HAIL DOROTHY!

If we can prove Saddam is dead the reaction might not be unlike that of the soldiers in The Wizard of Oz when the Wicked Witch melted.

Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee expressed a guarded hope today that United States missiles might have hit a convoy thought to have been carrying Saddam Hussein.

Asked about a reported missile attack Wednesday on a convoy in western Iraq, Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the committee, said that he would "not be surprised" to learn that Mr. Hussein had been killed.

It was an intriguing comment from a man who regularly receives top-secret briefings, though Mr. Roberts, Republican of Kansas, quickly added that he had received no confirmation regarding Mr. Hussein...

And King Abdullah of Jordan told a television interviewer that he understood Mr. Hussein had been traveling in the part of Iraq where the attack was reported to have occurred...

The Observer of London reported today that American specialists were performing DNA tests on remains found in debris left by a missile attack Wednesday near the Syrian border, to see whether they could be those of Mr. Hussein or one of his sons.

Of course all this begs the question of how just forthcoming with information is King Abdullah of Jordan...

Read it all here.

QUESTIONED AND RELEASED BY THE USA...WAS IT POSSIBLY FEAR OF SADDAM'S RETRIBUTION THAT PUSHED HIM TO THIS?

Two points come to mind. One is the story that Saddam et al made it to Syria, and were then ejected from that country.

The other is that this is only a problem if he believed...or knew...that Saddam is alive and might blame him for failure to secure cooperation from the Syrians, or for his cooperation with US officials.

Absent any other information I can't make sense of this if Saddam is not alive.

The former Iraqi ambassador in Damascus is recuperating in a Baghdad hospital after shooting himself, the London-based al-Hayat daily reported today.

The paper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying that Mohammed Rifaat al-Ani was hospitalized after he allegedly attempted to commit suicide at his home in the Iraqi capital.

It was not immediately clear why the former ambassador would have wanted to end his life.

Fascinating to speculate on this...read the story here, then let's all stay tuned to see where this goes.

AND DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE I'M NOT WEIGHING THE PROS AND CONS ABOUT CATCHING A FLIGHT.

Baghdad's international airport will reopen to commercial airlines from the United States, Europe and the Gulf within weeks, a senior US official said here Sunday.

Read it all here.

DEAD OR ALIVE...THE $64,000 QUESTION.

On Monday, the arrest of Mr. Hussein's closest confidant, Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, who was No. 4 on an American most-wanted list, raised some hope of obtaining more conclusive information about the former Iraqi leader. The presumption was that Mr. Mahmoud was more likely to have detailed knowledge about what happened to him than almost anyone else in the former government.

At the same time, American officials' optimism about Mr. Mahmoud's capture, near Mr. Hussein's stronghold of Tikrit, has been mixed with disappointment that he was not found to have been hiding with the former president, as some intelligence analysts had suspected.

Mr. Mahmoud's success in eluding capture for nearly two months in a country occupied by nearly 150,000 American soldiers underscored what intelligence officials said was the reality that Iraq still offered many hiding places even for a figure of of Mr. Hussein's prominence.

Conventional wisdom seems to be tilting toward alive. Read about it here.

MORE NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES.

A fuel pipeline exploded and caught fire west of Baghdad, a possible act of sabotage that sent flames high into the sky, as Iraq returned to world oil markets Sunday with its first crude oil exports since the U.S.-led invasion.

Meanwhile, a grenade attack Sunday killed an American soldier and wounded another just outside the capital, the latest violence to plague U.S. forces, who have launched a large crackdown aimed at putting down persistent resistance.

The pipeline explosion did not effect the resumption of crude exports, but the apparent sabotage highlighted recent attacks on fuel pipelines and other infrastructure that have hampered the drive to repair Iraq's most vital industry – one U.S. and British administrators are relying on to finance reconstruction.

The damaged pipeline carries gas – not oil – from the city of Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, to various parts of Iraq to fuel power stations, said Brig. Salam al-Hity, a senior police official in Hit.

The U.S. military said the cause of the blast was still under investigation, but local officials said it was sabotage.

It is so hard for me to comprehend the twisted motives that drive these characters. Read it here.

A POWERFULLY MOVING STORY WRITTEN BY ONE WHO, LIKE ME, HAS A LOVED ONE TRYING TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN BAGHDAD.

On land or in the air, our military ambulances are moving targets. They are driven by men and women who are in unarmed vehicles and helicopters. The Geneva Accords say they must not be armed because shooting at them is not allowed.

We Americans and our allies have always honored these sacred accords.

The Iraqis make a mockery out of the rules of civilization.

Saddam Hussein’s loyalists and others, I suppose, simply see the red cross as a wonderful target.

"Iraqi security officials working with the Americans say regional leaders are directing the attacks by people still loyal to Saddam, former soldiers, Sunni Muslim radicals and non-Iraqi ‘holy warriors,’" the AP story says.

I say they are barbarians.

I am sobbing, really, because it is all so sad. Deep inside I also hold anger.

