Aftermath..

The terrorists tried to hit the hospital today. THE HOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!! More on that in a minute.

A BMW pulled up to the gate at the hospital and a guy got out and ran. So, the IP's guarding the hospital gave it a shove, and it went Ka-blooey. I don't know if there were casualties in that one.

Moments later, another guy pulls up in this station wagon, and says he needs to visit someone in the hospital. He gets out of his car, leaves it at the gate, and goes inside the hospital. The IP take a look in the rear cargo area of the car and see an artillery round. Uh oh.

Luckily the IP's were able to push the station wagon down the road about a hundred meters, without it going BANG. I arrived on the scene at this time. The Iraqi police was evacuating the people from hotels and shops near the second car. I tell you what, these guys had a good perimeter set up. EOD was able to come out and control-detonate the device. It blew up...again......and again. EOD blew the first charge, and then the car burned. I got video of the hood of the car, what looked like an older Impala station wagon, 200 feet in the air. Seriously, I mean WAAAAAAY up there.

It turns out there was other ordnance in the vehicle...and it blew without warning. Luckily we were keeping our distance and were behind cover while it burned... because about three minutes later, a secondary explosion, bigger than the first, took everyone by suprise...I was about 75m away from it, around the corner of a building. So, after checking to make sure the VIP we were escorting was OK, we pulled back away from the car a bit further. Good thing. The third explosion took us all even more by suprise, I think, because we figured, "OK, thats it, Cool." It was amazing. Four or five minutes after that, the thing blew up AGAIN, and we were standing there looking at each other, wondering "Holy Smokes, just how many rounds were in there??" It was kinda like being at the circus, wondering just how many clowns are gonna come out of the little car...instead it was wondering just how many times the car is gonna go BOOM.

Later, on the radio, we heard that the Iraqi FD got the flames on the car put out, and the area cooled off, when they found 5 more artillery rounds that were blown clear of the vehicle that did not explode. If they had all gone, it woulda been a big-biggie. I mean HUGE.


VBIED...after the first blast

Now comes my rant...

These sicko's tried to blow up the hospital. They attacked innocent people on public transportation in London on Thursday. These barbarians need to be dealt with very heavy-handedly. Anyone who attacks innocents deserves a whuppin. I don't understand how anyone can sympathize with their cause. Now, dear readers, I know most of you agree with me, that's why you read this page. If you know anyone who can "sympathize" or "understands" what these terrorists are doing, ask them what good blowing up the hospital can do. I can understand everyone complaining and moaning, calling for us to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.....if it was the US and Coalition Forces trying to demolish the hospitals of this country. BUT IT IS TERRORIST SCUM, the very forces we are here to defeat.


UPDATE: 7-11-05, 1100hrs The first blast was a suicide VBIED, and four innocent civilians were killed, and approximately 15 were wounded.

UPDATE: 7-15 In response to the last few anonymous comments, I can't comment on wether we caught the guy, or what would happen if we did. Sorry, OPSEC considerations.

SCOUTS OUT!!!!


MDG......OUT.