See several new photos below. Cross-posted at DailyKos.
Update [2005-4-3 7:58:41 by susanhbu]: Los Angeles Times now reports — in the latest from its Baghdad correspondent on the “audacious” attack on Abu Ghraib prison by “40 and 60 heavily armed men [who] swarmed the prison, detonating two car bombs and peppering the facility with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms and mortar fire” — that “44 U.S. troops and 13 Iraqi detainees” were wounded.
The number of those seriously wounded and evacuated for treatment has risen: “Six U.S. soldiers [up from three] and one Iraqi detainee [none reported earlier].” Also new from the L.A. Times:
Update [2005-4-3 8:35:10 by susanhbu]: “Al Qaeda Claims Raid on Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison” (Reuters). Al Qaeda said the gunbattle lasted most of the night, rather than the 40 minutes the U.S. military claims, and promises more such attacks “across the land of Mesopotamia” along with a film of yesterday’s attack. (More immediately below the fold.)
Adds The New York Times from last night:
What? Me Worry?
CAPTION: In this photo released by the U.S. Army Sunday, April 3, 2005, U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq, spends time with paperwork at Camp Victory, near Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday April 2, 2005. Dozens of insurgents attacked the Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad Sunday, with car bombs, gunfire, and rocket propelled grenades. The 40-minute clash killed one insurgent and injured 44 U.S. forces and 13 prisoners, U.S. military officials said.(AP Photo/U.S. Army, Spc. Mary Rose) (Yahoo News/AP)
From Reuters/Yahoo:
PHOTO CREDIT & CAPTION: “Wounded U.S. soldiers taken to hospital following the attack on Abu Ghraib prison Saturday.” (Al-Jazeera, 4/3/2005 9:00:00 AM GMT)Al Qaeda Claims Raid on Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison
59 minutes ago
DUBAI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s wing in Iraq Sunday claimed responsibility for a brazen overnight raid on Abu Ghraib prison that wounded 44 U.S. soldiers, according to an Internet statement, and said more attacks would follow. …
“Your brothers in the al Qaeda Organization (for Holy War) in Iraq launched a well-planned attack on Abu Ghraib prison, where Muslim women and men are held,” said the statement posted on a Web site used by Islamists.
It said suicide car bombs and missile strikes on U.S. forces preceded a gunbattle that lasted most of the night.
“Columns of smoke were seen rising from the crusaders’ bases,” the statement said. “This battle is part of a series of raids … which began yesterday across the land of Mesopotamia.”
The group said it would provide a film of the attack soon. …
Update [2005-4-2 22:9:50 by susanhbu]: From the LA Times, by Edmund Sanders in Baghdad:
Between 40 and 60 heavily armed men swarmed the prison, detonating two car bombs and peppering the facility with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms and mortar fire.
“First they attacked at one corner to make us think that’s where they were coming from, then they attacked at another corner,” said Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, military spokesman for detainee affairs. “This was a well-coordinated attack. This is something that we have not seen before.”
At least one insurgent was killed … Three U.S. soldiers suffered serious wounds and were evacuated for treatment … Prisoners inside the facility suffered mostly shrapnel and bullet wounds in the attack, which occurred at about 7 p.m.
[I]nsurgents frequently have lobbed mortar rounds inside but not engaged in the type of head-on assault that took place Saturday. Insurgents typically have preferred to remain hidden, working in small groups or on suicide missions, and attacking from afar with mortar rounds and rockets.
The attack Saturday was one of the largest against U.S. forces anywhere in Iraq since the Jan. 30 Iraqi national elections.
It was unclear whether attackers hoped to free detainees, but, “No prisoners were compromised,” said Lt. Col. Steven Boylon, a military spokesman in Baghdad.
Update [2005-4-2 15:36:35 by susanhbu]: From The New York Times’s Edward Wong:
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 3 – Using suicide car bombs and an array of weapons, scores of insurgents made the biggest assault yet on the American-controlled Abu Ghraib prison on Saturday evening, American military officials said. At least 20 American soldiers and marines were wounded.
