US base (in Iraq) rocked by (six) powerful explosions (plus sm. arms fire)

[expatriot]

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=65975®ion=6

US BASE ROCKED BY EXPLOSIONS
12.8.2003. 16:20:43



A US military base to the west of Baghdad has been rocked by huge explosions.

No casualty toll was released after the six powerful blast shook the US base in Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, as the compound came under fire from unknown assailants.

In a separate incident, one US soldier was killed and two wounded in a grenade attack on a police station in the town Baquba.

At least 57 US soldiers have now been killed in guerrilla-style attacks, while another 60 have died in non-combat incidents since the White House declared major combat operations in Iraq over on May 1.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[LosinIt]

1. Why isn't this on any other news source yet?

[rooboy]

2. There was another thread on this several hours ago...

apparently MSNBC reported it and then the story vanished from the radar. Media blackout seems to be in effect.

[LosinIt]

3. Our Mr. Rove is working late tonight

[LosinIt]

6. Do you have the link to that?

I feel like I am in an alternate universe or something. Just where they want me.

[rooboy]

10. here's the old thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=61380

[undergroundrailroad]

4. I'm checking all wire services and can't find anything?

This is MAJOR BREAKING news?

I'm still looking. Also an explosion in Israel is being reported on CNN.

[DannyRed]

5. Australia has it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-12aug2003-5.htm

Explosions rock US base in flashpoint Iraqi town

Six huge explosions have rocked a US military base in Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, as mysterious assailants fired on the compound, an eyewitness has told AFP.

Faras Mustafa, 34, said he saw smoke rising from the base after the blasts.

There was no immediate comment from the US army, but earlier Monday local time, Colonel Guy Shields, the coalition's top military spokesman, said the base in Ramadi had come under repeated mortar attack the previous few nights.

The town is considered a stronghold of sympathisers of Saddam Hussein's regime, who hailed from the same Sunni Muslim community, now embattled in the post-war Iraq era as the country's Shiite majority asserts its will.

[DannyRed]

7. Here's AFP/SGYahoo

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030812/1/3dbl8.html

[undergroundrailroad]

9. "There was no immediate comment from the US army"

Well, I think we all know what THAT means.

I hope truth prevails.

UGRR

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. Burn those photos!

"One man was arrested after soldiers found a photograph of him with a man alleged to be a senior member of the local Ba'ath party, but troops said they had not found their main suspect."

[Devils Advocate NZ]

11. So, when are the going to arrest Rumsfeld?

After all, there are photos of him shaking tha hand of a senior member of the Ba'ath party...

[Nihil]

12. Yeah, I wish!

Given the length of time that they are prepared to go back to "find"
evidence of weapons, gassings, etc., why can't the opposition parties
around the world make more of the Rumsfeld connection? This is still
in the same timescale as the fabled Iran/Iraq who-gassed-who events.

[IIgnoreNobody]

13. Arrest this man!

[JawJaw]

14. Damning evidence, but..

Can we be sure that this is the real Jesus H.Rumsfeld, or is he one of his many lookalike decoys?

[rocktivity]

20. Originally posted by Devils Advocate NZ

So, when are the going to arrest Rumsfeld?...there are photos of him shaking the hand of a senior member of the Ba'ath party.

VERY senior. And they haven't caught up with him, either.

[Capt_Nemo]

15. Seems that a news blackout is in force

and that points to the seriousness of this incident.
I'm thinking of an aircraft or an ammo depot being destroyed

Either they are:
- Waiting for a positive spin cycle (new US army success) to
lessen the impact of this news.
- Going to report the losses (casualties or hull losses) atributing
them to incidents that will be spread through the next hours/days.
- Going to "kill" any report that might be related to this incident
and pretend that it never happened.

Anyway we are seeing a news management style reminescent of the
soviets in Afghanistan.

[jamesinca]

16. Centcom website has nothing

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp?searchType=1&searchDays=8&searchMonth=0&searchYear=0000&searchTopic=

If it is that big, maybe they have not had time to respond to it, and give their version of an accurate report.

[izzie]

17. Will this be another storage depot for weapons?

If we hear about it at all. I guess it will slip in through the internet.

[0007]

18. The only thing that comes to my mind

It must be bad news for the U.S. Is it about Saddam Hussein? Is it about a high death toll of US soldiers? If it were good news Washington would be quick to tell us all about it, 'eh? So whatever 'tis about, it isn't good.

The common folks that are paying the price of this war don't need to know attitude is pissing me off.

[catmandu57]

19. Something is going on

these assholes must have learned from the soviets in Afghanistan, a news blackout, no media coverage of the bodies coming home, no mention of the number of wounded. We have to piecemeal together our own numbers, sometimes through dubious sources. I have to say they're on top of this right now, playing a balancing act, but, it can't be kept up forever.

I boot up to yahoo and there is nothing of this story on their page, there is a story of suicide bombing, but a curtain has descended on any deaths or news of attacks on forces in Iraqnam. It just makes me think that something big has happened, six huge explosions followed by small arms, nightly mortar attacks no casualties, somebody is lying.

[rocktivity]

21. More bad intelligence?

The explosions in the Iraqi capital came just hours after US troops raided two sleepy villages where they suspected pro-Saddam Hussein guerrillas were hiding.

Which means they'd been hiding elsewhere--the old missed direction play! The raids suggest that they had reason to believe that guerrillas were hiding in the area, but maybe something got lost in the translation.

rocknation

[Capt_Nemo]

22. Bump!

Got to keep this up until we find out what's going on!

[Sinistrous]

23. This seems to be the incident -- Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=PG5ZHA10ZEKH4CRBAE0CFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3264422

Bomb Attack Kills U.S. Soldier West of Baghdad
Tue August 12, 2003 11:38 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded Tuesday in a bomb attack in the restive Sunni Muslim town of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.

She said three synchronized bombs blew up near a convoy in the outskirts of the town in the morning.

[Capt_Nemo]

24. What is strange is

the time it took from the incident's occurrence to the publishing
of a concrete version of the facts...

[newyawker99]

25. expatriot

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator