Friday, March 16, 2007

immigration and Billy Gates

IMMIGRATION AND BILLY GATES
It seems that the globalization that Gates wants is aimed to destabilize our economy by allowing specific peoples ,who's income in their native country is considerably less than in the US ,into this country to vie for jobs that are badly needed by our own people.The pittance that these workers will get compared to their American counter parts will in fact allow them to return to their country ,when/if their visas expire ,rich citizens.The issue is not so much Mexico and its people ,but the country of India and China and their growing tech society.Thats who we need to be wary of ,and people like Gates who will instill unrest ,hatred,jealousy and vengeance amongst our own people against these new imported help.
Look at what is happening to France,Holland and Germany.They are enacting legislation to counter the problems resulting from their lax immigration policies that allowed foreigners to
come into the countries to take up the slack in the work force for the jobs nobody wanted.But what Gates proposes is just a slight bit different,They will take the usually high paying jobs that many Americans are well qualified for and that they need and give it to a people that are no better qualified at and incur the wrath and resentment of the American people .Haven't we had enough of these elitists(LOL). http://www.techsunite.org/news/display.cfm?ID_Content=5045
Immigration
http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/001322.html
Immigration
http://bink.nu/Article3868.bink

H1base.com
http://www.h1base.com/page.asp?id=348

Ted Leon III
lioner2@yahoo.com reservedmind.blogspot.com
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Homeless counted in Oklahoma City

THE OKLAHOMAN: article 1/26/07 Section:Local and State page 13A(click)
Poverty: Shelters, aid groups hope population count will lead to help
How many are homeless?
• Last year’s study found about 1,500 people living at camps in metro area.
By John David Sutter Staff Writer
Dural Hurley is homeless and unemployed, but he carries two work identification tags around his neck. They’re reminders that work and hope found him in the past — and he will search them out again. “If I can find one employer who really likes my work, then he’ll put me on fulltime,” said Hurley, 46, who has been sleeping outside for about five months. Hurley was one of hundreds who filled out a “point in time” survey of Oklahoma City’s homeless population Thursday. This is the fourth year advocacy groups have partnered with the city on the survey. Their count a year ago showed about 1,500 people are homeless in the city on any given day. This is the first year workers used a helicopter to augment their count. Dan Straughan, executive director of the Homeless Alliance, rode in the helicopter to count homeless camps from the sky. He said the bird’s-eye view gave him new insight into how widespread homelessness is in Oklahoma City. Straughan said he saw about 30 campsites where homeless people sleep. They’re scattered across the city, from NW 122 to SW 59, he said. It previously was thought that nearly all homeless people lived downtown. The information may lead to new services for people who largely choose to avoid the help available downtown, Straughan said. He said a shelter where residents are allowed to drink could be a possibility, because many homeless people with substance abuse problems refuse to sleep in shelters, since they will be kicked out if caught with liquor or drugs. Some of the people who were spotted live in small tents held up by barrels, he said. Others have built substantial shacks along the Oklahoma River, made of corrugated metal and scrap lumber. A different approach Most of the homeless people are counted by surveys distributed at shelters and locations that serve free meals. Straughan acknowledged the helicopter might have been frightening to some of those counted, but the information collected may benefit them. Volunteers and nonprofit groups pay for the survey. Oklahoma City’s helicopter was used, and the city paid for the fuel, police Capt. Steven McCool said. About 70 volunteers passed out surveys asking an array of questions: Where did you sleep last night? Do you have mental health or substance abuse issues? What family members could you fall back on? Answers help shelters and private aid groups know how best to help, organizers said. “We’re in the business of serving people,” said Jennifer Gooden, program coordinator at the Homeless Alliance, “and like any business, you’ve got to have working information. You’ve got to know who you’re serving.” This year’s survey gathers more detailed information than before. Gooden said some of it will be used to extrapolate a social cost of homelessness based on jail time, medical care, emergency room visits and other services that drain public money because so many people live on the street. A tough life Hurley just hopes people will understand how difficult it is to lose everything. After his wife died about five years ago, he moved from Idaho to Oklahoma, he said. He found himself jobless, unable to pay rent and eventually on the street. “You never know with day labor. It’s kind of hard to pay rent when you don’t know what you’ve got coming in,” he said. He said he’s had his only possessions — a sleeping bag, blankets and clothes — stolen by other homeless people. And it’s hard to find a job without transportation, so he’s saving up for a bike or an old car. “I know if I had a nice apartment before, I can get back to that again. It’s just going to take some time to figure things out and do it.” Until then, he will continue walking 30 minutes to a temporary worker center each morning. He arrived at 4:45 a.m. Thursday, he said, and no work was available for the day. Few temp jobs have been available since frigid weather hit the city more than a week ago, he said. Margaret, 39, said the homelessness survey she took was not a bother, but she doubts it will help. “How is it going to benefit the homeless?” she said. “I don’t know. They need to possibly figure out a way to get some jobs of something for people, for them to get their foot in the door somewhere. “That would be a start.”

BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN Homeless Alliance volunteer Jennifer Gooden helps an Oklahoma City homeless man fill out a census survey at the Baptist Church Mission downtown on Thursday.









(I 've personally known this man for just over a year...he is alright)

why I hesitate to call my self a witch.by Sandra

My agreement in essay colored orange"ONLY" or whatever color this is on your computer.READ THIS disclaimer!!
Crafters and Natural Witches /Author: Sandra
Posted: January 7th. 2007 Times Viewed: 1,358

Or… Why I hesitate to call myself a witch.The distinction I am about to make is my own, albeit shared by many others like me. It by no means claims to be the sole definition nor is it an attempt to create division (division is already there and it isn’t a dirty word) . I write this article for the same reason I write anything online at all: to reach out to those that are like me and need to hear it to find inner peace.Trying to share worldviews is one of the most difficult things people can attempt. We can debate, argue and discuss beliefs; this is easy enough. But to truly understand another person, we need to shift to their perspective on life – and most of us cannot do this. If you are a natural or trained empath, you know exactly to what I’m referring.I mention this because many people get riled up at other people’s definitions and beliefs when it is connected to witches. I have discovered that it is perfectly acceptable to distinguish between shamans and practitioners of shamanism – one is a person devoted to serving the ‘tribe’, the other is a person using the techniques and living the practices. Neither is more devoted to their path than the other, but most practitioners that are not entirely devoted to the life would not disrespect shamanism by taking on the label ‘shaman’. Similarly, Druids today openly admit they are living a reconstruction of that ancient path. However, get into distinctions about ‘witches’ and you quickly find yourself in some ridiculous conversations. I have read all sorts of articles about the etymology of wicca/wicce, about an old religion renewed, about modern inventions, and so on.Although I have a deep interest in etymology, I find it entirely irrelevant to most of these issues. You could take on a word used 3000 years ago; it doesn’t make you that thing. What matters is socially or culturally defined meaning.So with this perspective, I totally accept anyone who wishes to call him/herself a witch. Words are not static creatures, they are dynamic; we push and mould them until they fit what we understand. We can debate until we’re blue in the face that ‘gay’ originally meant happy, but it has absolutely nothing to do with how we use it today. If ‘witch’ now means a person of a nature-based religion, who worships a goddess and god, and who does magic, then I have no problem with that. In fact, there are as many definitions as there are witches. It does mean though that I hesitate to call myself a witch, as with so many definitions, we have in my opinion, unfortunately rendered the word virtually meaningless.My concern is that many of those of the current forms of witch paths deny the existence or possibility that there is another meaning at all. And this is where I enter into my worldview. If you are a true spiritual seeker, you will now take my hand, close your eyes, and come on a realm walk with me into my mind.My experience is of a life where witches are in the dark corners; they are silent and walk in line with the shadows. They are not political, they don’t wish to be accepted, have rights, or fight environmental issues. Those find them that both fear and respect them. They don’t worship any god or goddess. They don’t do magic.They don’t what? Yes, I hear you.Allow me to share with you the distinction. In my world, there are two main types of witches, and yes, both call themselves witches, but one only for convenience and usually by outsiders rather than themselves.The two are Crafters and shadow walkers.A Crafter practices what is known world wide as witchcraft. Witchcraft (and identical cultural variants, such as brujaria) is a term that was actually used by non-witches/crafters to talk about what they thought witches did. Witches have no problem with a certain amount of incorrect information.Look at your history, and you will discover that from very ancient times, being a witch was being an evildoer. Witches were more an idea than any actual person. Yes, that’s right, evil witches are not a Christian invention, however inconvenient that is for a handful of modern pagans. The ancients despised them long before Christianity was a twinkle in a Jew’s eye. Ancient pagans killed witches. People have always had to explain bad luck and misfortune, the concept of the witch filled the purpose of a scapegoat.Social history is never linear; many complex circumstances eventually