War in Iraq

War in Iraq

The top story for May 1, 2005 in the New York Times concerning Iraq was titled, "Iraq Insurgents Continue Wave of Attacks." The Chicago Tribune had no top stories on Iraq for this date and the Washington Post's only story on Iraq concerned Iraq's power grid problem. The LA Times' top story is titled "Iraq to Purge Corrupt Officers." Therefore the two domestic stories concerning Iraq come from the New York Times and the LA Times. The two foreign stories discussed were links found on the Iraq Daily web site. One is from The Independent Bangladesh and the other is from Dawn, a Pakistan English newspaper.

The New York Times article is an Associated Press report concerning the Sunday attacks in Iraq. It reports that insurgents' attacks are continuing for the third straight day and have included ambushes, car bombs, and drive-by shooting, bringing the death toll since Friday to "at least 79," including six American soldiers (Iraq pp). The article suggests that the recent attacks of violence are well coordinated and that the timing points to a deliberate attempt to deflate the hopes in "Washington and Baghdad that the installation of the Iraq's first democratically elected government would curb the uprising" (Iraq pp). The article continues with descriptive accounts of the recent attacks. In the Zafaraniyah neighborhood of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded, killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding twelve, while in another part of Baghdad, "insurgents in three parked cars opened fire with hand guns on a police patrol in the western Jihad neighborhood, wounding four policemen" (Iraq pp). A suicide car bomber attacked near a water pump station in southeastern Baghdad, and South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded, wounding four civilians (Iraq pp). Iraqi and U.S. officials had hoped that by including members of the Sunni Arab minority in the new Shiite-dominated Cabinet, the violence would subside the violence, however, approval of the Cabinet Thursday has been followed by an onslaught of bombings (Iraq pp). On Saturday April 30, at least five car bombs rock Baghdad, the heart of the Iraqi government and American occupation, and six more exploded in the northern city of Mosul (Iraq pp).

The LA Times article is written by LA Times writers, Patrick J. McDonnell and Solomon Moore, rather than a reprint of an Associated Press wire release. Although the article does reference the recent attacks in Iraq, the focus of the article basically concerns internal politics. Alarmed by the surge in attacks, Iraq's Shiite Muslim leadership plans to "purge suspected infiltrators and corrupt officers from the nation's security forces" (McDonnell, Moore pp). According to authorities, the most likely tactic will be the unleashing of well-trained Iraqi commandos, known for their effectiveness and brutality, in Baghdad and other trouble spots (McDonnell, Moore pp). However, whether additional Iraqi troops can tame an insurgency "that has not withered in face of massive U.S. military might remains to be seen" (McDonnell, Moore pp). However, Shiite leaders appear confident that Iraqi forces, with U.S. backup, can defeat the guerrillas (McDonnell, Moore pp). According to the writers, "the plan for Iraqi commandos' wider deployment is indicative of how the raging guerrilla conflict here is increasingly a war pitching Iraqis against Iraqis," evident in the decline in U.S. casualty rates as the Iraqi death toll soars (McDonnell, Moore pp). These counterinsurgency efforts is greatly unsettling to the Sunni Arab minority, a group that already feels besieged and disenfranchised in the new Iraq, hence, most Sunni Arabs boycotted the January 30th election, and their political representation is scant (McDonnell, Moore pp). During marathon talks to form the new government, Shiite leaders insisted on controlling the Interior Ministry, and plan to oust guerrilla informants and sympathizer of Hussein's Baath Party (McDonnell, Moore pp). U.S. officials, along with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, "have warned that a large-scale purge could sweep out capable officers as well as compromised ones," and fear a backlash among Sunni Arabs who might otherwise denounce armed conflicts and join the evolving political process (McDonnell, Moore pp). However, the new Shiite leadership appears determined to use its control of the Interior Ministry to unleash tens of thousands of police officers and other troops under its command (McDonnell, Moore pp). Most Sunni Arabs are suspicious of the squads, since they are largely composed of Shiite and Kurdish rivals "eager to exact revenge for decades of suppression under Hussein, a Sunni Arab (McDonnell, Moore pp).

The Dawn article is written by a staff correspondent, and concerns the problems the United States is facing due to the increased attacks. It strongly suggests that the steady increase of terrorist attacks in Iraq is adding to the problems of President Bush, who, the article says, "is being criticized for allowing the war to continue for so long" (Iraq 1 pp). The article reports that Bush completed his 100 days into his second term on Friday, and is facing a "precipitous" decline in support for his social security plan (Iraq 1 pp). It cites a recent joint poll by the Washington Post and ABC News, that 58% of Americans do no endorse the way Bush is dealing with the situation in Iraq, and six in ten respondents believed that the United States had got bogged down in Iraq (Iraq 1 pp). The article also claims that to avoid further embarrassment, the Bush administration "has refused to reveal the full extent of terrorist activities in the State Department's annual report to the U.S. Congress" (Iraq 1 pp). The article then cites Congressman Henry A. Waxman's letter to the department which stated, "There appears to be a pattern in the administration's approach to terrorism data: favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed" (Iraq 1 pp). However, even the incomplete figures reported in this week's Country Report on Terrorism, reveal that U.S. troops are facing a stubborn resistance in Iraq (Iraq 1 pp). According to the report, in late 2004 terrorist attacks in Iraq increased, especially during the run-up to the January 30th election for the transitional National Assembly and regional parliamentary bodies (Iraq 1 pp). The report stated the during 2004 approximately sixty non-combatant Americans, civilian contractors, died in terrorist incidents in Iraq and many others were killed in attacks on coalition military facilities or convoys (Iraq 1 pp).