MARYCLAIRE WELLINGER Poet & Painter
Casualties, Iraqui &Coalition Forces and Ecological Consequences
David "Honeyboy" Edwards

 
Casualties as of  November 4, 2003
 
Iraqui civilian casualties are estimated from a minimum of  7,792 to a maximum 9,605.

And over 1,500 violent civilian deaths have occurred in occupied Baghdad.

The first definitive total of violent civilian deaths in Baghdad since mid April has been published by Iraq Body Count (IBC), an Anglo-American research group tracking media-reported civilian deaths occuring as a consequence of the US/UK military intervention in Iraq.

From April 14th to 31st August, 2,846 violent deaths were recorded by the Baghdad city morgue. When corrected for pre-war death rates in the city a total of at least 1,519 excess violent deaths in Baghdad emerges from reports based on the morgue's records.

The cost of occupation has taken a terrible toll on American and Coalition  troops.  (See  www.antiwar.com)

As of Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003

There have been 435 confirmed coalition deaths, 383 Americans in the war as of November 4, 2003. 383 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. But the number of U.S. wounded since May 1st is 1,242, more than double the 551 injured during the war.

The British military has reported 52 deaths; Denmark, Spain and Ukraine reported one each.

American Casualties in Iraq as of September 21, 2003
Dates
Total
In Combat
Deaths since 5/01/03 (the list)
166
81
Deaths since war began
301
196
Total Wounded
1495
 
Source: DOD and CentCom    
Others
Journalists
17
Iraqi Body Count
Other Coalition Troops
52

Piestewa.jpgIn Memoriam
 
U.S. Army Pvfc. Lori Piestawa, a native Hopi,
from Tuba City, Arizona
 
(1980-2003)
 
a single mother
survived by her two young children
a son and daughter
 
in honor of Lori, the mountain near her home
"Squaw Peak" was renamed "Piestawa Peak"
 
Arizona town honors daughter, mother

Mark Shaffer and Pat Flannery
Arizona Republic

Photos by Tom Hood / Associated Press
People waited in line outside the Tuba City High School gym Saturday in Tuba City, Ariz., while waiting to pay respect to Pfc. Lori Piestewa at a memorial service. Piestewa was the first U.S. servicewoman killed in the war on Iraq. She was a member of Fort Bliss' 507th Maintenance Company.

Havasupai Indian Tribe member Uqualla entered the Tuba City High School gym Saturday in Tuba City, Ariz., to honor Pfc. Lori Piestewa.



TUBA CITY, Ariz. -- As the Aztec Dancers of Phoenix blew mournfully into their wind instruments and incense wafted into the air, the crowd of 5,000 at the memorial service drew silent.

Their native daughter, Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, was finally home, buried only hours earlier in private services across U.S. 160 in the traditional Hopi community of Moenkopi. It was a day short of three weeks of heart-wrenching sorrow since Piestewa's unit, the 507th Maintenance Company from Fort Bliss, was ambushed in Iraq and she was declared missing.

Gov. Janet Napolitano told the huge crowd at Warriors Pavilion that to Tuba City, where Piestewa lived and attended high school and church, she was a "fiery young woman," to the Hopi Tribe "one of their own," to her family "a loving sister, daughter and devoted mother."

Then, Napolitano received a raucous standing ovation when she said she would petition on Monday to have Squaw Peak in Phoenix designated an Arizona landmark and have its name changed to Piestewa Peak. Napolitano said she also would petition to rename Squaw Peak Parkway as Piestewa Parkway.

She presented Piestewa's parents with a state flag that had flown over the capitol last week in honor of their 23-year-old daughter, a single mother of two.

Tony Tsosie Sr., of Rough Rock, Ariz., a relative of Piestewa's former husband, Bill Whiterock, 24, of Tuba City, said he and his family had driven several hours to see the service. They were busily signing large poster boards with condolences.

"You will be respected and not forgotten," their message said. It also offered recognition to Whiterock and his children.

Piestewa was buried at midmorning after both Catholic and traditional Hopi ceremonies.

About 200 friends and relatives attended a funeral service at St. Jude's Catholic Church in Tuba City.

One of Piestawa's aunts also eulogized Piestewa, calling her an "eloquent" warrior who "went from face powder to gunpowder," the Rev. Godden Menard said.

 

 
American Woman Goes Door to Door to Count Iraqi Casualties 
 
July 1, 2003 . . .  

IRAQ - The Pentagon keeps a precise count of U.S. casualties in the war in Iraq. But the question of how many Iraqis lost their lives remains as mysterious as the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein or the location of all those weapons of mass destruction.

While many complain, protest or become apathetic, Marla Ruzicka, 26, from the San Francisco Bay Area decided to DO something personally. She has been in Baghdad since the day Saddam's statue fell in the city center. She has been doing a headcount of the Iraqi injured and the dead. She's found more than she expected.

She has formed her own nonprofit organization, called the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, or CIVIC. She has organized 150 surveyors to fan out across Iraq. So far, they say they have documented 620 civilian deaths in Baghdad, 256 in Najaf, 425 in Karbala and as many as 1,100 in Nasiriyah. It is only a preliminary count. "Somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 people died in this conflict," Ruzicka said.

Ruzicka's survey teams conduct their search door to door. On Saturday, she visited the village of Rashidiya, a small farm town on the banks of the Tigris River. On April 5, U.S. warplanes strafed the village, killing nearly 100 people. All of them were civilians. In one house, 17-month-old Haider al Hamadi was the only member of his family to escape unscathed. He lost his mother, his three sisters and two brothers. His father survived, but lost three fingers. In another home, 42 people in one extended family were killed. Many were visiting from Baghdad in an effort to keep their children safe from the blitz.

It's more than numbers and statistics. "Each number represents a case, a need, represents a father, a mother, a loss of life," she said.

Ruzicka does not represent the U.S. government. She's not affiliated with any government relief agency. She is a lone activist who has taken it upon herself to help the civilian victims of war.

It is a difficult process, in part because there continue to be casualties almost every day. But there is still no official tally of how many Iraqi lives were lost military or civilian. Iraq's military kept all records secret. And the civilian documents are unreliable.

Each hospital keeps a handwritten book of the dead. There is no master list. And the hospital records are in disarray after the flood of casualties during the war, and the looters who came after. Cemeteries are poorly marked. Many burials were not documented at all. And it is difficult to tell the military from the civilian dead because of the tactics Saddam's forces employed during the war: dressing in civilian clothes, staging in civilian neighborhoods, putting civilian lives at risk.

"It takes time, that's why we cant give you a number today or tomorrow," said Ruzicka. "Our goal beyond getting assistance to the innocent families that are harmed is to get a proper accounting of war."

It is painstaking work, meeting one on one with people whose lives have been ruined.

Ruzicka's task started in Amman, Jordan, two months ago. She attended the funeral of the man believed to be the first civilian casualty in this war a Jordanian taxi driver killed the first night of bombing. While the U.S. ambassador sent a letter, she was the only American to personally offer condolences to the grieving family.

Now, every day, she meets with new victims, in sessions that often seem like group therapy. "Yes, a number is important," she said, "but it's not as important as making sure that we recognize that each number is a life. Ultimately, we can get them long-term medical care. We can get their homes rebuilt and possibly it's a hard possibility but what we're working or is some economic assistance."

The U.S. military says it does everything it can to ensure that innocent civilians don't get caught in the crossfire. But mistakes happen; war is messy. Ruzicka's ultimate goal is to win compensation for these people, which is no easy task.

The only real precedent for compensating civilian casualties comes from Afghanistan, and Ruzicka helped to make it happen by successfully lobbying the U.S. Congress to help innocent victims of that war.

In Afghanistan, Ruzicka's survey confirmed 824 civilian deaths although she believes at least double that number died in the U.S. campaign to oust the Taliban and al Qaeda. She convinced Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to insert language in an appropriations bill, allocating $3.75 million to help the Afghan victims.

"Marla Ruzicka is somebody out there saying, 'Wait, everybody. Here's what's really happening. You better know about this,' " said Leahy. "We have whistle-blowers in industry. Maybe sometimes we need whistle-blowers in foreign policy."

But in Iraq, one person, however determined, is bound to have trouble getting the attention of the U.S. military, which has its hands full. Just wading through the bureaucracy can take days.

Ruzicka is also chronically short on money. She now has $50 left in her bank account, so she is applying for a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Until that comes through, she relies on the help of her friends. But while other aid agencies are still getting organized in Iraq, still tentatively working out the difficult security situation, Ruzicka is already out there, trying as much as one person can to help.

Marla Ruzicka can be reached at marlainiraq@yahoo.co.in. Her Web site is: www.iraqvictimsfund.org 

(Adapted from an article by David Wright, ABC News, Wednesday 28 May, 2003)

endofarticle.jpg

Coalition Casualties during the Occupation of Iraq since May 1st
US Central Command has reported the deaths of 80 American service personnel in Iraq since 1 May when President Bush declared that major combat was over.

Of the dead, at least 40 were killed in combat, typically in ambushes involving rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and sniper attacks.

In the same period, UK forces lost six servicemen - all members of the Military Police who were attacked in a village about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Basra.

The following entries are based on day-to-day Central Command news releases and do not cover war-related casualties outside Iraq or the possible deaths of soldiers succumbing to their wounds at a later stage.

24 July:Three soldiers (101st Airborne Division) are killed after coming attack from gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq.

23 July: A soldier (Third Armoured Cavalry Regiment) dies and two are wounded in an attack near Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

23 July: A soldier (101st Airborne Division) is killed and seven are wounded when an explosive device strikes their vehicles outside Mosul.

22 July: A soldier (Third Armoured Cavalry Regiment) is killed in a grenade attack on the road between Balad and Ramadi.

21 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed when his vehicle comes under attack in northern Baghdad.

20 July: A soldier is killed and two are injured in a vehicle accident near Baghdad International Airport.

20 July: Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are killed in a grenade attack in Tal Afar, near Mosul.

19 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed in a grenade attack in the Abu Ghuraib area of Baghdad

18 July: A soldier (Third Infantry Division) dies and three are injured when his vehicle passes over an 'improvised explosive device' west of Falluja.

16 July: A sailor (First Marine Expeditionary Force) dies from a 'non hostile gunshot wound' in Hamishiya.

16 July: A soldier (Third Corps Support Command) is killed and three are injured in a rocket propelled grenade attack near Abu Ghuraib prison in Baghdad.

15 July: A soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) dies after falling from the roof of a building he was guarding in Hilla

14 July: A soldier (Third Infantry Division) is killed and ten are wounded in the Mansor district of Baghdad during a grenade attack on a US convoy.

13 July: A soldier is killed near Ad Diwaniyah in a road accident involving a tractor.

12 July: A soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies of gunshot wounds following a 'non-hostile incident' in Baghdad

9 July: A soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies of a gunshot wound in a 'non combat incident' in Balad

9 July: A soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies and another is wounded in a grenade attack on their convoy in Baghdad

9 July: A soldier (Third Corps Support Command) is killed by small arms fire when a convoy is ambushed near Al Mahmudiyah

7 July: A soldier (101st Airborne Division) dies from gunshot wounds in a 'non combat incident' in Balad.

7 July: A soldier is killed when an explosive device strikes his vehicle while on patrol in Kadhimyah, Baghdad.

6 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed during a firefight between his platoon and Iraqi gunmen in the Ad Hamiyah area of Baghdad.

6 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) dies after being shot in the head on the Baghdad University campus.

3 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) is killed in Baghdad when a Bradley vehicle comes under sniper fire.

3 July: A soldier (First Armoured Division) dies of gunshot wounds in a "non-combat" related incident.

2 July: A Marine (First Expeditionary Force) dies and three are injured while conducting mine clearing operations in Karbala.

2 July: A US soldier dies from wounds received when his convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad the previous day.

28 June: The remains of two soldiers missing since 25th June are recovered 20 miles outside Baghdad.

27 June: One soldier (First Armoured Division) killed and four injured in a grenade attack in the Thawra area of Baghdad.

26 June: One soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed in ambush while investigating a car theft in Najaf.

26 June: One special forces soldier killed and eight injured in a 'hostile fire' incident in south-west Baghdad.

25 June: One soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed and two are injured when their armoured vehicle overturns as they rush to help colleagues under fire.

24 June: Soldier (First Armoured Division) dies in a "non-combat incident". No details given.

22 June: One soldier (First Armoured Division) killed and one injured in a grenade attack on a military convoy south of Baghdad, in Khan Azad.

19 June: One soldier (804th Medical Brigade) killed and two injured in an RPG attack on a military ambulance in an area north of Camp Dogwood in the town of Iskandariya.

18 June: One soldier killed (First Armoured Division) and one wounded in a gun attack at a petrol distribution plant in Baghdad.

17 June: Soldier (First Armoured Division) mortally wounded by sniper in north-west Baghdad.

16 June: Soldier (First Marine Expeditionary Force) dies of "non-hostile gunshot wound" in An Najaf.

15 June: Soldier mortally wounded in "an apparent non-hostile incident" in the Taji area. No further details given.

13 June: One soldier (V Corps) dies and eight are injured in an armoured vehicle rollover accident 20 kilometres south of Asad Air Base.

13 June: Soldier drowns while swimming in lake near Falluja.

10 June: One paratrooper (82nd Airborne Division) killed and one injured in RPG attack in south-west Baghdad.

8 June: Soldier shot dead while manning a traffic control point in Qaim.

7 June: One soldier killed and four wounded in RPG and gun attack near Tikrit.

6 June: One soldier killed and two injured in a vehicle accident about 35 kilometres north of Baghdad.

6 June: Navy Seabee (serving with the First Marine Expeditionary Force) killed handling unexploded ordnance in Kut.

5 June: One soldier (101st Airborne Division) killed and five wounded in Falluja in an RPG attack.

2 June: Soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) mortally wounded in RPG and gun attack near Balad.

30 May: Three soldiers die as result of vehicle accident between Mosul and Tikrit.

29 May: Soldier "killed by hostile fire" while travelling on a main supply route. No further details.

27 May: Two soldiers killed and nine wounded in RPG and gun attack in Falluja.

26 May: Soldier drowns "after diving into an aqueduct" south of Kirkuk.

26 May: One soldier killed and three injured when their vehicles runs over mine or unexploded ordnance. No further details.

26 May: One soldier killed and two injured in a collision with a tractor.

26 May: One soldier (Third Armoured Cavalry Regiment) killed and one wounded in ambush on their convoy near Hadithah, about 193 km north-west of Baghdad.

25 May: One soldier killed and one injured in an apparent accidental blast at a former Iraqi munitions dump.

21 May: Soldier killed in vehicle accident near Baqubah.

19 May: All four crew members killed when Sea Knight helicopter crashes in the Shat Hilla Canal. One marine drowns while trying to rescue the crew.

19 May: One soldier killed in traffic accident near Safwan.

18 May: One soldier killed and one wounded in traffic accident near Samawa.

18 May: Soldier (Fourth Infantry Division) dies of "non-hostile gunshot wound".

17 May: One soldier killed and three injured while detonating unexploded ordnance in Baghdad.

14 May: One soldier killed and two injured in traffic accident near Irbil.

13 May: One soldier killed in accidental munitions explosion near Hilla.

12 May: Two soldiers killed in accidental munitions explosion.

9 May: Three soldiers killed and one injured in helicopter crash near Samarra.

8 May: Soldier killed by lone gunman in Baghdad.

4 May: Soldier dies in apparent suicide.

3 May: Soldier dies in apparent accidental shooting.

1 May: Soldier killed in traffic accident near Habbaniya.

Iraqi boy airlifted to burns unit
Ali at hospital in Kuwait City
Ali is led by Kuwaiti doctors into the hospital
A young Iraqi boy who lost both his arms and most of his family in a coalition air raid has arrived in Kuwait to begin specialist treatment for his injuries.

Ali Ismail Abbas, who is 12, left the Baghdad hospital where he was being treated and was flown to the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, from where he was airlifted to Kuwait.

Ali will be nursed "as long as he needs the treatment" in Kuwait's Ibn Sina hospital, which has a specialist burns treatment centre, a Kuwaiti health ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Medical staff treating the boy had warned that he would die unless he was immediately flown out of the country to receive special care.

Kuwait is already treating seven Iraqi children injured in the war, the ministry said. All are said to be stable.

Dr Imad al-Najjadah, one of the doctors who is now treating Ali, told the BBC that the medical team had stabilised him, and begun to remove dead tissue from the burns which are estimated to cover 35% of his body.

"We are trying to cover him with grafts from our skin bank," he said.

'Desperate situation'

Ali's father, his pregnant mother and siblings were killed in an attack on his home in Baghdad in which he was also severely burned.

The offer of help from Kuwait in his case came after a nurse at the Saddam City hospital in Baghdad, where he was being treated, issued a direct plea to coalition leaders.

"The situation is desperate. He will die if he stays," she wrote in a letter to US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Ali's voice is one among millions of children's voices we're not hearing
Unicef

Mr Blair later responded during a meeting of the UK House of Commons, saying that British forces had been in contact with hospital authorities regarding such cases.

"We will do whatever we can to help him and others in similar situations," he said.

Ali's plight led to calls for coalition forces operating in Iraq to exercise more care regarding civilian casualties.

Several charitable organisations and media outlets also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in money to enable him to be treated.

Appalling conditions

Ali's case also highlighted the appalling conditions in Iraqi hospitals, many of which are simply unable to cope, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned.

"Hospitals are having to deal with ill children without the drugs they need and without water," spokeswoman Kathryn Irwin told BBC News Online.

"How can you treat someone without clean water?"

She also warned that unless hospitals got urgent help, more children would became dangerously malnourished, putting more pressure on the hospitals.

"Ali's voice is one among millions of children's voices we're not hearing," the spokeswoman said.

11civilians.jpg
************************************
In Memoriam
************************************
In Memoriam
Iraqui Casualties
as of April 16, 2003
I do not have the names of any Iraquis, only of Americans, English, Australians and Europeans. Yet it's the Iraqui casualties which are by far the greatest  --  the greatest in number and which are the greatest in devastation and suffering, and the greatest warcrime,  morally and ethically.  Iraqui children have not signed up to be maimed, have not volunteered for their homes to be bombed, have not been paid-- however inadequately our soldiers are paid-- to compensate for arms and legs blown off.

 

Civilian --More than 1,250 killed. (Minimum Iraqi estimates as of April 3)
Military -- At least 2,320 (U.S. military estimates for Baghdad alone).
 
Wounded Civilians -- thousands from coalition bombings and  shellings as troops moved into cities such as Bagdad and Basra and Um Qasr, and from cluster bombs, and from mines which Hussein's Republican guard planted by the thousands throughout the countryside.    Ismail Abbas, who is 12, lost his two arms and suffered burns over 35% of hi body, in a bombing which took the lives of his parents and siblings. Ismail left the Baghdad hospital where he was being treated and was flown to the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, from where he was airlifted to Kuwait. Ali will be nursed "as long as he needs the treatment" in Kuwait's Ibn Sina hospital, which has a specialist burns treatment centre, a Kuwaiti health ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.  Kuwait is also treating seven other Iraqui children who were badly burned in the U.S. bombings.  Hospitals do not have electricity in many of the beseiged cities, and now that "occupation" is a reality, doctors and support staff cannot make it to the hospitals to care for the wounded because of the danger in the streets, as armed and frenzied mobs loot and shoot.  There is great danger of disease, as populations are forced to drink filthy water -- water and electrcity have yet to be restored to great numbers of people.
 
One hundred lives

Friday May 16, 2003, The Guardian

We will probably never know how many people died in the Iraq war, let alone much about them. For the coalition dead we have some details, but about the largest group of those killed, Iraqi soldiers, we know almost nothing.

In the month since the US declared an end to major combat operations, Guardian journalists have been talking to relatives of the deceased of all nationalities and collecting information in order to tell their life stories. One hundred such stories are included in this issue.

With the help of our readers, we want to create an online memorial for some of the thousands who died in the Iraq war, both to pay tribute to them and to create an accurate resource for the future.

If you knew anyone who died in the war - civilian or military, of any nationality - and you would like to contribute to the site, email
iraq@guardianunlimited.co.uk or write to Iraq Memorial, Guardian features, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER, UK. Please include your name, your relationship with the deceased and a daytime telephone number.
 
April 15th

There was no major combat during the day, but at least 10 Iraqis were reported killed and 16 injured in a clash between U.S. Marines and a stone-throwing crowd in Mosul in northern Iraq, The New York Times reported on its Web site. The U.S. Central Command in the Persian Gulf said it could not confirm the report.

Casualties as of Thursday, July 24, 2003.
US Central Command has reported the deaths of 80 American service personnel in Iraq since 1 May when President Bush declared that major combat was over. Of the dead, at least 40 were killed in combat, typically in ambushes involving rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and sniper attacks. In the same period, UK forces lost six servicemen - all members of the Military Police who were attacked in a village about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Basra. See article below at the end of this page for the list of incidents up through July 24th during US occupation.

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Three U.S. soldiers were killed early Thursday in northern Iraq when their convoy was ambushed by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the U.S. military.

The soldiers, from the 101st Airborne Division, were traveling into the town of Qayyarah, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Mosul, when they were attacked about 2:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday), military officials said. Soldiers secured the ambush site, and found two RPGs and an AK-47 assault rifle at the site, according to U.S. Central Command. On Wednesday, two U.S. soldiers in Iraq were killed and nine wounded, in separate attacks, when their convoys hit explosive devices, according to the U.S. military.

Nov 4, 2:23 AM EST

U.S. Soldier Killed in Blast Near Tikrit



Collins says the U-S cannot leave Iraq at this point. (Audio)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A soldier with the 4th Infantry Division was killed and another wounded in an explosion of an makeshift bomb near Tikrit, the U.S. Central Command said Monday.

