery fire could be heard near the Saddam International Airport, 16 km southwest of downtown Baghdad. Tracer rounds raced through the sky and shells exploded in the air. A Reuters reporter said dozens of Iraqis, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in the village of Furat near the airport today evening in what witnesses said was a U.S. rocket strike. He said more than 120 people were wounded in the attack on the village, which lies between the airport and the Iraqi capital. Iraqi officials put the toll at 83. In Baghdad, the explosions persisted for nearly 15 minutes before the power went off at about 8 p.m. — the first widespread electrical failure in the capital since the U.S.-led bombardment began two weeks ago. The entire city appeared without power. The reason for the loss of power was not immediately clear.
David Bloom. Embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division. Died April 5 2003....;}
"*
With newspapers, magazines and articles printed from the Internet sprawled across his tray table and bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center yesterday, the 23-year-old Northeast Baltimore native pointed to a picture of an unnamed soldier on a stretcher in a recent issue of Newsweek. That's him.
And there's the April 6 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, with a front-page column by reporter Ron Martz under the headline, "I owe these heroes my life." That's Schafer, too.
Schafer, part of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart in Georgia, was headed to attack Baghdad International Airport on the morning of April 5 when the tank in front of his was hit and couldn't be saved. Making way for the displaced soldiers, he moved over to the personnel carrier where the Atlanta reporter was riding.
Schafer's orders en route: "Nothing is friendly out here. We were firing at anything that moved."
Shots came flying. His buddy, Christopher Shipley, was hit, Schafer thinks in the head. Then he was hit as well - how many times, the doctors don't even know.
"I just know that my arm is broke, and I got holes in my back," Schafer said.
Shipley survived, meeting up with Schafer at a hospital in Rota, Spain."
Remembering David Bloom - CNN.com - Transcripts transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0304/06/rs.00.htmlCached
Apr 6, 2003 – He was embedded with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and died in a ... now is CNN's Walter Rodgers, with the 7th Cavalry, south of Baghdad.
" KURTZ: And finally, Walt Rodgers, is it any more difficult for you in terms of the operational security now that you're not just rolling through the desert but on the outskirts of Baghdad, in terms of what you feel that you can report and not report? We all saw the sort of embarrassing episode involving Geraldo Rivera, who was asked to leave Iraq for reporting sensitive information about troop locations.
Are you censoring yourself even more than usual now?
RODGERS: Not at all. And let me comment on the rules. As in every avenue of life, the rules, the laws are made to protect us. The Pentagon set out the rules. Those rules protect us. You obey the rules, you enjoy the protection of the rules and the protection of the law.
You disregard the rules, it's like somebody going down the highway at 120 miles an hour. Law is there, rules are there to protect everyone. They have worked well when they're obeyed -- Howard.
KURTZ: Walt Rodgers, outskirts of Baghdad, thanks very much.
I want to read a statement I was just handed by CNN -- excuse me, from President Bush, through CNN. The president mourns the loss of David Bloom and extends his sympathies to the Bloom family, just as he continues to mourn the loss -- excuse me -- of all military and others who have lost their lives in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mark Thompson, you're down at the Pentagon every day for "TIME" magazine. These embedded correspondents, the reports are coming in often hours, sometimes even days before the Pentagon itself is able to confirm this information.
Is there starting to be resentment among Rumsfeld and company about the embedded experiment?
MARK THOMPSON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: I think what's interesting about it, Howie, is that the Pentagon in some way likes getting it early. When I've been out with troops, with the press, with the DOD media pool, we report back to the military. They're eager for our reports, because it's a check on what they're being told in their own chain of command.
"We have seen quite a few dead Iraqi soldiers by the road [Thursday]. What we noticed was all of the dead Iraqi soldiers had gas masks. They are moving in anything but what you would call an organized formation. The Iraqis we see are generally driving pickup trucks, or they are riding about in old Soviet Union vintage armored vehicles, which are no match for the armor-piercing shells that the tanks are firing.
This armored column has been under almost constant fire. When we first crossed the Euphrates River, it was pretty barren in terms of not much of a civilian population. As we pushed closer to Baghdad, we began to see that the Iraqi population was indeed welcoming the U.S. Army convoy and welcoming them northward."