The irony of it all is that while an American was the one being carried in the ambulance today, it could easily have been an Iraqi. I know, because Tom’s Med-evac flights have included Iraqis as well as Americans. They do not differentiate. The American military gives humanitarian help where help is needed.

What is most ironic is that if any of the Iraqi attackers who killed the American soldier and wounded the others had been harmed today, our medical personnel would have airlifted them to the hospital along with their victims.

What an amazing people we Americans are. It reminds me that God has surely blessed America. We are a kind and generous people. I see our military medical personnel as angels of mercy.

Please read the whole story here. If you don't have a soldier in Iraq, this may be as close as you come to walking a mile in our shoes.

MORE FATALITIES.

A grenade attack on a U.S. military convoy south of Baghdad killed one soldier and wounded another, the U.S. military said.

After the attack in Khan Azad, just south of the capital, two soldiers were evacuated by ambulance to a combat support hospital, the military said in a statement.

One was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital, the statement said.

The soldier was the ninth American serviceman to die in hostile action in Iraq this month.

The story is here.

EXCELLENT PIECE AS USUAL FROM THE WASHINGTON POST.

A former US Ambassador gives a first hand glimpse at the challenges of rebuilding post-war Iraq.

It was hard to get Iraq's paralyzed economy moving again, so we decided to throw money at it -- literally. In late May, a capable U.S. Treasury team worked out an emergency payment scheme for government workers -- and I became one of the deliverymen. Without a functioning banking system, cash was the only way to inject money into the economy. We packed wads of money into metal trunks -- just under $1 million in small bills for the $20-per-head payments -- and loaded them into the back of my Suburban. A humvee traveled in front and an armored scout car in the rear.

The next step was to pay April salaries. The Treasury team worked with Iraq's finance ministry and central bank. On May 24, military police in armored convoys moved billions of Iraqi dinars and money needed for $30-per-head emergency payments for government workers through Ministry of Industry and Minerals offices and into key state enterprises, which in turn funneled them to smaller enterprises. Security glitches abounded. Some worried Iraqis described moving big cash boxes without a gun in sight. Reopening banks will be essential to do this right in the future.

Read the whole thing here. You'll be glad you did.

BUT THEN THERE IS THIS STORY WHICH DOES SEEM TO BE GOOD NEWS.

At the Liberation Gasoline Station in the southern part of the city, people were arguing in the shimmering heat.

Police and Ministry of Oil officials were jumping to the front of the long, slow-moving lines, or demanding extra rations of gasoline or propane, enraging drivers who had waited impatiently for hours.

There was shouting, pushing, shoving and slapping.

Then an Abrams tank from the 1st Armored Division's 135th Battalion rolled in, trailing clouds of brown dust and coughing diesel exhaust.

Not a shot was fired. The Americans took no one prisoner. No one was hurt. But the lines became shorter and moved faster.

Even more important, the scarce fuel was more fairly distributed, and a couple of weeks after the 1st Armored Division left, the station remains a more or less orderly place, customers and workers say, despite continuing shortages.

Several workers said the Americans made the difference. "We are thankful that they came," said Abbas Fallah, a 27-year-old worker at the station's propane distribution center. "They gave us a little freedom, and hope for the future.

"They gave equality for each citizen."

They managed to accomplish on one Baghdad street corner what the Americans hope - and need - to achieve throughout the country. Without violence, a platoon of the 135th Battalion restored security, prompted fair play and won the trust and gratitude of Iraqi civilians...

Instead of just guarding the station, the soldiers decided to make it run more fairly and efficiently. "We were trying to guide them in the direction of the light," said Staff Sgt. Thomas Revette, 32.

Early on, they confronted Iraqi officials who tried to pull rank and take more than their ration of fuel. "It's tough to explain to a 70-year-old woman who has been standing in line all day that the Ministry of Oil guy who just drove to the front of the line is entitled to 10 propane cylinders, and everyone else got only one," Franklin said.

Outraged, the officials would stand nose to nose with the soldiers and scream at them. The soldiers stood their ground. "We never did slug a guy from the Ministry of Oil, as much as I would have liked to," Franklin said.

HEH.

Read the rest of this excellent article here.

I KEEP REMINDING MYSELF THAT GOOD NEWS DOESN'T SELL PAPERS.

And I hope that is why we keep seeing stories like this.

U.S. troops are quicker to pull weapons now. They keep cars at a distance. They frisk pedestrians. They break into homes to seize weapons and men.

They are working harder to protect themselves, taking lessons from the guerrilla-style attacks that have increasingly been targeting troops in Baghdad. Nine Americans have died in hostile actions this month alone -- including a U.S. soldier killed Sunday in a grenade attack south of the Iraqi capital.

For Iraqis living under these security measures, the U.S. occupation has become an increasingly hostile, and the spiraling assaults a just retribution.

"I was so happy to see American blood spilled that I slaughtered a chicken to celebrate,'' said Mohammed Abbas, 29, who witnessed last week's fatal shooting of a soldier at a Baghdad gas station.

