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Pointless

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Who are their bosses? U.S. Unit Patrolling Baghdad Sees Flaws in Bush Strategy By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, January 12, 2007; A01 ............... The day after his speech, the soldiers of Apache Company went on a mission to the volatile neighborhood of Hurriyah that underscored the challenges confronting U.S. troops as they attempt to clear neighborhoods of sectarian fighters and keep them that way under Iraqi control. Across Baghdad, Iraq's mostly Shiite security forces have proved unable to keep neighborhoods secure on their own. Sunni Arabs deeply mistrust the army and police, viewing them as a sectarian weapon of the Shiite-led government. Iraqi army commanders say their soldiers lack training and equipment, while some U.S. officials worry that Iraq's troops are too dependent on their American counterparts and will become even more so with the expected surge. The Stryker rolled through the mud of Camp Liberty and made its way to Hurriyah, a m...
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Pavlov's House

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On the edge of Baghdad’s Sadr City, U.S. soldiers wait to be attacked Will Weissert, The Associated Press Published: Monday, January 08, 2007 BAGHDAD -- A mock bumper sticker affixed to a door in the headquarters building of a U.S. outpost in eastern Baghdad proclaims: "I Love Sadr City." Soldiers smile when they see it. They know the opposite is true. During one tense mission recently, U.S. army soldiers rolled up to the edge of the Shiite slum in hulking Stryker armoured vehicles. They never set foot inside, but they still got a sharp reaction. A burst of gunfire rang out moments after soldiers got out, prompting one squad to take cover in the home of an unemployed man named Abdul-Kareem Hassan Dhamin. More shooting followed, but then, just as suddenly, it stopped. Residents, accustomed to darting indoors during bursts of gunfire, peeked out and re-emerged. A line formed at a bread shop, and women with laundry baskets on their shoulders walked down the street. A man herded ...
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Change sometimes isn't so fast

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Angel Franco/The New York Times Yes, the Ill Will Can Be Subtle. Then, One Day, It Isn’t. By DAN BARRY Published: January 21, 2007 GREENWOOD, La. Bullets shattered the peace in the home of Ernest Lampkins, mayor of Greenwood, La. Who did it remains unknown. To Mr. Lampkins, the motive is clear. Midnight in a handsome one-story house on Waterwood Drive. Hours after Ernest and Shirley Lampkins say goodnight to their teenage daughter, Brett, and to the first Sunday of the new year, a Sunday of churchgoing and turkey and chili and some of those sweet frozen grapes that Ernest likes so much. Two bullets pay a call. They explode through the living room window. They tear through the soft-yellow curtains that Shirley ordered from a catalog. They rocket past the Easter basket containing family snapshots, past Brett’s bedroom door, past Ernest’s antique upright piano, past the framed portrait of father, mother and daughter in serene pose. One bullet strikes a golden candelabrum and splits: half ...
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