Insecure. Buried in Edward Wong's report today on the most recent round of Iraq violence (Edward Wong and James Glanz, "2 Pipeline Blasts Halt Oil Exports at Top Iraq Port") is a piece of telling information I haven't seen before. One of several incidents mentioned in the report is another ambush of a contractor convoy, a "well-organized ambush ... killing at least four foreign contractor workers" staged by "snipers lining a highway and an overpass near Baghdad International Airport."

The attack on the convoy of foreign contractors was also part of a succession well-planned incidents clearly aimed at disrupting rebuilding efforts. It took place between 1:30 and 2 p.m. on a north-south road veering into the highway leading to the Baghdad airport, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a spokesman for the occupation forces. Insurgents on an overpass raked a three-vehicle convoy with gunfire. Passengers in two of the cars were apparently killed, while a third car pocked with bullet holes limped to a nearby American base. ...

A security contractor who had been briefed on the attack said it appeared that at least four people had been killed but said he did not know their nationalities, which company they worked for or the nature of their jobs. Besides the gunmen on the overpass, he said, snipers opened fire from positions they had taken up along both sides of the road. The contractor said he had been informed that the assault took place on the main road to the airport rather than on an intersecting artery.

The five-mile airport road is considered by foreigners to be the most dangerous thoroughfare in Baghdad.

I'd take issue with Wong/Glanz's conclusion that convoy attacks are part of a campaign to "disrupt rebuilding efforts": it seems to me that, given how much of the CPA's infrastructure is provided by civilian contractors, the Iraqi insurgency (or is that the Zarqawi insurgency? I can never keep it straight ...) is targeting what amounts to the weak point of the Coalition supply lines. But what really jumps out is the highlighted sentence.

It's more than a year after Saddam was deposed. After all this time, we still can't manage to secure the five miles of road between the capital and the main airport?

posted by michael  4:41:52 PM  
tell me about it []  

 

Block that metaphor! This just pleased me no end this morning, so I thought I'd share. Reading about the Cardinals' big win last night over the Oakland A's (I'm a lifelong Redbirds fan), I ran across this from Oakland manager Ken Macha, on having to go to the bullpen early when Barry Zito proved ineffective against the Cards:

They've got a lot of veteran guys, good hitters, and they've got them spaced out left-right, left-right. Once you paint yourself in that corner, you're looking down a barrel.

Why am I looking down that barrel, exactly? Is there a trap door underneath it that'll get me out of the corner?

posted by michael  11:28:56 AM  
tell me about it []