Read it here.

SIX MONTH ROTATION?

It isn't policy...so far it is just wishful thinking by our guys already there.

Oh...and by me too.

Serve a six-month rotation in one of the world’s hottest spots?

A handful of soldiers in the 1st Armored Division would readily volunteer for such a mission. Of course, those soldiers are already in the Iraqi capital. And they’re willing to gamble that half a year is shorter than what they might end up serving here.

“One of the hardest parts is not knowing when you’re going to come home,” said Pvt. Christopher King of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment, while guarding one of the entrances to the Martyrs Monument in northeast Baghdad.

During testimony before a congressional committee last week, Defense Department officials reportedly didn’t dispute statements by committee members that American forces might be required in Iraq for at least a decade.

If that’s true, then a rotation of forces similar to the process established in ongoing peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo might be in the cards for American active-duty, National Guard and Reserve servicemembers stationed in Europe and the States.

By the way...that Martyr's Monument referred to in the story is the location of the Headquarters, 1st Brigade, 1AD.

You can read it all here.

TENSIONS RUN HIGH. And this is in our area.

The 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (-) from Fort Polk, LA is attached to the 1st Brigade, 1st AD. And the 1st Brigade's 2/3 Field Artillery is attached to the 2d ACR. 2d ACR owns this bit of real estate.

About 2,000 Iraqi Shiites demonstrated against coalition forces Saturday in Baghdad, as U.S. troops continued to crack down on those responsible for recent deadly ambushes on their forces.

The protesters from the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City -- formerly known as Saddam City -- crowded the streets in front of the coalition's headquarters, holding posters of their Shiite leader and waving the Iraqi flag.

Read the whole story here.

NOT GOOD NEWS...BUT I SUPPOSE I'M GLAD HE IS HONEST WITH US.

As we have discussed before, creating a productive, capitalistic economy is key to long term success here.

The top U.S. administrator in Iraq warned Sunday that conditions in Iraq may get worse before they get better.

New attacks killed another U.S. soldier and set ablaze an oil pipeline outside Baghdad.

L. Paul Bremer III, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, told Arab leaders that more Iraqis will lose their jobs, government subsidies will be cut and agency budgets will be slashed to make Iraq ready for competitive markets.

The lack of paychecks and work could breed continued unrest in the short term, Bremer said, but the changes are necessary to gut the corrupt former Baathist government and rebuild Iraq with a free-market economy.

Read it here.

FANS OF BUGS BUNNY CARTOONS WILL RECOGNIZE THE MUSIC AS THE TUNE ELMER FUDD SINGS AS "KILL THE WABBIT, KILL THE WABBIT"

U.S. soldiers seized top-secret code equipment and piles of Iraqi intelligence documents in a raid yesterday on a community center - while GIs elsewhere stormed a town in a scene straight out of "Apocalypse Now."

The intelligence find in Baghdad, including references to a nuclear program, is being sent to senior analysts to look for information on Iraq's banned weapons programs.

"It's potentially significant," said Capt. Ryan McWilliams, an intelligence officer with the Army's 1st Armored Division, after the raid that was prompted by a tip.

He said there were "potentially some pretty strong documents regarding the intelligence service."

In the western city of Ramadi, the sounds of helicopters and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" filled the air as U.S. soldiers rammed vehicles into metal gates and hundreds of troops raided houses.

Read this cool story here.

BANDIT ISLAND

My thanks to a CPT Patti reader for this tip.

1/37 Armor occupies a site in Baghdad that has been nicknamed Bandit Island.

This link takes you to the web site of a Finnish architectural firm that developed the resort that occupies/d Bandit Island.

The reader says that a soldier recently returned from this area says the buildings are still reasonably intact, although looted to beat the band.

By the way - so you can write it down the link is http://www.kva.fi/irak.htm

MONDAY, JUNE 23d. The 43d day of CPT Patti's deployment.

In spite of my keeping the phone line open...no luck on getting another call.

Sigh.

SUNDAY JUNE 22nd. The 42d day of CPT Patti's deployment.

There will be NO posting today. While I was out I missed a phone call from CPT Patti. I gotta keep the phone lines free.

I am so bummed.

POSTING WILL BE LATE ON SUNDAY. I will be away from my computer for much of the day.

BETWEEN THE JEWS, THE AMERICANS AND "ALLAH WILLS IT" THEY DON'T HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A SINGLE BLEEDING THING.

At Friday prayers, imams preached anti-American sermons, claiming Jews are buying up real estate in Iraq. Based on groundless rumors, the warnings from pulpits, on leaflets and in Iraqi newspapers reflected Iraqis' fear and anger over the U.S.-led occupation.

Hmmmm - wonder why that whole "Allah wills it" thing doesn't seem to apply to our being there???

Get to the whole story by way of The Command Post.

WAY OFF TOPIC...BUT TOO FUNNY NOT TO LINK.

Read about Hillary's revelations in her new book, as reported by The Onion.