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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Australian Tells of Bounties in Iraq | |
| 2004-12-12 | |
Contract killers are being offered as little as $50 to target coalition soldiers in Iraq, the commander of Australian forces said in a newspaper interview published Sunday. Air Commodore Greg Evens, who took command of Australia's 350 soldiers in Iraq last month, said Iraqi insurgents were hiring assassins from neighboring Middle Eastern countries with the promise of cash payments for every soldier they killed. ``This is a difficult adversary,'' he told Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper. ``The insurgency is not a coherent force.''
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 My priss meter pegged again. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-12-12 11:35:55 AM |
| #10 lex, I'm pretty sure that's how indy media works.... :-p |
| Posted by: Dcreeper 2004-12-12 11:17:48 AM |
| #9 oooohhhhh Mikey took a position (kinda)! And a snarky attack! Surprise meter? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-12-12 9:41:52 AM |
| #8 Re #3 (Zhang Fei): ... And yet the Aussie journo interprets that as saying that American forces have sub-standard equipment. This is why I hate these arrogant bastards. The journalist is an Austrialian, writing for an Australian publication read mostly by Australian readers. He writes: "The Australians are universally regarded as the best equipped troops in Iraq and the Australian light armoured vehicle (ASLAV) is considered the safest form of transport." He writes: "Air Commodore Evans said he was relieved his troops were not put at risk by sub-standard equipment." Naturally, this kind of reporting is of great interest to his Australian readers. The intention is to reassure Australian readers that Australian troops in Iraq are well equipped and protected. As context, the journalist mentions the recent, well-known press conference and subsequent controversy in the USA, about whether US vehicles are adequately armored. Out of this, Zhang Fei, you concoct your attack that journalists are arrogant bastards? Do you think this journalist was wrong to write at this time an article about whether Australian vehicles in Iraq are adequately armored? The issue is probably of hightened interest in Australia right now, because it's of hightened interest in the USA right now. In this context, do you think the journalist was wrong to mention Rumsfeld's recent press conference in the context of this article? By the way, I am kind of surprised that you are so upset when you think other people are arrogant. I would think you would be much more understanding of that fault. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-12-12 9:23:10 AM |
| #7 I recall the going price for a coalition hit was several hundred dollars. Supply and demand or is someone running out of cash? |
| Posted by: john 2004-12-12 6:54:39 AM |
| #6 Fear not, it won't be for free. Hint: Ad revenue sharing. Hint hint: thousands of highly loyal, demographically-similar, concentrated readers. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-12 3:39:49 AM |
| #5 great idea lex! How about you kick it off by doing real reporting for free? |
| Posted by: Dcreeper 2004-12-12 2:18:48 AM |
| #4 Smash the incompetent, mendacious MSM. THe blogosphere must begin to source and report our own stories. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-12 1:52:29 AM |
| #3 Article: Air Commodore Evans said he was relieved his troops were not put at risk by sub-standard equipment. "There are many soldiers who are out there in quite lightly armoured vehicles. I'm glad my diggers don't have to do that," he said. It is just amazing how stupid/malicious journalists are. Australians don't have to go out in humvees because they don't have to go on patrols where they actually go looking for things. And that's what the Australian officer was talking about - that Australians aren't tasked with the same kinds of things that American troops are. And yet the Aussie journo interprets that as saying that American forces have sub-standard equipment. This is why I hate these arrogant bastards. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-12-12 1:19:09 AM |
| #2 The more urgent problem is the intimidation of Iraqis by the terrorists. We need a lucky capture of some of the terrorist biggies. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-12-12 12:40:23 AM |
| #1 A bit more from the longer version at News Corp "He anticipated a "campaign of murder" to begin in Baghdad over the Christmas and New Year period, with trucks and cars packed with deadly explosives the most likely threat to Australian patrols. "I'm prepared for the strategic surprise," he said. "Almost all the analysis we are getting says the insurgency is likely to put in a big effort (before January 30). "They will use every odious mechanism available to them, and that means violence." Australians in Baghdad were exposed to the lethal potential of car bombs six weeks ago, when a convoy of Australian light armoured vehicles was ambushed by a nondescript white sedan packed with 200kg of explosives. "That was the classic Baghdad car bomb. I would say it was the closest we have come to losing someone," Air Commodore Evans said. The Australians are universally regarded as the best equipped troops in Iraq and the Australian light armoured vehicle (ASLAV) is considered the safest form of transport. The Humvee vehicles used by US forces were exposed last week when a junior soldier asked US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld why he was forced to pin scrap metal - which he called "hillbilly armour" - to the panels for extra protection. Air Commodore Evans said he was relieved his troops were not put at risk by sub-standard equipment. "There are many soldiers who are out there in quite lightly armoured vehicles. I'm glad my diggers don't have to do that," he said. While the struggle for peace in Iraq was far from over, Air Commodore Evans said the recent fierce battle in Fallujah saw the insurgents' leadership desert their fighters when US troops moved into the city. "We are hearing that the key leadership fled and left their subordinates to do the fighting, which is fairly typical I'm afraid," he said." |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-12-12 12:23:25 AM |