Some News from Iraq: 2 views

In the office today I was scrolling through the major international news headlines. The news from Iraq could be summarized by: “bang.” That’s pretty much it. A country the size of California whose past present and future is critically important to us and the news is “bang.”

One of the bangs was this tidbit (Dow Jones newswires):

BAGHDAD (AP)--U.S. soldiers foiled two suicide truck bombings against their base in a small town west of Baghdad and killed as many as 15 attackers, the U.S. military reported Tuesday.
The attacks began when a water truck tried without permission to drive into the base just north of Karmah, a small town not far from Fallujah, about 2 p.m. Monday. A soldier opened fire and the truck bomb exploded.

The military said 30 insurgents then opened fire with small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Five minutes into the firefight, a dump truck following the same path as the exploded water truck tried to smash into the base but the driver was shot and that truck load of explosives blew up as well.

The military estimated it killed 15 insurgents in the fight and said eight soldiers were wounded. Seven of the wounded returned to duty after treatment by medics on site. One soldier required hospitalization.

Karmah is 50 miles west of Baghdad.

Reuters put out this series of stories, each one slightly different report on the same incident:

Reuters @ 10:40 AM:

Car bomb kills 15 in northern Iraq - police
BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - A car bomb killed 15 people and wounded another 30 when it exploded in the middle of the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar on Tuesday, police Brigadier Karim Khalaf al-Jubouri said. Jubouri said the bomb targeted civilians on a central street in Tal Afar, which is near the Syrian border.
((Editing by Myra MacDonald))

Reuters at 12:40 AM:

Toll in twin Iraqi truck bombing rises to 45-police


BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Two truck bombs killed 45 people and wounded 103 in the northwestern Iraqi town of Tal Afar on Tuesday, police Brigadier Karim Khalaf al-Jubouri said.
One of the blasts was detonated by a suicide bomber who lured victims to his truck to buy wheat that was loaded on the back, Jubouri said. A second truck bomb exploded in a car park.
((Editing by Elizabeth Piper))

By the end of the day, Reuters had merged all the bangs in Iraq into one big bang that would be carried by the evening news broadcasts:

(Updates Tal Afar death toll, changes dateline) By Claudia Parsons and Mussab Al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Bomb attacks killed 75 people in Iraq on Tuesday, including 48 who died in twin truck bombings in the northwestern town of Tal Afar, police said.

Among other attacks, suspected al Qaeda militants killed 21 people in bombings targeting police and Sunni Arab tribes who have formed an alliance against the militants, officials said.

The attacks follow an upsurge in violence in recent days. U.S. and Iraqi security forces have deployed thousands more soldiers in Baghdad to try to stem a sectarian war that threatens to tear the country apart.

And added their in-story editorial for those who don't get it: the only things that happen to the 20 million people in Iraq is "BANG." The only thing: "BANG." To the exclusion of everthing else: "BANG."