2 US soldiers killed in Iraq, Bomb Destroys U.S. Tank

[Flagg]

Bomb Destroys U.S. Tank, Kills Two Soldiers in Iraq


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb destroyed a U.S. tank in Baghdad Monday, killing two American soldiers and wounding four, the U.S. military said.



The blast came as insurgents stepped up attacks ahead of Iraqi elections due on Jan. 30.

The attack in southwest Baghdad raised to at least 1,067 the number of U.S. troops killed since the start of the war that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in 2003.

Roadside bombs are one of the leading killers of U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites). They are hidden in everything from soda cans to animal carcasses.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050110/us_nm/iraq_soldiers_deaths_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1478

[PsychoDad]

1. IIRC

It would take quite a blast to "destroy" an Abrams M1A2.

"Roadside bombs are one of the leading killers of U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites). They are hidden in everything from soda cans to animal carcasses."

Soda cans and dead animals vs the technology of the world military superpower. Billions of $$$ vs. the will to be free.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Romulus]

20. article now says it was a Bradley IFV (n/t)

[Florida_Geek]

2. Rummy where did that 380 TONS off high explosives

go to when you were not watching it.

Grrrrrrr

[Catfight]

6. Exactly, why isn't that in the news? He lost 380 TONS of ammunition!

There's nothing more incompetent than that and he should be FIRED by now.

[mediaman007]

14. My campaign: Don't fire Rummy, until he...

a) takes responsibility for this mess

or

b) has the entire nation in an uproar for his incompetance and arrogance.

anything less is a pass on his work and a honeymoon for who ever they bring in to take Rummy's place.

[greenman3610]

28. actually, they lost much more

early reports talked about MILLIONS of tons of Iraqi munitions unguarded
after the invasion. Condi Rice makes a big deal about
400,000 or so tons destroyed.
That leaves a few hundred thousand floating around, including
anti aircraft missiles, guns and all manner of explosives.

[TahitiNut]

8. Well, that's obviously the "strategery"

They're 'finding' the high explosives, one IED at a time. :grr:

[mediaman007]

15. LOL...good observation! :-)

[leftchick]

3. More of those missing High Explosives turning up....

and the number of dead is now 1356.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Where did they get their numbers, anyway?

How the hell did they come up with 1,067?

[Ripley]

5. Depends on their starting point.

They keep moving that. See there was the First Start of the war in March of 03 then there was the Mission Accomplished "end." Then there was the Second Start of the war after Major Combat Operations. Then there was the capture of Saddam. Then there was the Third Start of the war....ad naseatum.

I guess it's all part of the plan to suppress the real numbers and keep Americans in a state of denial.

[UpInArms]

7. if a military person in Iraq

just up and dies for no good reason (vehicle accidents or other "non-combat" related stuff) - those people aren't really "dead" - so they don't count :eyes:

Just because they came back to the US in a box doesn't mean anything because no one gets to see the box with the flag draped over it, ergo - they don't count even more!

[ConcernedNonpartisan]

9. Drats

I was going to put my two cents worth in but you have said it all.

[UpInArms]

23. Welcome to DU ConcernedNonpartisan!

glad to have you here

:hi:

[TryingToWarnYou]

10. Scary to know that they can spend ordinance to blow up a tank

makes you wonder how much they have. They certainly arent rationing it.

[shadowknows69]

12. The M1A1

is supposedly nearly indestructable too.

[Sin]

19. I though i heard some were.

That they moved the armor around on them theres verry thin armor on the bottom of the tanks compared to the sides and top.
they cant have with all heavy armor or it would loose speed and use more fuel.Something to that effect
so im takeing it that they burried a good amout of explosive and when it was right over top of it they poped it.

[shadowknows69]

21. that's probably true.

the M1's main armor was designed that almost no other tank shell known to us could penetrate it. Exploiting the underbelly would be the best way to take one out.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[mediaman007]

17. great observations!

I too, consider us to be the World's bully nation.

[saigon68]

27. The Bully is Getting its ass kicked

Too bad so many toothless wonders and Rambo wannabees are joining the armed forces of the 'BULLY"

and getting their guts splattered all over Iraq-Nam.

[Zynx]

24. Not that hard, actually

The M1A2 has all its armor on its frontal arc and glacis plate. Like all tanks, its belly armor is very weak.

A simple anti-tank mine can disable it, and multiple artillery shells in the same bomb could easily total it.

[msanthrope]

16. Has no one in this army read about the siege of Stalingrad?

This time, we are the Nazis.

[rocktivity]

18. While flipping past Faux News last night

I heard somebody say that it wasn't actually a tank but a Bradley fighting vehicle. Were they referring to another bombing, or is this more denial?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Stella_Artois]

25. 6 people hurt / killed

An M1 has a 4 man crew, whereas the Bradley would have six or more. Something doesn't add up. If it was an M1 we must be talking of its 4 crew plus 2 people from some other vehicle.

[leftchick]

22. I bet this one was videotaped as well...

it is sure to end up on the web somewhere. Certainly not on our TVs.

[soup]

26. 'stepped up attacks'

stepped up attacks, stepped up attacks, stepped up attacks.

