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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Was Bob Woodruff set up?
Posted by Jill | 8:25 AM

This post at Kos by a recent returnee from Iraq makes a compelling case for the ambush that injured ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Douglas Vogt being the result of insurgent spies working within the Iraqi army that the U.S. is supposedly training:

Bob Woodruff was set up.
by tricky dick
Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 12:11:19 AM PDT
As some of you know, I recently returned from Iraq. This Bob Woodruff story has been bothering me. Something about it stinks.

I have a theory about what likely happened. I think it's worse than we know.

Update - I suspect that Bob Woodruff was set up by insurgent spies working within the Iraqi Army, and that the US Military was unable to protect him. I want to be clear, this is no conspiracy theory. I am in no way suggesting that Bob Woodruff was working on behalf of the US government, as some are suggesting in the comments. I have the utmost respect for Bob Woodruff and do not question his journalistic integrity. I wish him a speedy recovery.

tricky dick's diary :: ::
The biggest problem with Iraq is that the Iraqi Army (IA) is a complete joke. This is why the US Military is stuck there for the next decade, guaranteed. The GOP will get clobbered in the mid-terms if they can't figure out a way to convince the gullible Amercan public that things are improving. That means some artificial troop reductions and a carefully orchestrated PR campaign... along with a significant amount of praying. We know the US is involved in negotiations with various insurgent groups, hoping to cut a deal with them. In short, the Bush Asministration is terrified of losing the mid-terms and will do anything necessary to turn the tide with regards to the domestic political situation. They are desperate.

Tonight is the State of the Union Address. I believe that Woodruff was meant to be embedded with an IA unit in order to give the impression that the IA is making "good progress" in "standing up" so that the US can "stand down". Of course it's all a con game. I believe Bob Woodruff fell victim to an ill conceived attempt at propaganda.

First of all, I should tell you that while in Iraq, I was stationed at an IA training base in Diyala Province. I saw the IA train everyday. What first grabbed my eye about this story was that Woodruff was riding in an armored vehicle which was supposed to belong to the IA. The problem is that the IA doesn't have any armor. They drive around in Toyota pickup trucks. They are white with brown stripes and usually have M-60's (or a Russian equivalent) mounted on the back. They have zero tactical vehicles. I can't imagine they have aquired them in the last 90 days.

So where the hell did they get the armor?

My guess is that some IA unit was selected for a crash course in "how to drive a 113" or whatever in the hope of giving ABC News the impression that the IA was indeed becoming mechanized, which is an absolutely vital step towards them becoming effective. In short, this would have been very irregular and conspicuous activity for the IA to be engaged in. Again, the IA NEVER TRAIN IN OR OPERATE ARMORED VEHICLES!!!

Second, the IA is completely compromised by the insurgency. Once insurgents within Woodruff's embedded unit saw what was going on, it would have been all too easy for them to get the word out and set up an ambush. It certainly would have been in their interest to do so, they well understand the information war that is going on. They are probably aware that the US Government is actively engaged in PSYOPS against the US Public. They would have desperately wanted to kill Woodruff even as the US Military hoped to show "progress in Iraq".

Now look, I know I am speculating. But I don't think you people know how unlikely this attack was to be random. The area Woodruff was in is not that bad. It's not as if every single convoy gets nailed every time out. In 11 months, my vehicle was never directly targeted. The odds that the insurgents would happen to hit that particular convoy in that particular area is remote. The odds that they would hit Woodruff's vehicle is also a long shot. And they must have hit it hard. They inflicted serious injury on personel who were riding in a well protected vehicle. Naturally the Army wouldn't send Wooodruff out in a Toyota, they sent him out in a vehicle that was a hard target.

You see, most of the IED attacks in Iraq are ineffective. They usually wouldn't kill an armored vehicle. They are becoming more and more lethal, to be sure. But it is actually unusual, in my experience, to come across one that is potentially this destructive. This, however, was a complex attack. It was an (especially effective) IED attack followed by small arms fire. That, contrary to what you might think, simply does not happen every day. I don't believe that this is a coincidence.

For Woodruff to be out on patrol with an armored IA unit (which is something I have NEVER heard of) the day before the SOTU address, and then for him to be nailed by a devastating complex-IED attack... it stinks to high heaven.


This isn't tinfoil hat stuff, nor is it vague mumblings about some kind of Administration setup. If true, what it points to is a serious infiltration of the Iraqi army by the insurgency -- with Woodruff and Vogt being made an example of just who's running the show.
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