Yesterday's bombing in Baghdad, an apparent attempt on the life of Sadr City Council Deputy Hassan Hussein Shammah, killed two US Soldiers (not yet identified by the Department of Defense); Steven Farley, a State Department employee working as a member of an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team responsible for the Sadr City and Adhamiyah districts of Baghdad; and Nicole Suveges, a DoD contractor working with the Human Terrain System in support of the 4th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
From today's Washington Post - 4 Americans Die in Attack During Sadr City Meeting by Ernesto Londoí±o:
Steven L. Farley, a State Department official working to build up the local government in the Baghdad enclave of Sadr City, knew he and his colleagues had taken a bold step, his son Brett recalled Tuesday.
Farley and other U.S. officials had learned that the Sadr City District Council's acting chairman was loyal to the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and had urged other members of the local advisory group to force the man to resign.
That was last week. On Tuesday, Farley, 57, and three other Americans were killed when a bomb exploded in the District Council building, just minutes before the selection of a new chairman was to begin.
Capitalizing on recent security gains in Iraq, U.S. soldiers and diplomats have waded deep into Iraqi politics in an effort to build moderate and responsive government bodies that they hope will erode the appeal of extremists...
The article has much more on Steven Farley's work as a PRT member in Iraq and American Embassy, Baghdad, issued a statement by Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
A BAE Systems press release provides some background on Nicole Suveges:
Nicole Suveges, a BAE Systems political scientist, was killed Tuesday in a bombing in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq. She was supporting the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 4th Infantry Division, as part of the Human Terrain System (HTS) program.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Nicole Suveges," said Doug Belair, president of the company's Technology Solutions & Services (TSS) line of business. "She came to us to give freely of herself in an effort to make a better world. Nicole was a leading academic who studied for years on how to improve conditions for others. She also believed in translating what she learned into action. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and colleagues."
Suveges began her current tour in Iraq in April of this year. Before joining BAE Systems, she had worked in Iraq for one year as a civilian contractor. Previously, Suveges served as a U.S. Army reservist in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, supporting the multinational SFOR/NATO Combined Joint Psychological Operations Task Force.
More by Mike Innes at CTLab and Noah Shachtman at Danger Room.