CBS Evening News open - 2004-12-21 - 2 of 2

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:04] This is what the mess tent looked like

[0:06] during Thanksgiving dinner. The hole

[0:08] torn by what could have been a rocket or

[0:10] a mortar shows how little protection

[0:11] today's lunchtime crowd had.

[0:14] And that raises the question, why at a

[0:16] base which had been shelled many times

[0:18] before and at a time when officials are

[0:20] predicting an increase in attacks

[0:22] leading up to next month's elections,

[0:24] were soldiers and civilians allowed to

[0:26] congregate in such a vulnerable

[0:28] location?

[0:29] According to reporters who were there,

[0:31] everybody at the base worried the mess

[0:33] hall was a sitting duck. A new mess hall

[0:36] built of concrete and steel was under

[0:38] construction just a short distance away.

[0:40] But like so much else in Iraq, it was

[0:42] taking longer than expected to complete.

[0:45] Officials say most of the temporary

[0:47] shelters built to house and feed

[0:48] American troops and contractors are too

[0:50] flimsy to withstand a direct hit. And

[0:53] that it was only a matter of time before

[0:55] the insurgents got lucky.

[0:57] President Bush himself ate Thanksgiving

[0:59] dinner with the troops in a mess tent

[1:00] last year.

[1:02] The insurgents have a seemingly

[1:04] inexhaustible supply of ammunition, much

[1:06] of it looted from Iraqi ammo dumps in

[1:08] the chaos following the fall of Baghdad.

[1:11] They can lob rounds into military camps

[1:13] at little risk to themselves as long as

[1:16] they flee before the Americans determine

[1:18] where the fire is coming from.

[1:20] Shellings of the green zone in downtown

[1:22] Baghdad, which is the headquarters for

[1:24] both the American occupation and the

[1:26] interim Iraqi government, have become an

[1:28] almost daily event. Like the ambushes

[1:31] and roadside bombs which have been

[1:32] killing soldiers for the past year and a

[1:34] half, these so-called indirect fire

[1:37] attacks are a well-known and

[1:38] long-standing threat. And like putting

[1:41] armor on Humvees and trucks, the

[1:43] question is once again, what's taking so

[1:45] long to give the troops the best

[1:47] possible protection?

[1:49] David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.