According to the Associated Press article concerning "the Administration's progress report" (link), Iraq has failed some subjects - political, economic and other reform. For what its worth, the Associated Press' piece had the usual un-authored, vague-sourced, innuendoed style. At any rate, the bulk of the report is due out at the end of this week.
Well heck, after having been there I would have been surprised to see a glowing report, even from the very administration that has prosecuted the war now well into its fifth year. In general, for the man walking on the street in Iraq, no central authority seems to be in charge in said Iraq. In the north, there seems to be a loose alliance of Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, capitalists, Islamists, Persians, Iranians, Sunnis, Shiites, communists, socialists, secularists, Turkmans, Turks, an eastern political wing, a western Islamic political wing, and a central political area that sends out the rules. We back here call them the "Kurds." There is no Iraqi flag flown up there and the Iraqi army is for all practical purposes refused entry in the "North." They are not trusted by the North. Oops! I thought they were the good guys now. In the middle world between the north and Iraq proper, it is even more Orwellian chaos, as it appears to the outsider like the "wild west" of American lore. This will be a great story one hundred years from now if Kurdistan becomes its own county - but for now it is a simmering night mare for any hopeful outside mentoring nation.
I don't know? Who'da seen a bad report card coming (hitting forehead with palm)?
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Corporal Jesse L. Thiry, age 23, of Casco, Wisconsin. Jesse was in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Corporal Thiry was killed by hostile fire in Anbar province, Iraq, on April 5, 2004. Casco is a small town just north east of Green Bay. Thiry died in Fallujah, where a mob attacked, killed, and mutilated four U.S. contractors just the week prior. Jesse was the fourteenth Wisconsin military member to die in Iraq. At the time of Thiry's death, 631 U.S. service members had been killed in the Iraq war. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Thiry had been in Iraq less than a month when killed and was part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's mission of occupying Fallujah, Ramadi and other cities about 30 miles west of Baghdad. At the time it was one of the areas of Iraq with the most intense fighting during the U.S. military's 11-month deployment in Iraq. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned that Cpl. Thiry was a Marine weapons instructor in Quantico, Virgina. He transfered to an assignment that would take him to Iraq just eight months before he was scheduled to leave the military. Jesse Thiry is survived by his mom and dad Susan and Randy Thiry and seven siblings. He is the fourth of eight children and a graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School where he wrestled and ran track. He entered the Marine Corps shortly after graduation.
3,607 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
26,558 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
76 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
108 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
