A brutal death in Baghdad's gridlock

Paul McGeough Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad has done the best reporting job of anyone in Iraq, by a couple of miles

In the last terrible minutes of his life, the world Chris Ahmelman and his buddies thought they knew so well collapsed in confusion, chaos and - for three of them - death.

The Australian security contractor was pinned down with seven others near Baghdad International Airport. They did not even know where the insurgency fire was coming from - and they made too many mistakes as skill and instinct deserted them.

Ordinarily, the war in Iraq moves so fast that back-tracking to ask "how?" and "why?" can be difficult. But James Yeager, an American colleague of Ahmelman who survived the attack, has written a chilling seven-page account that is being passed around in Baghdad.

Read it all, it tells about the scale and depth of the tragedy that is unfolding. And for anyone who doubts how this will come out, this:

It was over in a flash - most of the noise had been their own chaotic response to the carefully placed shots of an insurgency marksman who had long fled the scene.

An awful thing has been done by the US, and the price will be higher than anything any American has ever contemplated.

Vietnam? Vietnam was a cakewalk compared to what is coming down this pike, in a white SUV, with a window open.

•  Hi Deepdark!

  Good to see you posting.  

  A good find.  Thanks.  

  I don't see many stories that give away any details.  I remember last fall Oldman analysing a NYT (I think) article on the second battle of Fallujah--by teasing it apart very carefully he was able to conclude the insurgents were sniping their targets with deliberation, while the Americans were shooting at shadows (figuratively)--actually at dogs and cats.  It was pathetic, and the kill ratio was down to nearly one-to-one.  As attrition warfare, a strategic loss.  

  Yeager must have revved the engine:  I wonder if he thought his transmission fluid had been shot out.  Or:  Why you have to know your equipment cold, so you don't make mistakes like that.  

  Pretty unenviable:  To be sniped from a service road while stuck in a freeway traffic jam!  Makes me think of the Beltway Sniper, and something I never thought about before:  Where did he get his training?  

  I'm remembering (vaguely) Boyd's manoevre theory of air warfare and the four basic criteria that make for a good fighter force.  Somewhere around number three was dominating the battlefield through presence:  That is, wherever the enemy is in the sky if he has to fear that a few planes might be lurking to ambush him, the relentless anxiety degrades his performance markedly.  Well, that is the American situation in Iraq:  No matter where we are--inside the Green Zone or out--there is the perpetual danger of springing a trap.  

  Defeat beckons.  

  by gaianne on Wed Jun 08, 2005 at 02:09:02 AM PDT

  •  Boyd

    I want to read him one of these days.

    by catfish on Wed Jun 08, 2005 at 04:19:29 AM PDT

•  Horribly

  good.  And thanks for the link.  I am always on the hunt for news sources to find out what is REALLY happening.

  Recommended.

  by mattman on Wed Jun 08, 2005 at 04:04:24 AM PDT

•  Everybody Should Read This

  I can not for the life of me understand what would posess someone to take a job like that.  My head just will not wrap around this.

  I am sickened by the needless loss of life - but I am torn by the info that they were shooting wildly.  And we will never know if they've cost innocent lives, will we?

  So I am torn.

  by mattman on Wed Jun 08, 2005 at 04:15:45 AM PDT