produced people that actually did do witchcraft.Witchcraft is actually a set of crafts, plural. But it all revolves around magic – poppets or dolls, spells, charms, talismans and amulets, protection, banishings, and much more.This is known as folk magic – used by cunning folk, wise women, and crafters.In some parts of the world, I have seen this merge with the pagan religion or with pagan concepts and worldviews. This has produced religious Crafters all over the world, including British Witchcraft, Stregoneria and Stregheria, and even in my own Brujaria. I refer to them as pagan-witches. There are Crafters in my family, both religious and not. Every witch cultural variant I have come across has the two, and more, styles – Crafters and shadow walkers.Pagan-witches, or religious Crafters, often do rituals; they believe in gods or some form of being that usually is worthy of worship or reverence. Their style of witch path is a religion to them because it is inextricable from their beliefs of divinity. Another form of religious Crafter that I first discovered about 4 years ago call themselves Wiccan. This is a highly diverse group, but they tend to be united by certain worldviews. Their flavor of ‘witch’ is religious and leaning towards the ceremonial and alchemical side, often in conjunction with folk magic. That is, they believe the world is made up of four elements and perform simple to elaborate rituals for/with their gods, while simultaneously using the practices of the wise folk, such as herb knowledge.The above are by necessity basic explanations, only serving as guides to compare with the rest.Ok, so what is the other, this shadow walker, I mention?This is the witch of my understanding: the shadow walker, the root worker, the feather walker, the dream seer, the web weaver…..This ‘witch’ cannot choose the path; the belief is that the path chooses the person. Just as some are born natural artists or musicians, so are some born witches.This witch finds magic (use of the will to create change) contrary to her worldview, while she still uses healing methods and similar practices. She is bestowed with a role that is both an honor and a burden. She sees no deity that requires her worship, devotion or reverence. She is an equal walker on this realm and all realms with the spirits of nature and the ancestral spirits. She breathes in one breath with nature. Drawing a circle around her is contrary to her purpose and perspective of the realms. Reality is not male/female, light/dark – it is neither two nor four. There are no four corners, but a spiraling reality of all spirits. She is wild and has no use for formal ritual. She does not write down her thoughts or use symbols – she is as nature, free of social constructs.She is gatekeeper, key mistress. She is neither above anything or anyone nor below anything or anyone; there is no hierarchy in the realms and certainly none on earth. There is no coven, no priest/ess; there is only Family or solitary existence. She does not meditate, is not psychic or prophetess. She is not politically active. She cannot survive well in urban society – neither in common jobs, roles or living conditions. Just like the shaman, she must separate from social norms to fully realize who and what she is. It isn’t that you cannot be a witch in suburbia - you are what you are. It’s that if you live in such ways, you will feel suffocated, disconnected, exposed, not at peace. The old stories of the witch at the edge of the village tell of a truth – she must separate.Also, we don’t charge for what we do, ever. However, we work with the flow of nature, and nature is in constant balance and exchange. We believe that if one takes, one must give back. This is accepted in whatever method the person can manage, whether it is coins (money), food, livestock, labor, or knowledge. We don’t request it; the spiritually sound person knows to give.We have no tools of any special meaning. We don’t have sabbats or esbats or any designated observance on particular days or times – these are human constructs, nature has no special days. Some of us take special note of solstices/equinoxes for feather walking or other workings. We acknowledge the particularly deep power of the moon on the flows in nature: sap, tides and blood. Ethics are tied to people, not the path. We have no creeds or guidelines. We understand responsibility in accepting consequences – sometimes even a painful price is worth it. We have no concept of karma.To the shadow walker, Fate is everything. Those that adhere to the great concept of wyrd should understand thisGreat Concept of Wyrd(click here). As you can see, understanding this in its full scope requires a great shift in consciousness and in worldviews, an intellectual or mental empathy.Finally, all witches sacrifice for their role. Although sacrifice is not the appropriate word, as how we view it is that we exchange