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Letter to the editor

Last week in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published October 7, 2007

Attacks

-The Polish ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, was wounded and two civilians, including a bodyguard, were killed in a roadside bomb attack Wednesday in downtown Baghdad.

Military

-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Tuesday during a one-day, unannounced swing through Iraq that he was slashing the remaining British contingent of 5,500 troops in Basra province to 4,500 troops by year's end. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said his own forces would be ready to take up the slack.

Rebuilding

-U.S. military reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shootings involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official.

-Erik Prince, chief executive of Blackwater USA, told a congressional committee on Tuesday that his company's nearly 1,000 armed guards in Iraq were not trigger-happy mercenaries, but rather loyal Americans doing a necessary job in hostile territory. He disputed a congressional staff report that detailed several instances of Blackwater employees killing Iraqis and fleeing the scene.

-Nearly two dozen previously unknown Iraqi insurgent groups announced a new coalition Wednesday to fight foreign occupation but it also set conditions for talks with the United States in a statement on a Web site affiliated with the country's deposed Baath party. The 22 groups said their leader is Izzat al-Douri, the highest ranking member of Saddam Hussein's former ruling party still at large.

- The Kurdish regional government on Wednesday announced four new oil-exploration deals, further straining relations with many Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, who want to maintain a more centralized control over the country's enormous oil reserves.

- Iraq ordered $100-million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow to deliver arms shipments, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday.

- The House passed a bill Thursday that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts. Under present law such contractors providing security for U.S. staffers in Iraq are not answerable to either U.S. or Iraqi law for killings.

- Larry Butler, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, said Thursday that corruption in Iraq was serious, but he refused to say whether Iraq's prime minister was involved or capable of addressing the problem.

Deaths

As of Saturday, 3,815 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

-Army Sgt. Robert T. Ayres III, 23, Los Angeles; small-arms fire Sept. 29; Baghdad.

-Army Sgt. 1st Class James D. Doster, 37, Pine Bluff, Ark.; explosion and small-arms fire Sept. 29, Baghdad.

-Army Spc. Rachael L. Hugo, 24, Madison, Wis.; explosion Thursday; Bayji.

-Army Sgt. 1st Class Randy L. Johnson, 34, Washington; explosion Sept. 27; Baghdad.

-Army Spc. Avealalo Milo, 23, Hayward, Calif.; small-arms fire Thursday; Baghdad.

-Marine Gunnery Sgt. Herman J. Murkerson Jr., 35, Adger, Ala.; combat Monday; Anbar province.

-Army Sgt. Randell Olguin, 24, Ralls, Texas; small-arms fire Sept. 30; Baghdad.

-Army Sgt. Ricardo X. Rodriguez, 23, Arecibo, Puerto Rico; explosion Thursday; Bayji.

-Navy Seaman Apprentice Shayna Ann Schnell, 19, Tell City, Ind.; died Monday from injuries in vehicle accident Sept. 25; United Arab Emirates.

-Army Spc. Chirasak Vidhyarkorn, 32, New York City; noncombat Sept. 29; Diwaniya.

[Last modified October 7, 2007, 01:46:13]