9 U.S. troops killed north of Baghdad

[motivez]

BAGHDAD (AP) - An al-Qaida-linked group posted a web statement Tuesday claiming responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20 in the worst attack on American ground forces in Iraq in more than a year.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, said it was behind Monday's attack on a U.S. patrol base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. The area has seen a spike in violence since a U.S.-led crackdown in the capital aimed at curbing violence there.

The dead Americans were all members of the 82nd Airborne Division, said a spokesman for the Fort Bragg, N.C.,-based unit. It was the highest number of casualties for the division since the war began, Maj. Tom Earnhardt said.

Meanwhile, police in the same area said gunmen disguised as Iraqi soldiers killed six Iraqis and burned five homes Tuesday in an unrelated attack.

South of the capital, a family of seven was killed en masse - shot to death in their beds at dawn by masked gunmen, neighbours and police said.

British forces transferred another military base to Iraqi troops in the country's south, ahead of the planned withdrawal this summer of about half of Britain's contribution to the U.S.-led coalition.

And in Baghdad, two bombs went off outside the Iranian Embassy on Tuesday for the second consecutive day. Six civilians were injured, police said.

Tension has risen over allegations by the U.S. and some Sunni politicians in Iraq about alleged Iranian interference in the country.

In its web posting Tuesday, the Islamic State of Iraq put the number of Americans killed in the bomb attack in Diyala province at 30.

"Almighty God has guided the soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq to new methods of explosions," it said without elaborating. The message appeared on a website that frequently airs communications from insurgents.

It was single deadliest attack on ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 marines and wounded 11 on a foot patrol near Fallujah.

Twelve soldiers died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Diyala on Jan. 20. The military said it might have been shot down but the investigation was still ongoing.

In other devastating attacks, 14 marines were killed when a roadside bomb struck an amphibious assault vehicle near the western town of Haditha on Aug. 3, 2005. And a suicide bomber struck a mess tent in a base near Mosul on Dec. 21, 2004, killing 22 people, including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.

It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a suicide car bomber.

The insurgents have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.

On Feb. 19, insurgents struck a U.S. combat post in Tarmiyah, about 50 kilometres north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding 17 in what the military called a "co-ordinated attack." It began with a suicide car bombing followed by gunfire on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station where fuel storage tanks were set ablaze by the blast.

American troops are facing increasing danger as they step up their presence in outposts and police stations in Baghdad and areas surrounding the city, as part of the security crackdown to which U.S. President George W. Bush has committed an extra 30,000 troops.

Sunni militants are believed to have withdrawn to surrounding areas such as Diyala where they have a relatively safe haven. The U.S. command also deployed an extra 700 soldiers to the province last month.

Another U.S. soldier was also killed Monday in a roadside bombing in Diyala, the military said - bringing the daily American death toll to 10. A British soldier was also shot to death while on patrol in the southern city of Basra, officials said.

The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. service members who died have in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for American troops since December, when 112 died.

Al-Qaida-linked group claims attack that killed 9 U.S. troops north of Baghdad

So, isn't this proof really that the surge isn't working? And it's not going to work?

Isn't it time for Bush and his minions to finally admit that a military solution is not going to happen in Iraq, and that eventually for the violence to stop, there has to be political consensus amongst the factions in Iraq.. and until there is, it doesn't matter if we leave in 5 days, 5 months, or 5 years?

Why keep sacrificing our troops and forcing them to be in the middle of a civil war that we are incapable of stopping?

The violence has once again shot up in spite of a large increase in the number of troops on the ground, which completely invalidates the neocon line about how the surge is working and there's so many signs of progress, and validates what I and many other people have been saying for a long time now, which is more troops = more violence against us..

I don't want the genocide that's likely to ensue when we leave to happen, but, it's going to happen regardless of whenever that is.. there are broader regional forces at work here, and we refuse to engage them on the issues, so.. I don't really see the point anymore.

We can't force peace and reconciliation amongst people who put religion before nationality (and everything else) without the use of secular strongarm tactics that forces an uneasy peace, kinda like Saddam..

