36 U.S. Troops Die in Iraq in Their Bloodiest Day

[vinnieponte]

36 U.S. Troops Die in Iraq in Their Bloodiest Day

26 minutes ago World - Reuters


By Matt Spetalnick

BAGHDAD - Thirty-one U.S. troops were reported killed in a helicopter crash and five more died in insurgent attacks Wednesday in the deadliest day for American forces since they invaded Iraq 22 months ago.

The heavy U.S. toll came amid a series of guerrilla bombings and raids that killed 10 Iraqis in a campaign to sabotage Sunday's landmark election -- a cornerstone of U.S. plans in Iraq.


CNN, quoting the U.S. military, reported 31 Marines died when their transport helicopter went down in the deserts of the restive Anbar province of western Iraq.


The military confirmed casualties to reporters but gave no figures, as search and rescue teams scoured the area. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.


Four U.S. Marines were killed in action in Anbar province, and an American soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack north of Baghdad, U.S. officials said.


The latest surge of insurgent attacks appeared aimed at sowing panic even as the U.S.-backed interim government vowed stringent measures to safeguard the election, Iraq's first since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.


In a closely coordinated attack, three suicide car bombers hit the town of Riyadh, a Sunni Arab area southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk.


Two explosives-laden cars blew up simultaneously close to an Iraqi army post and police station and a third vehicle detonated minutes later on a nearby highway, a local police chief said.


Four Iraqi policemen, two Iraqi soldiers and three civilians were killed, and at least 12 people were wounded, police said.


Shortly after the blasts, a U.S. combat patrol heading to the scene came under small arms fire and two U.S. soldiers were lightly wounded, the military said.


The previous deadliest day for U.S. forces was March 23, 2003, the third day of the war, when 28 U.S. soldiers died mostly in fierce fighting in southern Iraq.


STRING OF ATTACKS


Police in Baquba, a mixed Shi'ite and Sunni town 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, said one Iraqi policeman was killed and at least eight people were wounded when gunmen fired on the local offices of three parties contesting the polls.


Sunni insurgents have repeatedly targeted the country's fledgling security forces in the countdown to the election, accusing them of collaborating with U.S.-led occupiers.


Iraq's Shi'ite majority is expected to dominate the vote after decades of rule by Saddam's Sunni minority.


In the northern city of Mosul, a rebel stronghold that has seen persistent violence, a video filmed by insurgents showed three Iraqi men who had apparently been taken hostage and who said they worked for Iraq's electoral commission in the city.


On the video, a hooded insurgent carrying a pistol read out a statement as another masked guerrilla crouched with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on his shoulder.





"We are mujahideen in the province of Nineveh. What they call elections have no basis in the Islamic religion and that's why we will hit all election centers," the statement said.

Several guerrilla groups in Iraq -- including militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in the country -- have declared war on Sunday's elections, vowing to attack polling stations and kill those who dare to vote.

The government plans extraordinary security measures, including closing Baghdad airport and land borders over the election period, extending night curfews in cities and banning cars from roads on election day.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian with a $25 million bounty on his head, says the election is a plot by Washington and Iraqi Shi'ite allies against Sunni Arabs, who now fear being marginalised.

Iraq's Shi'ites, oppressed under Saddam, strongly support the elections. A list of candidates dominated by Shi'ite Islamists and drawn up with the guidance of revered cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is expected to win the most votes, cementing the newfound political power of Shi'ites.

But many Sunni Arab parties will boycott the polls, saying the insurgency raging in Iraq's Sunni heartlands will prevent their supporters from voting and skew the results.

Tension between Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs has been stoked by a series of bomb attacks on Shi'ite targets, raising fears of sectarian conflict.

Insurgents have also assassinated several leading officials. Tuesday a top Baghdad judge was killed along with his son in an ambush as they left home during morning rush hour.

[reeds]

Is it really worth it Mr. Bush??? Send your daughters over there!! Oh wait, that would never happen regardless if you were president or not- you know it, we all know it. Much too dangerous for your family, just send the rest over to die..for what? Thats right- Iraqi freedom..Cant use WMDs anymore..had to change that too.... what a poor excuse for a human being

[XERXES]

WHere were you two during the revolutionary war?

"Is it really worth it Mr. Washington? Our sons are dying - for what? Yada yada freaking yada."

Also, reeds some of us are still waiting for you to respond to this: iq issue resolved

[vinnieponte]

[reeds]

"Is it really worth it Mr. Washington? Our sons are dying - for what? Yada yada freaking yada."

Xerxes..I am certain if it were your child who was killed, you would still say this war was worth it...BULLCRAP...

Oh, and to answer your other question, I will try to find the website when I get home tonight..if not tonight, sometime this week for sure..maybe that will shut you up, by I doubt it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img])

[XERXES]

I will be anxiously awaiting the link to the article that you so often quote...please don't disappoint us.

[vinnieponte]

[FishForLunch]

Are Reeds and Vinnethepooh the only ones wishing for bad news. I guess like Al-Jazeera bad news excites them.

[vinnieponte]

[quote]
Originally posted by: FishForLunch
Vinnethepooh


lol

[vinnieponte]

Originally posted by: FishForLunch
Are Reeds and Vinnethepooh the only ones wishing for bad news. I guess like Al-Jazeera bad news excites them.

