American Soldiers

How tempting it was yesterday to give Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker the benefit of the doubt. We really are - finally - turning the corner in Iraq, each said in testimony before a joint House committee. At last we've figured it out. A satisfactory outcome is obtainable, if only America sticks to it. But were they persuasive? Not very. It's hard to escape the feeling that this long-awaited and thoroughly pre-aired progress report is little more than a fingers-crossed effort to kick the can down the road.

So, did you hear the one about American soldiers playing with dead baby parts found in a mass grave in Iraq? No, wait - how about the guy who loved to drive Bradley armored vehicles so he could knock down concrete barriers and mow down little doggies sunning in the road? Or this one: U.S. soldiers in a chow hall making fun of a woman whose face was "more or less melted, along with all the hair on that side of her head" from an IED? These are but a few of the claims made by one "Scott Thomas," otherwise known as the "Baghdad Diarist," allegedly a soldier serving in Iraq who has sent three dispatches to The New Republic since January.

As Americans brace for a deepening conflict in the Balkans, their talk often brims with confident descriptions of the United States as the world's only "superpower." But when discussion turns to the prospect of American-flag-draped coffins and a protracted war, public opinion becomes something murkier than red, white and blue optimism.Despite broad public support for the U.S. role in the conflict, and considerable backing for the use of ground forces, nagging questions remain. What does the United States hope to achieve?

WASHINGTON -- For years, the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., which is meant to teach combat skills to Latin American soldiers, has come under political attack.Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney, a Georgia Democrat, has gone so far as to call it the "School of Assassins" because of human rights abuses she says were committed by some of its graduates.But the school's federal funding has never been in jeopardy -- until now.Late Thursday, the House cut funding that would have paid for training the soldiers from South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

My offering for Black History Month this year comes from a white male, if for no other reason than to show that BHM is not exclusively a black thing, as its detractors would have you believe. The truth, is Americans of every hue can learn from BHM.Offering the history lesson is one Jack Flanagan of Severna Park, whose list of credits includes being secretary and historian of the 612th Tank Destroyer Battalion Association, vice president of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, a member of the Baltimore Round Table of American Military History and past president of the Baltimore Civil War Round Table.

Henry A. Mucci,88, an Army colonel who led the raid that rescued survivors of the Bataan Death March during World War II, died Sunday in Melbourne, Fla.He headed the January 1945 mission that freed 511 men. Most of them were American soldiers who had endured brutal confinement in the Japanese prison camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines for nearly three years.Pub Date: 4/25/97

150 years ago in The SunJuly 28: The stealing of the wagon, belonging to the Alms House, was noticed yesterday, as having taken place on Saturday morning.Aug. 1: Indians About -- We yesterday saw traversing the streets a live Indian, followed by troops of boys. He was dressed off in a uniform with plenty of ribbons, &c. From a page in his possession, we learned that his name is Kebucco, a chief of the Kansas tribe, and that he is on his way to Washington.100 years ago in The SunJuly 28: The "emancipation" of woman and her now unchallenged right to enter the field of gainful labor has made it no longer necessary for thousands of females to look to marriage as a means of support.

OXFORD, England -- Boutros Boutros-Ghali is on the way out. Five countries have a U.N. veto, but the veto that counts is America's.The Clinton White House should hang its head in shame for the way it has treated the secretary general. In Somalia, the U.S pinned the blame on the U.N. for the killing of 18 American soldiers and the disaster that followed. But it was the U.S. Quick Reaction Force, acting independently of the U.N. command, that led the attack on the Somali warlord that provoked the slaughter of American soldiers.

WASHINGTON -- A White House panel has condemned the Pentagon for its investigation into whether American troops were exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and has called for an independent inquiry into more than 15 incidents in which nerve gas and other chemical agents were detected by American troops.In a draft of the final report, expected to be delivered to President Clinton next month, the panel said the Pentagon had lost so much credibility on the issue that the new inquiries should be taken away from the Defense Department and given to outside investigators.

COLLEGE PARK -- Waging war has always been a harrowing business. But some social scientists studying the Army say that keeping the peace can be nearly as stressful as combat for American soldiers -- and also for their spouses and children.U.S. peacekeepers are dispatched on short notice with little instruction about local languages and culture.Trained for combat, the soldiers serve as heavily armed police. Motivated by patriotism, they can risk their lives in regional squabbles where U.S. interests aren't clearly at stake.

