Mosul Bomber Was Wearing Iraqi Uniform

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The suicide bomber who blew himself up in a U.S. military dining tent this week, killing more than 20 people was wearing an Iraqi military uniform, the U.S. general in charge of the region said Thursday.

"An individual in an Iraqi military uniform, possibly with a vest-worn explosive device, was inside the facility and detonated the facility, causing this tragedy," Brig. Gen. Carter F. Ham -- commander of Task Force Olympia, the main U.S. force in northern Iraq -- told CNN.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-mosul-attack,0,4306324.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Here's the CNN article, with other quotes from Ham but they don't seem to include this one yet...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In reaction to the suspected suicide bombing at a base in Iraq, the Pentagon is investigating how U.S. forces check the backgrounds of Iraqis who work at U.S. installations.

Investigators say a suicide bomber was the likely cause of a blast Tuesday at the Camp Marez mess hall that killed 22 people, including 14 American soldiers.

A military spokesman said Iraqi workers have to show identification to gain entry to American facilities -- but they are not always searched, nor are they always escorted once allowed to enter.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/23/iraq.main/index.html

edit- cnn posted this article today, but it's about Wed presser- they seem to be running behind the other rpt of their own q and a.

[leftofcool]

Just like getting though our airports

n/t

[tk2kewl]

1. the fact that *anyone* can enter without being searched is nuts IMO

[oldcoot]

11. I agree

I do not understand why they are not always searched when they enter.

[oldcoot]

13. I do not think that searching everyone who enters

would be difficult.

[jmcgowanjm]

28. But what would be the last thing that they would search

or, put another way, be the thing they most wanted.

How about a 12 ton Mercedes tanker loaded with
petrol.

I read, can't find, US warned of copycat bombings.

CNN-Baghdad-alMansour district-appears to
be fuel tanker rigged with explosives

[lebkuchen]

17. Entering a US overseas military base involves much fanfare

the vehicle search, ID checks, Driver registration checks, second IDs, you name it~

Anyone entering a US overseas base is made to feel like a potential terrorist. The US has brought this condition on itself.

[Cronus Protagonist]

19. Faith based defense

They had faith that the soldiers they trained were their "friends"....

[saigon68]

24. That's one hell of a PHOTOSHOP

I stand in Awe of a real work of ART !!!!

[Cronus Protagonist]

25. Thanks.

I like it when people appreciate my work, although I wish it wasn't necessary.




http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[TahitiNut]

20. Hey!! What do you think it is over there, anyway???

An airport terminal in the US? Save the inspections for the really dangerous people: female airline passengers wearing underwire bras!

[diamond14]

2. it's all so BRILLIANT on the part of the pentagoon....just like Vietnam

A military spokesman said Iraqi workers have to show identification to gain entry to American facilities -- but they are not always searched, nor are they always escorted once allowed to enter.


"Homeland Security" is running a close second for major incompetence....kerik was just the tip of the iceberg....

[Deja Q]

3. Well, the US wanted to recruit their own Iraqis to kill other Iraqis...

It's no longer surprising that an Iraqi got through the front gates.

Meddling and inciting civil war for personal profit sadly doesn't always work... :eyes:

[rkc3]

16. Wat do you mean it doesn't always work?

It seems like it's moving along pretty well for bushco. No one has yet to raise that much of a stink over this war (here in the states anyway).

[fryguy]

4. what does this say about the iraq troops we're training?

not only, as * has finally admitted to himself and the country, are the troops we are training not able to engage when called to do so. but now their ranks are infiltrated with people who are fighting against our occupation. i'm sure this will do nothing to help foster an semblance of cooperation between the US forces and Iraqi forces...

[leftchick]

8. perhaps they are their for the free weapons and uniforms?

just a hunch.

[diamond14]

9. ahhhh...the pentagoon could go read up on Vietnam...and then they'd

better understand what's going to happen next.....

IMO, most Americans don't seem to care about the daily drip drip drip of dead dead dead American soldiers.....afterall, they volunteered....

so that will be tolerated for a LOT longer, sadly, and many more VOLUNTEERS will be massacred under commander-in-chief bush*....it's no big deal to bush*, as long as he can hang onto the OIL.....


I used to think that 1000 DEAD American soldiers and $200 Billion would be WAY TOO MUCH for most Americans...sadly, I was wrong...most Americans are SUPPORTING THIS WAR and cheering for more DEAD American soldiers and more than willing to spend MORE MONEY (Congress just dumped an additional $80 BILLION emergency funds to the war effort, while America CHEERED)....

like Vietnam, the Iraqmire is simply glorious America in the background of their lives...and they don't really care....there's no outrage, there is just LOTS of cheering for the slaughter in every American newspaper and BIG on TV....it's going to continue....it will not stop until Americans are OUTRAGED, and even then, Vietnam continued for about seven more years....