Also, witnesses reported that a blast near a Shiite Muslim shrine in the southern city of Karbala killed at least one person.

Meanwhile, American troops hunted for anti-aircraft missiles along Iraq's trucking routes, digging through heaps of manure, mounds of hay or piles of pomegranates Monday. Furthermore, the U.S. Army retrieved the wreckage of a downed transport helicopter, searching for clues about who knocked it from the sky the day before.

On Tuesday, a military spokesman said that a mortar round or a rocket had struck the so-called "Green Zone" - the heavily defended area in central Baghdad that houses the U.S.-led administration. He said the blast, one several heard late Tuesday in the capital, caused no damage or casualties.

One clue in Sunday's helicopter shootdown may lie in Ramadi, west of the crash site, where an anti-U.S. leaflet warned, just two days before the shootdown, that Iraq's insurgents would strike the Americans with "modern and advanced methods."The downing of the CH-47 Chinook, one of two carrying dozens of soldiers on their way to Baghdad airport and home leave, killed 16 Americans and wounded 20 others. It was the heaviest U.S. death toll in any single action since the invasion of Iraq last March 20.

One victim, Ernest Bucklew, 33, had been expected to stop at his Fort Carson, Colo., home before traveling to his mother's funeral. His wife, Barbara, wept as she spoke of breaking the news to the couple's two children, 8-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Justin.

"My oldest one is just a little numb," she said at the Army post near Colorado Springs, Colo., shrouded in fog and a cold rain. "He understands his nana and father passed away, but he hasn't talked about it. The youngest one just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand the concept of death right now."

Sixteen of the injured were flown by U.S. Air Force C-17 transport Monday to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and treated at the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Nine were admitted to the intensive care unit, including five in serious condition, said hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw.

"They are being evaluated and surgeries are planned throughout the day," she said.

Villagers who saw the helicopter downing south of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, said it was struck from behind by one or two missiles apparently fired from a date palm grove in the area, deep in the Sunni Muslim heartland that has produced the most violent opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

CBS Evening News quoted one wounded survivor at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad shortly after the crash. Cpl. David Tennant said the missile hit the back of the Chinook, and the helicopter caught fire before it went down.

"Everybody was just laid out everywhere, and they were trying to search for most of the people that were left within the rubble. There was a lot of people screaming," Tennant told CBS. "I just remember waking up in the middle of the rubble, trying to escape, trying to get out of the burning metal."

Hundreds of portable, shoulder-fired missiles are unaccounted for in Iraq, potential threats to a U.S. occupation army that relies heavily on the slow, low-flying CH-47 Chinook craft for troop transport. The U.S. command has offered Iraqis $500 apiece for each portable missile turned in but has refused to say how many have been surrendered.

In one search operation Monday, U.S. military police stretched out razor wire and set up checkpoints along the main artery running north from Baghdad, now dubbed "Highway 1," to look for weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles.

"We have had indication that more of stuff like this (missiles) are moving out there," said Lt. Col. Dave Poirier, commander of the 720th Military Police Battalion. "People know they are taking a big chance in transporting weapons ... and for some of these large weapons systems, you'd have to have a truck to transport it."

Spc. Andrew Fifield of San Antonio jumped on top of a truck transporting pomegranates and picked through the fruit carefully.

As he dug through dried manure atop a second truck, he motioned to Iraqi policemen to join him. None did.

"A lot of them were not police as we'd know police back home to be," Poirier said. "Some of them were never policemen before this."

Few details were available about the attack that killed the 4th Infantry Division solider. Central Command said in a news release that the attack happened at 2:40 p.m. Monday and that the soldier's name was being withheld upending family notification.

It said the wounded soldier was in stable condition.

The explosion in Karbala, 65 miles south of Baghdad, apparently was caused by a bomb planted in a parked car on a busy street less than 100 yards from the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine, said Mohammed Abu Jaffar al-Assadi, a Shiite cleric. Other witnesses said it might have been concealed in a bag left outside a hotel.

In addition to at least one dead, it was believed 12 people were wounded, al-Assadi said. It was not immediately possible to get confirmation.

As a result of Sunday's shootdown, the U.S. command may have to re-evaluate the routes and flying tactics of its transport helicopters and planes over Iraq.

The SA-7 Strela portable missiles known to have been in Iraqi hands, weapons that home in on the engine heat of an aircraft, can be fired to an altitude of 14,000 feet, easily covering the usual cruising altitude of a heavily laden Chinook.

Another shoulder-fired missile in the old Iraqi army's inventory, the advanced SA-18 Iglas, is equipped with special filters to defeat flares and other countermeasures deployed by U.S. aircraft.

The apparent successful use of such a weapon in Sunday's attack is a sign of the increasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. resistance, whose attacks have intensified in recent weeks.

At the site Monday, a giant crane lifted pieces of wreckage onto a truck, as soldiers sealed off the immediate area. Villager Jamal Abed, 22, said U.S. troops came to his house Monday morning and told him, through an interpreter, that "if American forces were subjected to fire, they will open fire on every house in the area."

In other developments:

-A neighborhood council chairman in west Baghdad, Mustafa Zaidan al-Khaleefa, 47, was fatally shot from a passing car late Sunday. Numerous Iraqi local and national officials cooperating with the occupation have been targeted for assassination.

-In the southern city of Basra, some 1,500 members of a new Iraqi security guard force protested outside the mayor's office, seeking a higher bonus for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

---

Associated Press writers Katarina Kratovac in Tikrit, Bassem Mroue at the crash site, and Robert Weller in Fort Carson, Colo., contributed to this report.

U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq: 16 U.S. soldiers killed and 20 wounded

Monday, November 03, 2003

By Tini Tran, The Associated Press

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Targeting Americans with new audacity, insurgents hiding in a date palm grove shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of soldiers heading for home leave yesterday, killing 16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest strike against U.S. forces since they invaded Iraq in March.

Witnesses said the attackers used missiles -- a sign of the increasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. fighters.

Three other Americans were killed in separate attacks yesterday, including one 1st Armored Division soldier in Baghdad and two U.S. civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fallujah. All three were victims of roadside bombs, the military said.

Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press
A U.S. Army helicopter flies near the area after a U.S. Chinook helicopter, right, believed to be carrying dozens of soldiers to leaves abroad was struck by a missile yesterday and crashed west of Baghdad, near Fallujah.

Sunday's death toll was the highest for American troops since March 23 -- the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein -- and the attack represented a major escalation in the campaign to drive the U.S.-led coalition out of the country.

The giant helicopter was ferrying the soldiers on their way for leave outside Iraq when two missiles streaked into the sky and slammed into the rear of the aircraft, witnesses told The Associated Press. It crashed in flames in farmers' fields west of Baghdad.

"It's clearly a tragic day for America," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Washington. "In a long, hard war, we're going to have tragic days. But they're necessary. They're part of a war that's difficult and complicated."

Like past attacks on U.S. forces and a string of suicide bombings that killed dozens in Baghdad the past week, U.S. coalition officials blamed either Saddam loyalists or foreign fighters for the strike outside Fallujah, a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. occupation.

President Bush, who was at his Texas ranch yesterday, refused to personally comment on the attacks. He spent the day out of public view -- a "down" day between campaign appearances Saturday and today.

L. Paul Bremer, the head of the occupation in Iraq, repeated demands that Syria and Iran prevent fighters from crossing their borders into Iraq.

"They could do a much better job of helping us seal that border and keeping terrorist out of Iraq," he told CNN. The "enemies of freedom" in Iraq "are using more sophisticated techniques to attack our forces."

U.S. officials have been warning of the danger of shoulder-fired missiles, thousands of which are now scattered from Saddam's arsenals, and such missiles are believed to have downed two U.S. copters since May 1. Those two crashes -- of smaller helicopters -- wounded only one American.

The loaded-down Chinook was a dramatic new target. The insurgents have been steadily advancing in their weaponry, first using homemade roadside bombs, then rocket-fired grenades in ambushes on American patrols, and vehicles stuffed with explosives and detonated by suicide attackers.

In the fields south of Fallujah, some villagers proudly showed off blackened pieces of the Chinook's wreckage to arriving reporters.

Though a few villagers tried to help, many celebrated word of the helicopter downing, as well as a fresh attack on U.S. soldiers in Fallujah itself. Two American civilians working under contract for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were killed and one was injured in the explosion of a roadside bomb, the military said.

"This was a new lesson from the resistance, a lesson to the greedy aggressors," one Fallujah resident, who would not give his name, said of the helicopter downing. "They'll never be safe until they get out of our country," he said of the Americans.

The downed copter was one of two Chinooks flying out in formation from an air base in Habbaniyah, about 10 miles from the crash site, carrying troops to Baghdad on route for rest and recreation -- R&R.

The missiles semed to have been fired from a palm grove about 500 yards away, Thaer Ali, 21, said. At least one hit the Chinook, which came down in a field in the farming village of Hasai, a few miles south of Fallujah, witnesses said.

The missiles flashed toward the helicopter from the rear, as usual with heat-seeking ground-fired missiles. The most common model in the former Iraqi army inventory was the Russian-made SA-7, also known as Strelas.

Hours later, thick smoke rose from the blackened, smoldering hulk as U.S. soldiers swarmed over the crash site, evacuating the injured, retrieving evidence and cordoning off the area.

Yassin Mohamed said he heard the explosion and ran out of his house, a half-mile away.

"I saw the helicopter burning. I ran toward it because I wanted to help put out the fire, but couldn't get near because of American soldiers," he said.

The U.S. military would not confirm that the aircraft was struck by a missile, but a spokesman, Col. William Darley, said witnesses reported seeing "missile trails."

In Baghdad, Darley said the CH-47 helicopter belonged to the 12th Aviation Brigade, a Germany-based unit that supports the 82nd Airborne Division Task Force operating west of Baghdad.

The two Chinooks were carrying a total of more than 50 passengers to the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport, from which they were to fly out on leave, U.S. officials said. Darley said some of the casualties were from medical units, but officials did not provide a breakdown of their units.

A spokesman at Fort Carson, Colo., said the Chinooks were carrying soldiers from Fort Carson; Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Fort Hood, Texas.

Lt. Col. Thomas Budzyna said some Fort Carson troops were among the injured but he did not know the units or bases of the other casualties.

"Many were looking forward to a break in the action," Budzyna said. "Unfortunately, they faced something else."

The Pentagon announced Friday it was expanding the rest and recreation leave program for troops in Iraq. As of yesterday, it said, the number of soldiers departing daily to the United States via a transit facility in neighboring Kuwait would be increased from 280 to 480.

Fallujah lies in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," a region north and west of Baghdad were most attacks on American forces have taken place. The downing and the soldier's death in Baghdad brought to at least 139 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.

Around 377 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq.

The death toll yesterday surpasses one of the deadliest single attacks during the Iraq war: the March 23 ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company, in which 11 soldiers were killed, nine were wounded and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. A total of 28 Americans around Iraq -- including the casualties from the ambush -- died on that day, the deadliest for U.S. troops during the Iraq war.

Meanwhile, in Abu Ghraib on Baghdad's western edge, U.S. troops clashed with townspeople yesterday. Local Iraqis said U.S. troops arrived in the morning and ordered people to disperse from the marketplace. Someone then tossed a grenade at the Americans, who opened fire, witnesses said.

The newest deaths capped a week of extraordinary carnage in and around Baghdad. On Oct. 26, a rocket slammed into a hotel housing hundreds of coalition staffers, killing one and injuring 15.

A day later, four coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad killed three dozen people and wounded more than 200. Daily attacks against U.S. forces have increased in the last three weeks from an average of the mid-20s to 33.

Soldier dies while heading home for mother's funeral

Among 16 killed by missile attack on U.S. helicopter

Monday, November 03, 2003

By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, 33, was coming home from Iraq on an emergency leave to attend the funeral of his mother when his helicopter was shot from the sky.

In three days, Donald Bucklew, of Darlington Township, lost his wife and his son.

"His mother and dad prayed every night that he would come home safe," said Jack Smith, of Point Marion, Fayette County, Ernest Bucklew's uncle.

The family tragedy started Friday afternoon. Mary Ellen Bucklew, 57, was driving home from work at a warehouse when an aneurysm in one of the arteries leading to her heart burst. Her vehicle ran into the median of the road and she died.

Smith said Ernest Bucklew's wife, Barbara, went to the American Red Cross and put in a plea to get him home for the funeral. The couple lived in Fort Carson, Colo., with their two sons, Justin, 6, and Joshua, 4. Smith said the Army agreed to get him to Fort Carson, but that he would have to get to Pennsylvania on his own.

The plan was that Ernest Bucklew would pick up his family and they would all come to Pennsylvania to attend the funeral.

 
 
 
RELATED STORY

U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq: 16 U.S. soldiers killed and 20 wounded

 
 
 

The CH-47 Chinook he was aboard was one of two helicopters flying out in formation from an air base in Habbaniyah, Iraq, yesterday carrying troops to Baghdad on route for rest and recreation leaves.

In flight, two missiles streaked into the sky from a ground position and slammed into the rear of the helicopter, witnesses told The Associated Press. It crashed in flames in farmers' fields west of Baghdad, killing 16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest strike against U.S. forces since they invaded Iraq in March.

"Two deaths in three days is hard. I'm scared to death for my brother-in-law," Smith said.

The family is close-knit, holding yearly reunions. One of Ernest Bucklew's cousins stayed with Barbara Bucklew last night. She and her children will return to Pennsylvania today.

Bucklew had recently e-mailed his uncle that the military was offering soldiers 10 days off in the States, but that he did not plan to come home because it would be harder for his children to see him for 10 days and then say goodbye again than to not see him at all, Smith said.

Ernest Bucklew grew up in Geneva, Fayette County, the son of a coal miner. Bucklew was about 13 when his family moved to Morgantown, W.Va., and he graduated from high school there.

After high school, Bucklew's family moved to Beaver County, where Donald Bucklew is an electrician for Duquesne Light Co.

Ernest Bucklew joined the National Guard after high school. About five years ago, his uncle said, he joined the Army. He and his wife moved to Georgia for two years, then to Colorado.

Yesterday afternoon Smith got the call from Bucklew's sister, Dawn Marie DeFelice, that his nephew had died when the helicopter was shot down.

"I can't find any reason for both of them going like this," he said.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night.

Families grieve loss of loved ones in crash

Monday, November 3, 2003 Posted: 6:50 PM EST (2350 GMT)
Monday, November 3, 2003 Posted: 6:50 PM EST (2350 GMT)


(AP) -- Karina Lau was hoping to surprise her family in California with a two-week furlough from Iraq. Ernest Bucklew was headed home for his mother's funeral in Pennsylvania.

Around the nation, families of the 16 U.S. soldiers killed in a weekend helicopter attack in Iraq had been looking forward to a few precious hours with their loved ones. Instead, the families were grieving Monday.

Many of the victims had been headed home for R&R or emergency leave when they were killed.

Bucklew, 33, had been expected to stop at his Fort Carson, Colorado, home before traveling to the funeral. His wife, Barbara, wept as she spoke of breaking the news to the couple's two children, 8-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Justin.

"My oldest one is just a little numb," she said at the Army post near Colorado Springs, shrouded in fog and a cold rain. "He understands his nana and father passed away, but he hasn't talked about it. The youngest one just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand the concept of death right now."

The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was taking soldiers to the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport on Sunday so they could fly out for two weeks' leave. The attack also left 20 soldiers wounded.

Among the dead was helicopter pilot, 30-year-old 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas of Genoa, Illinois. Military service was a natural fit for the 6-foot-5 former Army paratrooper who was serving in the Illinois National Guard.

"I just feel like the whole world was cheated because he was just the wrong person for the good of the world to be killed," said his brother Marcus Slavenas, who served in Operation Desert Storm.

Ronald Slavenas said his son was a "gentle giant" who did not like violence. He said Brian Slavenas loved checking out the sights as he flew dignitaries, soldiers, prisoners and equipment around Iraq.

"He described to me seeing all of those places from the air, pointing out archaeological sites like Babylon," Ronald Slavenas said. "From the air, for him, it was like sightseeing."

Lau, a 20-year-old Army private trained at Fort Hood, Texas, dreamed of returning to school and someday setting up her own music shop, relatives said. She was planning to visit family in Livingston, California.

"She had just e-mailed my wife just two hours before she got on the helicopter," said Noel Rivera, Lau's brother-in-law.

The attack was an especially tragic blow at Fort Carson, which has sent 12,000 troops to Iraqits largest deployment since World War II. In all, 25 soldiers from the post have died in Iraqfour of them in Sunday's crash.

Another of the hardest-hit posts was Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Six soldiers based there were killed and six were injured in Sunday's attack.

"When my husband gets here, I just want to hug and kiss him and never let him go," said Amy Leyenbecker, who is married to a soldier and was at the Bucklew home trying to provide comfort.

Bucklew's family was planning two funeralsone for him and another for his mother, who died Friday of a burst aneurysm at age 57.

"They say there's a reason for everything, but I just can't find a reason for this," said Bucklew's uncle, Jack Smith of Point Marion, Pennsylvania. "This country shouldn't be starting wars, we should be defending ourselves and others. I think all these boys should be sent home."

Bucklew, the son of a coal miner, grew up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and joined the National Guard. He met his wife in 1991, when both were in the Army Reserves.

Ernest Bucklew, his wife Barbara, and their sons Justin and Joshua appear in a 2001 holiday card photo. She said once she saw the 5-foot-3 Bucklew, with his brown eyes and brown hair, she knew she wanted to spend her life with him. "Even on your worst day, he knew how to make you laugh," she said. "That had to be his best quality."

Ernie, as he was known, had been in the Army since 1999. In one of the last e-mails sent to his wife, he reminisced about times with his mother, Mary, when he was a child.

"He said he couldn't sleep. He was thinking about her," Barbara Bucklew said. "He couldn't wait to be home

Chinook Attack

The Bloodiest Day in Iraq for Americans

By PATRICK COCKBURN

Fallujah.

In the deadliest single attack on the United States army since it invaded Iraq, guerrillas shot down a Chinook helicopter with a missile yesterday killing 15 and wounding 21 American servicemen. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, called the incident a national tragedy for Americans.

The Chinook, which came down in a field near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was one of two 84-foot long transport helicopters attacked shortly after they took off from Habbaniyah air base at about 9am yesterday on a routine flight. They were ferrying more than 50 soldiers on a rest break from the 82nd Airborne Division to a military base at Baghdad International airport. As the helicopters passed over the village of Buisa, set in rich farmland filled with cattle and crops, guerrillas hidden in a date grove fired two shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles, probably from a Russian heat-seeking SA-7 known as the Strella. There are many of them in Iraq and they were formerly used by the Iraqi army.

Daoud Suleiman, a farmer working among the date palms said: "I saw two helicopters pass overhead when two missiles were fired at them. One missed and the other hit a helicopter at the rear end and flames starting coming out of it before it crashed into a field. I saw the helicopter try to stay in the air after it was hit but then it got close to the ground and I saw some soldiers jump out."

He said the helicopter that was not hit fired a flare to divert the missile. Minutes after the attack, American Black Hawk helicopters swarmed over the scene to rush survivors to hospital while soldiers secured the site, ordering journalists to leave and confiscating film.

Villagers and local farmers showed their delight by waving pieces of the smoking wreckage. The bloodiest single incident for American forces since the beginning of the war, and the worst day of casualties since the official end of the combat phase of the war as declared by President George Bush six months ago, eclipsed efforts by the White House to counter the impression that Iraq is becoming a quagmire for America. "Clearly it is a tragic day," Mr Rumsfeld said.

Yesterday's attack capped an eight-day surge in violence in which 27 American soldiers have died. Fallujah, a market town on the road to Jordan, is in the Sunni Muslim heartland, an area in which there have been more attacks on troops than anywhere else in Iraq. "Fallujah will always be a cemetery for the Americans," reads a slogan on a wall in the main street not far from the mayor's office, part of which was set on fire over the weekend.

In a separate action by guerrillas in Fallujah yesterday, two American civilian contractors died. The remains of their truck, which had been blown up by a rocket or bomb, could be seen near a bridge over the Euphrates. Eye witnesses said that they saw four armed Americans inside being taken away on stretchers. And a soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Mr Rumsfeld said: "In a long hard war, we are going to have tragic days. But they are necessary. They are part of a war that is difficult and complicated." He insisted that the US would not be deterred and would win the war in Iraq.

But yesterday's attack presents the American forces with an immediate security crisis. They are heavily dependent on road transport and helicopters. If Strellas start to be used regularly by guerrillas--and American officials have warned that there are plenty unaccounted for--this will force helicopters to fly higher and thus become less effective. American vehicles have already proved vulnerable to roadside bombs, which have accounted for many of the soldiers killed and wounded. A military helicopter was also brought down by an rocket-propelled grenade near Tikrit last week.

Mr Rumsfeld said that he saw no need to raise the number of troops, now at about 130,000, which has come down from 150,000. But the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, and Senator Joseph Biden, the panel's top Democrat, said the number might have to be increased.

 

Losses in Iraq crash a blow to families

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Posted: 7:43 PM EST (0043 GMT)
Tuesday, November 4, 2003 Posted: 7:43 PM EST (0043 GMT)

(CNN) -- Families of some of the 15 U.S. soldiers killed in this week's helicopter crash in Iraq expressed their grief Tuesday as well as concern over the U.S. mission in the country.

The soldiers were killed and 27 others wounded when the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter went down Sunday near Fallujah, a hotbed of U.S. resistance, in a suspected missile strike. Initial reports indicated 16 had died. (Gallery: Chinook fatalities)

The crash fatalities along with the deaths of another soldier and two civilians made Sunday the deadliest day for Americans in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.

