Two US marines killed in action in restive Iraq province: military

[thedrifter]

The embeds are back as deadly assault on Fallujah looms



Editor and Publisher
Nov. 5, 2004

NEW YORK The embeds are back. With a U.S. military assault on Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah pending, there has been a surge in news organizations seeking embedded slots with the Marine unit there, Pentagon officials told E&P today.

All 70 embed slots with the First Marine Expeditionary Force were filled two days ago, according to Sgt. Eric Grill of the Press Information Center in Baghdad.

That same Marine unit had only 15 embeds just one month ago. "It's filled up," Grill told E&P Friday. "There are no more slots."

Embedded journalists in Iraq, which topped 800 at the height of the combat in 2003, have since dwindled to the double digits in the past year or so. But several newspapers said they had sought to return reporters and photographers to the Marine unit outside Fallujah as the likely assault looms.

"That is the only way to do it," said Phil Bennett, foreign editor of The Washington Post, which embedded reporter Jackie Spinner with the Marine unit a week ago. "We also have permission to embed a photographer as well, and we are trying to do that."

Bennett said Spinner had been assigned to Baghdad, but moved her location to prepare for the attack.

The Boston Globe also added an embed, placing reporter Anne Barnard, who had been Baghdad, with the Marines on Sunday. Her stories since have included a piece in Friday's paper about how medical forces are beefing up in preparation for the attack, expecting high U.S. casualties in what could be, she wrote, "the bloodiest day" in the entire war.

Roy Greene, a deputy foreign editor at the Globe, said Barnard had embed equipment with her that included a bullet-proof vest and helmet.

"It is dangerous because of mortar attacks and other things," he said. "But we thought we'd get a good opportunity for a real close-up view. If events warrant, we will consider adding more."

Meanwhile, Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder/Tribune, writing under the dateline "with U.S. Forces near Falluljah," also led his story with military hospitals' preparations. A senior surgeon said the number of dead and wounded will probably reach levels "not seen since Vietnam."

Lasseter reported that one hospital has added two operating rooms and doubled its supplies, preparing to treat 25 severely injured soldiers a day, not including the dead and those who can still walk. The article ended with comment from one soldier that the fight for Fallujah is "overdue."

The New York Times article today placed heavy emphasis on this eagerness of troops. Reporter Robert F. Worth described the urban-warfare drills and the scene at the military base, where 29-year-old Lance Cpl. Dimitri Gavriel reported Marines are "locked, cocked and ready to rock."

Newsday, in Long Island, N.Y., printed another hospital article by Matthew McAllester, a staff correspondent. "Thursday afternoon," he wrote, "while reporters were visiting the hospital, the medical staff received an all-too-familiar delivery: Two Marines and an American freelance photographer who had embedded with their unit had been injured, their light armored vehicle hit by a roadside bomb."

McAllester said the hospital had set up triage tents and brought in additional mortuary staff. "We've been living by the creed that if you build it they will come," said Capt. Eric Lovell, an emergency medicine specialist. According to McAllester, "Commanders here have told reporters they expect casualties if the battle begins."

A number of larger papers, including the Chicago Tribune and USA Today, ran Associated Press stories or compiled stories from other wire services. An article from "near Fallujah" by AP reporter Edward Harris reported that U.S. commanders, who expect a tough fight, are stressing that orders to attack must come from Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Harris also interviewed a number of the troops and noted that many of them "privately owned up to an amount of trepidation."

Harris ended with a comment on one reason for the soldiers' motivation, quoting 25-year-old Lance Cpl. Mike Detmer saying, "This is the most important thing of my generation and I'm part of it. I can already see the pages in the history books."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Why I Serve: Trucker, Gunner Jobs Both Good Fit
By Master Sgt. Jack Gordon, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq, Nov. 5, 2004 – "I wanted to join the Army since I was young," said Sgt. Lisa Phillips, 630th Transportation Company, from Washington, Pa.

"I knew I couldn't go full-time, but it was always something I wanted to do," he said. So seven years ago, Phillips enlisted in the Army Reserve. Before being mobilized with the 630th in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, she was assigned to the 223rd Transportation Company from Norristown, Pa.

Many Army Reserve soldiers select an occupational specialty closely aligned with their civilian career, but not Phillips, who works as a security officer for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in Harrisburg, Pa. In the Army she is a trained truck driver, and not just a pickup, but rather a 915-series tractor-trailer.

