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Posted on 11/08/2003 5:25:53 PM PST by blam
America strikes back as warplanes bomb guerrilla hideouts
By Colin Freeman in Baghdad
(Filed: 09/11/2003)
American warplanes bombed suspected Iraqi guerrilla hideouts in their first air attack since President George W Bush declared major combat over in May, as a senior US official said the situation inside Iraq was now "pretty close to war".
The sharp escalation of the American military campaign against the growing Iraqi insurgency came in swift response to the death of six soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down on Friday. It was the third helicopter brought down within three weeks.
F-16 fighter-bombers swooped over Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home city, dropping 500lb bombs near the site of the crash. The air attack was quickly followed by ground assaults involving troops backed by Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, who destroyed several farmhouses thought to be used by pro-Saddam fighters.
About 16 Iraqis were detained and five killed, including an Iraqi man spotted trying to set a booby trap for American soldiers. US commanders said the attack, Operation Ivy Cyclone, was designed as "a show of force".
As the attack unfolded, America's deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, admitted during a visit to Baghdad that Iraq was still a war zone.
"We are involved in an insurgency, and that's pretty close to war," he said. American forces had "a very solid plan to go out and get these people who are killing us and killing Iraqis," he added.
Further signs of the worsening security in parts of Iraq came as the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it was temporarily closing its offices in Baghdad and Basra, in response to the increasing risk to its staff - 12 of whom were killed in a car bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters last month.
The move came despite a plea by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, for international organisations to remain in Iraq. Florian Westphal, a spokesman for the ICRC, said: "We are still discussing what to do with our foreign staff. The situation is extremely dangerous and volatile."
Meanwhile, two American soldiers were killed when a home-made bomb exploded near their Bradley armoured vehicle close to Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, bringing the total of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq to 149.
The US army said it had arrested a dozen suspects for the rocket attack on the Baghdad hotel which nearly killed Paul Wolfowitz, America's deputy defence secretary.
Troops acting on tip-offs seized 12 of the 18-strong gang believed to have fired a salvo of rockets at the Al Rasheed hotel two weeks ago, during overnight raids in west Baghdad.
Brigadier General Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armoured Division, said the suspects detained for alleged involvement in the Al Rasheed attack appeared to be Saddam loyalists, rather than foreign terrorists.
The audacious attack killed one US army colonel and only narrowly missed the room occupied by Mr Wolfowitz. Those arrested included an alleged financier, a missile supplier and other operatives. Cash totalling $10,000 was also found in the home of the suspected ringleader.
Mr Powell vowed that the attacks on US troops - which have killed 27 in the past seven days - would not lead to an American pull-out. "We are trying to end US military presence in Iraq as quickly as possible, but we will not turn our back and run away due to the difficult security situation," he told the Saudi al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Elsewhere in the region, the British Embassy in Bahrain warned of danger of terrorist attacks against Western targets in the country. "We judge that there is a high threat from terrorism against Western, including British, targets. We are particularly concerned about potential threats to places where Westerners might gather," said a statement.
Nope, because all we committed to by that time is having a constitution written. (as I understand it)
Okay, thanks. Even less pressing.
Oh really? Looks like a "sexed-up" line to me.
We should have leveled Tikrit last spring; these Islamanazi Mofo's haven't been made to suffer enough.
That said, I still have my doubts as to whether Democracy can be established by force in a society where religious dogma trumps common sense liberty. In layman's terms, the Iraqi's don't want, or deserve, democracy and further American blood. Bush had better find a way to solve this problem soon, or he will have the leftist press at his throat next year at an inopportune time.
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