"I'm saddened because I know a family hurts, and there's a deep pain in somebody's heart," Bush said Tuesday as he inspected damage from wildfires in Southern California.

"But I do want to remind the loved ones that their sons and daughters, or the sons in this case, died for a cause greater than themselves and a noble cause, which is the security of the United States."

While some family members said the United States must stay the course in Iraq, others cited misgivings about the U.S. presence as casualties mount.

"If we pull out without stabilizing the situation, we'll have pandemonium. It would be a revolution," said Ronald Slavenas, whose son Brian, 30, of Genoa, Illinois, was piloting the chopper.

"We have to keep a stabilizing cap over it and hopefully get more help from other nations and other sources."

Marcus Slavenas, one of Brian's brothers, was more critical: "I don't believe we need to be there. I wish the Iraqis well and I hope they can figure out their problems, but I don't want this to happen at the expense of our boys."

The widow of Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader, 28, of York, Nebraska, said she was crushed that her husband would not see their daughter grow up.

"Now he's not going to know what she's going to look like, what she's going to be or anything because she was just barely 6 months old when he left," Tiffany Bader said.

"I just want the world to know that my husband was a great man. I just want everybody to know that he fought for his country. He was my world. I loved him with all of my heart."

Harriet Johnson lost her son, Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22, of Cordova, South Carolina.

"He kept saying, 'Mama, I'm ready to come home. You don't see the stuff I see over here,' " Johnson recalled. "What he kept telling me was he was tired, he was ready to come home."

Johnson said she wants to see an end to the U.S. occupation.

"The people over there are telling our American leaders that they don't want us over there and they will continue to kill our American soldiers," she said.

"They're telling our leaders this, so why aren't our leaders listening and bringing our babies home?"

But Johnson said she's proud her son died defending his country. "I want him to be known as Darius the hero because he is my hero. He's 22 years old. He's an Army veteran, but he's a fallen soldier."

The family of Sgt. Steven D. Conover, 21, of Wilmington, Ohio, said he also expressed misgivings before his death, especially after his best friend was killed in a roadside explosion.

Lt. Brian Slavenas, pilot of the Chinook, is recalled by his brother Marcus and father, Ronald.
Lt. Brian Slavenas, pilot of the Chinook, is recalled by his brother Marcus and father, Ronald.

"He said, 'I put him in a body bag and sent him home to his wife and kids,' " recalled Mike Earley, Conover's stepfather. "He said, 'Mom, I've seen far too much. I want to come home.' "

The helicopter was ferrying troops away for rest and recuperation at the time it went down. That timing -- the sudden swing from excitement to grief -- was agonizing for some families.

"You think he wouldn't leave you trying to come home, and that's the part that hurts so bad -- the way he went," said Rose Wilson, grandmother of Staff Sgt. Joe N. Wilson, 30, of Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

The parents of Pfc. Karina S. Lau, 20, said they felt the same way.

"When you have hope that she was coming home on leave, and this happens, it's a double shock," said Augustin Lau, Karina's father.

Harriet Johnson lost her son, Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22, in Sunday's helicopter crash.

Harriet Johnson lost her son, Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22, in Sunday's helicopter crash

In Memoriam

List of Coalition Casualties as of November 2, 2003

November 2:


Staff Sgt. Daniel A. Bader, 28, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Assigned to Air Defense Artillery Battery, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Sgt. Steven D. Conover, 21, Wilmington, Ohio; based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Army Sgt. Ernest G. Bucklew, 33, Enon Valley, Pa., helicopter downing

Army Pfc. Anthony D. Dagostino, 20, Waterbury, Conn., helicopter downing

Army Pfc. Karina Lau, 20, Livingston, Calif., helicopter downing

Army Sgt. Keelan L. Moss, 23, Houston, Texas, helicopter downing

Army Sgt. Ross A. Pennanen, 36, Oklahoma, helicopter downing


Spc. Brian H. Penisten, 28, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Assigned to Air Defense Artillery Battery, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado.


Sgt. Joel Perez, 25, of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Illinois National Guard 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas, 30, Genoa, Ill., helicopter downing


Chief Warrant Officer Bruce A. Smith, 41, West Liberty, Iowa. Assigned to Detachment 1, Company F, 106th Aviation Battalion, Army National Guard, Davenport, Iowa.

Army Staff Sgt. Paul A. Velazquez, 29, San Diego, Calif., helicopter downing

Spc. Frances M. Vega, 20, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, helicopter downing

Army Staff Sgt. Joe N. Wilson, 30, Mississippi, helicopter downing

---

October 28:

Army Pvt. Algernon Adams, 36, Aiken, S.C., non-combat

Army Spc. Isaac Campoy, 21, Douglas, Ariz., tank hit land mine

Army Sgt. Michael Paul Barrera, 26, Von Ormy, Texas, tank hit land mine

-
Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22, Cordova, South Carolina. Assigned to 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado.
--

No photos available:

Sgt. Keelan L. Moss, 23, Houston, Texas. Assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Spc. Frances M. Vega, 20, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Assigned to 151st Adjutant General Postal Detachment 3, Fort Hood, Texas.

Staff Sgt. Joe N. Wilson, 30, Crystal Springs, Mississippi. Assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

October 27:

Army Sgt. Aubrey D. Bell, 33, Tuskegee, Ala., small arms fire

Army Pvt. Jonathan I. Falaniko, 20, Pago Pago, American Samoa, car bomb

---

October 26:

Army Pfc. Steven Acosta, 19, Calexico, Calif., non-combat gunshot wound

Army Pfc. Rachel K. Bosveld, 19, Waupun, Wis., mortar attack

Army Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, 40, Winter Springs, Fla., rocket-propelled grenade attack on the Al-Rasheed Hotel

Army Pvt. Joseph R. Guerrera, 20, Dunn, N.C., roadside explosion

Army Staff Sgt. Jamie L. Huggins, 26, Hume, Mo., roadside explosion

---

October 24:

Army Spc. Artimus D. Brassfield, 22, Flint, Mich., mortar attack

Army Sgt. Michael S. Hancock, 29, Yreka, Calif., shooting

Army Spc. Jose L. Mora, 26, Bell Gardens, Calif., mortar attack

---

October 23:

Army Capt. John R. Teal, 31, Mechanicsville, Va., explosive device

---

October 22:

Army Pfc. Paul J. Bueche, 19, Daphne, Ala., accidental

---

October 21:

Army Pvt. Jason M. Ward, 25, Tulsa, Okla., non-combat

Army Spc. John P. Johnson, 24, Houston, Texas, non-combat

---

October 20:

Army Staff Sgt Paul J. Johnson, 29, Calumet, Mich., roadside explosion

---

October 18:

Army 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein, 24, Phoenixville, Pa., ambush

Army Pvt. John Hart, 20, Bedford, Mass., ambush

---

October 17:

Army Spc. Michael L. Williams, 46, Buffalo, N.Y., roadside explosion

---

October 16:

Army Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia, 28, Wakefield, Mass., combat

Army Cpl. Sean R. Grilley, 24, San Bernardino, Calif., combat

Army Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, 43, Tennessee, combat

---

October 13:

Army Pfc. Jose Casanova, 23, El Monte, Calif., vehicle accident

Army Pvt. Benjamin L. Freeman, 19, Valdosta, Ga., drowning

Army Spc. Douglas J. Weismantle, 28, Pittsburgh, Pa., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Donald L. Wheeler, 22; Concord, Mich., rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Pfc. Stephen E. Wyatt, 19; Kilgore, Texas, ambush

---

October 12:

Army Spc. James Powell, 26, Mark Center, Ohio, anti-tank mine

---

October 9:

Army Spc. Joseph C. Norquist, 26, San Antonio, Texas, hostile fire

Army Pvt. Sean A. Silva, 23, Roseville, Calif., ambush

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Swisher, 26, Lincoln, Neb., ambush

---

October 6:

Army Spc. Spencer T. Karol, 20; Woodruff, Ariz., roadside explosion

Army Pfc. Kerry D. Scott, 21, Mount Vernon, Wash., roadside explosion

Army 2nd Lt. Richard Torres, 25, Clarksville, Tenn., roadside explosion

---

October 4:

Army Spc. James H. Pirtle, 27, La Mesa, N.M., rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

October 3:

Army Pfc. Charles M. Sims, 18, Miami, Fla., drowning

---

October 1:

Army Command Sgt. Maj. James D. Blankenbecler, 40, Alexandria, Va., roadside bombing/rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Pfc. Analaura Esparaza Gutierrez, 21, Houston, Texas, roadside bombing/rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Spc. Simeon Hunte, Essex, N.J., shot while on patrol

---

September 30:

Army Spc. Dustin K. McGaugh, 20, Derby, Kan., non-combat gunshot wound

---

September 29:

Army Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick, 26, Jim Thorpe, Pa., drowning

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher E. Cutchall, 30, McConnellsburg, Pa., improvised explosive device

Army Pfc. Kristian E. Parker, 23, Slidell, La., non-combat

Army Sgt. Darrin K. Potter, 24, Louisville, Ky., vehicle accident

---

September 25:

Army Spc. Kyle G. Thomas, 23, Topeka, Kan., improvised explosive device

Army Capt. Robert L. Lucero, 34, Casper, Wyo., improvised explosive device

Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Rooney, 43; Nashua, N.H., accident

---

September 24:

Army Spc. Michael Andrade, 28, Bristol, R.I., vehicle accident

---

September 22:

Army Spc. Paul J. Sturino, 21, Rice Lake, Wis., non-combat gunshot wound

---

September 20:

Army soldier Lunsford Brown, II, 27, Henderson, N.C., mortar attack

Army Sgt. David Travis Friedrich, 26, New Haven, Conn., mortar attack

Army Staff Sgt. Frederick L. Miller, Jr., 27, Hagerstown, Ind., roadside explosion

---

September 18:

Army Spc. Richard Arriaga, 20, Ganado, Texas, combat

Army Capt. Brian Faunce, 23, Philadelphia, Pa., accident

Army Sgt. Anthony O. Thompson, 26, Orangeburg, S.C., combat

Army Spc. James C. Wright, 27, Delhi Township, Ohio, combat

---

September 15:

Army Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Kimmerly, 31, North Creek, N.Y., rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson, 27, Flagstaff, Ariz., non-combat weapons discharge

---

September 14:

Army Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg, 22, Canton, Mich., roadside explosion

---

September 12:

Army Sgt. 1st Class William M. Bennett, 35, Seymour, Tenn., combat

Army Master Sgt. Kevin Morehead, 33, Benton, Ark., combat

---

September 11:

Army Sgt. Henry Ybarra, III, 32, Austin, Texas, non-combat injuries

---

September 10:

Army Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Robsky Jr., 31, Elizaville, N.Y., bomb disposal accident

---

September 9:

Army Spc. Ryan G. Carlock, 25, Macomb, Ill., combat

---

September 7:

Army Spc. Jarrett B. Thompson, 27, Dover, Del., vehicle accident

---

September 4:

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bruce E. Brown, 32, Coatopa, Ala., accident

---

September 2:

Pfc. Christopher A. Sisson, 20, of Oak Park, Ill., helicopter accident

---

September 1:

Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Camara, 40, New Bedford, Mass., landmine explosion

Army Sgt. Charles T. Caldwell, 38, North Providence, R.I., landmine explosion

Army Staff Sgt. Cameron B. Sarno, 43, Waipahu, Hawaii, road accident ---

August 30:

Sgt. Sean K. Cataudella, 28, Tucson, Ariz., vehicle accident

---

August 29:

Army Staff Sgt. Mark A. Lawton, 41, Hayden, Colo., rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

August 27:

Army Sgt. Gregory A. Belanger, 24, Narragansett, R.I., roadside explosion

Army Spc. Rafael L. Navea, 34, Pittsburgh, Pa., roadside explosion

Army Lt. Col. Anthony L. Sherman, 43, Pottstown, Pa., non-combat

---

August 26:

Army Spc. Darryl T. Dent, 21, Washington D.C., roadside explosion

---

August 25:

Army Spc. Ronald D. Allen Jr., 22, Mitchell, Ind., struck by motorist

Army Pfc. Pablo Manzano, 19, Heber, Calif., non-combat

---

August 23:

Army Pfc. Vorn J. Mack, 19, Orangeburg, S.C., drowning

Army Spc. Stephen M. Scott, 21, Lawton, Okla., non-combat

---

August 21:

Army Pfc. Michael S. Adams, 20, Spartanburg, S.C., non-combat injuries

Navy Lt. Kylan A. Jones-Huffman, 31, College Park, Md., shot by unidentified gunman

---

August 20:

Army Staff Sgt. Bobby C. Franklin, 38, Mineral Bluff, Ga., explosion

Army Spc. Kenneth W. Harris, Jr., 23, Charlotte, Tenn., vehicle accident

---

August 18:

Army Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23, Uniontown, Pa., roadside explosion

---

August 17:

Army Spc. Craig S. Ivory, 26, Port Matilda, Pa., non-combat

---

August 14:

Army Pfc. David Kirchhoff, 31, Anamosa, Iowa, heatstroke

---

August 13:

Army Sgt. Steven W. White, 29, Lawton, Okla., anti-tank mine

---

August 12:

Army Pfc. Timothy R. Brown, Jr., 21, Conway, Pa., roadside explosion

Army Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton, Jr., 37, Guilford, Conn., illness

Army Pfc. Daniel R. Parker, 18, Lake Elsinore, Calif., vehicle accident

Army Sgt. Taft V. Williams, 29, New Orleans, La., roadside explosion

---

August 10:

Army Staff Sgt. David S. Perry, 36, Bakersfield, Calif., package bomb

---

August 9:

Army Sgt. Floyd G. Knighten, Jr., 55, Olla, La., non-combat related

Army Spc. Levi B. Kinchen, 21, Tickfaw, La., non-combat related

---

August 8:

Army Pvt. Matthew D. Bush, 20, East Alton, Ill., non-combat related

Army Pfc. Brandon Ramsey, 21, Calumet City, Ill., vehicle accident

---

August 7:

Army Pfc. Duane E. Longstreth, 19, Tacoma, Wash., non-combat related

---

August 6:

Army Spc. Zeferino E. Colunga, 20, Bellville, Texas, illness

Army Pvt. Kyle C. Gilbert, 20, Brattleboro, Vt., combat

Army Sgt. Brian R. Hellerman, 35, Freeport, Minn., combat

Army Sgt. Leonard D. Simmons, 33, New Bern, N.C., non-combat

---

August 5:

Army Spc. Farao K. Letufuga, 20, Pago Pago, American Samoa, accident

Army Staff Sgt. David L. Loyd, 44, Johnson, Tenn., illness

---

August 1:

Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert, 20, Arlington, Wash., rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

July 31:

Army Pvt. Michael J. Deutsch, 21, Dubuque, Iowa, vehicle hit by explosive

Army Spc. James I. Lambert, III, 22, Raleigh, N.C., non-combat shooting

---

July 30:

Army 1st. Lt. Leif E. Nott, 24, Cheyenne, Wyo., combat

---

July 28:

Army Sgt. Nathaniel Hart, Jr., 29, Valdosta, Ga., vehicle accident

Army Spc. William J. Maher, III, 35, Yardley, Pa., roadside explosion

---

July 27:

Army Sgt. Heath A. McMillin, 29, Canandaigua, N.Y., combat

---

July 26:

Army Spc. Jonathan P. Barnes, 21, Anderson, Mo., grenade attack

Army Pfc. Jonathan M. Cheatham, 19, Camden, Ark., rocket propelled grenade attack

Army Sgt. Daniel K. Methvin, 22, Belton, Texas, grenade attack

Army Pfc. Wilfredo Perez, Jr., 24, Norwalk, Conn., grenade attack

---

July 24:

Army Cpl. Evan Asa Ashcraft, 24, West Hills, Calif., combat

Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, Bay Shore, N.Y., combat

Army Staff Sgt. Hector R. Perez, 40, Corpus Christi, Texas, combat

Army Sgt. Juan M. Serrano, 31, Manati, Puerto Rico, accident

---

July 23:

Army Capt. Joshua T. Byers, 29, Sparks, Nev., roadside explosion

Army Spc. Brett T. Christian, 27, North Royalton, Ohio, rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

July 22:

Army Spc. Jon P. Fettig, 30, Dickinson, N.D., rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

July 21:

Army Cpl. Mark A. Bibby, 25, Watha, N.C., roadside explosion

---

July 20:

Army Sgt. Justin W. Garvey, 23, Townsend, Mass., rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Sgt. Jason D. Jordan, 24, Elba, Ala., rocket-propelled grenade attack

Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher R. Willoughby, Phenix City, Ala., vehicle accident

---

July 19:

Army 2nd Lt. Jonathan D. Rozier, 25, Katy, Texas, combat

---

July 18:

Army Spc. Joel L. Bertoldie, 20, Independence, Mo., roadside explosion

---

July 17:

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David J. Moreno, 26, Gering, Neb., non-hostile gunshot wound

Army Sgt. Mason Douglas Whetstone, 30, Utah, non-combat injuries

---

July 16:

Army Spc. Ramon Reyes Torres, 29, Caguas, Puerto Rico, truck bomb

---

July 15:

Marine Lance Cpl. Cory Ryan Geurin, 18, Santee, Calif., accident

---

July 14:

Army Sgt. Michael T Crockett, 27, Soperton, Ga., combat

---

July 13:

Army Capt. Paul J. Cassidy, 36, Laingsburg, Mich., non-combat injuries

Army Sgt. Jaror C. Puello-Coronado, 36, Pocono Summit, Pa., accident

---

July 12:

Army Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, 20, Montreal, Mo., non-combat injuries

---

July 11:

Army Spc. Christian C. Schulz, 20, Colleyville, Texas, non-combat injuries

---

July 9:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 39, Spooner, Wis., combat

Army Sgt. Roger D. Rowe, 54, Bon Aqua, Tenn., sniper attack

Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Andrew Tetrault, 20, Moreno Valley, Calif., vehicle accident

Army Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26, Eagle Pass, Texas, non-combat related

---

July 8:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Craig A. Boling, 38, Elkhart, Ind., non-combat related

Army Pvt. Robert L. McKinley, 23, Kokomo, Ind., non-combat related

---

July 7:

Army Staff Sgt. Barry Sanford, Sr., 46, Aurora, Colo., non-combat related

---

July 6:

Army Spc. Chad L. Keith, 21, Batesville, Ind., roadside explosion

Army Sgt. David B. Parson, 30, Kannapolis, N.C., shot during raid

Army Pfc. Jeffrey Wershow, 22, Gainesville, Fla., shot by gunman

---

July 3:

Army Pfc. Edward J. Herrgott, 20, Shakopee, Minn., shot by sniper

Army Pfc. Corey L. Small, 20, East Berlin, Pa., non-combat related

---

July 2:

Marines Cpl. Travis J. Bradach-Nall, 24, Multnomah County, Ore., mine clearing explosion

---

July 1:

Army 1st Sgt. Christopher D. Coffin, 51, Bethlehem, Pa., vehicle accident

---

June 28:

Army Sgt. Timothy M. Conneway, 22, Enterprise, Ala., roadside bombing

---

June 27:

Army Cpl. Tomas Sotelo, Jr., 20, Houston, Texas, rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

June 26:

Army Spc. Corey A. Hubbell, 20, Urbana, Ill., non-combat

Navy Seaman Joshua McIntosh, 22, Kingman, Ariz., non-combat

Army Spc. Richard P. Orengo, 32, Puerto Rico, combat

---

June 25:

Army Spc. Andrew F. Chris, 25, Calif., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Gregory E. MacDonald, 29, Washington D.C., vehicle accident

Army Pfc. Kevin C. Ott, 27, Columbus, Ohio, combat

Army Sgt. 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, 37, Linden, N.J., combat

---

June 24:

Army Spc. Cedric L. Lennon, 32, West Blocton, Ala., non-combat related cause

---

June 22:

Army Spc. Orenthial J. Smith, 21, Allendale, S.C., combat

---

June 19:

Army Spc. Paul T. Nakamura, 21, Sante Fe Springs, Calif., rocket-propelled grenade attack

---

June 18:

Army Pfc. Michael R. Deuel, 21, Nemo, S.D., sniper attack

Army Staff Sgt. William T. Latham, 29, Kingman, Ariz., combat

---

June 17:

Army Pvt. Robert L. Frantz, 19, San Antonio, Texas, grenade attack

Army Sgt. Michael L. Tosto, 24, Apex, N.C., non-combat related cause

---

June 16:

Army Pvt. Shawn D. Pahnke, 25, Shelbyville, Ind., combat

Army Spc. Joseph D. Suell, 24, Lufkin, Texas, non-combat related cause

---

June 15:

Marines Pfc. Ryan R. Cox, 19, Derby, Kan., non-combat weapons discharge

---

June 13:

Army Staff Sgt. Andrew R. Pokorny, 30, Naperville, Ill., vehicle accident

---

June 12:

Army Spc. John K. Klinesmith, Jr., 25, Stockbridge, Ga., drowning

---

June 10:

Army Pfc. Gavin L. Neighbor, Somerset, Ohio, combat

---

June 8:

Army Sgt. Michael E. Dooley, 23, Pulaski, Va., combat

---

June 7:

Army Sgt. Travis Lee Burkhardt, 26, Edina, Mo., combat

Army Pvt. Jesse M. Halling, 19, Indianapolis, Ind., combat

---

June 6:

Navy Petty Officer Third Class Doyle W. Bollinger, 21, Poteau, Okla., ordnance explosion

---

June 5:

