Mosul attack kills 24, wounds 64; local reporters on scene

A deadly precise rocket attack killed 24 and wounded 64 in a dining hall tent inside a U.S. military compound outside Mosul today.

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Westerner beheaded on Mosul street as American forces lose control of key city

Gunmen raked a car with machine-gun fire in the northern city of Mosul yesterday, killing three foreigners and their driver. They then cut off the head of one of their victims. The killings show that at the same time as the US was recapturing Fallujah in a heavily publicised assault it largely lost control of Mosul, Iraq's northern capital. Though US troops launched a counter-attack, their grip on the city remains tenuous. The four men who died yesterday were travelling in a white sedan when it was attacked with automatic weapons and set on fire at a traffic intersection in Mosul.

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  thanks to Antiwar.com

The US's failure in Fallujah

The chilling reality of what Fallujah has become is only now seeping out, as the US military continues to block almost all access to the city, whether to reporters, its former residents, or aid groups such as the Red Crescent Society. The date of access keeps being postponed, partly because of ongoing fighting - only this week more air strikes were called in and fighting "in pockets" remains fierce (despite US pronouncements of success weeks ago) - and partly because of the difficulties military commanders have faced in attempting to prettify their ugly handiwork. Residents will now officially be denied entry until at least December 24; and even then, only the heads of households will be allowed in, a few at a time, to assess damage to their residences in the largely destroyed city.

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Respite

“My list is now 32,” says Salam as he arrives at the hotel, “Now 32 of my friends have been killed.” He still has tears in his eyes, even though he’s being stoic. Another of his friends has been shot and killed. “You know I feel like shit every time I add someone to my list. Sometimes it feels like it is every day,” he says. Welcome to Iraq. Where the news gets better with each passing day.

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roads? what roads?
by Steve Gilliard

A major victory for the resistance. They now largely control the roadnet. American units have to rely upon air resupply or heavily guarded convoys. It also means that they can't do anything about securing said roadnet. Watch for the Strela teams to return. More planes mean more missle attacks. They've already preculded large scale airmobile operations. Let's see, in the last quarter, the resistance shut down the airport road, ambushed convoys on a daily basis, murdered a couple of hundred National Guardsmen, trapped the US in Fallujah and kidnapped Allawi's relatives. Despite the hype, the US needs access to roads, aircraft can't do it alone. Every plane hauling trash can't haul troops and increases wear and tear in a very wear and tear prone theater. I don't think we're winning this war.

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Dying for Consumption

To the owner of the Ford Excursion who implores us to "Support Our Troops" I say this: You, sir (or madam), are a monumental jackass. At this moment, American troops are risking their lives to protect your inalienable right to live your life in an impenetrable fog of selfishness and stupidity. If not for the need to service this grotesque monstrosity on which you squander your money and that of the taxpayers who subsidize your comfortably numb life, those troops you support would not be getting killed and maimed in a country I doubt you could find on a map. I sometimes wonder if anything short of dynamite can shatter your complacent fantasy that the Iraq war is about bringing democracy to the Middle East. The truth is that every Arab from Casablanca to Khartoum could be cutting his brother's throat, and yet this would remain a matter of indifference to our government if not for the need to ensure that you will be able to fill your Excursion with cheap gasoline.

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  thanks to Yolanda Flanagan