Nine American military personnel were killed in a car bombing in Diyala province in Iraq.

BAGHDAD — A homicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad on Monday, killing nine U.S. soldiers and wounding 20 in one of the deadliest attacks on American ground forces since the war started more than four years ago.

An Iraqi civilian also was wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

At least 48 Iraqis were killed in seven other bombings, violence that has persisted despite a nearly 10-week-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown aimed at pacifying Baghdad.

Of the 20 wounded in the attack on the patrol base, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said.

It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a homicide car bomber. Militants have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.

American troops are facing increasing danger as they step up their presence in outposts and police stations in the Baghdad area as part of the security crackdown to which President Bush has committed an extra 30,000 troops.

Sunni militants are believed to have withdrawn to surrounding areas such as Diyala province where they have safe haven. The U.S. command also deployed an extra 700 soldiers to the area last month.

A U.S. soldier also was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite area that also is in Diyala, the military said in an earlier statement. A British soldier was shot to death while on patrol in the southern city of Basra, officials said.

The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. service members who died have in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for American troops since December, when 112 died.

I don’t want one more drop of American blood shed over this war, but I have such strong feelings that if we don’t contain them there and walk away it will embolden the Islamofascists to chase us all over the world to get the world’s strongest and best nation and military.

The President needs to make it crystal clear to al-Maliki there are limits beyond which we will not go and Maliki has to understand his role is to see to it his own forces take up the slack and start defending their own country.

We, as a nation, need to speak with one voice to the public and not have every Congresscritter or Senator standing on a soapbox disagreeing with our policy in public daily.

Take those discussions behind closed doors to preserve even a semblance of unity in our country if that is still possible.

Words spoken by our political leaders are read all over the world and that includes in Islamic countries where terrorists are bred.

Why can’t we stop politicizing this war and just do the right thing for the country? I’m weary of the fighting in Washington and I worry how it affects our military on the frontlines.

Will they feel they have died in vain if they die, or will they still think they have served our country? The military are the ones who are taking all the hits and it’s time to make them feel a little good about the jobs they are doing.

Written by ~J~

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