Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Iraq
15 US Troops Killed Since Sunday; McCain more Hawkish than Bush

15 US Troops Killed Since Sunday; McCain more Hawkish than Bush

Juan Cole 03/13/2008

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Guerrillas fired rockets at a US base south of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 3 US soldiers and wounding 2. An Iraqi civilian was also wounded.

A US soldier was killed and another wounded at Diwaniya on Tuesday by a roadside bomb (that is Shiite territory). So the death toll for Monday through Wednesday was fifteen US troops killed.

If you’re reading these words, you are better informed about US casualties in Iraq than most Americans, for whom it has become a forgotten war. If it is not on television, it does not exist.

Why don’t bloggers do more posting of pieces like this AP video, below, about the 8 US troops killed on Monday. We are after all a tv network if we want to be.

Bloomberg New Service looks at McCain’s foreign policy record and finds him more hawkish than Bush on China, Russia and Iran. More hawkish than Bush? Does that phrase actually exist in the English language?

The Iraqi refugee crisis, affecting over 4 million persons, is getting worse. The number of refugees is not growing, but neither is it shrinking, and moreover the big problem is that the refugees are running out of money and resources.

remember that Pentagon study of 600,000 Iraqi documents that found no operational contact between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda? The one that the US government was going to post to the internet? Well, they aren’t going to put it online after all. (Cheney still has some clout. Was this the real reason Fallon was let go?) They will mail it to journalists who ask for it! Well folks it is government work product and unclassified, so let’s order it, scan it and post it.

Reuters reports political violence on Wednesday:

‘NEAR DIWANIYA – One U.S. soldier was killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb which hit their patrol near Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

. . . BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded 10 in Ameen district in southeastern Baghdad, police said.

‘BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded five people in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Three mortar rounds landed in Baghdad’s Green Zone, but details of casualties were not available, police said. . .

BAGHDAD – Mortar rounds wounded three people in Shaab district in northern Baghdad, police said. . .

NEAR KIRKUK – A roadside bomb targeting a local council member near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, wounded two of his bodyguards, police said.

BASRA – Gunmen shot and killed a former official of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BASRA – A senior figure in Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Basra office, Saed al-Haidery, was shot dead in northern Basra, police and Sadrist officials said.

NEAR SAMARRA – Three fuel truck drivers were killed when three roadside bombs went off near a convoy of seven fuel trucks on the main road near Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Three trucks were set ablaze.

MOSUL – Six fuel trucks were set ablaze and three drivers were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb attached to one of the vehicles detonated in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.’

McClatchy adds:

‘Baghdad

. . . – Around 9 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol near Talbia Bridge towards Shaab neighborhood (north Baghdad).No casualties reported.

– Around 9:15 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Taji near Baghdad’s north gate .No casualties reported. . .

– Around 10 am, an American patrol defused a roadside bomb at Saidiyah neighborhood (south Baghdad) near Imam Ali mosque.

– Around 10:10 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Shaab neighborhood (north Baghdad) towards the industrial area. No casualties reported.

– Around 10:30 am, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol near Qanat bridge(east Baghdad) .No casualties reported on the US patrol while two Iraqi people were killed and ten were injured in that incident.

– Police found (4) dead bodies in Baghdad neighborhoods today . . .

Diyala

– Police found one dead body at one of the orchards in Dali Abass village (east of Baquba).

– Around 1:50 pm, mortars hit Kanan village targeting Sheikh Tha’r Ghadhban’s funeral (who was killed two days ago) .Four people were injured (including a woman and a child).

– Police found a dead body at the way between Kanan –Balad Ruz (20 km east of Baquba).

– Baquba morgue delivered today two dead bodies for a husband and wife who was kidnapped last Friday at Imam Habash (20km south of Baquba).

– Around 2:10 pm, a ten year girl was killed due to clashes took place at Bazaiz Buhrz (10 km south of Baquba) between gunmen and Iraqi army. The girl was in a farm with her aunt when a bullet killed her at once.

– Around 5:25 pm, an IED exploded at farm in Abu Saida village (20 km east of Baquba).Two people were injured in that incident while they were in that farm.

Sulaimaniyah

– Tuesday night, a policeman was injured during clashes took place between gunmen and policemen in front of a check point in Iqari neighborhood behind Shaab park (downtown Sulaimaniyah city in northern Kurdistan).

– Around Tuesday midnight, gunmen opened fire on the Kurdistan communist party headquarter .No casualties recorded in that incident, an official of the Kurdistan communist party said.

Salahuddin

– Around 10 am, a policeman was killed by a guard of Baiji mayor based on tribal revenge .A curfew was announced in the city after this incident to control the situation.’

Filed Under: Iraq

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Women's Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
  • Threat to Rule of Law: Sen. Padilla thrown to Ground, Cuffed at Noem DHS Press Conference

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved