Five O'Clock Follies

We also placed emphasis throughout this operation on countering the rocket and mortar attackers that had some success against us in the previous weeks in the Green Zone. And I think you'll see that we've made some progress in that regard.

Gen. Martin Dempsey
Press Briefing
November 20, 2003

Insurgents deploying rocket-launcher-equipped donkey carts attacked symbolically important and well-fortified buildings in Baghdad Friday, just hours after a top U.S. commander proclaimed progress in the military's newly aggressive high-tech counter-insurgency operation.

Washington Post
Rockets Hit 2 Baghdad Hotels, Oil Ministry
November 21, 2003
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Donkey Carts Latest Weapon
Rockets fired from donkey carts hit hotels, oil ministry in Baghdad

Donkeys and Guerillas...
Ok, todays blog is going to look like something straight out of The Onion.

Upon turning on their televisions, Baghdadis realized that two prominent hotels and the Ministry of Oil had recently been attacked. The two hotels assailed with missiles were the Sheraton and Palestine Hotel, both situated in a busy, commercial locale in the Iraqi capital. The hotels are home to the reporters and journalists of many major news networks, including the CNN, as well as foreign contractors. While there seem to be no casualties in either of the hotels, or the Ministry, witnesses confirmed there were injuries.

The assailants? Donkeys. Yes, donkeys were found in various locations in Baghdad, leading colorful carts with missile launchers and missiles camouflaged with hay. The donkeys, looking guilty and morose, were promptly taken into custody for questioning and were not available for a statement.
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Difficult Days...

They've been bombing houses in Tikrit and other areas! Unbelievable… I'm so angry it makes me want to break something!!!! What the hell is going on?! What do the Americans think Tikrit is?! Some sort of city of monsters or beasts? The people there are simple people. Most of them make a living off of their land and their livestock- the rest are teachers, professors and merchants- they have lives and families… Tikrit is nothing more than a bunch of low buildings and a palace that was as inaccessible to the Tikritis as it was to everyone else!
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Cordesman: Attacks on Americans will continue "until the day the US leaves"

War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal

Burning Down the House

I've got a feeling we're only a few months -- maybe just a few weeks -- away from adopting the Israeli policy of demolishing the houses of suspected terrorists and kicking their families out into the street.

Whiskey Bar
Showing Them We've Got Teeth
November 7, 2003

I should have said "a few days":

U.S. blasts Iraqi homes of suspects

In a tactic reminiscent of Israeli crackdowns in the West Bank and Gaza, the U.S. military has begun destroying the homes of suspected guerrilla fighters in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, evacuating women and children, then leveling their houses with heavy weaponry.
[more]

U.S. Seeks Advice From Israel on Iraq
As the occupation grows bloodier, officials draw on an ally's experience with insurgents.

I don't see how drawing on the experience of a failing country is really a good idea.

Fear Grows Among Iraqis in U.S. Employ
Several American Allies Killed in Mosul

Operation Iron Hammer: Make noise, kill cows
If the U.S. wants to capture or kill Iraqi insurgents, local residents ask, why is it providing advance notice of its attacks?

Hamza, an Iraqi farmer, holds a shell from
a U.S. helicopter gunship raid that, he claims, killed three of his cows.