Paul P. Blitz, a decorated World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, died from complications of pneumonia Oct. 19 at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The longtime Essex resident was 95. Born in Monessen, Pa., the son of Finnish immigrants, he was six months old when his family moved to Weirton, W.Va., when his father went to work for Weirton Steel Co. In 1920, they moved to the St. Helena neighborhood of Dundalk, when the elder Mr. Blitz took a job with Bethlehem Steel Corp.

BAGHDAD - Two Iraqi policemen fired on four U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi interpreters inside a police station in the northern city of Mosul yesterday, the third deadly attack on American soldiers in two weeks in the still-volatile provinces of Nineveh and Diyala. One American soldier and one of the interpreters were killed, the U.S. military said. The three other soldiers and second interpreter were injured. An Iraqi police captain at the scene was also slightly injured, said police officials.

WASHINGTON - An internal review by the American military has found that a local Afghan police chief and another district leader helped Taliban militants carry out a July 13 attack in which nine U.S. soldiers were killed and a remote American outpost in eastern Afghanistan was nearly overrun. Afghan and American forces had started building the makeshift base five days before the attack, and villagers repeatedly warned the American troops in that time that militants were plotting a strike, the report found.

WASHINGTON -- In October 2004, the U.S. Army issued an urgent bulletin to commanders across Iraq, warning them of a deadly new threat to American soldiers. Because of flawed electrical work by contractors, the bulletin stated, soldiers at American bases in Iraq had received severe electrical shocks, and some had even been electrocuted. The bulletin, with the headline "The Unexpected Killer," was issued after the horrific deaths of two soldiers who were caught in water -- one in a shower, the other in a swimming pool -- that was suddenly electrified after poorly grounded wiring short-circuited.

How tempting it was yesterday to give Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker the benefit of the doubt. We really are - finally - turning the corner in Iraq, each said in testimony before a joint House committee. At last we've figured it out. A satisfactory outcome is obtainable, if only America sticks to it. But were they persuasive? Not very. It's hard to escape the feeling that this long-awaited and thoroughly pre-aired progress report is little more than a fingers-crossed effort to kick the can down the road.

So, did you hear the one about American soldiers playing with dead baby parts found in a mass grave in Iraq? No, wait - how about the guy who loved to drive Bradley armored vehicles so he could knock down concrete barriers and mow down little doggies sunning in the road? Or this one: U.S. soldiers in a chow hall making fun of a woman whose face was "more or less melted, along with all the hair on that side of her head" from an IED? These are but a few of the claims made by one "Scott Thomas," otherwise known as the "Baghdad Diarist," allegedly a soldier serving in Iraq who has sent three dispatches to The New Republic since January.

BAGHDAD -- Dozens of Sunni Arab legislators ended a five-week boycott of parliament yesterday, returning after what appeared to be a deal with Shiite lawmakers allowing Mahmoud Mashhadani, the volatile Sunni parliament speaker, to return to his job and then resign, potentially with a sizable pension and retirement benefits. The political developments came as two American soldiers from an Army scout platoon were charged with premeditated murder in the killing of a middle-aged Iraqi man near the northern city of Kirkuk on June 23. Their battalion commander was also dismissed, though military officials emphasized that he was not suspected of any crimes and described his removal as an "administrative action" after senior commanders had lost confidence in him. Four American soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, the military announced yesterday.

Baghdad -- U.S. troops have detained hundreds of Iraqis, including four wanted as suspected insurgents, and dropped thousands of leaflets from airplanes, promising up to $200,000 reward for help in recovering three missing American soldiers captured Saturday by Islamic radicals, Army officers said yesterday. At least 460 people had been held for questioning, although an undisclosed number have been released, the U.S. military said. More than 4,000 American troops continued to sweep the orchards and farmland around Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Baghdad -- The United States acknowledged for the first time yesterday that three missing American soldiers probably are being held by militants linked to al-Qaida, and announced the deaths of six more U.S. troops. Southwest of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces sealed off villages as they continued searching for the three soldiers missing since a Saturday ambush that killed four U.S. troops and an Iraqi soldier who was a translator. The Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgent group linked to al-Qaida that claimed responsibility for the attack, issued a statement on a Web site yesterday warning searchers to call off their hunt.

The Bush administration's decision to talk to Iran about the deplorable conditions in Iraq reinforces what many have said for some time now - there is no military solution to the war there. But the influence of the Iranians, if they cooperate, could prove pivotal in two critical areas: insurgent attacks on American forces and sectarian violence by Shiite militias. That these are desperate times in Iraq was evident yesterday as U.S. forces, 4,000 strong, swept through an area south of Baghdad searching for three American soldiers who were kidnapped over the weekend after an insurgent strike on their Humvees killed four other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi soldier.