Army Pfc. Branden F. Oberleitner, 20, Worthingon, Ohio, grenade attack

---

June 3:

Army Sgt. Atanacio Haro Marin, 27, Baldwin Park, Calif., combat

---

June 1:

Marine Sgt. Jonathan W. Lambert, 28, Newsite, Miss., vehicle accident

---

May 30:

Army Spc. Michael T. Gleason, 25, Warren, Pa., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Kyle A. Griffin, 20, Emerson, N.J., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Zachariah W. Long, 20, Milton, Pa., vehicle accident

---

May 28:

Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Bradley, 39, Utica, Miss., accident

Army Spc. Jose A. Perez III, 22, San Diego, Texas, combat

---

May 27:

Army Sgt. Thomas F. Broomhead, 34, Canon City, Colo., combat

Army Staff Sgt. Michael B. Quinn, 37, Tampa, Fla., combat

---

May 26:

Army Sgt. Keman L. Mitchell, 24, Hillard, Fla., accident

Army Pvt. Kenneth A. Nalley, 19, Hamburg, Iowa, vehicle accident

Army Staff Sgt. Brett J. Petriken, 30, Flint, Mich., vehicle accident

Army Maj. Mathew E. Schram, 36, Brookfield, Wis., combat

Army Pfc. Jeremiah D. Smith, 25, Odessa, Mo., vehicle accident

---

May 25:

Army Pvt. David Evans, Jr., 18, Buffalo, N.Y., munitions facility explosion

---

May 21:

Army Spc. Nathaniel A. Caldwell, 27, Omaha, Nebraska, vehicle accident

---

May 19:

Army Lt. Col. Dominic R. Baragona, 42, Niles, Ohio, vehicle accident

Marine Capt. Andrew David La Mont, 31, Eureka, Calif., helicopter accident

Marine Lance Cpl. Jason William Moore, 21, San Marcos, Calif., helicopter accident

Marine 1st Lt. Timothy Louis Ryan, 30, Aurora, Ill., helicopter accident

Marine Sgt. Kirk Allen Straseskie, 23, Beaver Dam, Wis., drowning

Marine Staff Sgt. Aaron Dean White, 27, Shawnee, Okla., helicopter accident

---

May 18:

Marine Cpl. Douglas Jose Marencoreyes, 28, Chino, Calif., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Rasheed Sahib, 22, New York, N.Y., non-combat weapon discharge

---

May 16:

Army Master Sgt. William L. Payne, 46, Otsego, Mich., ordnance explosion

---

May 14:

Army Spc. David T. Nutt, 32, Blackshear, Ga., vehicle accident

---

May 13:

Air Force Staff Sgt. Patrick Lee Griffin, Jr., 31, Elgin, S.C., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Brian Kleiboeker, 19, Irvington, Ill., munitions explosion

---

May 12:

Marine Lance Cpl. Jakub Henryk Kowalik, 21, Schaumburg, Ill., ordnance explosion

Marine Pfc. Jose Franci Gonzalez Rodriquez, 19, Norwalk, Calif., ordnance explosion

---

May 10:

Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Smith, 20, Anderson, Ind., vehicle accident

---

May 9:

Marine Lance Cpl. Cedric E. Bruns, 22, Vancouver, Washington, vehicle accident

Army Cpl. Richard P. Carl, 26, King Hill, Idaho, helicopter accident

Army Chief Warrant Officer Hans N. Gukeisen, 31, Lead, S.D., helicopter accident

Army Chief Warrant Officer Brian K. Van Dusen, 39, Columbus, Ohio, helicopter accident

---

May 8:

Army Pfc. Marlin T. Rockhold, 23, Hamilton, Ohio, combat

---

May 4:

Army Pvt. Jason L. Deibler, 20, Coeburn, Va., non-combat weapon discharge

---

May 3:

Army Sgt. Sean C. Reynolds, 25, East Lansing, Mich., non-combat weapon discharge

---

May 1:

Army Pfc. Jesse A. Givens, 34, Springfield, Mo., vehicle accident

---

April 28:

Army 1st Sgt. Joe J. Garza, 43, Robstown, Texas, vehicle accident

---

April 25:

Army Spc. Narson B. Sullivan, 21, North Brunswick, N.J., non-combat weapon discharge

Army 1st Lt. Osbaldo Orozco, 26, Delano, Calif., vehicle accident

---

April 24:

Army Sgt. Troy D. Jenkins, 25, of Repton, Ala., cluster bomb explosion

---

April 22:

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Andrew T. Arnold, 30, of Spring, Texas., grenade launcher accident

Army Spc. Roy R. Buckley, 24, of Portage, Ind., apparently fell from vehicle

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Robert W. Channell Jr., 36, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., grenade launcher accident.

Marine Lance Cpl. Alan D. Lam, 19, of Snow Camp, N.C., grenade launcher accident

---

April 17:

Army Cpl. John T. Rivero, 23, Gainesville, Fla., vehicle accident

---

*******************************************

Casualties as of July 12, 2003. The Occupation by US, British and coalition forces of Iraq is poorly planned and open-ended with vague, generalized goals to "rebuild Iraq and establish democracy"  --whatever that means .  Iraquis live daily with chaos and our troops are being picked off  daily by snipers in a newly emerging urban guerrilla warfare.  See articles below.

 

*******************************************

Casualties as of June 24, 2003. Go to the end of this page. The list of dead is growing longer. The War may have killed 10,000 civilians, researchers say.(See article by Simon Jeffery of The Guardian,, Friday, June 13, 2003.)  
At least 5,000 civilians may have been killed during the invasion of
Iraq, an independent research group has claimed. As more evidence is collated, it says, the figure could reach 10,000. Iraq Body Count (IBC), a volunteer group of British and US academics and researchers, compiled statistics on civilian casualties from media reports and estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 civilians died in the conflict. Three completed studies suggest that between 1,700 and 2,356 civilians died in the battle for Baghdad.

 

********************************************************

 

Casualties as of April 16th, 2003.    Go to the end of this page. The list of dead is growing longer. I am listing not just numbers, but the names of all those killed, missing in action, or POW's.  I do not have the names of any Iraquis -- just the images in my mind's eye of women and children, and families wounded, in shock, grieving for family members killed by U.S. bombs. ************************************************ 

List of coalition casualties, POWs, MIAs
as of April 16, 2003

Copyright © 2003 AP Online

The Associated Press


(April 9, 2003 4:22 p.m. EDT)

Updated on April 15th, Associated Press.

The names of troop casualties, provided by relatives or military officials. The military totals include casualties whose names may not yet be available.

U.S. AND BRITISH MILITARY CASUALTIES


U.S.: (Pentagon figures) 125 dead, three missing and seven captured. In some cases, families have released names before the military.
British: 31 dead, according to the British government.


DEATHS

April 14:

Army Pvt. Johnny Brown, 21, Troy, Ala., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Thomas Arthur Foley III, 23, of Dresden, Tenn., accidental grenade explosion

Army Pfc. Joseph P. Mayek, 20, of Rock Springs, Wyo., accidental weapons discharge

Marine Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, 25, of Hialeah, Fla., vehicle accident

Army Spc. Richard A. Goward, 32, of Midland, Mich., vehicle accident

April 13:

Army Spc. Gil Mercado, 25, of Paterson, N.J., non-combat weapon discharge

April 12:

Marine Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez, 22, Indio, Calif., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. David Edward Owens Jr., 20, of Winchester, Va., combat.

April 11:

Marine Staff Sgt. Riayan A. Tejeda, 26, New York, N.Y., combat

April 10:

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeff Bohr, 39, of San Clemente, Calif., combat

Army Staff Sgt. Terry W. Hemingway, 39, Willingboro, N.J., combat

April 8:

Army Cpl. Henry L. Brown, 22, of Natchez, Miss. combat.

Marine Pfc. Juan Garza, 20, Temperance, Mich., combat.

Army Sgt. 1st Class John W. Marshall, 50, Los Angeles, combat

Army Pfc. Jason M. Meyer, 23, Howell, Mich., combat

Air Force Staff Sgt. Scott D. Sather, 29, Clio, Mich., combat

Army Staff Sgt. Robert A. Stever, 36, Pendleton, Ore., combat



April 7:

Army Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid, 27, Malden, Ill., grenade attack

April 5:

Army Spc. Larry K. Brown, 22, of Jackson, Miss., combat

April 4:

Army Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, 31, State College, Pa., combat

Army Pfc. Wilfred D. Bellard, 20, Lake Charles, La., vehicle fell into ravine

Army Spc. Daniel Francis J. Cunningham, 33, Lewiston, Maine, vehicle fell into ravine

Marine Capt. Travis Ford, 30, Oceanside, Calif., helicopter crash

Marine Cp. Bernard G. Gooden, 22, Mount Vernon, N.Y., combat

Army Pvt. Devon D. Jones, 19, San Diego, vehicle fell into ravine

Marine 1st Lt. Brian M. McPhillips, 25, Pembroke, Mass., combat

Marine Sgt. Duane R. Rios, 25, Hammond, Ind., combat.

Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis, 29, Rehoboth, Mass., helicopter crash

Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, 33, of Tampa, Fla., combat

As of April 16th, Formerly Listed as

MISSING, Now Listed as KILLED IN ACTION: 

Marine Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, 21, Buffalo, N.Y.

Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, 22, Waterford, Conn.

Marine Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline, Jr., 21, Sparks, Nev.

Marine Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, 30, Decatur, Ill.

Marine Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, 19, Boiling Springs, S.C.

Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez, 26, Yuma, Ariz.

Marine Sgt. Brendon Reiss, 23, Casper, Wyo.

 

MISSING AS OF APRIL 16TH:

Army Sgt. Edward J. Anguiano, 24, Brownsville, Texas.

Deaths as of April 16th  (continued)

Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis,
11rehobothma.jpg
age 29, Rehoboth, Mass.
April 3:

Marine Pfc. Chad E. Bales, 20, Coahoma, Texas, non-hostile accident

Army Sgt. Wilbert Davis, 40, Hinesville, Ga., vehicle accident

Marine Cpl. Mark A. Evnin, 21, South Burlington, Vt., combat

Army Capt. Edward J. Korn, 31, Savannah, Ga., combat

Army Staff Sgt. Nino D. Livaudais, 23, Ogden, Utah, combat

Army Spc. Ryan P. Long, 21, Seaford, Del., combat

Army Spc. Donald S. Oaks Jr., 20, Harborcreek, Pa., combat

Army Sgt. 1st Class Randy Rehn, 36, Longmont, Colo., combat

Army Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe, 27, Arvada, Colo., combat

Army Sgt. Todd J. Robbins, 33, Hart, Mich., combat

Marine Cpl. Erik H. Silva, 22, Chula Vista, Calif., combat

Army Spc. Mathew Boule
11dracut.jpg
age 22, Dracut, Mass.
April 2:

Army Capt. James F. Adamouski, 29, Springfield, Va., helicopter crash

Marine Lance Cpl. Brian E. Anderson, 26, Durham, N.C., non-hostile accident

Army Spc. Mathew Boule, 22, Dracut, Mass., helicopter crash

Army Master Sgt. George A. Fernandez, 36, El Paso, Texas

Marine Pfc. Christian D. Gurtner, 19, Ohio City, Ohio, non-combat weapons discharge

Army Chief Warrant Officer Erik A. Halvorsen, 40, Bennington, Vt., helicopter crash.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Scott Jamar, 32, Granbury, Texas, helicopter crash

Army Sgt. Michael Pedersen, 26, Flint, Mich., helicopter crash

Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith, 42, Rochester, N.Y., helicopter crash

April 1:

Army Sgt. Jacob L. Butler, 24, Wellsville, Kan., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Maglione, 22, Lansdale, Pa., non-combat weapon discharge

March 31:

Army Spc. Brandon Rowe, 20, Roscoe, Ill., combat

Army Spc. William A. Jeffries, 39, Evansville, Ind., illness


Marine 1st Lt. Brian McPhillips
11phillips.jpg
Age 25, Pembroke, MA
March 30:

Marine Capt. Aaron J. Contreras, 31, Sherwood, Ore., helicopter crash

Marine Sgt. Michael V. Lalush, 23, Troutville, Va., helicopter crash

Marine Sgt. Brian McGinnis, 23, St. Georges, Del., helicopter crash

March 29:

Marine Staff Sgt. James Cawley, 41, Layton, Utah, combat

Army Cpl. Michael Curtin, 23, Howell, N.J., suicide attack

Army Pfc. Diego Fernando Rincon, 19, Conyers, Ga., suicide attack

Army Pfc. Michael Russell Creighton Weldon, 20, Palm Bay, Fla., suicide attack

Marine Lance Cpl. William W. White, 24, New York, vehicle accident

Army Sgt. Eugene Williams, 24, Highland, N.Y, suicide attack

March 28:

Army Sgt. Roderic A. Solomon , 32, Fayetteville, N.C., vehicle accident

11elpaso.jpg
El Paso, Texas
March 27:

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, 33, Tracy, Calif., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Suarez Del Solar, 20, Escondido, Calif., combat

March 26:

Marine Maj. Kevin G. Nave, 36, White Lake Township, Mich., vehicle accident

March 25:

Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Michael Vann Johnson Jr., 25, Little Rock, Ark., combat

Marine Pfc. Francisco A. Martinez Flores, 21, Los Angeles, combat

Marine Staff Sgt. Donald C. May, Jr., 31, Richmond, Va., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick T. O'Day, 20, Santa Rosa, Calif., combat

Marine Cpl. Robert M. Rodriguez, 21, New York, combat

Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, Boise, Idaho, grenade attack


Marine Cpl. Mark Evnin
11evnin.jpg
Age 21, Burlington, VT
March 24:

Marine Cpl. Evan James, 20, La Harpe, Ill., drowned in canal

Marine Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus, 29, Davenport, Iowa, drowned in canal

Army Spc. Gregory P. Sanders, 19, Hobart, Ind., combat

March 23:

Army Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22, Roswell, Ga., combat

Marine Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31, Ventura, Calif., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, 20, Cedar Key, Fla., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, Fort Myers, Fla., combat

Marine Cpl. Jose A. Garibay, 21, Costa Mesa, Calif., combat

Marine Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, Los Angeles, combat

Army Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21, Mobile, Ala., combat

Marine Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, 42, Enfield, Conn., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, 21, Gallatin, Tenn., combat

Marine 2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31, Tonopah, Nev., combat

Marine Cpl. Randal Kent Rosacker, 21, San Diego, combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, 22, Thornton, Colo., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31, Yuma, Ariz.

March 22:

Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, La Mesa, Calif., helicopter collision

Marine Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, 26, Buffalo, N.Y., machine gun accident

Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, Easton, Pa., grenade attack

Army Reserve Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19, Portland, Ore., vehicle accident

March 21:

Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, Waterville, Maine, helicopter crash

Marine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, St. Anne, Ill., helicopter crash

Marine 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30, Harrison County, Miss., combat

Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 28, Los Angeles, combat

Marine Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, Houston, helicopter crash

Marine Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, 29, Baltimore, helicopter crash

Date not given:

Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, 24, Broken Arrow, Okla., combat

Army Sgt. Stevon Booker, 34, Apollo, Pa.

Marine Sgt. Nicolas M. Hodson, 22, Smithville, Mo., vehicle accident

Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas, combat

Army Sgt. George Edward Buggs, 31, Barnwell, S.C., combat

Army Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland, combat

Army Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas, combat

Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, Pecos, Texas, combat

Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, Tuba City, Ariz., combat

Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, Bedford Heights, Ohio, combat

Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Kansas City, Mo., combat

CAPTURED
note: all listed below as "captured" were found by U.S. Marines when local Iraquis directed them to the place where they were being kept

March 24:

Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, Lithia Springs, Ga.

Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 David S. Williams, 30, Orlando, Fla.

March 23:

Army Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, Mission, Texas

Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M.

Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, Fort Bliss, Texas

Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan.

Army Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.

 

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- A plane carrying seven American POWs who were rescued in Iraq arrived late Wednesday at a U.S. base in Germany, where they were to be examined at a military hospital.

The former POWs were flown to the Ramstein Air Base from Kuwait aboard a C-141 transport plane.

The six men and one woman -- five of them comrades of former POW Jessica Lynch from the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Support Company, the other two freed Apache helicopter pilots from the 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment -- were in good shape, military officials said.

The seven were to be taken to the nearby Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where none was expected to stay long. During their capture, one was shot in the elbow a second was shot in the foot.

They were with 41 wounded soldiers on the flight, about half of whom had combat injuries, said Maj. Mike Young, a spokesman for the 86th Airlift Wing at the base.

Whether the seven former POWs will return to the United States together depends on their medical conditions, Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw said.

"Most seem to be in very good health," Shaw said. "First we have to see them."

Since reaching Kuwait on Sunday after their dramatic rescue from a house south of the Iraqi city of Tikrit, the former POWs have been kept away from news media and undergone medical checks, both physical and mental, and debriefings.

The freed members of the 507th are Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Park City, Kan.; and Sgt. James Riley, 31, of Pennsauken, N.J.

The freed pilots are Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, 30, of Orlando, Fla., and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, of Lithia Springs, Ga..

Landstuhl is the largest U.S. military hospital outside the United States, and so far has treated more than 200 patients with battlefield injuries from the war in Iraq.

Among them was Lynch, who was flown back to the United States on Saturday.



MISSING

Marine Lane Corporal O'Day and his wife
11santarosaca.jpg
age 20, Santa Rosa, Cal
March 23:

Army Sgt. Edward J. Anguiano, 24, Brownsville, Texas.

Marine Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, 21, Buffalo, N.Y.

Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, 22, Waterford, Conn.

Marine Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline, Jr., 21, Sparks, Nev.

Marine Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, 30, Decatur, Ill.

Marine Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, 19, Boiling Springs, S.C.

Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez, 26, Yuma, Ariz.

Marine Sgt. Brendon Reiss, 23, Casper, Wyo.

OTHER COALITION CASUALTIES

DEATHS

British:

April 6:

Fusilier Kelan John Turrington, combat.

Lance Cpl. Ian Malone, Dublin, Ireland, combat.

April 1:

Lance Cpl. Karl Shearer, killed in accident involving light armored vehicle

March 31:

Staff Sgt. Chris Muir, Romsey, England, killed while disposing of explosive ordnance

March 30:

Marine Christopher R. Maddison, combat

Lance Cpl. Shaun Andrew Brierley, road accident

March 28:

Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, in combat; death is being investigated possibly as result of friendly fire

March 25:

Cpl. Stephen John Allbutt, Stoke-on-Trent, England, tank hit by friendly fire

Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, Littleworth, England, tank hit by friendly fire

March 24:

Sgt. Steven Mark Roberts, Bradford, England, combat

Lance Cpl. Barry Stephen, Perth, Scotland, combat

March 23:

Sapper Luke Allsopp, London, combat

Staff Sgt. Simon Cullingworth, Essex, England, combat

Flight Lt. Kevin Barry Main, jet shot down by friendly fire

Flight Lt. David Rhys Williams, jet shot down by friendly fire

March 22:

Lt. Philip Green, helicopter collision

Lt. Marc Lawrence, helicopter collision

Lt. Antony King, Helston, England, helicopter collision

Lt. Philip West, Budock Water, England, helicopter collision

Lt. James Williams, Falmouth, England, helicopter collision

Lt. Andrew Wilson, helicopter collision

March 21:

Color Sgt. John Cecil, Plymouth, England, helicopter crash

Lance Bombardier Llewelyn Karl Evans, Llandudno, Wales, helicopter crash

Capt. Philip Stuart Guy, helicopter crash

Marine Sholto Hedenskog, helicopter crash

Sgt. Les Hehir, Poole, England, helicopter crash

Operator Mechanic Second Class Ian Seymour, helicopter crash

Warrant Officer Second Class Mark Stratford, helicopter crash

Maj. Jason Ward, helicopter crash


11tracycal.jpg
Tracy, Cal.
Casualties as of April 5, 2003
 

TOTALS:U.S. AND BRITISH MILITARY CASUALTIES

  • 91 U.S. killed and 14 missing (++)

  • 30 British killed.

    IRAQI CASUALTIES

  • Iraqi military -- At least 2,320 (U.S. military estimates for Baghdad alone).

  • Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates) -- At least 1,252 killed.

    ++NOTE: Official figures usually lag behind actual battlefield casualties. Does not include unspecified number of deaths from "friendly fire" incident on April 6.U.S. MILITARY IN COMBAT:

    April 2 -- F/A-18 Hornet single-seat fighter-bomber downed in southern Iraq, pilot missing. Possible it was shot down by U.S. Patriot missile.

    April 4/5 -- At least one soldier is killed in the battle for Baghdad airport.

    April 5 -- The Pentagon identifies eight more soldiers killed in an ambush on March 23.

    April 6 -- One soldier killed northwest of Baghdad when Iraqi fighters ambush a military convoy.

    April 7 -- Two U.S. Marines were killed and many were injured in fighting to secure two bridges over a river -- identified as the Nahr Diyala, a tributary of the Tigris on the edge of Baghdad.

    - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and six others wounded in an Iraqi attack on the 2nd Brigade's tactical operation centre south of the city, in the southern outskirts of Baghdad. A further six servicemen were missing.

    - The Pentagon identified six of the casualties killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in central Iraq on April 2. The incident remains under investigation.BRITISH MILITARY IN COMBAT:

    April 3 -- Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said 39 British casualties were being treated on the ground and a further 35 had been evacuated from the region.

    April 6 -- Three British soldiers were killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, taking the British death toll in the war against Iraq to 30, the defence ministry said.IRAQI MILITARY:

    April 5 -- U.S. says 320 Iraqi soldiers killed in battle for Baghdad airport.

