[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 173 (Monday, November 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15804-S15805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ON YESTERDAY'S ATTACK IN MOSUL

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I express my outrage at events that 
transpired this weekend in Iraq. No one expects terrorists to follow 
the rules, but what they did to two soldiers from the 101st Airborne 
Division this weekend in Mosul is beyond the pale. We have lost 431 men 
and women in the conflict in Iraq; my heart goes out to the families 
and friends of each and every one.
  Here is how the Associated Press describes what happened, as reported 
in The Tennessean and a number of other papers across the country:

       Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied 101st Airborne 
     soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and pummeled them with 
     concrete blocks yesterday, witnesses said . . .
       Witnesses to the Mosul attack said gunmen shot two soldiers 
     driving through the city center, sending their vehicle 
     crashing into a wall. The 101st Airborne Division said the 
     soldiers were driving to another garrison.
       About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the soldiers out 
     of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, the 
     witnesses said.
       ``They lifted a block and hit them with it on the face,'' 
     Younis Mahmoud, 19, said.
       It was unknown whether the soldiers were alive or dead when 
     pulled from the wreckage.

  That is what the Associated Press wrote. I ask unanimous consent the 
article be printed in full in the Record following my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. One can't help but feel a sense of anger when reading 
a story like that. CSM Jerry Wilson and SP Rel Ravago were on their way 
from one garrison to another. The terrorists laid waiting for the 
soldiers to drive by, and ambushed them. Even worse, they made every 
effort to be as brutal and bloody as possible. It makes me sick to my 
stomach.
  At the same time, we also remember how many of our troops have lost 
their lives in this struggle. 431 men and women from our Armed Forces 
have given their lives since Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced. Forty-
eight of them were from the 101st Airborne, based in Fort Campbell on 
the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. 2,067 have been wounded overall. 
And as much as we all wish it weren't the case, more will follow.
  Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a loved one, especially loved 
ones as young as those that are serving our country in Iraq. We can 
only hope the knowledge that these soldiers died fighting to keep us 
safe will provide some comfort in this time of grief. To those 
families, we can only say this: the hopes and prayers of a grateful 
nation are with you.
  But in the midst of this sorrow, we must remember why our troops are 
in Iraq. We must strengthen our resolve. Iraq is freer today than it 
has been for more than a generation. An evil dictator has been toppled, 
his regime is gone. The people of Iraq, by and large, are grateful; 
according to polls, the vast majority of them support continued 
American presence in their country.
  In fact, in the horrible incident involving the two soldiers in 
Mosul, U.S. troops were alerted to the attack by sympathetic Iraqis.
  We are making progress in Iraq: the power is on, schools are re-
opened, markets are buzzing, the southern port is open. But danger 
lurks.
  And we must labor on. A stable, democratic Iraq in the midst of the 
Middle East could become our greatest ally in the War on Terror. It 
would change the world. But if we give up and throw in the towel, an 
unstable Iraq would quickly become a hotbed of terrorism far worse than 
Afghanistan. The stakes are high. Failure is not an option.
  Our troops and their families bear the burden of this cause more than 
any other. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
  In a few days, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. In the first 
Thanksgiving proclamation, President George Washington ``recommend[ed] 
to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and 
prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many 
and signal favors of Almighty God, as a people, with devout reverence 
and affectionate gratitude.''
  Ours is a blessed nation, and we have much to be grateful for. This 
Thanksgiving we should be especially grateful for the men and women of 
our Armed Forces, fighting the terrorists over there so fewer can 
attack us here, at home. Whether helping to open a new school in Kirkuk 
or securing the area around Baghdad International Airport; our troops 
are standing in harms way. They are doing it for us.
  For thousands of families, the Thanksgiving table will have an empty 
space this year. It will be hard. We should all save a place in our 
hearts for those military families this Thanksgiving. We give thanks 
for their courage, too.
  So today, I say thank you to the men and women of our Armed Forces. 
We stand in awe of your strength. We are humbled by your sacrifice. We 
are grateful for your courage.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From the TENNESSEAN, Nov. 24, 2003]

                    Two 101st Soldiers Die in Ambush

       Mosul, Iraq--Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied 101st 
     Airborne soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and pummeled them 
     with concrete blocks yesterday, witnesses said, describing 
     the killings as a burst of savagery in a city once safe for 
     Americans.