with nature. This might mean no life partner, no children, ostracism, or anything out of the social norm. Obviously not an easy path.Although the belief is that you are born as a witch, it is possible to choose to live the ways, to an extent. For those that have come to me over the years, unsatisfied with other flavors of being witch, the ways of the shadow walker offer an alternative, and it is to these people, as well as to the natural ‘witches’, that I reach out to with my words.My family rarely uses the word witch; there is no name for who and what we are, but ‘witch’ is the easiest and closest match. Until you discover that there are now even more definitions available. Whatever witch you are, no matter if we are entirely different in our beliefs and worldviews, I recognize our shared sisterhood through the label. But I do wonder, just how appropriate or socially meaningful is the word ‘witch’ today?Thank you for allowing me the space to be express difficult/controversial words.
Copyright: Copyright 2006 Sandra Martinez
ABOUT... Sandra
Location: South, England
Website: http://oldthreadwitch.wordpress.com/
Bio: A shadow walker of Family tradition. Given the secondary role of Empath, Sandra focuses on guiding others to the gate.
Other Articles: Sandra has posted 2 additional articles- View them?
Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE
(Teodoro Leon's summary and agreement with Sandra following,though full article is very insightful concerning etymology and social and psychological impacts...and deserves ones discernment)
But to truly understand another person, we need to shift to their perspective on life – and most of us cannot do this. If you are a natural or trained empath, you know exactly to what I’m referring.I mention this because many people get riled up at other people’s definitions and beliefs when it is connected to witches.
If ‘witch’ now means a person of a nature-based religion, who worships a goddess and god, and who does magic, then I have no problem with that. In fact, there are as many definitions as there are witches. It does mean though that I hesitate to call myself a witch, as with so many definitions, we have in my opinion, unfortunately rendered the word virtually meaningless.
My concern is that many of those of the current forms of witch paths deny the existence or possibility that there is another meaning at all. And this is where I enter into my worldview. If you are a true spiritual seeker, you will now take my hand, close your eyes, and come on a realm walk with me into my mind.My experience is of a life where witches are in the dark corners; they are silent and walk in line with the shadows. They are not political, they don’t wish to be accepted, have rights, or fight environmental issues. Those find them that both fear and respect them. They don’t worship any god or goddess. They don’t do magic.They don’t what? Yes, I hear you.
This ‘witch’ cannot choose the path; the belief is that the path chooses the person. Just as some are born natural artists or musicians, so are some born witches...
She is bestowed with a role that is both an honor and a burden...
Drawing a circle around her is contrary to her purpose and perspective of the realms. Reality is not male/female, light/dark – it is neither two nor four. There are no four corners, but a spiraling reality of all spirits. She is wild and has no use for formal ritual...
Just like the shaman, she must separate from social norms to fully realize who and what she is. It isn’t that you cannot be a witch in suburbia - you are what you are...
Also, we don’t charge for what we do, ever. However, we work with the flow of nature, and nature is in constant balance and exchange. We believe that if one takes, one must give back. This is accepted in whatever method the person can manage, whether it is coins (money), food, livestock, labor, or knowledge. We don’t request it; the spiritually sound person knows to give.We have no tools of any special meaning. We don’t have sabbats or esbats or any designated observance on particular days or times – these are human constructs...
We acknowledge the particularly deep power of the moon on the flows in nature: sap, tides and blood. Ethics are tied to people, not the path. We have no creeds or guidelines. We understand responsibility in accepting consequences – sometimes even a painful price is worth it.
Fate is everything. Those that adhere to the great concept of wyrd should understand thisGreat Concept of Wyrd
Wyrd concept click here
As you can see, understanding this in its full scope requires a great shift in consciousness and in worldviews, an intellectual or mental empathy.
Finally, all witches sacrifice for their role. Although sacrifice is not the appropriate word, as how we view it is that we exchange with nature.
there is no name for who and what we are, but ‘witch’ is the easiest and closest match.

