Again, the "insurgents"....as a friend of mine has said
repeatedly, WHY do we continue use of this PC (and lame) handle? The
enemy is the ENEMY....Insurgents be damned.
***********
U.S. Planned Bunker at Site of Iraq Attack
30 minutes ago
By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Worried about recent artillery attacks on American
mess halls in Iraq, the U.S. military had nearly completed a
reinforced dining area near the mess tent where an insurgent attack
killed 22 people.
Iraqi insurgents have attacked several U.S. military dining hall
tents with mortars or rockets over the past few months. On Tuesday,
before the hardened dining hall at Forward Operating Base Marez could
be completed, an explosion ripped through a tent where hundreds of
troops were sitting down to lunch.
Pentagon officials initially said a 122 mm rocket caused the
blast, but on Wednesday military officials in Iraq said they were
investigating the possibility of an explosive planted in the tent or
brought in by a suicide bomber.
The military was building a bunker-like mess hall at the Marez
base as part of continuing efforts to make the base safer. Lt. Gen.
Thomas Metz, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, said the
new facility was due to be completed in February.
"We recognized the threat," Metz said Wednesday on CBS' "The
Early Show." He told CNN, "We've been looking at the force-protection
parameters, not only for dining facilities, but for other places we
have large gatherings."
Attacks from rockets or mortars _ what the military calls
"indirect fire" _ have been commonplace at U.S. bases in the Mosul
area as well as other insurgency hot spots in Iraq. Dining halls are a
prime target because they offer a readily identifiable place where
lots of troops congregate at predictable times.
For example, a mortar round hit near the mess hall of a U.S.
base in Tikrit during dinner one night in March. The round didn't
explode and no one was injured. Insurgents also launched rockets that
month which exploded near a large military dining hall within
Baghdad's Green Zone where U.S. and Iraqi government offices are
located. Another mortar round injured three soldiers at a dining hall
on another Baghdad base in February.
"It is extremely difficult to prevent these appalling and
horrific attacks," said Wendy Hall, spokeswoman for Halliburton Co.,
the Army contractor that provides food services in Iraq. Halliburton
said it lost several employees and subcontractors in the attack.
At many bases _ including Marez _ troops have been required to
wear their body armor and helmets while in the dining hall because of
the threat of attack. Most of the attacks don't hit any structures or
cause any injuries, however.
Still, one soldier was killed near the dining hall at Marez in a
mortar attack in May, and two soldiers were killed in November when
mortars exploded in their living area on the same base.
Maj. John Nelson, the battalion's chief surgeon, told a reporter
earlier this year about plans for a possible attack on the dining
hall. Nelson told the Portland (Maine) Press Herald that military
statistics showed that if a 60mm mortar shell hit the dining hall with
400 soldiers inside, an estimated 12 would die no matter what medics
could do.
President Bush said Tuesday's deadly attack should not derail
Iraqi elections scheduled for next month and that he hoped relatives
of those killed would find solace in the service their loved ones
provided.
"We just want them to know that the mission is a vital mission
for peace," Bush told reporters after visiting wounded soldiers at
Walter Reed Army Hospital.
Bush said the violence, part of a continuing wave of unrest in
Iraq, should not affect elections scheduled for Jan. 30.
"I'm confident democracy will prevail in Iraq," he said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, responding to a question
about how Iraqis would be able to get to some 9,000 polling places for
the elections if U.S. troops can't secure their own bases, said there
was "security and peace" in 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
"There are tough challenges that remain ... but we are making
important progress on the ground," McClellan said. "We also have to
keep in mind that the terrorists and Saddam loyalists have adapted and
changed their tactics. We adapt and change with that as well to meet
those ongoing security challenges."
Both American and Iraqi forces use the base that was attacked
Tuesday. A surge in killings and other attacks in Mosul in recent
weeks has targeted members of the Iraqi security forces in particular,
with the bodies of many Iraqi soldiers found dumped in the streets as
a warning to others.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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