[[Page S15805]]

       Another soldier was killed by a bomb, and a U.S.-allied 
     police chief was assassinated.
       The U.S.-led coalition also said it grounded commercial 
     flights after the military confirmed that a missile struck a 
     DHL cargo plane that landed Saturday at Baghdad International 
     Airport with its wing aflame.
       Nevertheless, American officers insisted they were making 
     progress in bringing stability to Iraq, and the U.S.-
     appointed Governing Council named an ambassador to 
     Washington--an Iraqi-American woman who spent the past decade 
     lobbying U.S. lawmakers to promote democracy in her homeland.
       Witnesses to the Mosul attack said gunmen shot two soldiers 
     driving through the city center, sending their vehicle 
     crashing into a wall. The 101st Airborne Division said the 
     soldiers were driving to another garrison.
       About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the soldiers out 
     of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, the 
     witnesses said. ``They lifted a block and hit them with it on 
     the face,'' Younis Mahmound, 19, said. It was unknown whether 
     the soldiers were alive or dead when pulled from the 
     wreckage.
       Initial reports said the soldiers' throats were cut. But 
     another witness, teenager Bahaa Jassim, said the wounds 
     appeared to have come from bullets. ``One of the soldiers was 
     shot under the chin, and the bullet came out of his head. I 
     saw the hole in his helmet. The other was shot in the 
     throat,'' Jassim said.
       Some people looted the vehicle of weapons, CDs and a 
     backpack, Jassim said. ``They remained there for over an hour 
     without the Americans knowing anything about it,'' he said. 
     ``I. . . went and told other troops.''
       Television footage showed the soldiers' bodies splayed on 
     the ground as U.S. troops secured the area. One victim's foot 
     appeared to have been severed.
       The frenzy recalled the October 1993 scene in Somalia, when 
     locals dragged the bodies of Marines killed in fighting with 
     warlords through the streets.
       In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad, insurgents detonated a 
     roadside bomb as a 4th Infantry Division convoy passed, 
     killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military 
     said.
       In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt confirmed the Mosul 
     deaths but would not provide details. ``We're not going to 
     get ghoulish about it,'' he said.
       The savagery of the attack was unusual for Mosul, once 
     touted as a success story in sharp contrast to the anti-
     American violence seen in Sunni Muslim areas north and west 
     of Baghdad.
       In recent weeks, however, attacks against U.S. troops have 
     increased in Mosul, raising concerns that the insurgency is 
     spreading. Simultaneously, attacks have accelerated against 
     Iraqis considered to be supporting Americans--such as 
     policemen and politicians working for the interim Iraqi 
     administration.
       Yesterday gunmen killed the Iraqi police chief of 
     Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, and his bodyguard and 
     driver, American and Iraqi officials said. No more details 
     were released. The assassination occurred one day after 
     suicide bombers struck two police stations northeast of 
     Baghdad within 30 minutes, killing at least 14 people. Gunmen 
     Saturday also killed an Iraqi police colonel protecting oil 
     installations in Mosul.
       In Samara, about 75 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi police 
     said six U.S. Apache helicopter gunships blasted marshland 
     after four rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the 
     American military garrison at the city's northern end. One 
     Iraqi passer-by was killed in the air attack, police said.
       In Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, a bomb exploded at 
     an oil compound, injuring three American civilian contractors 
     from the U.S. firm Kellogg Brown & Root. The three suffered 
     facial cuts from flying glass, U.S. Lt. Col. Matt Croke said. 
     KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, also has a significant 
     presence at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, which was rocketed by 
     insurgents Friday, wounding one civilian. ``We all know that 
     Americans are being threatened,'' Croke said.
       Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad that witnesses saw two 
     surface-to-air missiles fired Saturday at a cargo plane 
     operated by the Belgium-based package service DHL as it left 
     for Bahrain. The plane was the first civilian airliner hit by 
     insurgents, who have shot down many military helicopters with 
     shoulder-fired rockets. The coalition authority ordered DHL 
     and Royal Jordanian, the only commercial passenger airline 
     flying into Baghdad, to suspend flights.
       Despite the ongoing violence, U.S. officials said the 
     occupation was going well. ``If you look at the 
     accomplishments of the coalition since March of this year, it 
     has been enormous,'' Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of 
     the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Tikrit. He is touring 
     Afghanistan and Iraq.
       Despite the surge in the scope and ferocity of the attacks, 
     Kimmitt dismissed any threat posed by the guerrillas, whom he 
     described as occasionally clever but overall ``a pretty poor 
     group of insurgents.''
       ``We have nothing at this point that causes us to be 
     concerned,'' he said. ``This is not an enemy that can defeat 
     us militarily.''
       Also yesterday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said 
     veteran Washington lobbyist Rend Rahim Francke was appointed 
     Iraq's ambassador to the United States. Francke, an Iraq 
     native who has spent most of her life abroad, led the Iraq 
     Foundation, a Washington-based pro-democracy group and has 
     helped plan Iraq's transition from Saddam Hussein's rule. The 
     appointment will renew the diplomatic ties between Washington 
     and Baghdad severed in 1990 when Saddam invaded Kuwait.

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