[DosEquis]

One of those men is named Kevin Gaspers of Hastings, NE. His sister Katie is friends with my g/f and they both work at the same place here in Omaha. The g/f has started to setup a memorial fund where they work

[DosEquis]

BY TIM ELFRINK
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A Hastings, Neb., native was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq on Monday, his family said today.

Lt. Kevin Gaspers, 26, a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, N.C., died when a suicide bomber attacked his base and a building roof collapsed, said his mother, Pam Gaspers.

Details provided to his family suggest that Gaspers was among nine 82nd Airborne soldiers killed when a truck bomb exploded next to their base in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

The Army has declined to release the soldiers' names pending notification of relatives.

Pam Gaspers said she learned of her son's death this morning.

A 2000 graduate of Hastings St. Cecilia High School, Kevin Gaspers had wanted to serve his country since at least junior high school, his mother said.

"It was just something he's always wanted to do, and he loved doing it," Pam Gaspers said.

A wrestler and football player at St. Cecilia, Gaspers was remembered in a schoolwide Mass today as a dedicated student and caring friend.

"I'll just remember his smile, because he always smiled. He wasn't a doom-and-gloom kind of guy," said Marie Butler, St. Cecilia's principal.

"After today's Mass, a freshman boy came up to me and said he'd heard a lot about Kevin and really thought he was a good man. I think that's a great description of him, just a really good man, a good man," Butler said.

After graduation, Gaspers joined the ROTC program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned his Army officer's commission about two years ago, his mother said.

He trained to be a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, she said. "He really loved to jump."

Gaspers recently was home in Hastings on leave and had been back in Iraq for about two weeks, his mother said. It was his first tour of duty in the country.

Gaspers is survived by his parents, John and Pam, of Hastings; and sisters, Katie, 23, of Omaha, and Audrey, 15, of Hastings.

Funeral arrangements were pending.

Monday's attack also wounded 20 soldiers and caused the highest number of casualties for the 82nd Airborne since the Iraq war began, said Maj. Tom Earnhardt, spokesman for the division at Fort Bragg.

The wounded soldiers were members of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Earnhardt said. A civilian interpreter also was wounded in the explosion.

"They were inside the building," Earnhardt said. "Fifteen of the wounded were superficial, and they were treated on the spot and returned to duty. Five were evacuated to a military hospital, but none of the five have life-threatening injuries."

An insurgent group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility.

It was the single deadliest attack on ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 on foot patrol near Fallujah.

Also Monday, another U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in Diyala, the military said, bringing the day's American death toll to 10.

The Associated Press reported that residents of the Ameen area south of Baqouba described what they believed was the attack that killed the nine soldiers, although the U.S. military did not confirm the accounts.

The residents said gunmen first fired on American snipers at a U.S. base housed in an old Iraqi primary school, then a suicide car bomb rammed a checkpoint at the school's entrance, breaking through blast walls and other fortifications.

The first explosion left a path for a second suicide vehicle, a truck, to approach the building, the witnesses said.

Several American soldiers were caught beneath the building as it collapsed in the explosion, the residents said.

[thomez]

I believe violence against US soldiers is at levels that we haven't seen in a long time, truly sad.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

Al-Qaida-linked group claims attack that killed 9 U.S. troops north of Baghdad

So, isn't this proof really that the surge isn't working? And it's not going to work?

One suicide car bombing is proof the surge isn't working? That's fairly selective reasoning I would think. I think we have to take everything into account, not just the bad.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by thomez

I believe violence against US soldiers is at levels that we haven't seen in a long time

Very low?

[thomez]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Very low?

No, quite the opposite.

[thomez]

This month is the deadliest for US troops since December, and unfortunately there are still 6 days left.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by thomez

This month is the deadliest for US troops since December, and unfortunately there are still 6 days left.

Deadliest month is relative...it could have changed from 10 to 20 and be the deadliest, but that's very very low and a very good number for a war. Men die in war, the fact that we've had so few die is very good, and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

[thomez]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Deadliest month is relative...it could have changed from 10 to 20 and be the deadliest, but that's very very low and a very good number for a war. Men die in war, the fact that we've had so few die is very good, and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

87 so far this month is not low in my opinion.