I am so fucking sick of hearing the phrase 'stepped up attacks'. When have they ever stepped down? Why not call it what it is - ongoing?

Invariably, the phrase is followed with some form of 'reasoning'. Due to 'whatever, whatnot and whatall'. Could we just try a smidgeon of honesty and simply say 'because we are there'? Apparently, that's too much to ask for.

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Iraqi Strikes Injure 10 U.S. Troops
$25 Million Offered For Tips on Capture Or Death of Hussein

By Molly Moore and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 4, 2003; Page A01

BAGHDAD, July 3 -- Ten U.S. soldiers were injured today in three separate attacks that demonstrated the increasing sophistication and brazenness of guerrilla-style strikes against U.S.-led forces in Iraq, according to military officials.
>snip<

Although Sanchez said the military was concerned about the attacks and the festering anti-American sentiment, he insisted that "we can handle these attacks and we are handling them on a daily basis."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7067-2003Jul3.html?nav=hptop_tb

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Posted 10/22/2003 12:22 PM Updated 10/22/2003 1:50 PM
Insurgents step up their bomb attacks

U.S. commander: Iraq attacks on troops up
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi insurgents have stepped up attacks on U.S. troops in recent weeks, the commander of American forces said Wednesday, as ambush bombers struck again in this tense Sunni Muslim area west of Baghdad, in the northern city of Mosul and in the heart of the capital.

The U.S. commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said some of the attacks may be carried out by people with links to al-Qaeda, but he added "we don't have any confirmed al-Qaeda operatives in custody at this point."
>snip<

Sanchez insisted the U.S.-led coalition was making progress in restoring order six months after the collapse of Saddam's rule "but we need to accelerate it and accomplish it across all lines of operation — economic, political, security."

He said that restoring order and getting more Iraqis back to work "will contribute to eliminating some of the anti-coalition forces throughout the country." Iraqi officials estimate unemployment nationwide at more than 70%.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-10-22-iraq-casulties_x.htm

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Iraq: U.S. Military Changing Tactics To Offset Stepped-Up Attacks

By Ron Synovitz

The United States has launched a new offensive against anticoalition guerrillas in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit as well as in Baghdad. RFE/RL correspondent Ron Synovitz reports on a campaign that has been described by U.S. President George W. Bush as an adjustment of strategy.

Prague, 17 November 2003 (RFE/RL) -- U.S. President George W. Bush says U.S. forces are changing tactics in Iraq to counter increasingly lethal attacks against them by the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Bush told journalists in Washington yesterday that intensified U.S. military operations in northern Iraq during the weekend -- including the use of a satellite-guided missile, attack helicopters, tanks, and artillery -- are a response to changing tactics by Iraqi fighters.

"The military is adjusting . You've been reading about the fact that they are adjusting their strategy and their plans. That's exactly what the commander-in-chief expects -- flexibility on the ground to change response to a change of tactics with the enemy."

Bush declared on 1 May that major combat operations in Iraq were over. But despite the latest offensive against guerrilla-styled fighters in Iraq, Bush told British journalist David Frost yesterday that he still would not describe the current situation as a guerrilla war.

"Well, I would call it a desperate attempt by people who were totally in control of government through tyrannical means to regain power," he said.

Bush's remarks follow a series of attacks in the past month that have dramatically increased the U.S. casualty toll in Iraq.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/11/mil-031117-rferl-163953.htm

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Attacks halt Iraqi crude oil exports
Separately, Civil Defense Corps members held over roadside blast

The Associated Press
Updated: 12:05 p.m. ET June 16, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saboteurs blasted a key pipeline Wednesday for the second time in as many days, halting all oil exports from Iraq, officials said. Separately, gunmen killed the top security official of the state-run Northern Oil company as insurgents stepped up attacks on Iraq's infrastructure.
>snip<

Meanwhile, the Wednesday attack north of the town of Faw crippled two already damaged pipelines, forcing a halt in all Iraqi oil exports southward through the Gulf, Southern Oil Company spokesman Samir Jassim said.

"Due to the damage inflicted on the two pipelines, the pumping of oil to the Basra oil terminal has completely stopped," Jassim said. "Exports have come to halt."

Exports were halted last month through the other avenue -- the northern pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, after a May 25 bombing, Turkish officials said on condition of anonymity.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5057770/

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Iraqis and U.S. forces targeted in stepped up insurgent campaign to aimed at disrupting elections

PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer

Monday, December 6, 2004

(12-06) 07:15 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

U.S. troops fought a gunbattle with insurgents along a busy street in Baghdad on Monday, sending passers-by scurrying for cover, witnesses said, while five U.S. troops were reported killed in separate clashes in a volatile western province as insurgents stepped up attacks ahead of next month's elections.
>snip<

The killings raised the number of U.S. troops killed since Friday to 11 and brought to at least 1,276 the number of U.S. troops to have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The attacks came just weeks after the United States launched major offensives aimed at suppressing guerrillas ahead of crucial elections set for Jan. 30. But the insurgents have struck hard in recent days, showing they are just as capable as ever despite the American-led campaign.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/12/06/international0350EST0425.DTL

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Insanity