    April 6 -- U.S. military says its forces killed over 2,000 Iraqi fighters in Baghdad since its troops attacked the city's outskirts.IRAQI CIVILIANS:

    April 2 -- Iraq says overnight bombing by U.S.-led forces killed 24 civilians and injured 186 across the country.

    April 3 -- Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said more than 1,250 civilians have been killed and 5,000 injured since March 20, the start of the war.U.S. AND BRITISH NON-COMBAT DEATHS:

    April 3 -- Three U.S. soldiers killed when an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter plane may have accidentally bombed a U.S. artillery position south of Baghdad.

    - A U.S. soldier of the Army's 5th Corp killed by possible "friendly fire" in central Iraq. It appears he was mistaken for an enemy soldier while investigating a destroyed Iraqi tank.

    April 5 -- Two U.S. Marine pilots killed when their AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq. Indications that it was not a result of hostile fire.

    April 6 -- A U.S. plane mistakenly bombed a convoy of U.S. special forces and Kurdish fighters, killing 18 Kurds and wounding over 45, including the brother of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.JOURNALISTS KILLED:

    March 22 -- Australian cameraman Paul Moran killed by car bomb in northern Iraq.

    March 22 -- Terry Lloyd, journalist from Britain's Independent Television News, killed after coming under fire on way to Basra. Cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussein Othman, travelling with Lloyd, are missing.

    April 2 -- Kaveh Golestan, an Iranian freelance cameraman working for the BBC killed when he stepped on a landmine. He had been filming at Kifri.

    April 3 -- Michael Kelly, former editor-in-chief of The Atlantic Monthly, was killed with a U.S. soldier in an accident involving their Humvee military jeep.NON-IRAQIS:

    March 23 -- Syria said U.S. and British aircraft bombed a bus carrying Syrian civilian workers returning home from Iraq, killing five and wounding an unspecified number.MISSING:

    March 22 -- Two journalists from Britain's Independent Television News missing after coming under fire on way to Basra.

    April 4 -- International relief group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said two of its six-member team in Baghdad missing since April 2. Announced it had suspended operations in Iraq.

  • 'Invisible soldier' disappearance shocks Arizona Indian reservations

    Copyright © 2003 AP Online
    By LYNN DUCEY, Associated Press

    TUBA CITY, Ariz. (March 28, 2003 3:01 p.m. EST) - In this wind-swept town on the sprawling Navajo reservation, an American flag flutters near a trailer home and a swing set moves in the breeze. A stream of solemn visitors silently pass by yellow balloons and signs offering support.

    "The spirits are there and the angels have gone to keep her safe. Don't worry. We love you," reads one poster taped to a chain link fence.

    Inside the home are the parents of Pfc. Lori Piestewa, who has been missing in Iraq since last weekend. The 23-year-old Hopi is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, the granddaughter of a World War II veteran and a source of pride for Tuba City as one of the very few Indian women in the military.

    "The town's kind of in a little shock," said one of the residents, Rick Holmes. "We can't have nothing done. We have to wait and see."

    Piestewa is a member of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, which was attacked by Iraqi soldiers last Sunday. At least two 507th soldiers were killed, and the Defense Department said eight more are missing and five are prisoners of war. Piestewa is among the missing.

    This town of 8,200 people - mostly a collection of government offices, a grocery store, a coin-operated laundry and a pizza parlor - is marked by its dark red dirt and its tight-knit residents. It is on the Navajo Reservation but close to Hopi land.

    "It's been a very sudden traumatic experience for everyone," said Vanessa Charles, spokeswoman for the Hopi Tribe. "These situations are the sort of things that bring people together. It unites people. It helps people put their differences aside."

    Officials from both tribes have attended prayer services in honor of Piestewa (pronounced pee-ESS-tuh-wah) and other military personnel. Hopi officials say she is one of 45 Hopis serving in the U.S. military.

    Historically, American Indians have enlisted in the U.S. military at higher rates than other groups. Defense Department officials say about 12,800 Indians are enlisted.

    But as an Indian woman, Piestewa remains a statistical rarity.

    Brenda Finnicum, a retired Army nurse and member of the Lumbee tribe, has researched the service of American Indian women in the military for five years and says many tell her they never met another Indian woman in the service.

    "Indian women are what I call the invisible warrior. You don't see them," Finnicum said. But she said Indian women have fought in every American conflict for the last 200 years.

    Piestewa's relatives say they aren't trying to draw attention to her.

    "We are asking that you continue your prayers for all the brave men and women of the armed services and that you pray for their families as well," the family said in a statement.

    They remains hopeful Piestewa, a mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, will return home safely with the rest of her company.

    "We're just keeping the faith," said one of her brothers, Wayland Piestewa. "And sometimes no news is good news, so we're still hoping."

    Meanwhile, the town is doing what it can, regularly delivering food to the Piestewas, and messages of support. Many cars sport yellow ribbons.

    Just inside the entrance to the Bashas' Supermarket, a large photo of Piestewa in uniform is surrounded by yellow roses and other flowers. Green poster boards have been set up to allow the community to write messages to the family.

    "A lot of the community members wanted to express their feelings, but not everybody can talk to the family right now," said market employee Reva Hoover.

    Teacher Marjorie McCabe said the uncertainty about Piestewa's whereabouts is hard to bear.

    "It's just waiting to hear something. I wish the military would find out and let the family know," she said. "They need to know something more definite. The waiting must be killing them."
    Lori Piestewa declared dead
    Hopi soldier from Tuba City was among eight bodies found during rescue of Jessica Lynch.  She was the mother of two young children, and the pride of the Window Rock reservation
    *****************************************************
     
     
     
    Michael Kelley, Editor-in-Chief of the Atlantic Monthly,
    is killed in action On April 3rd
    as an embedded reporter in Iraq. 
     
    Michael, a resident of Scampscott, Mass, leaves his wife and two small children. Michael had stepped down from his position as Editor-in-Chief to become "Editor at Large" in order to fulfill his desire to report from the Iraqui frontlines. Michael was riding in his HUMMV when he and the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division came under mortar attack. 
    11mikekelly.jpg
    Michael Kelly in Kuwait City, March 11, 2003.
    (Photographs courtesy of ABC News Nightline)

    David Bradley, the chairman and owner of Atlantic Media, said "This is the first friend and the best friend I made in journalism. In that quarter of the heart, he can't be touched. He is loved by everyone at The Atlantic, by everyone at the National Journal, by everyone at the places we worked together. The Atlantic has had 145 years of good times and bad, but no moment more deeply sad than this one now. The best we can make of this hour is to surround his wife and children and parents and family with some measure of the love we have for Michael."

    U.S. ARMY HUMMVs, IRAQUI DESERT
    11hummvs.jpg
    FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2003
    Cullen Murphy, the managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly said, "Mike Kelly was a loyal and warm friend, a passionate and courageous advocate, an extraordinary reporter and editor, and above all a profoundly good and generous man. You didn't need to know Mike for long to understand that you could stake your life on all of those qualities. You also couldn't know him long before you came to appreciate his wonderful sense of the preposterousespecially if it involved himself. He saw his profession not as a game but as a public service. I want Mike's boys Tom and Jack to know that their Dad was a hero. His loss is devastating to all of us."

    John Fox Sullivan president and group publisher of Atlantic Media, said, "Some people knew Michael as one of this country's most gifted writers and editors. Many knew him as a fiery columnist. I knew him as an honest, funny, caring and even gentle human being. He was one of a kind who will be sorely missed and never forgotten."

    Michael Kelly, 46, was until recently the editor in chief of The Atlantic, a position he assumed in 1999. Kelly was embedded with the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, covering the war in Iraq for The Atlantic and for The Washington Post, for whom he wrote a weekly syndicated column.

    Mike was no stranger to this story. He was the author of the highly acclaimed book Martyrs' Day (1993), a firsthand account of the first Gulf War, which won the PEN-Martha Albrand award and was included in the notable books listing of The New York Times.

    Hundreds remember Kelly with laughter and tears

    By ALAN BURKE

    Staff writer

    Wednesday, April 9th, 2003 

    SWAMPSCOTT -- Michael Kelly's funeral was yesterday, and at the precise moment that hundreds of friends were remembering his remarkable life, jubilant Iraqis were arranging a noose around a giant statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad.

    A supporter of the Iraq war, described by his father yesterday as an "enemy of tyrants," Kelly died last week while covering the war for the Washington Post and the Atlantic Monthly. He was the victim of a Humvee accident that also took the life of an American soldier.

    So far, his is the only known North Shore death associated with the war.

    "He didn't go to Iraq to become more famous," his father, Tom Kelly, told mourners at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church. "He went to take care of people. He was the confrontational enemy of tyrants. He went to Iraq the second time because he saw the bloody handiwork of Saddam Hussein in 1990."

    FATHER & SON WATCH U.S. ARMY PUSH NORTH
    11fatherson.jpg
    SUNDAY, MARCH 23RD

    Michael Kelly, 46, who had served as top editor of both the New Republic and the Atlantic Monthly, left behind a wife, Madelyn, and two young sons, Tom, 6, and Jack, 3. The family lives in Swampscott.

    As a mix of rain and snow fell outside, inside the church voices broke with grief, children cried, and, now and then, people laughed remembering Kelly in brief tributes spoken from the altar.

    "A shy man," said brother-in-law Tony Rizzoli. "But boy was he funny."

    Atlantic editor James Fallows recalled a sometimes disorganized style. Using Kelly's computer once, Fallows asked him with astonishment, "Do you know you have 3,500 unread messages?"

    Friend Susan Reed remembered eating in with Kelly and his wife in Chicago when word came of a San Francisco earthquake. The three journalists rushed to the airport. When Kelly finally got back, he noticed an unpleasant odor.

    "In his rush to get to the big story, Mike had left the oven on for an entire week," Reed said.

    Kelly, who started his career at The Beverly Times, had covered the first Gulf War. He showed the caution of an experienced war correspondent, Reed said. "Mike was not trying to be a hero. He was just covering a very dangerous story."

    His sister, Meg Rizzoli, took care to pay tribute to Staff Sgt. Wilbur Davis of the 3rd Infantry Division, "who died with Michael outside of Baghdad."

    As mourners arrived, they were given a small collection of excerpts from Kelly's columns, ranging from 1997 to his final dispatch, "Across the Euphrates," on April 3.

    One column lampooned former President Bill Clinton.

    "I believe the president," Kelly wrote in a now famous 1998 piece. "I believed him when he said he had never been drafted in the Vietnam War, and I believed him when he said he had forgotten to mention that he had been drafted in the Vietnam War."

    But he also wrote lovingly of the joys of good food, of his sons and his family. All happy families are not alike, he noted in 1997, disputing Tolstoy. But, he wrote, "every unhappy family is very much alike, the same tedious, awful story of selfishness and dead love."

    Kelly met his wife, Madelyn, on the press bus of the Dukakis campaign in 1988. "The smartest thing Michael ever did," his father said, "was to find and marry Madelyn."

    She is Jewish, which meant that they celebrated both Christmas and Hannukah, "which our sons, Tom and Jack, regard as an excellent thing," he wrote in 2001.

    It was perhaps these differences that led him to note that happy families are full of "cherished oddities."

    "Look around the table on Christmas night, or as you light the menorah, and regard your doddering parents and your annoying siblings and your dotty aunt and your insufferable uncle and your cousin the schnorrer and your nephew the nose-ringed," he wrote, "and rejoice in your magnificent wealth."

    U.S. Marine Lance Crpl JOSE GUTIERREZ
    11gutierrez.jpg
    Age 22, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIF
    Posthumous citizenship granted to Marines killed in combat

    Copyright © 2003 AP Online

    By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press

    LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (April 2, 2003   10:43 p.m. EST) - Marine Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay and Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez gave their lives in Iraq, waging war for the United States, a land they loved and believed in.

    No matter that it wasn't their official homeland; they were determined that one day it would be.

    That day came Wednesday.

    With the help of their families and fellow Marines, Garibay and Gutierrez became American citizens posthumously. The acting director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services signed the papers without fanfare, without the men's families or the media to watch.

    An executive order signed by President Bush last year allows family of troops killed in war to apply for posthumous citizenship. The certificates will be presented to the families if that's their wish, according to the bureau.

    Gutierrez, 22, of Lomita, Calif., died March 21 at the port city of Umm Qasr, one of the first casualties of the war.

    When he was 14, Gutierrez crossed into California after taking trains from Guatemala through Mexico. The orphan found a foster family, attended high school in Southern California and then joined the Marine Corps. He was assigned as an infantry rifleman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

    Gutierrez's family said they were waiting for the paperwork before setting a date for a memorial service in Los Angeles.

    "We're proud as a family that he was able to become a citizen because that's one of the things he wanted to do. And we are honored," Lillian Cardenas, his foster sister, told The Associated Press.

    Gutierrez's body was to remain in Delaware until arrangements between the United States and Guatemala were finalized, family members said.

    U.S. Marine Cpl. JOSE A. GARIBAY
    11garibay.jpg
    AGE 21, COSTA MESA, CALIF
    Garibay, 21, of Costa Mesa, Calif., died March 23 in Nasiriyah, south of Baghdad. He was a native of Jalisco, Mexico, whose family moved to the United States when he was a baby. Garibay joined the Marines three years ago and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

    Garibay's family was awaiting the return of his remains. Once returned, the family will hold a memorial service in Costa Mesa.

    Several telephone calls to Camp Pendleton, which is coordinating the citizenship requests, were not returned.

    Marine Maj. Brian Dolan, who has been helping the Garibay family, told The Orange County Register the Marine Corps facilitated the citizenship process after Garibay's mother, Simona, mentioned that it was her son's dream to become a citizen.

    "I took that on as something we possibly could help out with and do the right thing," Dolan said, adding that Garibay's mother is also in the process of becoming a citizen.

    "Her son died fighting for this country, so I certainly think it is warranted that her son gained citizenship and is buried as an American citizen," Dolan said.

    New casualties make 11 journalists dead since first strike

    Copyright © 2003
    Christian Science Monitor Service
     
    By MARY WILTENBURG, Christian Science Monitor

    (April 9, 2003 5:06 a.m. EDT) - This was the plan: to cover the war from the inside, whatever the cost. Now, with the conflict in Iraq in its 21st day, news organizations around the world are counting those costs among their own.

    Considering the short duration of the war, this campaign has been the deadliest for journalists in modern history. While many expected a high number of casualties among reporters because of the sheer numbers "embedded" with allied troops and the dangers of covering war on the front lines, the journalist death toll has been roughly 16 times that of coalition troops. To date, 11 news organization employees have been killed since March 21.

    "The statistics are certainly chilling - to have this many journalists killed or missing in just three weeks of conflict," says Joel Campagna, Middle East program coordinator for the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, "News organizations had months of preparation for this conflict, months to mull the risks ... but it's difficult to prepare for something like this."

    The dangers may become greater. As troops and journalists shift their focus to Baghdad, urban warfare represents the next risk. On Tuesday, two journalists belonging to Reuters were killed and at least three more were injured when a U.S. tank fired on an 18-story hotel in the Iraqi capital. Separately, a correspondent for the al-Jazeera television network was killed after the organization's Baghdad office was hit by U.S. bombs.

    CNN's Walter Rodgers, who has been embedded with the 3rd Squadron of the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry, came under heavy fire when the squadron headed for the southern suburbs of Baghdad. His crew, traveling in a Humvee, was unharmed. "There were ambushes on both sides of the road, rocket-propelled grenades, machine-gun fire," he says. Rodgers says the high casualty rates in this conflict are "a direct consequence of the embedding process, because the Pentagon allowed many journalists to come up to the tip of the tip of the spear."

    Some 600 reporters and photographers are now embedded with U.S. and British troops in Iraq. Another 1,000-plus "unilaterals," journalists not officially paired with a military unit, are in and around the country.

    Campagna estimates that between 100 and 150 reporters are camped in Baghdad. Another 100 to 200 hundred are probably in northern Iraq; and several dozen more are scattered throughout the countryside.

    No casualty rate for journalists in any recent conflict compares. The four reporters killed in the 1991 Gulf War died not in combat, but in the chaos that followed the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

    Though a deadly stretch in November 2001 saw eight journalists assassinated in Afghanistan in 16 days, there has not been such a number of combat casualties since the Vietnam War - and then, the 64 journalists who lost their lives there and in Cambodia did so over almost 10 years.

    Killing prompts new war crime call
    BBC News, Monday, May 5, 2003
    James Miller
    James Miller was well-respected

    The killing of reporters in war zones should be made a new war crime after the death of a British cameraman in Gaza, campaigners say.

    James Miller, 34, from Devon, was shot in the southern troublespot of Rafah.

    Initial findings from an Israeli Defence Forces investigation into the affair indicate that the correspondent was shot in the back, with sources suggesting that he may have been hit by Palestinian gunfire.

    The award-winning journalist was filming a documentary on the effect of terrorism on children for the American cable giant HBO.

    Another Briton who had been with Mr Miller said they were waving a white flag and moving towards an Israeli armoured vehicle when it opened fire.

    Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said the Israeli army must not be allowed to "brush aside" Mr Miller's death with their "routine and callous expressions of regret".

    The Israeli army said it had returned fire after being attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and expressed "sorrow at a civilian death".

    But a spokesman added: "It must be stressed a cameraman who knowingly enters a combat zone, especially at night, endangers himself."

    Palestinians show their solidarity
    Palestinian journalists have showed their support

    Mr White, whose federation operates on behalf of about 500,000 journalists globally, said there must be a full inquiry into Mr Miller's death, a call echoed by the Foreign Office.

    "Killing journalists either deliberately or by gross negligence should be made official war crimes under international law," he said.

    "There is now an unstoppable wave of anger within journalism which is calling for action to halt this process.

    "The military authorities cannot any longer ignore the fact that journalists in war zones and conflict areas are doing a legitimate and important public duty and that special attention must be paid to their safety."

    Mr White said it was a "terrible irony" that Mr Miller died on World Press Freedom Day.

    A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in contact with the Israeli authorities and pushing for a full and transparent investigation."

    Mr Miller was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, and had been living in Devon with his wife and son.

    The cameraman had won international acclaim for his documentary work including Beneath the Veil - a film about life under the Taleban.

    James Miller
    The cameraman was working for US TV

    He was killed in Rafah, an area of Gaza on the southern border with Egypt which is a site of frequent gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.

    On Friday, the Israeli foreign ministry announced plans to crack down on international "human shield" volunteers who have attempted to prevent demolitions.

    They started by detaining a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Rafah.

    A British peace activist with the ISM is now in a coma after he was shot in the head by an Israeli tank in Rafah last month.

    Thomas Hurndall, 22, was believed to have been among a group of nine activists who had to abandon their planned protest at a refugee camp in Rafah when shooting started.

    Two other peace activists were also wounded last month and a 23-year-old American was killed in March.

    Body 'matches' Iraq expert, Dr. David Kelly
    A body matching the description of Dr. David Kelly - the weapons expert at the centre of the Iraq dossier row - has been found at a beauty spot close to his home in Oxfordshire.
     
    BBC News  Friday, July 18th

    The government says an independent judicial inquiry will be held into the circumstances of his death if the body is confirmed to be that of the MoD adviser.

    The discovery was made at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr Kelly in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon.

    Dr Kelly, 59, had been caught up in a row between the BBC and the government about the use of intelligence reports in the run-up to the war with Iraq.

    SEARCH FOR DAVID KELLY
    1500 BST: Told wife going for a walk near their home
    2345 BST: Police informed he is missing

    On Tuesday he told the Foreign Affairs select committee he had spoken to BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan but denied he was the main source for a story about claims that a dossier on Iraq had been "sexed up".

    Dr Kelly left his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday and his family reported him missing at 2345 BST the same day.

    The body was found lying on the ground, around five miles from Dr Kelly's home, a police spokeswoman said.

    Acting superintendent Dave Purnell said formal identification would take place on Saturday and the case was being treated as an "unexplained death".

    "We will be awaiting the results of the post mortem and also waiting while the forensic examination continues at the scene at Harrowdown Hill," he added.

    A hearse left the scene shortly before 2000 BST on Friday.

    Attention

    The government announcement of an inquiry if the body is Dr Kelly's came from the prime minister's plane as he flew for a visit to Tokyo.
    David Kelly, government weapons proliferation adviser
    He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under
    Richard Ottaway
    Tory MP

    Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The prime minister is obviously very distressed for the family.

    "If it is Dr Kelly's body, the Ministry of Defence will hold an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading up to his death."

    Officials stressed the inquiry would not be the wide-ranging investigation into the run-up to the war urged by opposition MPs.

    It will be headed by a law lord - Lord Hutton - but it is expected to take a matter of weeks not months.

    Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Blair should consider cutting short his trip to the Far East.

    Robert Jackson, the Conservative MP in whose constituency Dr Kelly lived, said the "responsibility of the BBC should not go unmentioned" in the case.

    "The pressure was significantly increased by the fact the BBC refused to make it clear he was not the source," he said.

    A BBC spokesman said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear what has happened and we extend our deepest sympathies to Dr Kelly's family and friends.

    Shock

    "Whilst Dr Kelly's family await the formal identification, it would not be appropriate for us to make any further statement."

    Earlier this week, Dr Kelly denied being the BBC's main source for the story claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" the dossier about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

    MPs on the Commons foreign affairs committee, which questioned Dr Kelly earlier this week, reacted with shock and disbelief at news of his disappearance.

    Huge media attention has been on Dr Kelly since the Ministry of Defence said he had come forward to admit meeting Andrew Gilligan, the BBC correspondent behind the controversial Iraq story.

    Mr Gilligan said a source had told him that the dossier on Iraq had been "transformed" by Downing Street.

    The BBC correspondent has refused to name his source, but the MoD said Dr Kelly had come forward to say it may have been him.