Friday, April 4, 2003 Posted: 1:49 AM EST (0649 GMT)
The bombing began about 2 a.m. Friday [5 p.m. Thursday EST]. One explosion was so powerful that it lit up the blacked-out capital, and a fire engulfed a structure.
• Myers: U.S. forces did not knock out power to large areas of Baghdad late Thursday.
My Edit: Yes, Myers, you did.
(CNN) -- With U.S. boots on the ground at Saddam International Airport, sustained explosions rocked Baghdad on Friday morning, illuminating the darkened capital where the electric power is off and the power of the regime might be fading.
The bombardments came in waves, sometimes with explosions rocking the capital one after another for minutes on end. The bombing began about 2 a.m. Friday [5 p.m. Thursday EST]. One explosion was so powerful that it lit up the blacked-out capital, and a fire engulfed a structure.
Three hours later, the city shook from more multiple explosions, and antiaircraft fire shot into the sky.
American armored divisions launched the assault on the airport, 12 miles from the center of the Iraqi capital, as U.S.-led coalition troops advanced on the city.
Three hours later, the city shook from more multiple explosions, and antiaircraft fire shot into the sky.
American armored divisions launched the assault on the airport, 12 miles from the center of the Iraqi capital, as U.S.-led coalition troops advanced on the city.
CM: I had just come back from teaching a martial arts class on Friday, April 4, 2003. That would have been the morning of April 5 in Baghdad. Immediately, what I saw on CNN, about 9 p.m. Central time, was that Baghdad had been surrounded. We had dedicated the military forces to enveloping and making it succumb piece-by-piece, maybe sending in the 101st Airborne.
Then, all of a sudden, there was a report of explosions and CNN started to act like they were all rattled and didn’t know it was coming. Given that I was a prior service and intelligence public affairs officer, I knew very well that meant unexpected contact. Pretty soon, they were saying there were huge explosions from the airport, and the next thing you know, they’re casting over to imbed Walter Rogers from CNN. As he’s broadcasting from Baghdad Airport, you can hear artillery hitting around his Humvee and you can hear small arms fire hitting it: a distinct ping, ping, ping. That pretty much told me they were getting fired up bad.
That was when it was still pre-dawn in Baghdad. By dawn, Lt. Col. Terry Ferrell, the 3/7 Cavalry Group commander appeared on TV during CNN evening coverage and he broke down into tears when he trying to say everything was okay at Baghdad Airport. That made it clear to me that the 3/7, the scout unit, the cavalry squadron that attended the 3rd Infantry Division, the U.S. Army division that had surrounded Baghdad, had wound up in a close fight in the Baghdad Airport. That’s what I picked up at the time.
By the next day, CNN was saying there was substantial contradiction in facts from various media reports. Arab media were putting out 200 U.S. dead at the airport. Russian Intel put out that dozens were dead and a real fight had developed. U.S. media were putting out that Jessica Lynch had been rescued.
JA: How do you account for foreign media reporting about a bloody battle and U.S. media being silent about the airport while highlighting the rescue of Jessica Lynch?
CM: To me, at this point, it was a done deal. The Battle of Baghdad was essentially blocked out from April 5 all the way through April 8. On April 9, you had the pull-down of the Saddam statue which represents a pretty efficient ending of the Battle of Baghdad. But, it really was a propaganda ending. The pull-down was a staged event and I’ve heard that the few Iraqis there were not even Iraqis.
JA: Why have you taken such passion about the Battle of Baghdad?
Stranger than fiction Order Now
CM: The propaganda cover-up of the Battle of Baghdad, what we call BOBCUP (Battle of Baghdad Cover-up) was so conspicuously against the United States principles of information, which is what we follow in the Department of Defense Public Affairs operations, was so egregiously out of line, it was then that I self-mobilized my mission of conscience because, basically, it was apparent to me at that point, that we were under dictatorship. Suppressing the events of an entire battle and keeping it suppressed long after the battle was over … you know, you could have said, "Well, we didn’t want to tell the Iraqis where our troops were," or something else. But, you can’t say that months and months and months and years after the event.
CM: The propaganda cover-up of the Battle of Baghdad, what we call BOBCUP (Battle of Baghdad Cover-up) was so conspicuously against the United States principles of information...
Thanks Jim. I hate to ask - who is CM?
Did you read about the Arkansas football coach Petrino? What a stud!