Americans were abducted, executed..

Seattle Times 1/27/07
Americans ‘were abducted and executed’ in Karbala
The operation was well rehearsed, says military
Baghdad (AFP)
Four of five US soldiers killed in a raid by militants last week in Iraq’s shrine city of Karbala were abducted and executed by men wearing “American-looking uniforms”, the military revealed yesterday.
The grim details of the January 20 attack were released for the first time by the US military.
A US military statement said the Karbala raid had been “well rehearsed”, with gunmen getting past Iraqi checkpoints in “a convoy consisting of at least five sport utility vehicles”.
One soldier was killed in the initial assault while four others were shot dead after being kidnapped by the insurgents, who fled with them in the SUVs.
Iraqi police later found the vehicles near the town of Al Mahawil, east of Karbala.
“Two soldiers were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the SUVs. Both had suffered gunshot wounds and were dead. A third soldier was found shot and dead on the ground,” the statement said.
“Nearby, the fourth soldier was still alive, despite a gunshot wound to the head.” He was rushed to a nearby hospital but died on the way.
Identified
In an initial statement released on January 21, the military had said five US soldiers were killed and three wounded “while repelling the attack”.
The internet site icasualties.org, which tracks US losses in Iraq, identified the five as Captain Brian Freeman, Lieutenant Jacob Fritz, Specialist Jonathan Chism, Private 1st Class Jonathan Millican and Private Shawn Falter.
Yesterday’s statement said “an estimated nine to 12 armed militants” with US-type weapons had stormed the Provincial Joint Coordination Centre in Karbala, where they opened fire and hurled hand grenades at US troops.
After damaging three US vehicles with explosives, “the attackers broke off the assault, withdrawing from the compound with four captured US soldiers.
“The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution,” US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl said in the statement.
“The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound,” Bleichwehl said.
“We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault.”
U.S. now says 4 soldiers seized, executed
REPORTERS QUESTIONED ACCOUNTTHAT TROOPS DIED IN ASSAULT Gunmen spoke English, got through checkpoint
BY LEILA FADEL McClatchy Newspapers
KARBALA, Iraq – Four American soldiers whom the U.S. military originally reported were killed when unknown gunmen stormed an Iraqi provincial office in Karbala last Saturday were, in fact, taken hostage and later executed, military officials said Friday.
The abducted soldiers, shot in the head, were discovered when five Chevrolet Suburbans used in the attack were found abandoned, their doors open, in the town of Mahawil hours after the attack. Mahawil is about 25 miles from Karbala.
Military officials offered no explanation for why the men originally were reported as having died “repelling the attack.” The Pentagon named the men in a news release Tuesday and said they had died “from wounds sustained when their patrol was ambushed while conducting dismounted operations.”
Sources confirmed that the attackers spoke English and posed as Americans to pass through Iraqi security in one of the most sophisticated operations against U.S. soldiers since the Iraq war began in 2003.
News of the security breakdown, kidnappings and slayings leaked just as President Bush faces stiffening congressional opposition over his plan to flood Baghdad and surrounding regions with 21,500 more U.S. troops.
Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Pentagon news release was “based on information provided by the Army.” Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, didn’t respond to e-mails and phone calls seeking an explanation.
The inaccurate accounts of how the four men died recalled the controversy surrounding the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. The Pentagon initially said Tillman had been killed by Taliban insurgents. Only later did they say that he had been shot by fellow U.S. soldiers.
It was unknown Friday what families of the abducted servicemen had been told about their deaths. Efforts to contact the families were unsuccessful.