[TahitiNut]

21. Well, they really did their homework on VIetnam.

I'll bet there hasn't been a single casualty in Iraq due to a punji pit. :evilgrin:

[LynnTheDem]

23. Recent polls; US majority do not support this war any longer.

And the US majority didn'
But hey, in bushWorld the US majority is just another of them "insignificant focus groups". :eyes:

[xultar]

5. Remember some Iraqi Natl Guard defected and took their uniforms

so now we let them have explosives and they have uniforms to pass.

Now that is how to conduct a foreign policy. Way to go GEORGE.

Remember, the soldiers aren't in the wrong here. They are carrying out a flawed foreign and military policy

[leftchick]

6. did anyone think they left their uniforms behind when they quit?

There are literally thousands of US Taxpayer bought Iraqi uniforms no longer in use when the folks wearing them decided to quit! Didn't any of those brilliant minds running this occupation consider this might be... oh let's say
A REALFUCKING Possibility?!?

Heads need to roll and the troops need to come home. Even the average ameriKan moran can see this is FUBAR!

[whosinpower]

7. So....

It would not of mattered one bit if the mess hall had been completed instead of a tent.

[daleo]

10. Lucky for Halliburton

People were saying, when it seemed to be a rocket or mortar, that Halliburton had been negligent in not getting the roof up on that building in time. Now, it looks like Cheney and Halliburton are off the hook on this one.

I wouldn't be cynical, but what was the point of claiming on Day 1 that it was some kind of artillery, if they knew it wasn't? And if it truly wasn't, they must have known all along - I gather that the sound of incoming rounds is pretty unmistakable.

[NYC]

18. I wondered about this myself.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2857899&mesg_id=2858044

Post #6.

Halliburton has delayed building the concrete mess hall because of employee safety.

Had this function not been privatized, soldiers would have built it, and contrary to delaying the building because of concern for their safety, they would have expedited building.

So, why is the rocket now a bomb exploded within the mess tent?

When a bomb explodes inside a concrete room, the pressure is contained within the room, and causes more damage.

If a bomb explodes inside a tent, it will blow out the walls of the tent, and much of the force will be dissipated outward.

Example from the past: When Hitler was bombed, it was in a temporary shelter, and his arm was damaged. Had it been in their usual meeting place, he likely would have been dead.

I think they are calling it a bomb so that people will not criticize Halliburton for not having finished the concrete mess hall.

[rocktivity]

26. So THAT'S why they're pushing the suicide bomber story!

How do you get airborne atillery confused with a suicide bomber? Did he come in through the roof?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Career Prole]

12. POSSIBLY wearing an Iraqi uniform...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The suicide bomber believed to have carried out this week's devastating attack on a U.S. military dining tent, killing more than 20 people, was probably wearing an Iraqi military uniform, a U.S. general said Thursday.



The FBI (news - web sites) has joined investigations into how the attack on the base near the northern city of Mosul was carried out. At the same time, the military is reassessing security at bases across Iraq (news - web sites) in light of the bomber's success in apparently slipping into the camp, entering a tent crowded with soldiers eating lunch and detonating his explosives.

"The question now turns to how did that happen, and i don't know the answer to that question

Brig. Gen. Carter F. Ham — commander of Task Force Olympia, the main U.S. force in northern Iraq — said it appeared likely that "an individual in an Iraqi military uniform, possibly with a vest-worn explosive device, was inside the facility and detonated the facility, causing this tragedy.

"That's preliminary. We'll find out what the truth is and take necessary actions as we gain more information," he said in an interview with CNN.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_mosul_attack

That corroborates what I heard Ham say this morning on CNN.
They don't know yet.

[w13rd0]

14. The solution is obvious...

...change the uniforms weekly. A new design every week. It'll give textile workers in China something to do.

[burrowowl]

27. Bases have explosives

in various places. He could have gotten inside without any on him and had a stash somewhere. But story still stinks. Looks more like a rocket or something lobbbed from on high instead of ground level.
And yes, an explosion inside a concrete bunker, bad. Plus everyone would be deaf for weaks while eardrums repaired themselves.

[w4rma]

15. The only way to protect against this is to quit the oppression.

You can NOT close every security hole if you have a whole population opposed to you. Because everyone and anyone who isn't brought over from America has a high potential for doing this, again.

[HockeyMom]

22. Uniforms

MSNBC had a piece about 6 months ago where a reporter went into a Baghdad street market where they were selling US Military equipment; everything from uniforms to grenades. The reporter asked the merchant where he got all this stuff (RACKS of uniforms) and the man said the Iraqi police stole it from the Americans and then sold it to him. The man refused to say who he sold the equipment to.

So, I guess if they can get American uniforms, etc., it would be a piece of cake to get Iraqi Guard uniforms.