[thatguyoverthere]

Originally Posted by thomez

87 so far this month is not low in my opinion.

Some people on this forum apparently support the effort in Iraq, but seem quick to spin the sacrifice of US and allied troops as very small when put into perspective.

I wonder if those same posters applied this rationalization by ratio to the recent mass murder on a US college campus? Why, compared to the total number of students on the campus that day... why, compared to the number of students around the country that day...

Ect, ect... To me, it's disgusting watching them try and spin away the tragic human cost of this war with ratios, while at the same time supporting the continuing effort.

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by thatguyoverthere

Some people on this forum apparently support the effort in Iraq, but seem quick to spin the sacrifice of US and allied troops as very small when put into perspective.

I wonder if those same posters applied this rationalization by ratio to the recent mass murder on a US college campus? Why, compared to the total number of students on the campus that day... why, compared to the number of students around the country that day...

Ect, ect... To me, it's disgusting watching them try and spin away the tragic human cost of this war with ratios, while at the same time supporting the continuing effort.

The alledged troop supporters like to diminish the deaths and sacrifice to help further justify keeping soldiers there with no major new plan other than the surge we have done 3 times already. I will agree it is quite disgusting.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

One suicide car bombing is proof the surge isn't working? That's fairly selective reasoning I would think. I think we have to take everything into account, not just the bad.

No, the fact that violence has increased to the point where this is the deadliest month for US troops is..

One car bombing in an area considered "relatively safe" shows that despite more troops being on the ground, they were simply laying low initially to see what was what, and now are back at it again.

Any response to the rest of my post, or just drawing conclusions from it that I didn't imply?

[6SpeedTA95]

Motz not to derail your thread, if you want to move this feel free...

But on the topic of the surge not working did you guys hear about building a wall in baghdad to discourage violence? I think this is an abhorent idea and reminds me of the berlin wall.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by thomez

87 so far this month is not low in my opinion.

Perhaps you should keep deaths in a war in a real perspective. Take for example WWII. Men by the hundreds of thousands died on the battlefield in a single day.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Perhaps you should keep deaths in a war in a real perspective. Take for example WWII. Men by the hundreds of thousands died on the battlefield in a single day.

Real perspective and you're comparing Iraq to WWII???? I'm sorry dude but that is a ridiculous comparison.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Real perspective and you're comparing Iraq to WWII???? I'm sorry dude but that is a ridiculous comparison.

Perspective of any war. In any other war we've had, we had far more deaths. WWII is a war. Iraq is a war. Compare it to Vietnam if you like. WWI perhaps?

Certainly you can't compare it to some paintball games on the weekends?

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Perspective of any war. In any other war we've had, we had far more deaths. WWII is a war. Iraq is a war. Compare it to Vietnam if you like. WWI perhaps?

Certainly you can't compare it to some paintball games on the weekends?

Well that is a good point but Iraq is merely a theater in the war on terror IMO.


The fact remains the war has been mismanaged. Almost everything since the invasion which was a fantastic invasion has been mishandled. The Iraqi's are coming up to speed very slowly and do not seem to care.

I'm not for pulling out but I am for using our resources and the lives of our men and women in a more responsible manner than this administration has done. The fact is our soldiers continue to die at a fast pace due solely to the fact that Iraq keeps saying "we can't do it alone" yet they refuse to step up to the plate. They need a chance and they've had what two years? I agree the media and many on the left have been far to critical of the administration and the war but the DoD and the generals on the ground have not done the job they've needed to do over there.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Perspective of any war. In any other war we've had, we had far more deaths. WWII is a war. Iraq is a war. Compare it to Vietnam if you like. WWI perhaps?

Certainly you can't compare it to some paintball games on the weekends?

How can you compare Iraq to a "World War." You're comparing the fight for one relatively small country over the fight for a continent. Vietnam would be the best comparison.