Forty to 60 insurgents attacked the prison from opposite directions, but were repelled by the Americans in a pitched battle that lasted for 30 to 40 minutes, the officials said. They added that they knew of only one insurgent who had been killed, but said it was almost certain the guerrillas suffered additional casualties.
The assault appeared to be an attempt to break prisoners out of a part of the center that is controlled by Iraqi security forces, said Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for the American detainee system in Iraq.
The assault was so intense that the American troops at the prison called in three Apache attack helicopters and a Marine infantry company, the colonel said. The marines quickly secured the area around the prison. Of the 20 Americans hurt, 18 had only minor wounds, Colonel Rudisill said.
The attack was the latest in a recent pattern of large, well-organized bands of guerrillas battling American forces.
On March 23, American troops helped Iraqi forces overrun a lakeside training camp of scores of insurgents northwest of Baghdad. Four days earlier, an American convoy fended off an ambush by 40 to 50 insurgents southeast of the capital.
The Americans are holding 3,446 detainees in Abu Ghraib, where eight American soldiers were charged last year with prisoner abuse. Iraqi security forces are also holding prisoners there, though Colonel Rudisill said that he did not know how many the Iraqis had in custody.
The attack began after 7 p.m., when a suicide car bomber tried ramming into the northeast corner of the prison, the colonel said. Insurgents there then opened up with small arms and mortar fire. At the southwest corner, another suicide car bomber exploded, followed by more guerrilla fire.
On Saturday morning, a car bomb exploded at a police station in the town of Khan Bani Saad, 10 miles north of Baghdad, killing four policemen and one civilian …
Also on Saturday, the American military said a marine was killed the previous day by small-arms fire in Ramadi.
Update [2005-4-2 15:45:44 by susanhbu]: AP story:
9 minutes ago
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents attacked the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, injuring 20 U.S. forces and 12 prisoners on Saturday while six people were killed elsewhere in Iraq following a period of declining attacks that had raised hopes the insurgency might be weakening.
At least 40 militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and set off two car bombs at the infamous prison as darkness fell, 1st Lt. Adam Rondeau said. Soldiers and Marines stationed at the detention facility responded, and the resulting clash and gunfight lasted about 40 minutes.
“This was obviously a very well-organized attack and a very big attack,” Rondeau said. …
It wasn’t immediately known if any of the insurgents carrying out the attack were arrested or suffered casualties. Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area. …
Iraqis hold a small demonstration in Ramadi, Iraq Sunday, April 3, 2005, to protest against a raid on the al-Aziz al-Hakim mosque by U.S. forces Saturday night, according to witnesses. Four men detained by the U.S. troops were security and cleaning workers at the mosque, witnesses said. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Iraqis gather inside the al-Aziz al-Hakim mosque in Ramadi, Iraq Sunday, April 3, 2005, after a raid by U.S. forces Saturday night, according to witnesses. Local residents held a demonstration to protest against the raid and the detention of four men inside, who they say were security and cleaning workers at the mosque. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
which I would think would be up on this sort of news.
You have to know this would happen sooner or later . . .
Thanks… Glad you thought to check Al-Jazeera. Hope you’ll continue to. I’m checking my RSS feeds. Searched via Google. Then tried Drudge’s wire search where the only press report I can find from AP at KVAL, Eugene, OR TV station:
April 2, 2005 9:06 AM
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq Police in Iraq say Abu Ghraib prison has come under attack.
The facility is infamous for torture under Saddam Hussein and reports of abuse under American troops.
U-S officials say there has been activity in the area, but they aren’t giving any details. Plumes of smoke have been seen in the area.
This comes on a day of other violence in Iraq. Five people were killed in a car bombing near Baqouba (bah-KOO’-bah) and an education minister was shot and killed in Baghdad.
but we may be going out for a while. At the moment I’m trying to connect to some of my audio news feeds. BBC is not responding, CBC is doing some kind of variety show and I haven’t checked the other live streams yet. If I find anything I’ll be back.
Don’t see anything on AlJazeera. Nothing in the Guardian. BBC and The Independent are on popewatch. 2:15 p.m., eastern.
MSNBC only has a bar bulletin for the breaking news. No link to a story yet.
