Installed Brad Choate’s wonderful “MT On This Day” plugin today. I love it.
See it off to the right!
On This Date Plugin
State Trooper Clings to Life
Thinking of you.
A venerated state trooper lay near death last night, the victim of an alleged teenage drunk who told police he was asleep at the wheel when he rear-ended her parked cruiser at more than 90 mph.
“It’s bad. It’s real bad. There was a lot of head trauma,” state police Maj. John J. Kelley said last night of trooper Ellen Engelhardt, 50, of Marion who had not regained consciousness since yesterday’s early morning crash, 50 minutes before her shift was to end.
“She’s been in and out of surgery,” Kelley said. “Colonel (Thomas) Foley of the state police has asked that everyone remember trooper Engelhardt in their thoughts and their prayers.” [Boston Herald]
MSNBC: Saddam Nearly Nabbed
TROOPS STORMED three farms in Tikrit, Saddam%u2019s hometown, in simultaneous pre-dawn raids after receiving a tip that Saddam%u2019s new security chief was staying at one of the farm houses, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, who led the operation by the of the 4th Infantry.
%u201CWe missed him by 24 hours,%u201D Russell said, adding that residents told soldiers that the man they sought had been at one of the farm houses.
Later on Sunday, U.S. troops attacked a house in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood on Sunday and local residents said there were rumours they were hunting for Saddam or members of his family, Reuters reported.
[MSNBC]
CNN: Military Closing in on Saddam
TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. forces early Sunday raided three farm houses in Saddam Hussein’s ancestral hometown of Tikrit where officials said intelligence indicated Saddam’s security chief — or possibly the deposed dictator himself — had recently been.
An official in Baghdad told CNN the security chief was not found at any of the locations and that no one was taken into custody.
Another U.S. military source, this one in Tikrit itself, told CNN the raids were based on reliable intelligence that Saddam likely had been at the farms before the raids. [CNN]
Turning Saddam’s Thugs into Victims
What is really happening in Iraq? The media make it sound like another Vietnam, with the Iraqi population sliding towards mass resistance as Iraqi society collapses in violent anarchy. But the reality is a lot different. Attacks on coalition troops are declining, the availability of public services is increasing and public opinion towards the coalition becomes more favorable each day. The gunmen who are attacking coalition troops are being hunted down and arrested, and huge arms caches found and destroyed. [Strategy Page]
Navy Commissions LPD-17
The U.S. Navy commissioned the first of a new class of amphibious ships on July 19th. The USS San Antonio is the first of twelve LPD 17 class ships. Each is 24,900 tons displacement and 684 feet long. The navy crew is 360, and 720 marines and all their equipment are carried. There is 25,000 square feet for vehicle storage and a 24 bed hospital, with two operating rooms and the ability to set up another hundred beds in an emergency. There are two 30mm CIWS (Close In Weapons Systems) to knock down cruise missiles. The ship is built to take a Vertical Launcher for anti-aircraft missiles. The ship is designed to carry and use two LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicle), and 14 of the new AAAV (Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle), as well as the current AAV. The MV-22 (Osprey tiltrotor aircraft), as well as current helicopters, can operate off the ships flight deck. The AAAV and MV-22 are expected to be in service in the next few years. Each LPD 17 costs about $800 million. The LPD 17 class replaces four other classes of amphibious ships (LPD 4, LSD 36, LST 1179 and LKA 113). [Strategy Page]
Catching up with Saddam
The Americans say they have captured several of Saddam’s bodyguards, and yesterday it emerged that they believed they had come close to seizing the former Iraqi leader in Mosul shortly after the deaths of his sons last Tuesday.
According to military sources, intelligence intercepted a single satellite phone signal known to belong to Saddam during the bombardment of the building where Uday and Qusay were trapped.
Soldiers searched the nearby villa from which the call was made but Saddam was not there. US officers said the intercept was highly accurate, and they were convinced he had been hiding in the building. Yesterday they said they believed he was still in Mosul. [Times Online]