"I like driving," she said, "so that's why I'm in transportation. Transportation is the best. I love moving the supplies that everybody needs – all the other things cannot happen unless we keep things moving."

The 630th's mission here is moving supply convoys from here to Forward Operating Base camps throughout Iraq. Anaconda is the centralized hub for supplies in the theater and home to some 23,000 soldiers, service members and civilian contractors. Once used by Saddam Hussein as a premier Iraqi air force base, Anaconda hosts the largest concentration of troops in Iraq. Dozens of convoys depart and return here every day, and all convoys must be escorted by gun trucks in accordance with security and force-protection policies.

Phillips said she switches off between driving or serving as a machine-gunner in the unit's gun trucks.

"It's nice to have the change," she said, adding that life as a soldier is also a big change. "I'm doing it full time now and it isn't bad. It's going pretty well – but I had set my expectations very low. When I got here and saw we had air-conditioned tents and showers, it had gone beyond my expectations."

The .50-caliber machine gun is a time-tested weapon in the Army's weapons inventory for decades, and is still considered a weapon of choice to engage enemy in vehicles or buildings. It has recoil like a jackhammer and muzzle control takes a lot of arm and body strength. On the 630th's gun trucks, Phillips mans the .50-cal.

"It's a very heavy weapon," she said. "It makes me feel good to know that the other soldiers can fall back on me if they need me. I'm comfortable with it … and I'm comfortable with all of our weapons. If I'm not, it could be my buddy who gets hurt, so I'd better be comfortable with it."

During the missions, Phillips said she has one thing on her mind. "I'm focused on the mission," she said. My main focus is staying alive and seeing that everyone else here is safe. I'm not in denial about getting hurt, but I keep away from the negative thinking – or I guess it's more preparing yourself – but I'd rather not prepare myself for that.

"We've been through (improvised explosive devices) and sniper fire. … You have to be observant of everything. There's so much going on when you're driving down the road, so I'm constantly watching," Phillips said.

Like many soldiers, Phillips attributes some of her patriotism to the tradition established by others in her family, and their earlier service to the nation's call to duty.

"My father and my uncle were both in the service, but the main reason I joined was my grandfather – Anthony Marciano," Phillips said. "He was my hero. He was my stepmother's father, so there was no blood relation, but he always treated me as if I were his own granddaughter. remember eating mussels in tomato sauce in front of the TV with him. I went with him wherever.

"He was in the Army in World War II. He was wounded by shrapnel in Germany," she continued. "The doctors told him he could go home … but he didn't. He went back. He just kept going – that means a lot to me. I hope to have 10 percent of the courage he had. He was kind and fair with people. I'd like to be the kind of person he was. He died two years ago. I know he'd be very proud of me."

Phillips said her family realizes the risk of her service here in Iraq. "My family misses me – I was always 'daddy's little girl,' so my father misses me a lot," she said.

"I have a big family and they're proud of me. They know the reason I'm here is because of all the other soldiers who are here. There are risks involved, but our unit is trained. If it happens … it happens, but we're going to keep driving on," said Phillips.

(Army Master Sgt. Jack Gordon is a member of the Army Reserve Public Affairs Acquisition Team.)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2...004110506.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq Insurgents Call for Hassan's Release

By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - The militant group al-Qaida in Iraq (news - web sites) purportedly called Friday for the release of the kidnapped executive of the CARE charity, Margaret Hassan, and promised to free her if she fell into their hands.


In a message posted on the Internet, the group led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said it wanted the world to know "if (the kidnappers of Margaret Hassan) handed us this captive, we will release her immediately unless it is proven she was conspiring against Muslims."


"We are demanding that those who are in charge of her release her unless she is proven to be an agent. If guilty, they should show that to everybody so as not to attribute something to our religion that is alien to it," the message said.


The authenticity of the statement could not be verified, but it was signed "al-Qaida in Iraq" and appeared on Web site known for publishing messages from Islamic militant groups. The person who posted it used the pseudonym Abu Maysara al-Iraqi — the name usually associated with statements from al-Zarqawi's group.


The statement appeared three days after a video was broadcast in which Hassan's kidnappers said Britain had 48 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq or they would transfer her to al-Qaida in Iraq.


Al-Qaida in Iraq, which until recently called itself Tawhid and Jihad, has claimed responsibility for beheading a number of Western hostages, such as the American businessman Nick Berg and the British civil engineer Kenneth Bigley. It also claimed a series of major vehicle bombings, such the attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last year.