Nothing on CNN or CNN International
on msnbc 40 to 60 insurgents attacked the prison, 18 casualties, don’t know if they are American, but they don’t count Iraqi do they.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com :
I haven’t seen it anywere else yet.
At Least 20 U.S. Troops Wounded in Iraq Jail Attack
Saturday, April 02, 2005 2:35 p.m. ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Dozens of insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad on Saturday, detonating two suicide car bombs and firing rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces before the assault was repelled, the U.S. military said.
At least 20 U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which lasted around an hour, a U.S. officer said. At least 12 detainees were also wounded, some severely. It was not known how many insurgents were wounded or killed.
http://news.lycos.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1013117
FOX News is also reporting the Reuters story. THANKS for getting the text.
Shamed US to hand over Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqis
10 March 2005 07:10, Guardian UK
United States forces have agreed to hand over control of the infamous Abu Ghraib prison to the newly elected Iraqi authorities in an attempt to draw a line under one of the most shameful episodes of the Iraq war.
Iraq’s Human Rights Minister, Bakhtiar Amin, said that the US had agreed to the pullout at the four main detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, the prison at the centre of the abuse and torture scandal.
Amin said he had requested the transfer of authority of the country’s prisons from Major General William Brandenburg, the US commander of detention facilities in Iraq.
“We have discussed and asked that the detention centres be transferred to the Iraqis. They agreed to that,” the human rights minister said. “It is an important sign of Iraq’s new sovereignty that the new authorities take charge of its detainees and its detention facilities.”
……US military officials in Baghdad could not be reached for comment. But this week an army official said US forces were considering pulling out of Abu Ghraib because of a spate of attacks on the facility by insurgents. Last April, a barrage of 28 mortar rounds killed 22 prisoners and injured 91.
…when I recall the condemnation of the treatment of insurgents during 2004 by the Allawi interim government contained in the Bush administration’s own report.
There is nothing to suggest that the new government will be no less ruthless, carrying on the “tradition” of what is seen to be needed to rule that blighted country.
Bush was going to provide new facilites and to erase Abu Ghraib from this earth if not our memory. It now seems that he is not.
I can’t wait for US forces to reliquish control over the prisons and detention facilities.
The fate of the detained may not improve, it may even get worse, but at least it won’t be our boys and girls that are dishing out the abuse.
That may seem cold, but I don’t mean it that way. This is a public relations war too, and we have been losing. Plus, it really will be a true indicator that we are a step closer to coming home.
As long as we occupy Abu Ghraib, things will not improve.
Very quickly — and sorry I missed this last night (went to bed early):
P.S. The vast majority held are innocent – either picked up in carpet-sweeping raids or turned in by other Iraqis for money. The U.S. used to give money only to Iraqi civilians for turning in another Iraqi. NOW the Iraqi police ALSO get money for turning in their fellow citizens. It’s a money-making enterprise. Capitalism at work.
before the assault was repelled, the U.S. military said
“Nothing to see here, folks. Move along now.”
More and more, reading things like this puts me in mind of the reports of resistance operations during WW2, with us in the role of the Germans.
Oh goodness, this was bound to happen. Thanks once again, George W.
Here’s the diary on this at Daily Kos.
You beat dKos to the scoop.
Darn tootin’ .. beat Drudge too 🙂 (for what that’s worth) I do hope we get MORE news though. I wonder if there’s a single reporter within miles and miles of the prison.
Congratulations for getting this story out first susan. I’ve been looking all over the net also and haven’t come up with anything else either. Still not on any of the arab news online papers. Wondering why.
al-jazeera now has article on this but it’s just a rehash of the other reports. I never trust first reports for any story like this anyway as most of the ‘facts’ always turn out to be wrong. I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be even worse than it sounds right now.
Isn’t that the truth, chocolate. My favorite example of that is seeing an AP wire story, several years ago, that Tommy Lee Jones had fallen from his horse and was paralyzed. Rather serious for him. I had a friend in Germany who, of all things, had a fan Web site about him, so I wrote her. Turns out he’d fallen off his horse, but wasn’t hurt at all. I still wonder how the AP got wind that he’d been paralyzed. I felt badly I’d alarmed my friend, and it taught me — again — to be careful about any news report from any source.