No wishing here, with Dubya running this place I can count on bad news every morning. And innocent soilders dying for a war based on false information is now the norm with this administration. Sad isn't it!

[dude1394]

Not wishing, just celebrating.

[reeds]

"Not wishing, just celebrating."

Celebrating??Hmmm...I cant recall either of us celebrating the fact that soldiers are dying every day..You right wingers are the ones basically celebrating. All the talk of fighting for the Iraqi people, how it will all be worth it in the end..how they are dying as heros..who is really celebrating??? Vinnie and myself just feel we shouldnt be over there in the first place- period..of course, you will spin it as you see fit- very typical..

[reeds]

Xerxes-Still searching for this Novemeber election..but this is the IQs of the states and how they voted Four years ago..see a pattern???? WOW- this is much worse that I even thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


1 Connecticut 113 Gore
2 Massachusetts 111 Gore
3 New Jersey 111 Gore
4 New York 109 Gore
5 Rhode Island 107 Gore
6 Hawaii 106 Gore
7 Maryland 105 Gore
8 New Hampshire 105 Bush
9 Illinois 104 Gore
10 Delaware 103 Gore
11 Minnesota 102 Gore
12 Vermont 102 Gore
13 Washington 102 Gore
14 California 101 Gore
15 Pennsylvania 101 Gore
16 Maine 100 Gore
17 Virginia 100 Bush
18 Wisconsin 100 Gore
19 Colorado 99 Bush
20 Iowa 99 Gore
21 Michigan 99 Gore
22 Nevada 99 Bush
23 Ohio 99 Bush
24 Oregon 99 Gore
25 Alaska 98 Bush
26 Florida 98 Gore
27 Missouri 98 Bush
28 Kansas 96 Bush
29 Nebraska 95 Bush
30 Arizona 94 Bush
31 Indiana 94 Bush
32 Tennessee 94 Bush
33 North Carolina 93 Bush
34 West Virginia 93 Bush
35 Arkansas 92 Bush
36 Georgia 92 Bush
37 Kentucky 92 Bush
38 New Mexico 92 Gore
39 North Dakota 92 Bush
40 Texas 92 Bush
41 Alabama 90 Bush
42 Louisiana 90 Bush
43 Montana 90 Bush
44 Oklahoma 90 Bush
45 South Dakota 90 Bush
46 South Carolina 89 Bush
47 Wyoming 89 Bush
48 Idaho 87 Bush
49 Utah 87 Bush
50 Mississippi 85 Bush

[mavsman55]

Originally posted by: reeds
Xerxes-Still searching for this Novemeber election..but this is the IQs of the states and how they voted Four years ago..see a pattern???? WOW- this is much worse that I even thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


1 Connecticut 113 Gore
2 Massachusetts 111 Gore
3 New Jersey 111 Gore
4 New York 109 Gore
5 Rhode Island 107 Gore
6 Hawaii 106 Gore
7 Maryland 105 Gore
8 New Hampshire 105 Bush
9 Illinois 104 Gore
10 Delaware 103 Gore
11 Minnesota 102 Gore
12 Vermont 102 Gore
13 Washington 102 Gore
14 California 101 Gore
15 Pennsylvania 101 Gore
16 Maine 100 Gore
17 Virginia 100 Bush
18 Wisconsin 100 Gore
19 Colorado 99 Bush
20 Iowa 99 Gore
21 Michigan 99 Gore
22 Nevada 99 Bush
23 Ohio 99 Bush
24 Oregon 99 Gore
25 Alaska 98 Bush
26 Florida 98 Gore
27 Missouri 98 Bush
28 Kansas 96 Bush
29 Nebraska 95 Bush
30 Arizona 94 Bush
31 Indiana 94 Bush
32 Tennessee 94 Bush
33 North Carolina 93 Bush
34 West Virginia 93 Bush
35 Arkansas 92 Bush
36 Georgia 92 Bush
37 Kentucky 92 Bush
38 New Mexico 92 Gore
39 North Dakota 92 Bush
40 Texas 92 Bush
41 Alabama 90 Bush
42 Louisiana 90 Bush
43 Montana 90 Bush
44 Oklahoma 90 Bush
45 South Dakota 90 Bush
46 South Carolina 89 Bush
47 Wyoming 89 Bush
48 Idaho 87 Bush
49 Utah 87 Bush
50 Mississippi 85 Bush

Once again reeds, what do math problems and analogies have to do with politics?

Maybe only the best math students should be allowed to vote?

[reeds]

Mavsman, you grew up in Mississippi didnt you? Come clean, its ok..

[dude1394]

Originally posted by: reeds
Mavsman, you grew up in Mississippi didnt you? Come clean, its ok..

Let me try some of your own medicine on you. You grew up in San Francisco did'nt you reeds, you are gay aren't you???

[dude1394]

Here is what our heroes are now fighting for. Have always been as well.

powerline

After decades of tyranny, Iraqi expatriates have already begun to elect leaders to draft a new constitution. In the photo below, seventy-year-old exile Mehsin Imgoter weeps after casting his vote at a polling place in Southgate, Michigan. Imgoter explained to a reporter that he was crying because his son, who was killed during the 1990-91 Shiite uprising, was not able to vote with him.