The director of CARE International in Iraq, Hassan, 59, was kidnapped Oct. 19 as she drove to work in Baghdad. Patients at a hospital run by CARE staged a small demonstration calling for the release of Hassan, who has Irish, British and Iraqi citizenship.


Videos of Hassan in captivity have been released, but no group has claimed responsibility for her abduction. In two of the videos, Hassan pleads for her life, saying she fears she will be beheaded.


For the first time in a statement purportedly from al-Zarqawi's band, Friday's message took pains to defend the group's actions, suggesting the militants wanted to distance themselves from their reputation as terrorists who kill hostages in cold blood and detonate car bombs that kill dozens of Iraqi civilians.


"We are not lovers of war or destruction," the statement said. "We don't adore blood and rejoice when it is spilled."


"We changed the plans for a number of decisive operations against the enemy because of the presence of a Muslim who would have been killed by the explosions, and we canceled martyrdom (suicide) operations out of concern for the blood of Muslim passers-by."


In a reference to Westerners and their Muslim critics, the message says: "When the infidels and apostates claim that the holy warriors are killing innocents and spilling their blood, this is a deceit of the mean."


The statement criticized the abduction of Hassan, saying: "God has taught us not to harm the women who don't fight us."


"Those who are using the captive as a playing card don't know our religion well," the statement added.


The message indicated Al-Qaida in Iraq objected to the kidnappers' saying they would hand Hassan over to the group. "There is no meaning in trying to outbid us and wave our name around," the statement said.


More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime fell in April 2003. More than 30 foreign hostages have been killed. Some kidnapping groups seek ransom, while others pursue political motives such as the withdrawal of foreign companies and troops from Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...argaret_hassan

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Annan warns against Fallujah blitz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Marc Carnegie at the United Nations
November 6, 2004

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned the United States, Britain and Iraq that a planned assault on Fallujah could undermine planned elections in January.

Reports of the warning, sent in a letter to all three, emerged as Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi again warned that time was running out to avoid a full-on attack on the city, a stronghold of rebel insurgents.

A western diplomat familiar with the correspondence who asked not to be identified said all three nations were "furious" about the letter, which also warned that an attack on Fallujah could alienate some Iraqis.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Annan declined to comment on the letter, but suggested that the offensive would make it harder for some Iraqis to accept any result from the election.

"Of course there are some extremists whom one can never get into the process, but the more inclusive the process, the greater the possibility that it will succeed and the results of the elections will be productive," he said.

He said efforts had to be made "to win the hearts and minds of the people and to draw them in, so that at the end of the process, at the end of the elections, it is their product and people who have been involved".

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged differences with Mr Annan and said Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken to the UN chief after the letter was received.

"In this regard, frankly, we differ. The Iraqi government has made very clear that they do have a strategy for resolving the problems of these towns like Fallujah," Mr Boucher said.

"Restoration of peace in Fallujah and other towns is very important to them and to us, and it needs to be done soon for the sake of the people who live there who deserve a chance to participate in the political process."

Mr Annan, a vocal critic of the US-led war, has agreed to help Iraqis prepare for the landmark election, but has limited the number of staff on the ground because of security concerns.

His top political official, Kieran Prendergast, said any comparison between the effectiveness of the UN mission to prepare the polls in January and the number of personnel was "too simple a view, and too crude".

He added: "Size doesn't always matter. I think we're actually trying to concentrate on the quality of our input."

The US military pounded suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah with artillery fire today as remaining residents were urged to leave amid more signs of an all-out assault against the rebel city.

The US military has tightened the noose around the insurgency bastion west of Baghdad in recent days as thousands of US soldiers and marines backed by members of Iraq's fledgling security forces gear for an offensive.

US planes have also been dropping leaflets urging residents still in the city to leave.

Thousands have fled Fallujah since a US campaign of air strikes started months ago in the hunt for Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers, who are believed to use the city as an operating base.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who is Iraq's most wanted man, is blamed for some of the worst bombings and kidnappings in the country since last year's US-led invasion. US and Iraqi troops have encircled Fallujah since mid-October.

In Brussels, Mr Allawi said the "window really is closing" for a peace settlement with the insurgents in the city.

"The Fallujah people, most of them, have left Fallujah. The insurgents and terrorists are still operating there," he said. "We hope they will come to their senses. Otherwise we have to bring them to face the justice."

Agence France-Presse


Ellie