I just hope we have reporters nearby who can get the real story, and that there aren’t too many deaths 🙁
Seeing as how not much info can be found I’d say the the military is trying to supress some of what has really happened but that’s pure speculation on my part right now.
Well as far as reporting, wasn’t Fox just yesterday reporting the Pope dead for about 20 minutes before they realized they screwed that up?..
Course then we have to remember what I think is one of the really famous debacles of this war reporting and that’s the Jessica Lynch ‘story’…what a truly fucked up lying mess that was.
With the Pope dead it will be even harder for people watching cable news to probably ever hear about this..we’ll see.
Man, these insurgents are smart, aren’t they? Quick to learn. Constantly inventing new tactics.
The propaganda value of this in the Mideast is enormous for them.
whatever possessed the Bushies to keep using that place? And to stage their psychodramas in the most infamous place in Husseini folklore?
It’s not stupidity of course. It’s arrogance. Talk freedom and walk tyranny & intimidation.
I do not, refuse to root for anyone firing on American troops. Not a drop, not a smidge of Hanoi Jane in me. But oh man, how I wish right were on our side.
whatever possessed the Bushies to keep using that place
If they’d had a brain in their heads, it would have immediately been converted to a hospital or school. Win the hearts and minds, etc.
to just tear the damn place down.
Why Abu Ghraib? Because Bush wants to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He wants to send one message to the domestic audience and another to Iraqis. That’s not easy in these days of instant electronic media. The only thing he has going for him is the language gap. We still get virtually nothing from arab language sources.
Choosing Abu Ghraib sent a message to the Iraqis that there was a new sheriff in town and it would be business as usual. But the domestic US audience were told the US were liberators. It’s clever.
Unfortunately they reckoned without digital camera phones.
Talking out both sides of your mouth is the holy grail of propaganda today I should think. If someone can figure how to do that without all these embarassing slip ups they will make a lot of money.
http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/ There seems to be all kinds killings/incidents happening in Iraq today besides the Abu Ghraib fight.
Can you keep us posted on any details you find? Besides the links? That’d be wonderful. Thank you.
I’ll keep checking but as of around 2 I my sister is coming to take me to do my first of the month grocery shopping so won’t be here for several hours.
Wasn’t there a story a few days ago (or a couple of weeks, I have no conception of time) about women who had been abused and assaulted/raped in abu ghraib? In fact, I think possibly susanbhu wrote about it. Anyway, one line I recall from there was that of a woman begging the insurgents to bomb the prison, hopefully killing them (the women) in the process, because of the honor thing.
Just one more reason for just about any Iraqi to hate the place, on top of the torture (and coverup for those in higher office).
I hope the injuries weren’t too bad, and that there were no deaths, but they really need to shut that place down, I think.
Yes, sigh: U.S. Soldiers Escape Prosecution for Rape
On the bright side, we’re nailing the mud wrestlers.
And the steroid users! Don’t forget them… we’re right on top of everything.
Thought that was something you’d covered… tragic, tragic story. Left me speechless.
And i read that Tom DeLay plans to hold Congressional hearings on the Schiavo matter. Thank god.
18 soldiers, 12 detainees according to USDoD
So we now have abused detainees within and failed to protect them from the outside…
Anyone ever heard of the Acre Prison???
Rate the Yahoo! story. It’s at Avg Rating: 2.73, 361 votes
I guess Bush was right: We are having an effect…
Excellent reporting as always Susan!
I just wanted to add that the Taliban are attacking all over the place in Afghanistan as well, although not quite so limelight-stealing shockingly as this attack on Abu Glib prison.
Pax
Yes, the winter there is over so they can step up all their attacks now.
One of the car bombs was detonated as rescuers attempted to treat the wounded
Rescuers? Not simply more imperial occupation forces then? “Rescuers”? What was that then? Who was sent to rescue the US armed forces, the super-friends? International Rescue? The Powerpuff Girls?
‘Cos if it was just more US troops with guns I don’t have much sympathy frankly but I’d feel bad if the Iraqis were shooting up the Powerpuff Girls or the Red Cross or some other neutral party that was just tending to the wounded.