Archives for August 2003

*Guerrillas near Balad , northeast of Iraq, injured two US soldiers and woundeded three Iraqis when they fired two rocket propelled grenades at a military convoy on Friday. Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported eyewitness accounts of another 4 US soldiers wounded in separate incidents, one on the fast road from Falluja to Ramadi, and one 16 km. […]

*Guerrillas in Basra bombed a British military ambulance and killed on British soldier, wounding two others. This incident is the first guerrilla attack of this sort on the British, and it is unusual in having occurred in the Shiite south. It comes after last weekend’s angry demonstrations against British failures to provide electricity and gasoline, […]

*On Weds., Iraqi guerrillas killed one US soldier and wounded another near Tikrit with an improvised road bomb, over which their armored personnel carrier drove. Snipers fired on US troops at Rashidiya and Balad, both north of Baghdad. The Rashidiya shooter was killed by return fire. A running gun battle was fought in Baghdad itself […]

*Guerrillas set off three home made bombs at Ramadi as a convoy of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier was passing, killing one US soldier. Two other US soldiers in the convoy were injured. The BBC correspondent reports that “there are about 12 attacks a day against American soldiers in Iraq according to coalition sources.” […]

*Huge explosions at the US base at Ramadi west of Baghdad, but no word on casualties as I write. Guerrillas killed one soldier, wounded two others outside the police station at Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. *A large demonstration of 1000 in Nasiriya demanding that the US-appointed city council resign. The leading local Shiite clergyman, Sheikh […]

*Iraqi guerrillas wounded four US soldiers on Sunday, though details are not forthcoming. Another soldier died of heat stroke in the 123 degree F. sun (50 C.) near al-Diwaniya. A journalist was also wounded. British forces came under fire at Amara in the South, and killed three and wounded six of their assailants. *The riots […]

*Iraqi guerrillas wounded at least four American troops on Friday night and Saturday, according to AP. They fired rocket propelled grenades and directed small arms fire at a patrol of the 173rd Airbone Brigade in Kirkuk (the Kurdish north). That attack wounded two soldiers, who are in stable condition. In south-central Baghdad, guerrillas exploded a […]

Here’s my Friday op-ed for The Daily Star at http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/09_08_03_e.asp Shiite divisions give the US breathing room Juan Cole The Daily Star, 8/9/03 Most Shiite leaders in Iraq have made a tactical decision not to resist the Anglo-American occupation during the coming year. They hope the US, in recreating Iraq as a parliamentary democracy, will […]

*A US soldier was shot to death in the ritzy Mansur district of Baghdad on Friday, but whether it was the work of a guerrilla is unknown. Some 12 US troops were wounded. Six were wounded when guerrillas in Mosul hit their vehicle with a rocke propelled grenade. A bomb blew up two humvees near […]