'We have to fight to a safe haven - but they are all under attack'

[Nazgul35]

from the UK Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1189395,00.html

The last message Mike Bloss sent from Iraq was earnest but optimistic. The ex-paratrooper and the electrical engineers he was guarding were surrounded by gunmen. Escape seemed improbable. And yet the Welsh security guard sounded confident that he could shoot a way out.
"We are expecting to be overrun tonight," he emailed friends in Colorado. "We may have to fight our way to a safe haven. Unfortunately all the safe havens are already under attack ... We'll probably be OK! I'll email when I'm safe."

Mr Bloss didn't send another email. He managed to keep the assailants at bay long enough to enable the contractors he was protecting to escape. But he was killed in a gun battle - and with him a little more of what optimism is left in Iraq.

--snip--

In the bloody turmoil of Iraq, it is private security guards like Mr Bloss who are most exposed. Mostly ex-soldiers hired at formidable costs of up to £1,000 a day to make Iraq safe for investment, they have no tanks or armoured helicopters to rescue them when things turn ugly.

The Iraq war has already laid bare the creeping privatisation of modern conflict. Mr Bloss's death, coupled with the growing hostage drama, will raise more questions about the security vacuum in the country.

One group of captives was seized in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of the capital yesterday.

A Reuters journalist reported seeing two westerners, said by the insurgents to be Italians, being hauled into a village mosque. One was wounded in the left shoulder, apparently from a gunshot. Both were weeping. They were wearing close-fitting, dark blue T-shirts. The insurgents shouted "Italians, Italians" as they were taken into the mosque.

Things are just peachy Ms. Rice!!!

Where's George again?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. The Bum-In-Thief George Bush is on vacation.