Three more soldiers die in Iraq, they were guarding a children's hospital

[ShaneGR]

This is a sad story.

http://msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0cv=CA00

(snip)
July 26 — Three U.S. soldiers guarding a children’s hospital in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, were killed and four were wounded in a grenade attack Saturday morning, the U.S. military reported. The deaths came as a reminder that attacks by insurgents remain a threat despite the recent killing of Saddam’s sons and capture of suspected members of Saddam’s personal security detail.

[Kahuna]

1. Why can't Iraqis guard their own facilities?

This is what I don't get. Everyday and everytime I hear about a soldier being killed I have to hope that it is not one of my nephews.

[OrdinaryTa]

2. Failure of Intelligence

The U.S. disbanded the Iraqi military as one of its first acts. There isn't a real police force either. Americans don't trust the Iraqis to guard anything. It's another failure of intelligence.

[CafeToad]

3. Perhaps you were asking the question rhetorically

I'm sure all we care about is the oil - so clearly the oil facilities need to be guarded. But that would be too transparent, so a token effort needs to be made to guard other sites (in this case a children's hospital) - but since it's a low priority it's done in a half-assed (or quarter-assed? three-quarter assed? I'm not sure which is worse than half-assed) manner putting the troops in danger. After all, how many casualties have you heard about from troops guarding oil facilities? I'm sure that's being done with over-whelming force that would make any would-be attackers think seriously before mounting an attack.

Anyhow, hope your nephews make it back safely.

[newyawker99]

4. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=35521&mesg_id=35521&page=


I am locking this one.


NYer99
DU Moderator