U.S. officials have been largely silent about the circumstances of last Saturday’s raid in which gunmen slipped unchallenged past checkpoints manned by Iraqi soldiers and stormed a government compound where American officials were meeting with local Iraqi counterparts.
A statement Friday quoting Bleichwehl on details of the abductions and executions was released only after The Associated Press distributed a story quoting Iraqi police officials and two unnamed U.S. officials.
Iraqi police officials have portrayed the raid as a major breach of security. A police official in Hilla, a city adjacent to Mahawil, said Monday that one of the vehicles used in the attack carried a license plate stolen from a car of Iraq’s minister of trade.
One Iraqi official said the leader of the assault team had blond hair, but no other official confirmed that.
They apparently were well enough informed about the compound, known as the Provincial Joint Coordination Center, that they went directly to where the Americans were in the compound, attacking with a barrage of grenades and rifle fire. Three Humvees were destroyed.
“The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well-rehearsed prior to execution,” Bleichwehl was quoted as saying. “The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, by-passing the Iraqi police in the compound.”
A senior Iraqi military official said the sophistication of the attack led him to believe it was the work of Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia, which Iran funds, arms and trains.
At the main building, soldiers heard the explosions and tried to defend themselves. One grenade was tossed into the command center where the provincial police chief’s office is housed, killing one soldier and wounding three, the statement said. After about 15 minutes, the gunmen snatched four soldiers and fled toward Babel province. As they passed a checkpoint into the province, police grew suspicious and gave chase.
They found the five abandoned vehicles, doors still open, near Mahawil, east of the Euphrates River. Inside one vehicle two soldiers were handcurity cuffed together and shot in the head. A third soldier, also shot in the head, was found sprawled on the ground. A fourth soldier was found wounded and died as Iraqi police took him to a hospital, the statement said.
The U.S. statement Friday did not say who was suspected in the attack. A guard at the coordination center told McClatchy Newspapers that all the guards there are now under investigation.
The guard, who asked not to be identified because he also is a suspect, said he had handed his weapon to the attackers and allowed the men into the compound because they were dressed in U.S. uniforms, spoke English and were using interpreters. He said it was customary not to challenge Americans.
Babel police spokesman Capt. Muthana Ahmed said Monday that the attackers had first gathered weapons at the police headquarters in Karbala before attacking the provincial compound. U.S. Humvees now are stationed at the police headquarters, and Iraqi police commandos are providing security at both the police headquarters and the provincial headquarters.
Hilla police chief Maj. Gen. Qais al-Maamuri said five vehicles used in the attack were found Saturday and two vehicles were found Sunday.
Al-Maamuri said one of the vehicles bore a license plate registered to Iraq’s minister of trade, Abdul Falah al-Sudani, a Shiite who belongs to the Dawa party whose members include Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. A spokesman for al-Sudani, who lives in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, denied that the plate had been stolen.
Al-Maamuri also said police do not know how the attackers obtained military uniforms or IDs, but said that ownership documents had been found in two of the vehicles. He said the cars had come to Karbala along the road leading from Najaf, where al-Sadr is headquartered, and were unchallenged until they entered Babel province.
Inquiries reveal soldiers wereshot after attack
Four U.S. soldiers were abducted in Karbala last Saturday, and killed elsewhere, contrary to reports they repelled attackers. Nine to 12 militants in Chevrolet Suburban vehicles, the type used in U.S. convoys, attacked the compound while wearing U.S. military fatigues, carrying U.S. weapons and speaking English.