    Sensitive

    Supt Purnell said a police family liaison officer is with Dr Kelly's family. He is married to Janice and they have three daughters, Sian, 32, and twins Rachel and Ellen, 30.

    A police officer in the area where the body was found
    Ann Lewis, a neighbour of Dr Kelly, told BBC News Online she was "devastated".

    She said: "He was a quiet man. He was a man who showed great care and concern for others."

    Craig Foster, 36, landlord of the Blue Boar public house in nearby Longworth, said Dr Kelly was "a very well liked gentleman".

    A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "We are aware that Dr David Kelly has gone missing and we are obviously concerned."

    Rules

    The ministry said Dr Kelly had at no point been threatened with suspension or dismissal for speaking to Mr Gilligan.

    It was made clear to him that he had broken civil service rules by having unauthorised contact with a journalist, but "that was the end of it", said a spokesman.

    There must be more to this than we had thought. I do not know what that means, I just think there is
    John Maples
    Foreign affairs committee

    Downing Street says "normal personnel procedures" were followed after Dr Kelly volunteered that he might have been the source of Mr Gilligan's report.

    It was made clear to Dr Kelly that his name was likely to become public knowledge because he was one of only a small number of people it could have been about, a spokesman said.

    After questioning Dr Kelly earlier this week, the Commons foreign affairs select committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.

    And they said Dr Kelly, who has worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq, had been "poorly treated" by the government - a charge strongly rejected by the MoD.

    Committee chairman Donald Anderson told the BBC his "heart went out" to Dr Kelly's family as the search for the official went on.

    Another member of the committee, Tory John Maples said he was "speechless" after hearing of the discovery of a body.

    "If it is (Dr Kelly), it is just awful. What can you say? Nothing," he said.

    Tory MP Richard Ottaway, another committee member, said: "He is not used to the media glare, he is not used to the intense spotlight he has been put under."

    BBC said no to truce on dossier row

    Offer made before Kelly was named

    Matt Wells, Michael White and Richard Norton-Taylor
    Monday July 21, 2003
    The Guardian


    BBC bosses blocked a compromise which might have prevented the suicide of David Kelly, the weapons expert confirmed by the corporation yesterday as its source for the story of the "sexed-up' dossier.

    The Guardian can reveal that the BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, and the director general, Greg Dyke, were made an offer in the days before Dr Kelly was identified, but turned it down because they were determined to give no ground in their battle with Alastair Campbell, director of communications at No 10.

    Last night Andrew Gilligan, the journalist at the centre of the controversy, claimed that he had not misquoted Dr Kelly, a clear implication that the 59-year-old weapons specialist had not given the full story about their conversations to the foreign affairs select committee.

    Dr Kelly, who admitted talking to Gilligan, was found dead near his Oxfordshire home on Friday morning after apparently taking painkillers and cutting his wrist the previous afternoon. Friends suggested yesterday that he was concerned that he would be prevented from returning to Iraq to hunt for evidence of chemical and biological weapons.

    The BBC's admission of his role triggered a partisan scalp-hunt that was almost as ferocious as the demands for Tony Blair, Mr Campbell and the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, to step down for their part in his "outing". Labour's Gerald Kaufman led the pack, accusing the BBC of "tabloid" journalism and urging a review of the corporation's status. Dr Kelly's Tory MP, Robert Jackson, blamed the BBC for his death.

    The news that the BBC had turned down a possible compromise will only add to the pressure on the corporation. Challenged about the deal on the day before Dr Kelly's name appeared in the press, Mr Dyke said: "It was last week." He refused to comment further.

    A senior BBC executive said on the same day: "Greg and Gavyn were told that if they wanted to have a conversation about it, there were people in No 10 who would be ready to have a conversation about it."

    Mr Dyke and Mr Davies decided not to the pursue the opportunity because the strategy, at the time, was one of all-out defence against the onslaught from Mr Campbell.

    Informed sources said that Mr Davies and Mr Dyke - both past Labour donors - had felt the need to prove their independence. "Greg had a rush of blood to the head and sexed up Richard Sambrook's letters," a senior MP said.

    Later Mr Davies blocked Mr Dyke seeking to seize peace feelers. "If it emerged he'd found some accommodation with the government it would have destroyed his credibility within the organisation. He'd have been dismissed as a Labour patsy," the MP said.

    However, there are signs that BBC executives feel the pugnacious strategy was ill-judged, with hindsight at least.

    One well-placed source said last night: "The question that is being looked at very seriously is whether it was right to mount an all-out defence, or whether it required more moderation: an admission perhaps that there were some aspects of the story that we cannot be entirely sure about."

    Mr Blair visibly relaxed when he was tipped off in Seoul that the BBC was about to give ground, appealing for "a period of reflection" while Lord Hutton's inquiry into the tragedy takes evidence. No one in government is expected to quit at this stage - if at all.

    In a significant show of support, the chancellor, Gordon Brown, whose allies have been calling for him to take over the premiership, let it be known that he is backing Mr Blair's call for a "period of restraint, reflection and respect".

    In a speech in New York today he will conspicuously support the Blair line on the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons arsenal.

    Mr Blair rejected Iain Duncan Smith's demand for a recall of parliament, saying it would "generate more heat than light" when Dr Kelly's family should be left to grieve.

    The New York Times reported that Dr Kelly had told of "many dark actors playing games", in an email to one of its writers hours before his suicide. It said he appeared to be referring to defence and intelligence officials with whom he had sparred over interpretations of weapons reports.

    But there was renewed speculation at Westminster that he may not have been wholly frank with the foreign affairs committee about his dealings with Gilligan, and that this triggered anxiety in a morally scrupulous man.

    Kelly sermon blames 'unholy alliance'
    BBC NEWS Sunday July 20th
    Lichfield Cathedral
    The archbishop gave his sermon at Lichfield Anglican Cathedral
    The Roman Catholic archbishop of Birmingham has criticised an "unholy alliance" between politicians and the media during a tribute to the late Dr David Kelly.

    Vincent Nichols said the Iraq weapons expert's death should cause everyone, especially those in public life, to reflect, in a sermon at Lichfield Anglican Cathedral.

    The media and politicians were involved in an "unholy alliance" that manipulated opinion, he said.

    Dr Kelly's body was discovered in woodland near his Oxfordshire home on Friday morning, with a knife and a packet of painkillers close by.

    Police confirmed on Saturday that the senior Ministry of Defence adviser had bled to death from a cut to his wrist.

    On Sunday, the BBC revealed Dr Kelly had been the principal source for a report that Downing Street "sexed up" an Iraq weapons dossier to boost public support for military action.

    The archbishop said that both the media and politicians should reflect on the "grave responsibilities" to the truth that they should uphold.

    He told his congregation: "It distresses me deeply to think that there are people in positions of eminent public responsibility who know the answer to the questions Dr Kelly was being asked.

    Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols
    Archbishop Nichols: 'We will learn truth'

    "Yet they remain silent, believing that the confidentiality of their sources is more important. More important than one man's life? I think not.

    "Nor do we know the kind of political or personal pressure put on Dr Kelly. Certainly he complained of the harassment of the media. But there were other pressures too.

    "I trust that in due course we will learn the truth about them.

    Mr Nichols said that when public life and the media are so "devoid of compassion", and become "cavalier with the truth", they become a distortion of their true purpose.

    "It is time for us to recover some of our finer qualities and enshrine them again in our public and civic life," he added.

    And in another service at Southmoor Methodist Church, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, just yards from the Kelly family's home, prayers were offered for his widow, Janice.

    Everybody in this small community is trying to come to terms with his death
    Methodist preacher David Kershaw

    Methodist preacher David Kershaw said during the service: "We pray for the family of Dr David Kelly and hope they can come to terms with this awful tragedy.

    "We pray that God may offer comfort to them in helping them rebuild their lives.

    "We pray that they will now be able to grieve in peace."

    Speaking after the service he added: "It has been absolutely dreadful for the people here. Nobody understands how this could happen.

    "Everybody is bewildered. The spot where he was found is a popular walking area and a lot of people go there blackberry picking.

    He was such a good man and his death could have been avoided
    Friend of Dr Kelly, Chrisopher Jones
    "From what I understand he was a very conscientious man and everybody in this small community is trying to come to terms with his death."

    News of the death of the former top germ warfare scientist had rocked the community in Southmoor.

    Many who knew Dr Kelly said they were shocked and angry at the circumstances surrounding his death.

    Landlady Lindsey Atkins of the Wagon and Horses pub, which is directly opposite the Kelly's home said: "The question is could David's death have been prevented now that all of this information is out in the open?

    "It's all too late after this terrible tragedy."

    Pensioner Christopher Jones, who said he had known Dr Kelly ever since he moved to the area, added: "He was such a good man and his death could have been avoided.

    "I used to walk with David to our local pub most evenings. He was a gentleman, a polite, courteous and educated person, who was much loved and had many friends here."

    Suicide condemned

    Dr Kelly had regularly attended a Baha'i centre in Abingdon since converting to the religion four years ago in the United States.

    The pacifist faith, founded in Iran about 160 years ago, preaches tolerance and unity.

    Barnabas Leith, secretary of the national assembly of the Baha'is in the UK, added the 6,000 British Baha'is and the five million worldwide were "praying for the progress of David Kelly's soul", his wife, Janice, and three daughters, Sian, 32, and 30-year-old twins Rachel and Ellen.

    Timeline: the Gilligan affair

    MediaGuardian.co.uk sets out who said what, to whom and when in the continuing war of words between the government and the BBC.

    Friday July 18, 2003

    May 29
    What the Gilligan BBC report said

    In a report on Radio 4's Today programme, the BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan quotes an unnamed source alleging Downing Street wanted the government's dossier on Iraq "sexed up" with a reference to Saddam Hussein's ability to launch a biological or chemical attack within 45 minutes.

    Read the full transcript of Gilligan's report

    June 1
    What Andrew Gilligan said in the Mail on Sunday

    Gilligan repeats the allegations in his column in the Mail on Sunday, giving more details of the secret meeting at a central London hotel with his source.

    "We started off by moaning about the railways. Only after about half an hour did the story emerge that would dominate the headlines for 48 hours, ruin Tony Blair's Basra awayday and work the prime minister into a state of controlled fury," he wrote.

    Gilligan said his source "knew, better than anyone," that evidence of a weapons of mass destruction programme in Iraq "didn't amount to the 'imminent threat' touted by ministers".

    He described the source as "gently despairing" about the way Downing Street had exaggerated the case for war. And he quoted him saying that while conventional missiles could be launched in 45 minutes, there was no evidence for the government's claim that this applied to weapons of mass destruction. "I asked him how this transformation happened. The answer was a single word. 'Campbell.' What? Campbell made it up? 'No, it was real information. But it was included against our wishes because it wasn't reliable.'"

    Gilligan went on to accuse the prime minister and his staff of having "spent the past few days denying claims that no one has ever actually made - that material in the dossier was invented".

    But he says they have failed to deny several of the claims the BBC's source had made, including the allegation that the dossier was rewritten the week before publication and that the line about the 45-minute deployment of weapons was inserted at a late stage.

    June 2
    What BBC's Newsnight reported

    The Newsnight science correspondent Susan Watts reports on a conversation she has had with "a senior official intimately involved with the process of pulling together the September dossier". The source claimed the intelligence services came under heavy political pressure over the evidence that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction could be ready for use within 45 minutes.

    June 3
    The government's reaction

    Dr John Reid, then the leader of the house, claims "rogue elements" in the security services were responsible for spreading falsehoods about alleged attempts by Downing Street to harden intelligence service reports, and so exaggerate the scale of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

    June 6
    What No 10 says

    Tony Blair's official spokesman uses his daily briefing to highlight what he claims are a series of inaccuracies in Gilligan's reports.

    June 8
    Gilligan in the Mail on Sunday again
    Gilligan once again uses his Mail on Sunday column to detail the unfolding row with the government, describing the day "Hurricane Alastair and tropical storm Tony blew into my life". He accuses Downing Street of briefing against him, and describes how Dr Reid "went into close air combat with my colleague John Humphrys to justify his conspiracy theory".

    June 19
    What Gilligan tells the Foreign Affairs select committee
    Gilligan gives his evidence to the Commons foreign affairs select committee investigating the decision to go to war with Iraq. In it, he describes his source as "one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up the dossier".

    "I can tell you that he is a source of long standing, well known to me, closely connected with the question of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, easily sufficiently senior and credible to be worth reporting," he adds.

    June 25
    What Alastair Campbell said
    Relations between the BBC and the government hit a new low when Mr Campbell, No 10's communications director, speaks out publicly against Gilligan for the first time, effectively accusing the reporter of broadcasting "lies".

    During a three hour televised grilling by the Commons foreign affairs select committee, Mr Campbell says:

    "The allegation made by the BBC defence correspondent, repeated in large parts of the media here and other parts of the world, is that the prime minister put to the country and to parliament a false basis for putting at risk the lives of British servicemen.

    "That is an accusation against the prime minister, the foreign secretary, the cabinet, the intelligence agencies, against me and the people who work for me. That is why I take it so seriously."

    "I know we are right in relation to that 45-minute point. It is completely and totally untrue. It is - I don't use this word lightly - it is actually a lie. I simply say, in relation to the BBC story, it is a lie ... that is continually repeated, and until we get an apology for it I will keep making sure that parliament and people like yourselves know that it was a lie."

    The BBC hits back, saying it stands by Gilligan and his "senior and credible" intelligence source. "We do not feel the BBC has anything to apologise for," it says in a statement.

    June 26
    What Alastair Campbell demanded from the BBC
    Mr Campbell writes to the BBC demanding answers to 12 questions on the Gilligan affair by the end of the day. Richard Sambrook, the BBC's news director, responds with a statement saying: "We stand by our entire story. In my experience, this is an unprecedented level of pressure on the BBC from Downing Street. The BBC will respond properly to these matters, but not to a deadline dictated by Mr Campbell."

    Read Richard Sambrook's statement

    July 6
    BBC governors go on the offensive

    The BBC board of governors meets to discuss the growing row between the corporation and the government. At the end of the meeting it issues a statement defending Gilligan's report and calling on Mr Campbell to withdraw allegations of bias against the BBC and its journalists.

    "The board considers that the Today programme properly followed the BBC's producers' guidelines in its handling of the Andrew Gilligan report about the September intelligence dossier, which was broadcast on 29 May. Although the guidelines say that the BBC should be reluctant to broadcast stories based on a single source, and warn about the dangers of using anonymous sources, they clearly allow for this to be done in exceptional circumstances. Stories based on senior intelligence sources are a case in point," it said.

    "We note that an entirely separate story was broadcast by an unconnected BBC journalist on Newsnight on 2 June. This story reported very similar allegations to those reported by Andrew Gilligan on the Today programme, but the story has not been singled out for similar criticism by government spokesmen."

    Governors back BBC in row over Iraq dossier

    Full text of BBC governors' statement

    July 8
    Greg Dyke, BBC director general wades in
    At 10.15am: Greg Dyke speaks for the first time on the issue. He says the BBC will not be apologising and urges Alastair Campbell to bury the hatchet. He says the two sides will have "to agree to disagree". The BBC believes everyone will move on.

    Dyke urges Campbell to bury the hatchet

    The MoD "mole" At 5.55pm: The government reveals a staff member at the Ministry of Defence has come forward to admit he met Andrew Gilligan at a central London hotel before the war. The MoD does not know if this is Mr Gilligan's source, but says that it if is, then Gilligan has exaggerated the meeting's content.

    "The individual is an expert on WMD who has advised ministers on WMD and whose contribution to the dossier of September 2002 was to contribute towards drafts of historical accounts of UN inspections. He is not 'one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up the dossier'. He is not a member of the intelligence services or the defence intelligence staff," said the MoD.

    "He says that when Mr Gilligan asked about the role of Alastair Campbell with regard to the 45 minute issue, he made no comment and explained that he was not involved in the process of drawing up the intelligence parts of the dossier.

    "He says he made no other comment about Mr Campbell. When Mr Gilligan asked him why the 45 minute point was in the dossier, he says he commented that it was 'probably for impact'. He says he did not see the 45 minute intelligence report on which it was based. He has said that, as an expert in the field, he believes Saddam Hussein possessed WMD,"it added

    Read the MoD's full statement

    How the BBC responded
    "The description of the individual contained in the statement does not match Mr Gilligan's source in some important ways. Mr Gilligan's source does not work in the Ministry of Defence and he has known the source for a number of years, not months."

    Read the BBC's full statement

    July 9
    Defence minister gets his hands dirty
    Defence secretary Geoff Hoon names Dr David Kelly, a Ministry of Defence microbiologist and weapons consultant, in a letter to the BBC, asking the corporation to confirm or deny whether he is the source of Gilligan's story. The BBC dismisses the demand and says the situation is descending into farce. Although Dr Kelly's name has not been made public, in the course of the day lobby journalists become aware of his identity, and Downing Street confirms his name to the Times political reporting team. By 11.40pm, Dr Kelly has been named on the Press Association's newswire.

    Read the BBC's response to Hoon

    July 15
    MPs: Kelly is not the source
    Dr Kelly gives evidence to the foreign affairs select committee in which he denies that he was the main source for claims that Campbell "sexed up" the September dossier. MPs on the committee back him in a statement saying they do not believe he is the sole source and accuse the government of treating him as a "fall guy".

    Gerald Kaufman MP, the chair of the culture and media select committee, says Gilligan should be given a choice between writing for newspapers and magazines, including his columns for the Mail on Sunday and the Spectator, and continuing to work for the BBC. Gilligan stoked the row between the corporation and government by elaborating in his Mail on Sunday column on his report for the Today programme that Campbell intervened in the preparation of the September dossier to exaggerate the Iraqi weapons threat.

    July 16
    Blair demands naming of source
    Tony Blair again challenges the BBC to unmask the source of Gilligan's story, after Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith accused Blair and Campbell of creating a "culture of deceit" with their handling of issues such as the Iraq dossier row.

    July 17
    Dr Kelly disappears

    Dr Kelly tells his wife he is going out for a walk at 3pm. Although he is accustomed to walk for several hours at a time on the footpaths around his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, he is not dressed appropriately for the wet weather, dressed in just his shirt sleeves without a coat. When he fails to return home by 11.45pm his family contact the police.

    Gilligan questioned again
    MPs on the foreign affairs select committee accuse Gilligan of being an "unsatisfactory witness" who has changed his story that Campbell "sexed up" the September dossier.

    July 18
    Dr Kelly is reported missing by Thames Valley Police and a major search operation is launched in the vicinity of his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The police say they are "very concerned for his wellbeing". Donald Anderson, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, says he is "shocked" by the development.

    'I never want to hear that sound again'
     
    Audrey Gillan with the Household Cavalry in Iraq
    Monday March 31, 2003
    The Guardian


    Five British soldiers have died under 'friendly fire'. Yesterday as General Richard Myers apologised for the three deaths caused by the US, saying it would be his 'quest' to ensure it did not happen again, the first full account emerged of the tragic incident in which a A-10 tankbuster fired on two British armoured vehicles



    They will never forget the sound of the guns. A cross between a moan and a roar, a fierce rattling of heavy rounds of 30mm canon fire from two A10 Thunderbolts flying low overhead. Aircraft that shouldn't have been in the British-controlled area, "cowboying" at just 500ft and looking for something to have a crack at.

    Last Friday morning, two American pilots turned their guns on a convoy of five British vehicles from the Household Cavalry, killing one man just three days shy of his 26th birthday, injuring four others and wiping out two armoured reconnaissance vehicles from the squadron's Two Troop. Two Iraqi civilians, waving a large white flag, were also killed.

    Coloured smoke signs were sent up to indicate that they were friendly troops but it didn't stop the attack. The planes came back a second time, seriously injuring those who had managed to scramble out of their vehicles with only superficial wounds. The gunner, Corporal Matty Hull, however, was the victim of a direct hit into his gun turret.

    The men in the Scimitars were screaming over the radio "stop the friendly fire, we are being engaged by friendly fire" and "pop smoke, pop smoke". The forward air controller, who liaises with coalition air forces to bring in fire missions, was shouting "check fire, check fire". Frantic calls were made to 16 Air Assault Brigade headquarters to find out what was going on. But no one seemed to know.

    The A10s were about to take a third swing when they were told by the American air patroller working with the Household cavalry to stop firing.

    Instead of providing air cover while helicopters came in to evacuate the casualties, they baled out.

    The attack took place within the Household Cavalry's battlefield control line which means that everything in the air should be controlled by them and their embedded American air controller. The A10s were well out of their area and the matter is now being investigated amidst calls from some of the British troops that the pilots be prosecuted for manslaughter.

    So far in this conflict, Britain has suffered more casualties from friendly fire, five, than from assaults by the Iraqis.

    That morning's plan had been to use artillery, air and helicopter strikes against Iraqi positions in order to secure the area for future operations. D Squadron is an armoured reconnaissance unit and their job is to move in first and secure locations before other troops move in.

    You could hear the battle over the radio, with the guns rattling down the airwaves. The squadron leader's Spartan vehicle narrowly missed a hit by two mortars, a procedure known as bracketing. The whistling and explosion cannot be heard in these vehicles but the tremor of the earth could.

    The two Scimitars had been probing a road, checking for landmines, enemy locations, assault batteries.

    At this point, Two Troop was given orders to move forward. Squadron leader Richard Taylor said: "I remember saying 'move quickly through the urban area, as we will be vulnerable from civilians, make best speed, good luck'. I don't think I will be wishing anyone good luck again."

    Ears pricked up as shouting came over the radio. At first it seemed like someone had just lost their rag. Then the full horror dawned. One of the vehicles had been hit, no two, and by "friendly call signs".

