THE PRESS FIDDLES WHILE IRAQ BURNS: REPORT ON INJURED GI

If I didn't know better, I would think an arrangement has been made by everyone in the mainstream media to back off all coverage of the war in Iraq. Even a story about a young GI recovering from his wound is given a pass by the media, but not by this blogger. Here is the report on events in Iraq on Saturday.

Casualty Reports:Army Staff Sergeant Calvin Stroupe, 28, was on duty in Iraq when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his jeep over the weekend. Stroupe suffered a concussion, broken ribs and bleeding in the brain. Stroupe spent three days in intensive care but is expected to recover. He’s already ready to return to work.

Violence across Iraq on Saturday:

Diyala Prv:Khalis:#1: At least one policeman and two civilians were wounded on Saturday as fighters belong to the anti-Qaeda Popular Committees opened fire at a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police in Diala, central Iraq, a security source said. "The attack took place near Sarajiq village of al-Khalis district," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq

Three civilians were killed including a policeman and two other civilians were wounded when a check point of the local supporting committees opened fire on their car in Sarajiq village in Salam district, part of Khalis town 9miles north of Baquba around 9:00 a.m. local police of Salam district said.

Hilla:#1: One body was found with gunshot wounds to the head in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Four Katyusha missiles fell on a U.S. base in Hilla while five others in its environs on Friday night but left no casualties, a police source in Babel province said on Saturday."Four Katyusha rockets fell on a house of a member of the former Baath Party command, which the U.S. intelligence corps took as headquarters in southern Hilla," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Latifiya:#1: One decapitated body was found in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Mahaweel:

#1: Police found two bodies with signs of torture and gunshot wounds in Mahaweel, 75 km (45 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Basra:#1: Unknown gunmen abducted on Saturday the son of Basra Engineering College's dean, eyewitnesses said.An eyewitness and relative of the hostage told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq that unidentified armed men kidnapped Zuhair Salih Ismael, son of Professor Salih Ismael, Basra Engineering College's dean, from Al-Tanoma area – east of Basra city, and took him to an unknown place.

Samarra:#1: An American helicopter mistakenly opened fire on an Awakening Councils’ group patrol in Salahudin province, killing six fighters of the group, a provincial police source said Saturday. The incident took place at dawn in the Um al-Talayeb village south of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Two more fighters of the patrol were wounded by the helicopter attack and were transported by the US ground forces to their base for treatment, the source said.

Kirkuk:#1: In Kirkuk, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, at least one civilian was killed and nine others were injured when a bomb targeting an Iraqi patrol went off in the al-Dahab al-Aswad area, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Sources said that the vehicles of Iraqi police officers were damaged in the attack.A civilian was killed and five policemen were injured in an IED explosion in al Tayran square in downtown Kirkuk city on Saturday morning.

Kurdistan:#1: The Iranian shelling of border areas in northern Iraq is ongoing but left no casualties, the chief of the border district of Zarawa said on Saturday. "The Iranian artillery shells, which began on Wednesday, are targeting the villages of Rizka, Mardo, Shinawa, Sorkola, Basti, and Spikola of the Qalaat Daza border district, (160 km) northeast of Sulaimaniya. The attacks left no casualties but forcibly-displaced inhabitants of eight villages," Azad Wasso told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Afghanistan:#1: Afghan police backed by U.S. troops killed three Taliban fighters and captured three more in a 40-minute gunbattle in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. The firefight erupted after some 40 Afghan police officers, backed by a small team of U.S. mentors entered a village in the Shajoy district of Zabul province. Taliban fighters fired on the troops before retreating to a nearby hill on motorcycles. The police and U.S. mentors chased the militants and surrounded them.

#2: In northern Afghanistan, the governor of Khanaqa district in Jowzjan province was killed in a knife attack on Saturday, a provincial spokesman said, blaming Taliban insurgents

.#3: A commander of the highway police in the northern province of Kunduz was shot dead in an ambush late Friday, said the provincial police's General Mohammad Ayob Salangi, who blamed the attack on the Taliban.

And so it goes in Iraq on a daily basis, but the mainstream media, President Bush and his parrot FOX NEWS, continue to tell the American public everything is peachy in Iraq. They are lying.