An Appeal From South Korea

From a representative of People’s Action Against the Dispatch of Korean Combat Troops to Iraq:

    An Appeal by 365 Korean Organizations to the Iraqi Group Holding a Korean National

    We appeal for the release of the Korean national Kim Seon Il.

    Today the Korean people were overcome with shock at the news the Korean Kim Seon Il has been kidnapped in Iraq. His seizure and the threat against the life of this private citizen is already a source of unspeakable sadness for his family and the Korean people. This sadness and shock is the same for the many Koreans who have opposed the United States’ unjust invasion and the deployment of Korean troops to Iraq.

    The Korean people are well aware of the fact that the US invaded Iraq for domination and oil, and not for the freedom and peace of the Iraqi people. We know also that the US occupation of Iraq has denied the Iraqi people their sovereignty and that there have been widespread human rights abuses by US forces there, leading to Iraqi pain and loss of life. For this reason we have done all that is humanly possible to prevent the deployment of Korean troops, as they will in no way contribute to the peace and security of the Iraqi people.

    Kidnapping and threatening a private citizen with death, however, will not contribute to Iraqi peace. The Iraqi people are right to resist the US’s unjust invasion, occupation, and carnage. Nevertheless, kidnapping and threatening a private citizen with death cannot be justified. Doing so will only lead to a vicious cycle of blood and revenge.

    Again we make an earnest appeal. Please make your claims known through dialogue and release Kim Seon Il to his family as he is of no relation to government policy.

    21 June 2004

    Seoul, Korea

Marines executed in Ramadi

Now, here’s a really bizarre story.

(06-21-2004) – Four U.S. service members were killed Monday – shot repeatedly in the head during an ambush while they were on patrol in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Ramadi.
[…]
The four Americans killed in Ramadi had failed to check in at an appointed time, and a search was launched, Kimmitt said, declining further comment until relatives could be notified.

Videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed the four, still in uniform, lying dead near what appeared to be a walled compound.

So, four Marines were on patrol and whoever jumped them took them all out, shot them repeatedly in the head, lined their bodies up in a macabre display, took a video of them and delivered it to the AP. When I first read this terse account, which is all that any news outlets are carrying so far, I thought they might have been beheaded, which would account for Kimmitt’s reluctance to tell what happened. It still may turn out that they were – then again, it may never be publicly announced either way. Maybe the video will be shown or at least an acount will be written of what it shows.

Anyway, this story stinks. Where was/is the vehicle the Marines were driving? How did they manage to be so completely overwhelmed? Are four person patrols normal in Ramadi, probably the most dangerous city in Iraq for Americans next to Fallujah? Why were they not found rapidly, after they failed to check in? Why didn’t they call for help at the first sign of an attack? Who made the videotape?

Too many unanswered questions surround this odd incident.

UPDATE: The AP reports a few more details:

A videotape delivered Monday to Associated Press Television News showed four Americans in uniform lying dead in what appeared to be a walled compound in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 60 miles west of Baghdad. One of the Americans was slumped in the corner of a wall.

The bodies had no flak vests _ mandatory for U.S. troops operating in contested areas _ and at least one was missing a boot. One fieldpack was left open next to a body as if the attackers had looted the dead before fleeing.

UPDATE: Information ClearingHouse has stills from the AP video. Click to enlarge this photo:

marinesramadi


Thanks for the tip on the photos from poster Raincoast!

Your Papers, Please

How come the more wars we fight to defend freedom, the less there is left to defend? I’m just now trying to imagine what my new identity patch will look like. How to depict a cheese-eating surrender monkey? The patches needn’t all be ethnic, of course. Sure, Arab-Americans will probably have to wear red crescents, but maybe the pink triangle could be resurrected for all war opponents.

Thrill of War is Gone

A letter from a KBR civilian employee in Iraq:

    The thrill of war is gone

    Imagine explosions without warning 24-7. Mortar attacks are unpredictable. They’re in the minds of every person who lives on the forward operation bases in Iraq.

    They kill, wound, bloody and break the hearts of families of loved ones who have suffered the results of mortars. In five months, the number of mortar attacks increased at a steady pace, as have injuries and lives lost.

    As June 30 draws nearer, the Iraqi government decides its future. The mortars fall more frequently, with greater numbers. Fifteen is common with each round a potential killer. We hug the ground, pray the explosions will stop, grit our teeth, tense our bodies and feel the ground shake beneath. A blast threw me 10 feet. I ask the question: “Why did I survive?” A friend questioned his pain by repeating, “I think I’ve been hit.” He was hit. He fell next to me and two more mortars rumbled near.

    The thrill of war is gone. Fear takes over my thoughts most days. We constantly look for places to shield our bodies from flying shrapnel that sends friends home or to their final resting place.

    Soldiers say I am lucky. I can leave this place. That is a choice I have made. I return to Eugene to run the Butte to Butte and gather my thoughts of the past five months and never forget fallen friends in the Iraq war that ended before I arrived.

    I dedicated my time there to my wife, Lt. Col. Sherry McConnell, U.S. Marine Corps, on active duty in Iraq.

    VINCENT G. SUETOS
    KBR Security Coordinator
    Mosul, Iraq

Putin’s warning

President Putin really stunned the world, and especially the State Department, when he recently stated that Russian intelligence had warned Bush before the war that Saddam had oodles of terrorists in Iraq just waiting in the wings to attack America and the world. Apparently, his own government was unaware of this terrorist crisis as evidenced in this news story of 3/21/03, the day after the war started:

    Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said he was astonished by a U.S. request to freeze Iraqi bank assets. “Under our legislation, we can freeze accounts if they are used to finance terrorism or money laundering activities,” Kudrin said. “As far as I am aware, there are no facts linking Saddam Hussein’s accounts in Russia to such activities.”


And a year later on 2/27/04, in this news story from Pravda, Putin states that Iraq “…is a new territory to them [terrorists].” Doesn’t that seem to mean that the terrorists weren’t in Iraq before the war?

    “Terrorists are ‘exploring’ Iraq, which is a new territory to them,” President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with students in Krasnoyarsk on Friday. “This is a very dangerous process, the longer it will take place, the more dangerous it will be,” said the president. Mr Putin reiterated his position to the effect that the military campaign against Iraq had not been justified. “It was a mistake. There was no need for the military operation, and subsequent events proved that,” said President Putin.