[link|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=9&u=/nm/20030826/ts_nm/iraq_guerrillas_dc|Even Reuters has trouble spinning this as a serious problem]

Excerpt:

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi guerrillas waging low-level attacks on American occupying forces are poorly organized, militarily incompetent and quick to run, scornful U.S. commanders say.
"The enemy tactics are 'miss and run'," said Colonel James Hickey, whose brigade controls the restive area round Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s home town of Tikrit.

"They're almost running when they pull the trigger."

A more potentially devastating threat is that of suicide attacks against U.S. military bases like the recent bombs at the U.N. headquarters and Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Tikrit area officers said in conversations with Reuters in recent days.

"It could very well happen," Hickey said.

"But I tell you, if someone tries to come in through my front gate, they're going to get a face full of 25 mm (bullets) if I don't know who they are."

The Baghdad bombs killed 23 at the U.N. mission and at least 17 at the embassy.

"It shows that there are a lot of evil people bent on destruction," added Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell, whose 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment, leads the hunt for Saddam and his loyalists -- in Tikrit.

"We are on high alert against similar attempts on our fixed sites."

While they may be an object of derision to American forces on the ground, the Iraqi guerrillas have managed to kill 64 U.S. soldiers in attacks since Washington declared major hostilities over on May 1.

I say:

Let's let slide the characterization that these are "Iraqi guerrillas" as opposed to terrorists from various sources, which they most likely are. After all, this is Reuters, and we expect them to be sloppy in that way. They say we've lost 64 out of 137,000 troops in 4 months. That works out to, lets see... take off my shoes... about 0.14 percent per annum. It's a bloodbath!

Let's figure that in WTC units. 2792 is the official death count for the World Trade Center attack. So that works out to about 0.023 WTC units.

Nail those feckless bureaucrats to the wall, now that we've started to get the mess they left under control. But that's not for you to say, if your only intention is to blame the victim. For as you well know, [link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/iraq.html#terrorism|Iraq *is* implicated in terrorism], including the [link|http://www.spiritoftruth.org/post_009.htm|first attack on the WTC]. Shame on you.