Dallas Morning news
Lost in a brazen attack
U.S. initially said soldiers died repelling gunmenin Iraq, but details of abduction emerge

From Wire Reports
BAGHDAD, Iraq — In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death.
The U.S. military confirmed a report earlier Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, about 25 miles from the compound where they were captured. A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.The new account contradicted a U.S. military statement last Saturday, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor’s office, that five soldiers were killed repelling the attack.The security breakdown and the dramatic kidnapping and murder of four soldiers leaked out just as President Bush faces stiffening congressional opposition over his plan to flood Baghdad and surrounding regions with with 21,500 more American troops. Two of Congress's most vocal war critics, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Murtha, were in the Iraqi capital as the news broke. 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz of Verdon, Neb., 'always wanted to be in the military,' a friend said. In a statement issued late Friday, the military said two of the soldiers were handcuffed together in the back seat of an SUV near the southern Iraqi town of Mahawil. A third dead soldier was on the ground nearby. The fourth soldier died on the way to the hospital. The four were identified as 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Neb.; Spc. Johnathan Chism, 22, of Prairieville, La.; Pfc. Shawn Falter, 25, of Homer, N.Y., and Pvt. Johnathon Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala. All were with the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska. Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, Calif., "died of wounds suffered when his meeting area came under attack by mortar and small arms fire." Spc. Johnathan Chism of Prairieville, La., 'liked anybody and everybody,' his mom said. The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad, was conducted by nine to 12 gunmen posing as an American security team, the military confirmed. The attackers traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles – the type used by U.S. government convoys – had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues and spoke English, according to two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials. None of the American or Iraqi officials would allow use of their names because of the sensitive nature of the information. The confirmation came after nearly a week of inquiries. The U.S. military in Baghdad initially did not respond to repeated requests for comment on reports that began emerging from Iraqi government and military officials on the abduction and a major breakdown in security at the Karbala site. Pfc. Shawn Falter of Homer, N.Y., followed three of his older brothers into the Army. Within hours of the AP report that four of the five dead soldiers had been abducted and found dead or dying about 25 miles east of Karbala, the military issued a long account of what took place. "The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division Baghdad. "The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound," he said. "We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault." The Karbala raid, as explained by the Iraqi and American officials, began after nightfall on Jan. 20, while American military officers were meeting with their Iraqi counterparts on the main floor of the Provisional Joint Coordination Center in Karbala. Iraqi officials said the approaching convoy of black GMC Suburbans was waved through an Iraqi checkpoint at the edge of the city. The Iraqi soldiers believed it to be American because of the type of vehicles, the distinctive camouflage American uniforms and the fact that they spoke English. One Iraqi official said the leader of the assault team was blond, but no other official confirmed that. A top Iraqi security official for Karbala province told the AP that the Iraqi guards at the checkpoint radioed ahead to the governor's compound to alert their compatriots that the convoy was on its way.Iraqi officials said the attackers' convoy divided upon arrival, with some vehicles parking at the back of the main building where the meeting was taking place, and others parking in front.
The attackers threw a grenade and opened fire with automatic rifles as they grabbed two soldiers inside the compound. Then the guerrilla assault team jumped on top of an armored U.S. Humvee and captured two more soldiers, the U.S. military officials said. In its statement, the U.S. military said one soldier was killed and three were wounded by a "hand grenade thrown into the center's main office which contains the provincial police chief's office on an upper floor." The attackers seized four soldiers and an unclassified U.S. military computer and fled with them east toward Mahawil in Babil province, crossing the Euphrates River, the U.S. military officials said. The Iraqi officials said the four were captured alive and shot just before the vehicles were abandoned. Police, who became suspicious when the convoy of attackers and their American captives did not stop at a roadblock, chased the vehicles and found the bodies, the gear and the abandoned SUVs.The military statement said: "Two soldiers were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the SUVs. Both had suffered gunshot wounds and were dead. A third soldier was found shot and dead on the ground. Nearby, the fourth soldier was still alive, despite a gunshot wound to the head." The wounded soldier was rushed to the hospital by Iraqi police but died on the way, the military said. The military also said Iraqi police had found five SUVs, U.S. Army-type combat uniforms, boots, radios and a non-U.S. made rifle at the scene. Three days after the killings, the U.S. military in Baghdad announced the arrest of four suspects in the attack and said they were detained on a tip from a Karbala resident. No further information was released about the suspects
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