Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
May 20, 2007
Pg. 1
By Steven Komarow, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- U.S. forces broadened their hunt yesterday for three missing comrades beyond the rural area south of Baghdad where they disappeared, and their top commander expressed optimism that at least two of them were still alive a week after their isolated outpost was ambushed.
At least one soldier was killed yesterday and another seriously wounded as insurgents attacked the searchers with guns, mortars and bombs. The military reported a dozen other U.S. troop deaths in Iraq since Thursday.
The search for the missing soldiers involves some 4,000 troops who "will not stop searching until we find our soldiers," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "We're using all available assets and continuing to assault the al Qaeda in Iraq network," he said.
Acting on a tip, Col. Garver said troops raided a building in Amiriyah yesterday morning and captured nine Iraqis suspected of involvement in the attack. Amiriyah is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents with close tribal ties to Quarghuli, where the outpost was overrun.
He said U.S. troops also detained in Baqouba two Iraqis who he said were "associated" with the al Qaeda command network. He did not tie those arrests directly to the missing soldiers. Their outpost in Quarghuli is about 12 miles south of Baghdad and about 50 miles from Baqouba, a violence-racked city to the north.
A group that claims ties to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the May 12 attack that resulted in the kidnapping and the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi aide. However, there has been no evidence, such as photos, video or audio, released by that or other groups.
Army Gen. David Petraeus, the senior American commander in Iraq, told the Army Times newspaper in an interview Friday night that U.S. forces were focusing on an insurgent who is "sort of an affiliate of al Qaeda."
He said an informant provided U.S. forces with names of those who took part in the raid and kidnapping but they were still at large. "We've had all kinds of tips down there. We just tragically haven't found the individuals," he said.
Gen. Petraeus said he did not know whether the three missing soldiers, from the Army's 10th Mountain Division, were alive. But "as of this morning, we thought there were at least two that were probably still alive," he said.
"At one point in time there was a sense that one of them might have died, but again, we just don't know."
An Iraqi army intelligence officer, who said he helped interrogate two suspects detained in recent days in Mahmoudiyah, said they confessed to participating in the raid. Mahmoudiyah is the largest town in the search area.
They said 13 insurgents conducted the surprise attack and then escaped in two groups. The leader of the group, along with some gunmen, took the kidnapped soldiers to a destination unknown by the two detainees, he said.
He added that the two detainees gave interrogators the hiding place for weapons used in the ambush and that U.S. troops went there and took them.
In the week since the attack in Quarghuli, some two dozen U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. Five were announced yesterday, four of which occurred Friday.
Northeast of the capital, there was more gruesome Iraqi-on-Iraqi killing yesterday. Men in Iraqi army uniforms rousted Kurdish villagers from their homes, separated out the able-bodied men, and fatally shot 15, according to an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party.
It was the latest incident in months of sectarian killings in lawless Diyala province and officials said yesterday that the local army commander was fired by the government.
Violence also marred the last visit to Iraq by British Prime Minister Tony Blair before he leaves office. A mortar round hit the British Embassy compound and two more elsewhere in the Green Zone while Mr. Blair was in Baghdad. And then, although Mr. Blair's itinerary was not announced, explosions also were heard when Mr. Blair went to Basra in southern Iraq, where British forces are based.
In all, at least 93 persons were killed or found dead nationwide yesterday, including 20 bodies found yesterday around Baghdad.
One well-known Iraqi politician close to the Bush administration narrowly escaped injury. Ahmad Chalabi, who helped President Bush sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the American public, was hustled to safety by his bodyguards when attackers struck with mortars and firearms in Buhriz, about 40 miles north of Baghdad and just south of Baqouba.
May 20, 2007
Pg. 1
By Steven Komarow, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- U.S. forces broadened their hunt yesterday for three missing comrades beyond the rural area south of Baghdad where they disappeared, and their top commander expressed optimism that at least two of them were still alive a week after their isolated outpost was ambushed.
At least one soldier was killed yesterday and another seriously wounded as insurgents attacked the searchers with guns, mortars and bombs. The military reported a dozen other U.S. troop deaths in Iraq since Thursday.
The search for the missing soldiers involves some 4,000 troops who "will not stop searching until we find our soldiers," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "We're using all available assets and continuing to assault the al Qaeda in Iraq network," he said.
Acting on a tip, Col. Garver said troops raided a building in Amiriyah yesterday morning and captured nine Iraqis suspected of involvement in the attack. Amiriyah is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents with close tribal ties to Quarghuli, where the outpost was overrun.
He said U.S. troops also detained in Baqouba two Iraqis who he said were "associated" with the al Qaeda command network. He did not tie those arrests directly to the missing soldiers. Their outpost in Quarghuli is about 12 miles south of Baghdad and about 50 miles from Baqouba, a violence-racked city to the north.
A group that claims ties to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the May 12 attack that resulted in the kidnapping and the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi aide. However, there has been no evidence, such as photos, video or audio, released by that or other groups.
Army Gen. David Petraeus, the senior American commander in Iraq, told the Army Times newspaper in an interview Friday night that U.S. forces were focusing on an insurgent who is "sort of an affiliate of al Qaeda."
He said an informant provided U.S. forces with names of those who took part in the raid and kidnapping but they were still at large. "We've had all kinds of tips down there. We just tragically haven't found the individuals," he said.
Gen. Petraeus said he did not know whether the three missing soldiers, from the Army's 10th Mountain Division, were alive. But "as of this morning, we thought there were at least two that were probably still alive," he said.
"At one point in time there was a sense that one of them might have died, but again, we just don't know."
An Iraqi army intelligence officer, who said he helped interrogate two suspects detained in recent days in Mahmoudiyah, said they confessed to participating in the raid. Mahmoudiyah is the largest town in the search area.
They said 13 insurgents conducted the surprise attack and then escaped in two groups. The leader of the group, along with some gunmen, took the kidnapped soldiers to a destination unknown by the two detainees, he said.
He added that the two detainees gave interrogators the hiding place for weapons used in the ambush and that U.S. troops went there and took them.
In the week since the attack in Quarghuli, some two dozen U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. Five were announced yesterday, four of which occurred Friday.
Northeast of the capital, there was more gruesome Iraqi-on-Iraqi killing yesterday. Men in Iraqi army uniforms rousted Kurdish villagers from their homes, separated out the able-bodied men, and fatally shot 15, according to an Iraqi general and a Kurdish political party.
It was the latest incident in months of sectarian killings in lawless Diyala province and officials said yesterday that the local army commander was fired by the government.
Violence also marred the last visit to Iraq by British Prime Minister Tony Blair before he leaves office. A mortar round hit the British Embassy compound and two more elsewhere in the Green Zone while Mr. Blair was in Baghdad. And then, although Mr. Blair's itinerary was not announced, explosions also were heard when Mr. Blair went to Basra in southern Iraq, where British forces are based.
In all, at least 93 persons were killed or found dead nationwide yesterday, including 20 bodies found yesterday around Baghdad.
One well-known Iraqi politician close to the Bush administration narrowly escaped injury. Ahmad Chalabi, who helped President Bush sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the American public, was hustled to safety by his bodyguards when attackers struck with mortars and firearms in Buhriz, about 40 miles north of Baghdad and just south of Baqouba.