Is This What Rummy Meant by "Slog"? Surely Mr. Wolfowitz will consider this an indication that the security issues concerning a liberated Iraq are not being too greatly exaggerated. Unless it was just an amazing coincidence, the timing and location of the attack might suggest that the insurgents' intelligence is not indicative of the absence of a command and control structure as has so aften been asserted by coalition officials. Let us hope that Ms. Ann Coulter will not now add a chapter to her latest book-length revisionist rant and accuse liberal members of the coaltion of treason.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 26 — The hotel where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz stayed overnight during a visit to Iraq was hit by what American soldiers said were rockets early Sunday morning, wounding a number of people. Mr. Wolfowitz was not hurt.
Shortly after 6 a.m., three or four explosions were heard outside the Rashid Hotel, where Mr. Wolfowitz and his delegation are staying. The hotel is also a center for American contract workers in Baghdad.
Shortly after 6 a.m., three or four explosions were heard outside the Rashid Hotel, where Mr. Wolfowitz and his delegation are staying. The hotel is also a center for American contract workers in Baghdad.
Although details remained sketchy shortly after the attack, it appeared that rockets hit on the 3rd, 8th and 11th floors. There were an unknown number of people wounded. At least three were seen being carried though the lobby on stretchers. Mr. Wolfowitz appeared to be unhurt, and he was rushed by security guards out a side door of the lobby. He appeared unfazed, and even exchanged greetings with correspondents who had rushed to the lobby. Smoke filled some of the upper floors, but there were no signs of a fire immediately after the attack.
The attack on the well-known Rashid, especially during the visit of a high-ranking American dignitary, will only serve to underscore security concerns for the American-led stabilization effort and questions about how best to rout loyalists of the Saddam Hussein government.
The rockets fired at the hotel came from beyond a tall security wall that marks the perimeter. One left a line of fireworks-style sparks as it came toward the building, and the 11th floor, where correspondents traveling with Mr. Wolfowitz were staying, shuddered.
One soldier outside the compound said 12 rockets had been left nearby on a generator. Six or seven remained, all set to go off. "It looks professional," the soldier said. "Whoever set this up knew what they were doing."
It should be noted that there was much good news to report about the Deputy Defense Secretary's visit to Iraq, especially in the northern city of Kirkuk.