    Manslaughter

    They stood still, stopping what they were doing. At first they thought it was one lad, then another. Whoever it was, it didn't ease the twist of knots that started knitting themselves in their stomachs. Later, they learned it was Matty Hull, who aside from being a gunner was also a military instructor who was being considered for a posting to Sandhurst to train officers.

    Amidst the grief, their anger could not be contained. All of D Squadron's vehicles are clearly marked, with fluorescent panels on the roofs, flags and other markings. It was something that the soldiers kept saying, over and over. "We spend all this money marking out our vehicles so this doesn't happen," one said. "If it was the heat of battle, shit happens. But it was clear daylight."

    Another said: "As far as I am concerned, those two pilots should be done for manslaughter. There's no way on the planet that they couldn't see two vehicles, that they couldn't see the dayglo panel on the top."

    Trooper Joe Woodgate, 19, the driver of the Scimitar in which Cpl Hull was killed, walked away with holes in his bulletproof vest and a tear in either side of his shirtsleeve where shrapnel entered and exited, without touching his arm. All the rest of his colleagues had to be evacuated to the hospital ship Argos.

    "We were given this mission to go along and clear one of the furthest routes, a road running along between the river Euphrates and this village. We knew it was going to be pretty hairy because we had been bombing the shit out of the Iraqis all day," he said.

    "I was moving along and for some reason, the wagon just stopped dead and these two massive sparks came flying into my cab. I turned round and the turret was just a well of fire behind me. There was fire everywhere. I tried to get out and my hatch was jammed. I was banging away at it for what seemed like a lifetime but it was probably only a few seconds. As soon as I saw the fire, I thought 'get the fuck out of here'. I managed to get out and rolled on the floor. I didn't realise that it was the Americans that had hit us.

    "I remember seeing the front wagon which had been hit and I remember seeing the people getting out of that and running for cover. I thought there must be ground troops coming to get us. I went pegging it after them and jumped in a ditch. That was when the American plane came round to do a second swoop on us. That fucking gun, I don't want to ever hear that again. It's like a cross between a moan and a roar it's that fast.

    "Chris Finney helped people get out of the wagon, he was amazing. I didn't know what was going on at that point. We were in this ditch and I still didn't realise it was Americans. I didn't realise that Matty was still in the turret. So we ran back over to the wagons. The engineers who had been in our convoy were there helping with the casualties and getting them into their Spartan while they were under fire.

    "By all accounts, I found Finney and he had a shrapnel wound all up his arse. Gerry knew exactly what needed to be done. I remember seeing him stand up and wave his arms in the air, trying to get these planes to stop.

    "When I got out, I thought Matty had got out as well but when I was pegging it off after Gerry, I thought where's Matty and I looked behind me and the fucking wagon was just a mess man. It's weird because you are thinking, maybe if I had done things differently... I don't know why Matty couldn't get out. People said they remember hearing him on the radio but I don't remember a thing. In hindsight, you always think there's something else you could have done.

    "I went back there on Saturday when they went to recover the vehicles and Matty's body but I wasn't allowed out of the vehicle until they held a service for him. Part of me thinks, I have already cheated death and I may be tempting fate by staying out here but they have moved me to squadron headquarters because I don't have a vehicle to drive anymore and I should be safe here."

    The Scimitar was so badly ablaze it was still smoking the following morning, the palls of gray in the eyeline of every member of D Squadron. Fully loaded with ammunition, it had become an exploding tinderbox. Much of it, including its gun turret and its tracks, had melted.

    The troops could do nothing but evacuate the casualties and leave the gunner's body behind. When daylight came, the squadron leader, a padre and a number of the troops returned to the scene to bring the body out. Chemical warfare suits had to be worn because of the threat from the depleted uranium used in the American weapons. A remembrance service yesterday was interrupted by the thuds of incoming Iraqi artillery and the padre saying, "and the Lord said, oh, that was a bit close, get down".

    Afterwards, squadron leader Taylor said: "Militarily, it was a very successful operation that was marred by the tragic events that led to friendly fire casualties. To Mrs Hull, I would like to say that the hearts of the squadron are very much with her and her family today. Her husband did not die in vain. He was an immaculately professional soldier. He was highly regarded and immensely popular within the regiment, he will always be remembered for his smiley face and professional manner."

    Trooper Joe Woodgate said. "I can't stop thinking about him. I can't stop thinking about how he died. He has a wife and everything. In a way I think it is unfair that he had to go and I got out."

    ************************************
    In Memoriam


    SANDSTORM AT SUNSET - TUES, MARCH 25
    11desertsunset.jpg
    SOLDIERS IN THEIR FOXHOLES
    Casualties as of March 31, 2002
     
    DEATHS:

    March 29:

    Marine Staff Sgt. James Cawley, 41, Layton, Utah, combat

    Army Cpl. Michael Curtin, 23, Howell, N.J., suicide attack

    Army Pfc. Diego Fernando Rincon, 19, Conyers, Ga., suicide attack

    Army Pfc. Michael Russell Creighton Weldon, 20, Palm Bay, Fla., suicide attack

    Marine Lance Cpl. William W. White, 24, New York City, vehicle accident

    Army Sgt. Eugene Williams, 24, Highland, N.Y, suicide attack

    March 28:

    Army Sgt. Roderic A. Solomon , 32, Fayetteville, N.C., vehicle accident

    March 27:

    Marine Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, 33, Tracy, Calif., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Suarez Del Solar, 20, Escondido, Calif., combat

    March 26:

    Marine Maj. Kevin G. Nave, 36, White Lake Township, Mich., vehicle accident

    March 25:

    Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Michael Vann Johnson Jr., 25, Little Rock, Ark., combat

    Marine Staff Sgt. Donald C. May, Jr., 31, Richmond, Va.

    Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick T. O'Day, 20, Santa Rosa, Calif.

    Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, Boise, Idaho, grenade attack

    March 24:

    Marine Cpl. Evan James, 20, La Harpe, Ill., drowned in canal

    Marine Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus, 29, Davenport, Iowa, drowned in canal

    Army Spc. Gregory P. Sanders, 19, Hobart, Ind., combat

    March 23:

    Army Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22, Roswell, Ga., combat

    Marine Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31, Ventura, Calif., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, 20, Cedar Key, Fla., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, Fort Myers, Fla., combat

    Marine Cpl. Jose A. Garibay, 21, Costa Mesa, Calif., combat

    Marine Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, Los Angeles, combat

    Army Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21, Mobile, Ala., combat

    Marine Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, 42, Enfield, Conn., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, 21, Gallatin, Tenn., combat

    Marine 2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31, Tonopah, Nev., combat

    Marine Cpl. Randal Kent Rosacker, 21, San Diego, combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, 22, Thornton, Colo., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31, Yuma, Ariz.

    March 22:

    Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, La Mesa, Calif., helicopter collision

    Marine Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, 26, Buffalo, N.Y., machine gun accident

    Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, Easton, Pa., grenade attack

    Army Reserve Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19, Portland, Ore., vehicle accident

    March 21:

    Marine Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36, Waterville, Maine, helicopter crash

    Marine Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, St. Anne, Ill., helicopter crash

    Marine 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30, Harrison County, Miss., combat

    Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, Los Angeles, combat

    Marine Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, Houston, helicopter crash

    Marine Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, 29, Baltimore, helicopter crash

    Date not given:

    Marine Sgt. Nicolas M. Hodson, 22, Smithville, Mo., vehicle accident

    Marine Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, 24, Broken Arrow, Okla., combat

    CAPTURED:

    March 24:

    Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ronald D. Young Jr., 26, Lithia Springs, Ga.

    Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 David S. Williams, 30, Orlando, Fla.

    March 23:

    Army Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, Mission, Texas

    Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M.

    Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, Fort Bliss, Texas

    Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan.

    Army Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.

    MISSING:

    March 23:

    Army Sgt. Edward J. Anguiano, 24, Brownsville, Texas.

    Marine Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, 21, Buffalo, N.Y.

    Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, 22, Waterford, Conn.

    Marine Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline, Jr., 21, Sparks, Nev.

    Army Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland

    Army Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas

    Marine Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, 30, Decatur, Ill.

    Marine Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, 19, Boiling Springs, S.C.

    Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas

    *Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, Palestine, W.Va.
     
    *Note, Pfc  Jessica Lynch was rescued on April 1, 2003 from her captors.
    Private Lynch has two broken legs, a broken arm and multiple
     gunshot wounds, but she is said to be in a stable
    condition. She is receiving treatment in hospital.
    jessica.jpg
    Marine Pfc. Francisco A. MartinezFlores, 21, Los Angeles

    Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, El Paso, Texas

    Marine Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez, 26, Yuma, Ariz.

    Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, Tuba City, Ariz.

    Marine Sgt. Brendon Reiss, 23, originally from Casper, Wyo.

    Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, Bedford Heights, Ohio

    Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Salem, Ore.

    OTHER COALITION CASUALTIES:

    DEATHS:

    British:

    March 30:

    Marine Christopher R. Maddison, combat in southern Iraq.

    Lance Cpl. Shaun Andrew Brierley, road accident in Kuwait.

    March 28:

    Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, in combat in southern Iraq; death is being investigated possibly as result of friendly fire

    March 25:

    Cpl. Stephen John Allbutt, Stoke-on-Trent, England, tank hit by friendly fire

    Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, Littleworth, England, tank hit by friendly fire

    March 24:

    Sgt. Steven Mark Roberts, Bradford, England, combat

    Lance Cpl. Barry Stephen, Perth, Scotland, combat

    March 23:

    Sapper Luke Allsopp, London, combat

    Staff Sgt. Simon Cullingworth, Essex, England, combat

    Flight Lt. Kevin Barry Main, jet shot down by friendly fire

    Flight Lt. David Rhys Williams, jet shot down by friendly fire

    March 22:

    Lt. Philip Green, helicopter collision

    Lt. Marc Lawrence, helicopter collision

    Lt. Antony King, Helston, England, helicopter collision

    Lt. Philip West, Budock Water, England, helicopter collision

    Lt. James Williams, Falmouth, England, helicopter collision

    Lt. Andrew Wilson, helicopter collision

    March 21:

    Color Sgt. John Cecil, Plymouth, England, helicopter crash

    Lance Bombardier Llewelyn Karl Evans, Llandudno, Wales, helicopter crash

    Capt. Philip Stuart Guy, helicopter crash

    Marine Sholto Hedenskog, helicopter crash

    Sgt. Les Hehir, Poole, England, helicopter crash

    Operator Mechanic Second Class Ian Seymour, helicopter crash

    Warrant Officer Second Class Mark Stratford, helicopter crash

    Maj. Jason Ward, helicopter crash
     
     
     
     

    The Alleuvial Marshland, A Fragile Ecoregion
     
    Following are 4 articles on the ecology of the alleuvial marshland of Iran/Iraq, the confluence of the Tigris and Eurphrates Rivers. This area has been severely damaged by the first Gulf War, by Hussein  draining its waters for a decade, and the last blow may be the imminent war with its massive ordinance.
    Also, I have written an essay about my personal affinity to the alleuvial marshland as a place of great mystery and beauty.   To read my essay, click on:
    Bird Caught in Oil Slick
    birdinoil.jpg
    The Gulf War, Iraq

    Foes urged to spare Iraq's wildlife

    By Alex Kirby
    BBC News Online environment correspondent

    (right) Victim of the 1991 war: A greater flamingo (Image: Colin Mills/ BirdLife International)

    Any war in Iraq should be fought in ways that protect its wildlife, conservationists say. BirdLife International has sent the UN Security Council and the Iraqi Government details of the main environmental threats from a war.

    It says the impacts would affect local people, and would persist for a long time afterwards. BirdLife is urging potential combatants to avoid deliberately targeting or damaging globally important wildlife and habitats. It has sent a dossier of information, maps and photographs to the government in Baghdad and to the five UN Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

    The dossier, which explains the environmental threats to people and sites, has also gone to the UN Environment Programme (Unep), and is available on the internet.  BirdLife is a global alliance of non-governmental national conservation organisations, and works in more than 100 countries. Icon of conflict  Its director, Dr Michael Rands, said: "Until recently the impact of war on nature has often been ignored or obscured by the conflict itself.

    "As the 1990-1991 Gulf war showed, such conflicts have devastating effects on the environment, biodiversity and the quality of life of local people long after the cessation of hostilities. "It was the heart-rending image of an oiled bird that became a symbol of the environmental impact of the first Gulf war. BirdLife hopes images of oiled birds do not once again fill our television screens in 2003."

    BirdLife's dossier is based on the environmental damage reported in 1991, and on data from the more recent conflicts in the Balkans and Afghanistan.

    Iraq's endangered white-headed duck (Image: Dr Tony Martin)

    1duck.jpg

    It identifies several risks to natural habitats, which will also affect people:

    • 1.   physical destruction and disturbance from the use of weapons
    • 2.  toxic pollution from oil spills or oil well fires through fighting or deliberate damage
    • 3.  radiological, chemical or toxic contamination from the use of weapons of mass destruction or conventional bombing of military or industrial sites
    • 4.  physical destruction of wildlife and habitats because of increased human pressure caused by mass movements of refugees.

    Other risks, BirdLife says, include the burning of vegetation; the extinction of endemic species (those found nowhere else); and the armies' role in damaging the deserts. Record destruction  Mike Evans visited the Gulf for BirdLife in 1991. He said: "Waders and waterbirds will be particularly at risk from oil spills.  "Iraq is at the northern end of the Gulf, one of the top five sites in the world for wintering wader birds and a key refuelling area for hundreds of thousands of migratory waterbirds during the spring and autumn."

    BirdLife says the 1991 war saw "by far the largest marine oil spills in history, with six to eight million barrels of crude oil spilled, severely polluting 560 kilometres (350 miles) of coast, and totally obliterating intertidal ecosystems".  Iraq is home to one endemic wetland bird, the Basra reed warbler, and to five endemic or near-endemic marshland sub-species. It has 42 important bird areas, and the Mesopotamian marshes endemic bird area. Expropriated people BirdLife says the marshes shrank between 1991 and now from 15,000 sq km (3.7m hectares) to about 50 (12.25 thousand ha).

    The deliberate destruction of the marshes by Iraq, according to Unep, was devastating, "with significant implications for global biodiversity from Siberia to southern Africa". The bandicoot rat and a sub-species of otter are believed to have been driven to extinction as a result.  On the human scale, the Ma'dan people who have lived in the marshes for 5,000 years have lost their traditional homeland..

    A dead green turtle.

    1deadturtle.jpg

    Marsh lands of Iran and Iraq are nearing final collapse  By BBC News Online's environment correspondent Alex Kirby

    A stark metaphor of accelerating environmental change, the marsh- lands of Iran and Iraq are nearing final collapse.  The largest wetland in the Middle East, they have shrunk by about 90% since 1970.  The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) says the impacts on humans and wildlife are "devastating".

    It compares what is happening to "the drying of the Aral Sea and the deforestation of large tracts of Amazonia".

    Unep has documented the marshes' precipitous decline by analysing Landsat satellite imagery.  The analysis, it says, "graphically documents the stunning scale and speed at which the wetlands have disappeared, confirming the most pessimistic scenarios". By May 2000 most of the marshland was barren, with only a small and rapidly shrinking section remaining, part of the Al-Hawizeh marsh which straddles the Iran-Iraq border. Desert

    Unep has produced a report, Demise of an Ecosystem: Disappearance of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, which is to be released later this year. It says the drying out of the marshes, which used to cover 15,000-20,000 square kilometres where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates meet in southern Iraq, has two main causes: dam building upstream, and drainage schemes.

    The report says: "The Tigris and the Euphrates are amongst the most intensively dammed rivers in the world. "In the past 40 years they have been fragmented by the construction of more than 30 large dams, whose storage capacity is several times greater than the volume of both rivers.  "The immediate cause of marshland dewatering, however, has been the massive drainage works implemented in southern Iraq in the early 1990s, following the second Gulf war.

    "Recent satellite images provide hard evidence that the once-extensive marshlands have dried up and regressed into desert, with vast stretches covered by crusts of salt." The report says about a fifth of the estimated half-million Marsh Arabs are now living in refugee camps in Iran, with the rest displaced in Iraq. Cultural threat  Describing the Marsh Arabs as "a distinct indigenous people", Unep says: "A 5,000-year-old culture, heir to the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, is in serious jeopardy of coming to an abrupt end."

    The report says the destruction of the marshes is having devastating effects on wildlife, "with significant implications to global biodiversity from Siberia to southern Africa". It says: "Mammals and fish that existed only in the marshlands are now considered extinct. Coastal fisheries in the northern Gulf, dependent on the marshlands for spawning grounds, have also experienced a sharp decline."  One otter sub-species and the bandicoot rat are believed to have become globally extinct.

    But Unep has not abandoned all hope. The author of the report, Hassan Partow, told BBC News Online: "The situation is obviously bleak, but there are examples around the world of marshlands that have been revived.  "It's happened in Cameroon and the US, for instance. The immediate need is to conserve what's left on the Iraq-Iran border, and then to reconsider the engineering works, especially those built as flood defences in the 1950s.  "They're now largely redundant, and that opens up the possibility of reflooding the marshes.  "All the same, it's easy to destroy and much harder to create. And the marshes represent thousands of years of evolution."

    Jerome Le Roy is director of the Amar Foundation, a humanitarian agency working with the Marsh Arabs. He told BBC News Online: "The main responsibility for what's happened lies with the Iraqi Government.  "We know it's technically possible to reverse the situation. But you also need goodwill downstream, to stop building dikes and damming the marshes. And we have recent evidence that the Iraqis are still continuing the destruction."

    endofarticle.jpg

    Tigris-Euphrates Alleuvial Salt Marsh:  A Fragile Ecoregion 
    by the World Wildlife Fund, 2001

    satphoto.jpg

    Satellite view of the alluvial marsh

     at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,

    on the border of Iraq and Iran               

    (Photograph by USGS)

     

    Palaearctic
    Flooded Grasslands and Savannas13,700 square miles (35,600 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of New Jersey
    Critical/Endangered

    Living in the Marshes .     In this cradle of civilization, shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes are surrounded by desert. This is one of the most important wintering areas for migratory birds in Eurasia.

    Special Features .          At the northern end of the Persian Gulf is the vast floodplain of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers. It includes huge permanent lakes, marshes, and ahrash forest of poplar and cedar species growing on the banks and islands of these mighty riverways. The aquatic vegetation of this ecoregion includes reeds, rushes, and papyrus, which support large numbers of water-loving species. Water birds stop here while migrating, and some even spend the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Water buffalo, two endemic rodent species, and several other mammals also call these marshes home. In the 1980s this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran-Iraq War raged within its boundaries.

    The Asiatic water buffalo is mainly a grazing animal, eating mornings and evenings and lying in dense cover or submerged in wallows during the heat of the day. Females and young buffaloes usually hang out in small groups, often with a single adult male, but an older female leads them.

    Wild Side .          A scientific survey of the ecoregion revealed that more than 79 species of waterfowl, including pelicans, flamingoes, and ducks, use this ecoregion as their principal wintering area. This area may support more than two-thirds of the wintering waterfowl in the Middle East. Wild Asian water buffaloes still roam the marshes of the ecoregion as well. These animals are the ancestors of domesticated water buffalo and are associated with wet grassland, swamp, and heavily vegetated river valley habitats. Unique to these wetlands are two species of mammals: Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat and the Mesopotamian gerbil. Other mammals found in the ecoregion include wolves, common otters, and a subspecies of smooth-coated otter. However, these species are shy, so only a very patient observer will catch a glimpse.

