Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (115698)	9/26/2003 8:09:33 AM
From: aladin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Carl, There have been over 400 US soldiers killed by hostile fire in the line of duty near the DMZ with North Korea since the 'ending' of major hostilities. Many more have died in accidents. This is spread over a number of years, and amounts to 6-8 a year recently, but was much higher closer to the conflict. John

To: Bilow who wrote (115698)	9/26/2003 8:59:06 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

U.S. soldier killed in Kirkuk ambush msnbc.com BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 26 — One soldier from the 173rd Airborne Brigade was killed and two others were wounded during an ambush in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said Friday. The attack came hours before mourners gathered in Baghdad for the funeral of a U.S.-appointed Iraqi leader assassinated by gunmen. THE INCIDENT occurred about 11 p.m. Thursday when someone fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the soldiers’ vehicle in the oil-producing city of Kirkuk, about 145 miles north of Baghdad. The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of relatives. The death raised to 86 the number of U.S. soldiers killed by hostile fire since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq. Two hundred Americans have died in combat here since the United States launched military operations here on March 20. Earlier, a mortar attack on a market in the restive town of Baqouba killed eight civilian Iraqis and wounded 18 others on Thursday, the U.S. military said. Troops of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division rushed to the scene to help. A spokesman said no American personnel were wounded in the attack. AL-HASHIMI MOURNED Diplomats and prominent Iraqis held a memorial ceremony in Baghdad for Akila al-Hashimi, a female career diplomat who had been due to be part of the Iraqi delegation to the U.N. General Assembly this week. She was attacked by gunmen in Baghdad on Saturday and died of her wounds on Thursday. Members of her family carried her coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, into the Governing Council offices, chanting the Islamic declaration of faith. Colleagues said her death would not stop the council’s determination. “Those who thought that the death of Dr Akila would disrupt the march towards the dawn of democracy and freedom will be disappointed,” council member Iyad Allawi said. She was expected to be buried in the holy Shiite city of Najaf later on Friday. The assassination of al-Hashimi, one of 25 members of Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council, dealt a new blow to halting efforts to build a credible Iraqi leadership and prepare for the handover of power to an elected government. The council declared three days of mourning that began Thursday. In a written statement, it said al-Hashimi “fell as a martyr on the path of freedom and democracy to build this great nation. She died at the hands of a clique of infidels and cunning people who only know darkness.” The current council president, Ahmad Chalabi, blamed her death on Saddam loyalists. BOMB BLASTS, AMBUSHES Al-Hashimi died on a day when violence blamed on opponents of the U.S.-led occupation targeted both Iraqis and foreigners alike. Early Thursday, a bomb damaged a hotel housing the offices of the NBC News, raising fears of attacks against international media. A Somali guard was killed and an NBC sound engineer was slightly wounded in the early morning explosion at the small al-Aike Hotel in the city’s fashionable Karrada district. In the north, meanwhile, eight American soldiers were wounded — three seriously — when their convoy was ambushed with roadside bombs and small arms fire in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city. At least two Iraqi bystanders were also wounded. The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, warned he would use whatever force necessary to defeat those who attack American soldiers. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS The inability of the U.S.-led coalition to stop the violence was behind a decision Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to order a further reduction of U.N. international staff in Iraq. Annan’s order came days after the second bombing outside U.N. headquarters in Baghdad on Monday killed an Iraqi policeman and injured 19 others. U.S. defense officials were considering a call-up of more troops. There are 130,000 American troops in Iraq, supported by several thousand peacekeepers from Britain, Poland and other countries. The U.S. military said Thursday that Sanchez, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, was discussing a previously unreported killing of two Iraqi policemen in the city of Fallujah when he responded a question about the Sept. 12 friendly fire killing of eight Iraqi policemen and a Jordanian hospital guard.