So David is in Taji, near Baghdad now. He's had his last patrol for the time-being, and has reassured me that he is in now danger.
Except when we were talking on the phone on Wednesday, he suddenly said he had to go and hung up almost immediately. I assumed he'd run out of minutes on his phone card, but then I this nonchalant comment on his blog:
"The main gate was hit by two car bombs while I was at the phone center a few hundred meters away, but I'm safer than I was in Baqubah."
Which tells me a lot, as does the blog entry below that, which talks about his 10-second fantasy about the shift in trust.
It's not the "I'm OK" message I'm hearing on the phone, but what did I expect? "Hi, Mom, they're shooting at me today? Guess what, it's dangerous out here?"
The mother in me drinks from that cup of comfort on the phone; the journalist in me believes the blog item, and maybe each in their own way, they're both right.
I'm not mad, I'm not confused, I just want him to come home.
He should have some interesting stories to tell.
Showing posts with label Baquoba. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baquoba. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Baquoba push
David posted briefly with his mailing address on The Interested Soldier blog yesterday.
The New York Times has a lengthy story on the Baquoba offensive on its front page today. I've put a link to the story, but to summarize:
More 2,000 troops, led by the Third Stryker Brigade, is leading a charge against Sunni insurgents and Al Quaeda.
Fighting is expected to be hard.
There are about 2,000 insurgents around Baquoba, a mix of Saddam's army and paramilitary, Al Quaeda, and embittered Sunnis. They are increasingly well trained, disciplined and well armed.
The operation has begun by assaulting their hideouts. The next step is house-to-house clearing.
Resistance, so far, according to the Times, has been limited. The city's population has turned against Al Quaeda and seem to hope if Iraqi forces can join with Americans to get Al Quaeda out, Americans will go home.
However, insurgents have buried enormous bombs, able to blow up armored vehicles, around the city.
I don't want this blog to be repeater of news stories; there are plenty of blogs that do that much better, plus I am very conscious of the copyright issues as someone who has been on the other side of seeing those rights blindly violated. So, I will link to stories and occasionally summarize stories that I think are useful or interesting.
The New York Times has a lengthy story on the Baquoba offensive on its front page today. I've put a link to the story, but to summarize:
More 2,000 troops, led by the Third Stryker Brigade, is leading a charge against Sunni insurgents and Al Quaeda.
Fighting is expected to be hard.
There are about 2,000 insurgents around Baquoba, a mix of Saddam's army and paramilitary, Al Quaeda, and embittered Sunnis. They are increasingly well trained, disciplined and well armed.
The operation has begun by assaulting their hideouts. The next step is house-to-house clearing.
Resistance, so far, according to the Times, has been limited. The city's population has turned against Al Quaeda and seem to hope if Iraqi forces can join with Americans to get Al Quaeda out, Americans will go home.
However, insurgents have buried enormous bombs, able to blow up armored vehicles, around the city.
I don't want this blog to be repeater of news stories; there are plenty of blogs that do that much better, plus I am very conscious of the copyright issues as someone who has been on the other side of seeing those rights blindly violated. So, I will link to stories and occasionally summarize stories that I think are useful or interesting.
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