    Cause for Concern.          Large-scale water diversion projects are rapidly degrading the Tigris-Euphrates marsh ecosystem. Changing the rivers flow with canals, dikes, and dams has cut off the water flow to extensive marsh areas, causing them to dry up. In addition, drainage canals flush salt from irrigated lands into the wetland system, increasing salt levels in the area. Regional conflicts and increased human settlement have also greatly increased pollution of the wetlands. All of these factors contribute to habitat loss and degradation.  Unfortunately these marshes currently have no form of legal protection.

    endofarticle.jpg

    Marsh Arabs

    TED Case Studies, American University, Trade & Environment Database, The Mandala Projects

    CASE NUMBER:        189
            CASE MNEMONIC:      MARSH
            CASE NAME:          Marsh Arabs and Water Loss

    marsharab.jpg

    far left:  A Marsh Arab today
     
    near left: His Sumerian ancestor 3,000 years ago

    A.         IDENTIFICATION
    1.         The Issue

         Since the Gulf War, various news reports, essays, and
    critiques have been published concerning the physical devastation
    brought about by coalition force bombing attacks.  No doubt, the
    ruinous aftermath remains a very important environmental, economic,
    and cultural concern.  One of the more important internal problems,
    however, has been quietly unfolding over the past four years.  It
    involves an attempt, by the Iraqi Government, to force the Ma'dan
    people (roughly 500,000 of them), the so-called 'Marsh Arabs,' out
    of their southern wetland settlements by literally "draining life
    from Iraq's marshes."  Reaching beyond the social and political
    ramifications, the permanent environmental and economic damage
    caused by this policy may be irreversible.  By diverting the water
    flow of one of the most famous and important river systems in the
    world (the Tigris/Euphrates), the Iraqi leaders appear to be
    tampering with not only their environment but with their historical
    legacy, as well.
    2.         Description
         The idea of draining the marshlands of southern Iraq is not a
    new concept, and certainly not the first time the Tigris-Euphrates
    river system has been harnessed for man's use.  The delta/marsh
    area "was probably the first region of the world where humans
    gained mastery over major rivers.  Irrigation and flood protection
    were vital to the farmers who fed the inhabitants of the world's
    first known cities, built in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years
    ago."  The marshlands region was part of this development.
         Over the years, as technology improved, dams were built to
    harness water and energy for irrigation and electricity.  Within
    Iraq, there are at least four dams on the Euphrates and three major
    dams on the Tigris, which are contributing heavily to a water
    shortage in the area.
         The first major marsh-draining scheme was proposed in the 1951
    Haigh Report, "Control of the Rivers of Iraq," drafted by British
    engineers working for the Iraqi government.  "The report describes
    an array of sluices, embankments and canals on the lower reaches of
    the Tigris and Euphrates that would be needed to 'reclaim' the
    marshes."  The study's senior engineer, Frank Haigh, felt that the
    standing marsh water was being wasted, so he "proposed
    concentrating the flow of the Tigris [River] into a few embanked
    channels that would not overflow into the marshes.  He proposed one
    large canal through the main `Amara marsh."  In this way, Iraq
    would be able to "capture the marsh water for irrigation" purposes
    to aid in feeding the newly created State of Iraq.
         Construction of the large canal, called the Third River, began
    in 1953.  Further construction took place in the 1960's.  It was
    not until the 1980's, however, during the Iran-Iraq War, that major
    work was resumed.  Today, many of the water projects in the marsh
    area bear a striking resemblance to the Haigh Plan -- the only
    problem is that the projects are not being used for agricultural
    improvement!
         Various international organizations such as the U.N. Human
    Rights Commission, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in
    Iraq (SCIRI), the International Wildfowl and Wetlands Research
    Bureau, and Middle East Watch have been monitoring the Iraqi
    situation.  All have found evidence to indicate that the Iraqi
    Government has been attempting to force the Ma'dan people from
    their homes through water diversion tactics copied from the Haigh
    Report.  Iraq's majority Sunni government is attempting to weaken
    the Ma'dan because they are Shiite Muslims, maintaining religious
    links with Iran's Shiite leadership.  They have also been accused
    by the government of harboring refugees from oppression in
    Baghdad.
         Since the end of the Gulf War, the above-mentioned
    organizations have uncovered the following intelligence:  1) By
    1993, the Iraqi Government was able to prevent water from reaching
    two-thirds of the marshlands.  2) The flow of the Euphrates River
    has almost been entirely diverted to the Third River Canal,
    bypassing most of the marshes.  3) The flow of the Tigris River has
    been channeled into tributary rivers (with artificially high
    banks), prohibiting the tributary water from seeping into the
    marshlands.
         As a result, the environmental effects are thought to be
    "irreversible with disastrous ecological, social and human
    consequences for the region."  The sparse water remaining has
    contributed to the salinization of the land.  "Over-irrigation and
    poor drainage compound the problem:  as the stagnant water
    evaporates, it leaves behind a crust of salt."   The future for
    wildlife in the region looks bleak, as well.  The marshes are home
    to fish and migratory birds from western Eurasia such as pelicans,
    herons and flamingos.  Without fresh water, the ecosystem will
    easily become damaged.
         In economic terms, the effects are just as severe.  The
    marshlands region, is home to various crops, trees and livestock.
    The staple crops of the region are rice and millet.  Date palms
    from the area have played an important part in Iraqi exports as
    well as the weaved reed mats and harvested cereals from the Ma'dan
    people.  The marshes are also home to cows, oxen, and water
    buffalo.  The recent scarcity of water in the marshlands has
    contributed to transport problems, which has all but put a stop to
    economic movement in the region.  "Instead of moving...goods by
    boat the Ma'dan are often having to struggle through hip-deep mud
    on foot...in addition, hundreds of thousands of inhabitants have
    fled their areas.  If this process continues, Saddam Hussein will
    become responsible for destroying not only the environment and
    culture, but one of the oldest and most important links with Iraq's
    past -- the people of the marshlands.
    3.         Related Cases


        
    COLORADO Case
         ISRAELH2 Case
         ATATURK Case
         ARAL Case

         Keyword Clusters
         (1): Bio-geography               = LAND, RIVER, DELTA
         (2): Environmental Problem       = HABITat loss, BIODIV
         (3): Trade Problem               = FOODs
    4.         Draft Author:  Robert D. Cohen
    B.         LEGAL Clusters
    5.         Discourse and Status:  INPROGress
         The U.N. has been attempting to monitor the situation in the
    southern marshes of Iraq.  The one piece of legislation applying to
    the marshlands situation is U.N. Resolution 688, passed April 6,
    1991.  "This resolution calls on the Iraqi government to provide
    free access to United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian
    agencies to all parts of the marshes so that essential humanitarian
    assistance can be provided."  In January 1995, the European
    Parliament (EP) also passed a resolution "characterizing the
    [M]arsh Arabs as a persecuted minority 'whose very survival is
    threatened by the Iraqi Government.'  The EP resolution described
    the Government's treatment of the marsh inhabitants as
    'genocide'."  In March 1995, the European Parliament adopted
    another resolution deploring the continuing attacks on Marsh Arabs.
    Furthermore, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, in March 1995,
    passed a resolution calling for an end to military operations and
    efforts to drain the swamplands. 
    6.         Forum and Scope:  (OPEN) and REGION
         Since all of the environmental and economic damage to the
    marshlands is yet to be seen, there has not been any formal legal
    case brought before a forum at this time.  The United Nations,
    however, appears to be the likely forum for legislative activity.
    7.       Decision Breadth:  N/A
         If and when a law is passed, the decision breadth will
    probably come from a multi-national organization, such as the U.N.
    It is also possible that unilateral action will be taken against
    Iraq's marshlands policy.  The United States has already (through
    U.N. auspices) enforced a "no-fly" zone in the south in an attempt
    to crack Iraq's inhumane activities.
    8.         Legal Standing:  N/A
         As of this writing, no other legal proceedings have been found
    that reveal any treaty or legislation aimed at curbing the
    environmental or economic degradation of the Iraqi marshlands.  The
    Iraqi government has not declared the lands as part of the RAMSAR
    CONVENTION, "the international treaty that protects wetlands."
    C.        GEOGRAPHIC Clusters
    9.         Geographic Locations
         a.    Geographic Domain : MIDEAST
         b.    Geographic Site   : SMID
         c.    Geographic Impact : IRAQ
         The worst destruction is located in the southeast sector of
    Iraq, between the cities of Amara, Nassiriyah, and Basra (in the
    land of ancient Mesopotamia).  The `Amara Marsh, near the
    confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, is home to the
    Ma'dan people.  The `Amara Marsh has been most affected by the
    drainage scheme.
         Another geographical concern involves water shortage.  The
    Middle East continually suffers from drought and water amounts are
    always near critical levels.  "The region's accelerating
    population, expanding agriculture, industrialization, and higher
    living standards demand more fresh water."  Dam-building is
    adding to the problem.  For example, Turkey just recently completed
    building the Ataturk Dam [1993] on the Euphrates River.  This dam
    is now capable of harnessing river water for irrigation and power
    purposes.  Since 90 percent of the water for the Euphrates
    originates in Turkey, any amount kept by Turkey will decrease
    waterflows to other nations downstream (i.e., Syria and Iraq).
    This is another reason why the Iraqi marshlands have been drying-
    up.
         There is no "legally binding obligation" to prohibit Turkey
    from taking the river water.  Neighboring countries suffering
    shortages can press for fair treatment by claiming "historical
    rights of use", but this usually comes to no avail.  In the area,
    Turkey, Syria, and Iraq have set up a "technical committee" to
    share hydrological information, but it has made "no real
    headway."
    10.        Sub-National Factors:  YES
         Since the Iraqi Government is attempting to exterminate a
    minority within its own borders, this issue can be defined as Sub-
    National.  Most of the environmental and trade effects are Sub-
    National, as well.
           People have been living in the area of the southern marshes
    for thousands of years.  The ancestors of the Ma'dan (currently the
    largest group of marsh dwellers, numbering around 500,000) were
    "partly descendants of the Sumerians and Babylonians, although
    their numbers have been augmented by immigrations and
    intermarriages with the Persians on the east and the bedouins on
    the west."  Before the marsh drainage, the lifestyle of the
    Ma'dan centered around agriculture, particularly cultivating rice
    and dates, weaving reed mats, raising water buffalo, and fishing.
    A form of local commerce had developed involving mostly local
    trade, supported by the use of small boats for transportation.
         Since the Ma'dan are Shiite Muslims (sympathizing with the
    majority leadership in neighboring Iran), and the Iraqi Government
    is made up of Sunni Muslims, tensions have been steadily on the
    rise.  After the Gulf War ended in 1991, the southern Shiites, at
    the urging of the coalition forces, started an uprising against
    Saddam Hussein's government.  The uprising was immediately crushed
    by Iraqi forces and the systematic drying of the land began due to
    the fact that many Shiites who took part in the uprising fled to
    hide in the marshlands!  Hence, the Ma'dan have been "flushed-
    out" along with the rebels, "mercilessly", as part of the
    government's revenge scheme.
    11.        Type of Habitat:  DRY (delta area near Persian Gulf)

    thorheyerdahl.jpg

    In 1977, Thor Heyerdahl sailed his boat
    made of papyrus reeds
    down the Tigris River.

    D.         TRADE Clusters
    12.        Type of Measure:  None
         United Nations trade sanctions have been placed on Iraq due to
    its human rights violations, but no environmental or trade
    restrictions have been passed to curtail its waterflow policies.
    Perhaps, if the policy continues to drain the marshlands,
    neighboring countries will begin to protest (i.e., Iran, Kuwait).
    13.        Direct vs. Indirect Impacts:  DIRect
    14.        Relation of Measure to Environment Impact
         a.  Directly Related           : NO
         b.  Indirectly Related         : YES  AGRICulture
         c.  Not Related                : NO
         d.  Process Related            : YES  HABITat loss
         Though there is no legislation dealing with the marshlands
    environment, one can easily see how the relations might be drawn.
    15.        Trade Product Identification:  FOOD, NOTH
         Crops involved are:  paddy rice and great millet.  Other
    Products/items from the marsh area used in trade are:  grain
    cereals, dates, fish and woven reed mats form the Ma'dan people.
    Most of the trade has been internal (within Iraq), supporting the
    Ma'dan people.  With the loss of valuable water, however, this
    way of life is quickly coming to an end.  The water-based rural
    economy of the Marsh Arabs is being exterminated.
    16.        Economic Data
         Most of the damage is environmental in nature.  Water,
    nevertheless, is becoming a highly valued commodity and its
    unbridled drainage will certainly cause future problems.  Trade
    sanctions (on oil) imposed by the United States, under UN auspices,
    have hurt Iraq ever since the Kuwait invasion. The Iraqi
    Government's continuing drainage scheme will only serve to prolong
    the sanctions' enforcement.
    17.        Impact of Measure on Trade Competitiveness:  N/A
         The impact of U.N. sanctions has already reduced Iraq's trade
    competitiveness considerably.  For example, "before the imposition
    of the oil embargo in August 1990, Iraq imported food and medical
    products worth $3-4 billion a year.  The revenue available today
    for those types of imports, including those arriving as contraband
    from Jordan, Turkey, and Iran, does not exceed a billion
    dollars."  More sanctions or legal actions could cripple Iraq
    even further.
    18.        Industry Sector:  CRAFT
         For hundreds of years, the Ma'dan have cut river reeds and
    used them to produce mats, fences, and homes.  Reed has also been
    used to make beds, cots, baskets and canoe poles.  Crafting reed
    products has helped sustain the Ma'dan and has given them the
    opportunity to barter with people from the surrounding countryside.
    As the marshes are drained, and the Ma'dan are forced to flee their
    homeland, this important part of their culture will disappear.
    19.        Exporter and Importer:  N/A
         Besides products like dates and rice, the southern marsh
    dwellers do not produce many items for export.  Most Ma'dan trade
    has taken place within Iraq's borders.
    E.         ENVIRONMENT CLUSTERS
    20.        Environment Problem Type:  HABITat loss
         Due to the marsh draining, there is a large bio-diversity
    problem.  FISH, BIRDS, and HUMANS are being displaced.  CROPS are
    also being destroyed, as well as the LAND and the marshes
    themselves.  The salinization of the land is polluting formerly
    good agricultural areas, such as the land surrounding the `Amara
    Marsh.
    21.        Name, Type, and Diversity of Species
               Name:           FISH, BIRDS, HUMANS
               Type:           Animal
         This case can also be described as a Bio-diversity problem.
    22.        Impact and Effect:  HIGH and STRCT
         The case has caused HIGH and immediate impact upon the
    marshlands.  The LAND has suffered many of the effects and will
    continue to do so as long as the ecosystem continues to
    deteriorate.  The Ma'dan people are suffering HIGH impacts, as
    well.
    23.        Urgency and Lifetime:  HIGH and 50 years
         If the marshes continue to be drained at the current rate,
    they will probably become non-existent in another 50 years.
    24.        Substitutes:  RECYC
    F.         OTHER Factors
    25.        Culture:  YES
         A way of culture is being snuffed out.  The Ma'dan are being
    forced to leave their homeland and a link to the ancient past is
    disappearing quickly.
    26.        Trans-Border:  NO
         As of this writing, there has been no major outcry from
    neighboring Iran about the marsh-draining or human displacement,
    though the marshlands do border Iran.  However, about 650,000 Iraqi
    refugees have crossed over the Iraqi border to Iran to escape Iraqi
    military operations directed against them.
    27.        Rights:  YES
         As mentioned above, the U.N. Human Rights Commission and
    Middle East Watch have been monitoring the situation.
    28.        Gender:  NO
    29.        Geo-Politics:  YES
         Iraq has been accused of following through with its marsh-
    draining project for military and political purposes -- not for
    agricultural purposes, as the official line insists.  An official
    Iraqi document in the possession of an Iraqi engineer who was
    captured by resistance forces in the area, provides details about
    what is transpiring in the marsh area:  "It contained instructions
    to 'withdraw all foodstuffs, ban the sale of fish and prohibit
    transport to and from the areas.' Mass arrests, assassinations,
    poisoning the water and burning villages were also ordered by the
    Iraqi regime."  Agriculture has nothing to do with what is
    actually transpiring.
    30.        Relevant Literature
         Books
    Hazelton, Fran, ed. Iraq Since the Gulf War:  Prospects for
         Democracy (London:  Zed Books, Ltd., 1994).
    Salim, S. M. Marsh Dwellers of the Euphrates Delta (London:  The
         Athlone Press, 1962).
         Journals
    Gleick, Peter H., Haleh Hatami, Peter Yolles.  "Water, War, and
         Peace in the Middle East:  Conflict Over Water Rights."
         Environment 36/3 (April, 1994).
    Pearce, Fred.  "Draining Life From Iraq's Marshes."  New
         Scientist 138/1869 (April 17, 1993).
    Rouleau, Eric.  "America's Unyielding Policy Toward Iraq."
         Foreign Affairs 74/1 (January/February 1995).
    Vesilind, Priit J.  "The Middle East's Water:  Critical
         Resource."  National Geographic 183/5 (May, 1993).
         Magazines
    "Iraq:  Down but not out."  The Economist 335/7909 (April 8, 1995).
         NEWSPAPERS
    Deutsche Press-Agentur (March 8, 1995).
         OTHER
    Reuter EC Report (March 20, 1995).
    U.S. Department of State Dispatch, March, 1995.

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    Women washing their clothes in the Tigris River

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    Marsh Arabs pray for peace
    By Terri Judd
    In southern Iraq

    "The government is like a snake. If you go to it, it will attack you - just stay away," explained the marsh Arab, his weather-worn face expressively emphasising the wisdom of his words.

    Years of persecution and deprivation - of watching their young men taken away to fight another war they barely comprehend - has taught the Shia Arabs who inhabit this desolate section of Iraq's western desert to maintain a low profile.

    Marsh Arab family
    A member of the 3rd Regiment Army Air Corps meets marsh Arabs

    In recent days the British Army's CIMIC (civilian military cooperation) team has arrived to assess how these tribal farming communities are faring or even whether they are aware of the war raging around them.

    Despite their remote way of life, they provide a vital link in the local food chain, selling their remaining wares in weekly markets.

    The military's humanitarian arm is hoping to re-establish the supply route as quickly as possible, providing immediate necessities while building a foundation for the aid agencies which will follow.

    Driving along the main route to Baghdad, a three-lane motorway now deserted bar military convoys and the odd battered pick-up truck, there is little evidence of life, whether human or vegetative, across the vast unbroken expanse of sand.

    Marshes drained

    It is only when the eye adjusts that countless perfectly camouflaged mud and brick dwellings, with reed or corrugated iron roofs, appear dotted across the landscape. Behind them lush green handkerchief-size plots provide a shock of vivid colour in an otherwise monochrome world.

    Their marshes destroyed by the construction of canals, many of the indigenous Arabs fled to surrounding countries after the 1991 Gulf war.

    Those who remained lend a new meaning to the adage that necessity is the mother of invention.

    We just want to live a basic life and drink good water
    Marsh Arab

    An estimated 900 simple shacks - containing families numbering between five and 20 - cover huge acres of the land, split into tribes largely self-governed by the local sheikh.

    Ancient generators, tied together with strips of cloth, rattle as they pump salty water through basic irrigation systems and around small plots which grow scarlet, plump tomatoes, small, rich green cucumbers, onions and melons - culinary luxury in an otherwise hand-to-mouth existence.

    War has hit the marsh Arabs hard. Fresh water supplies have dried up - as has most of the flour with which they make the unleavened bread that comprises their staple diet.

    'Army destroyed our farms'

    Markets have closed down while the handful of government-supplied teachers in their one-room school fled a week ago, along with the doctor.

    At the mere mention of the word peace, Sughaier - a father-of-three who looked decades older than his 45 years - kissed his bunched fingers and touched them to his forehead.

    "Yes, my God. We want this over in a minute. We just want to live a basic life and drink good water. Thirty years ago it was much better. Now it is suffocating, taking our children to fight wars.

    "Sometimes the army would just come here and destroy the farms. We didn't know why but you can't say no because you will die."

    Marsh Arab family
    Their lands drained by Saddam, marsh Arabs scratch a living

    One of the few non-farmers within the hamlet community of a dozen houses, he collects and repairs tyres - so ancient they intermittently explode in the heat - for the rusty pick-up used to transport their wares.

    Sughaier - too afraid to give his full name - was remarkably up to date with current events. Small radios bring in the news, passed swiftly by word of mouth amongst the men who gather in any available shade.

    With the tact of a people who have survived apparently endless incoming armies, the men of the village praised Britain to the soldiers - still carrying weapons and in full body armour in anticipation of any resistance in the area - as well as Kuwait to the interpreter brought in from that country.

    Many had sought jobs in the far wealthier state to the south before being forced to return through lack of work and threat of having their passports withdrawn.

    They took our boys and put them in uniforms and sent them to war
    Sughaier

    In truth it was obvious they cared little for who was in charge of a country of which they see only a small patch.

    "Whoever helps us, God bless him. War is not worth it, people die. We don't want it," said Sughaier.

    Lifting the long shirt-like dish-dash most of the men wear, he showed off the crude, splintered wooden leg which replaced the one he lost in the Iran-Iraq war.

    Memories of Shia rebellion

    "They took our children to fight in all these wars. They took our boys and put them in uniforms and sent them to war. I can't count how many we lost. There are some houses with nobody left, just the mother and father," he explained.

    Saddam Hussein, he said, had three armies, the feared Republican Guard, the regulars and the older men enlisted falsely to be part of the "liberate Jerusalem" force.

    "This time the radio asked for people by name. If you did not go they would come and pick you up," he said.

    There are undoubted memories of the Shia rebellion, which was brutally crushed when the allies failed to come to their support after the 1991 Gulf war.

    "People are frightened to speak," said one young farmer. "If Saddam survives he may shoot my family."

    The task of bringing initial aid to these people falls to Captain Dai Jones, a 28-year-old from the Queens Lancaster Regiment, who heads up the CIMIC team attached to the 16 Air Assault Brigade.

    More used to combat than aid work, he admitted initial scepticism about the humanitarian role he was asked to play.

    They embarrass you with their generosity - if they have got three days worth of flour left they won't let you leave without taking some bread
    Captain Dai Jones

    Over the next few weeks he plans to liaise between the marsh people and the local villages, providing the former with a forum in which to sell their goods and buy flour, the latter with an opportunity to get hold of fresh produce.

    He will also bring the clean water and medical care they requested.

    "We want to give them the ability to help themselves more than anything. We will try and provide a short-term solution until the aid agencies can look into long-term measures.

    "We received an amazing welcome. As one of the colonels said, they embarrass you with their generosity. If they have got three days worth of flour left they won't let you leave without taking some bread."

    'We need water'

    As Captain Jones and his team approached one house, a hesitant elderly-looking woman could be seen peering over the wall, a young baby wearing a woolly bobble hat in her arms.

    While she ducked out of sight, her husband invited everyone in for tiny glasses of sweet tea, served in saucers bearing Japanese paintings.

    "We just want to be left to grow our tomatoes. We need water and we need gas," explained the father-of-11.

    He was most upset by the fact that one of the elderly men died this week without a shroud in which to bury him properly.

    When asked where his allegiances lay, he was unwilling to publicly denounce Saddam Hussein, attempting instead to show support for the coalition forces with expressive eyes.

    But as the group said their goodbyes, he gestured the interpreter into a side room before explaining in conspiratorial tones: "We don't like Saddam but we are afraid somebody from the government will come and harm us."

    Asked why he did not feel he could express such sentiments within the confines of his own home, he simply pointed to one of the locals who had turned up at his door within moments of the soldiers' arrival.

  • This is pooled copy from Terri Judd of The Independent in southern Iraq.
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