DEATHS OF MORE GIS IN IRAQ: VIOLENCE CONTINUES THROUGHOUT IRAQ

Now that the Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War has come and gone, the mainstream media---especially FOX NEWS---can get back to their main stock in trade, race baiting. In fact, FOX NEWS has devoted almost ALL of their programming to the dust up over Barak Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. The so-called news organization expresses their outrage at Rev. Wright's previous statements, but once you scrape away the phony veneer it is obvious FOX NEWS is only putting on display their own brand of RACISM as a way of further dividing Americans along racial lines.

This former reporter and columnist and a former member of the U.S. Army Combat Engineers and a Korean War veteran believes there are far more important issues to report than going over and over the same tapes of Reverend Wright's rants from the pulpit even though they were totally inappropriate.

DEATH is not taking a holiday in Iraq and we have a list of GIs killed in the past few days as well as a laundry list of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan which makes anything President Bush, Vice President Cheney and General Petraeus say sound like they have lost their minds.

Commentary by Bill Corcoran, editor of this blog.

War News for Thursday, March 20, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition Force Soldier in a vehicle rollover in an Diyala Province on Wednesday, March 19th. The incident is currently under investigation. No other details were released.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by CENTCOM. Spc. Lerando J. Brown died from injuries suffered in an incident currently under investigation in Balad, Iraq on Saturday, March 15th. No other details were released. World Now/WLOX TV 13 is reporting that he died of a gunshot wound to the chest according to his family.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a workplace accident in Nawa District, Ghazni Province.on Wednesday, March 19th. No other details were released. We assume this to be an American soldier.

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: A roadside bomb exploded in Zafaraniyah, southeast Baghdad at around 10 am today. No casualties were reported.

Diyala Prv:#1: A booby trapped house at a water treatment plant killed an Iraqi Army soldier and wounded another in Diyala yesterday, March 19, said a US military release today.The Iraqi soldiers were conducting a clearing mission in the water treatment plant when one of the soldiers triggered a booby-trapped wardrobe door.

Diwaniya:#1: Two policemen were wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen on an Iraqi security center in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, while two suspects were arrested on alleged connection to the attack, a police source said. A security centre came last night under an attack with RPGs by unidentified gunmen in al-Wahda quarter, southern Diwaniya, wounding two policemen," Colonel Ghassan Mohammed told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq.

#2: Meanwhile, the same source told VOI that a police vehicle patrol came under small-arm fire lat night in al-Zuhur neighborhood, southeastern Diwaniya, with no casualties.

Kut:#1: One policeman was killed on Thursday by gunfire from unknown armed men at the center of Kut city."Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a policeman, near to Al-Batol Hospital – city center, killing him immediately," a security source at Wassit police told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on condition on anonymity.

Samarra:#1: Six civilians were killed when the U.S. army shelled their vehicle near Samarra, while U.S. forces said that they targeted a number of suspected gunmen in southwest Samarra, a police source said on Thursday.

Baiji:#1: Unknown gunmen abducted a senior official of an Iraqi ministry near a town in Salahudin province, a provincial police source said on Thursday. "Ra'ad Shallal al-Hadithi, an advisor for the electricity minister, was kidnapped on Wednesday afternoon when armed men set up a faked checkpoint and intercepted his car in a desert area on the main road west of the town of Beiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Kirkuk:#1: An authorized source from Kirkuk's police said that an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on Thursday near to the Turkman's Front's Headquarter in the city, without causing any casualties. Police forces arrested one man suspected of conducting this incident that took place near a gasoline station, at the center of the city. "The explosion was remotely controlled, and it took place near Oqba bin Nafi'a gasoline station, on the highway that leads to Baghdad, and near to the Turkman's Front HQ, without causing any casualties, but shops nearby were damaged," the source said to Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq –

Mosul:#1: A parked car bomb exploded in al-Khansaa neighbourhood, Mosul at 2 pm killing 3 civilians, injuring 7.

#2: An improvised explosive device went off in al-Nabi Younes region in eastern Mosul targeting a police vehicle patrol, killing a cop,” the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#3: Another policeman was wounded when a police force detonated a car bomb, parked in al-Sukar neighborhood, northern Mosul,” he added.“The police detonated the car remotely, however the cop was wounded,” he explained.

Sulaimaniyah Prv:#1: Sulaimaniyah Police found an unidentified body at the foot of Goezha Mountain Thursday morning. The body was of a young male wearing black garments.

Kurdistan:#1: Turkish television says Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. Private NTV television says the planes flew reconnaissance flights over the border area before bombing targets of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. NTV says there were no reports of injuries to civilians. The station was citing Iraqi Kurdish officials.

Afghanistan:#1: NATO-led troops killed a police officer and wounded another in southern Afghanistan, a police chief said Thursday. The policemen were patrolling in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, when NATO troops opened fire on them late on Wednesday, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. Shooting left one police dead and another wounded, Andiwal said.

#2: A suicide car bomb killed five Pakistani soldiers Thursday near the Afghan border, the military said. Another nine soldiers were wounded in the attack in South Waziristan's main town of Wana, Pakistan's military said in a statement.