U.S. Arrests 18 in Attack on Iraq Hotel

Associated Press via Yahoo News ^ | 11/9/03 | SLOBODAN LEKIC

[TexKat]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Soldiers arrested 18 people in a deadly missile barrage last month that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz narrowly escaped, officials said Sunday. U.S. warplanes bombed near a center of Iraqi resistance, and the military said it was intensifying the fight against insurgents after increasingly bloody attacks.

The U.S. command also announced the death of another soldier, killed late Saturday when his vehicle struck a land mine in Baghdad. A senior Iraqi official warned that mounting violence may delay steps toward a new constitution, considered a major condition for returning the country to full Iraqi rule.

Lt. Col. George Krivo, spokesman for the U.S. command, said the 18 suspects were arrested in Baghdad by the 1st Armored Division but gave no further details. The missile attack Oct. 27 against the Al-Rasheed Hotel killed a U.S. colonel and injured 18 others.

Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq (news - web sites) war, was staying in the hotel but escaped injury. The barrage was part of a series of escalated attacks over the past two weeks, including the downing of a Chinook helicopter Nov. 2 in Fallujah in which 16 soldiers were killed and 21 injured.

The downing of the Chinook and the crash Friday of a Black Hawk helicopter in Tikrit made the first week of November the bloodiest for American forces since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1.

With the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Oct. 27 in Iraq, U.S. forces lifted curfews in Baghdad and Tikrit and scaled down nighttime raids to avoid angering ordinary Iraqis at a time of heightened religious sentiment.

But after the wave of attacks that began around the start of Ramadan, the military now appears to be returning to a more robust operation.

The military has launched a new, massive response tactic aimed at taking the fight to the insurgents, officials said. Krivo said there was a "new focus" in the north and west of Baghdad to find areas where Saddam loyalists "and other noncompliant forces are operating."

"We have picked up the intensity of our offensive operations and this is specifically manifested with the larger numbers of troops in the 82nd Airborne and other forces to the west," Krivo said, without giving details on the numbers of troops.

"We are on offensive operations," a U.S. officer said on condition of anonymity. "You can expect to see an increase in the level of intensity and the amount of activity that is occurring, especially in those `challenging' areas."

"Part of warfare is coercion and affecting the hearts and minds of the enemy and certainly a show of force is a tool that can be used by commander," the official said.

As part of the new tactic, U.S. jets dropped three 500-pound bombs in the Tikrit area and blasted at least three buildings early Saturday after the Black Hawk crashed — apparently due to hostile fire.

Late Saturday, U.S. F-16 jets dropped three 500-pound bombs in the Fallujah area after a series of ambushes wounded three paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the military said.

In the northern city of Mosul, a senior U.S. commander blamed the attacks on a "marriage of convenience" between members of the former regime, criminals and foreign fighters.

"There are former regime members who want to disrupt the successes achieved here in the north," Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said. There are also "criminals ... who are willing to be guns for hire," as well as "some foreigners who have come in small numbers and have been involved in this as well."

In Baghdad, meanwhile, three mortars exploded late Sunday in Baghdad's Karrada district, damaging a house but causing no injuries, police said. One officer speculated the target was the Technology University a short distance away.

A U.S. patrol came under small arms fire late Sunday in the capital's Kamal Jumblatt Square. There were no casualties and the U.S. troops drove away immediately without shooting back.

Also Sunday, Iraq's interim foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said he expected the Iraqi government to meet a U.N. Security Council deadline of Dec. 15 for submitting a timetable for a new Iraqi constitution and national elections.

"However, those timetables depend on the security situation, and if the security deteriorates, we will not be able to adhere to such commitments," Zebari said after a meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio.

A new constitution would enable Iraqis to govern themselves and hasten the day when American and other coalition forces could leave the country in the hands of a stable and democratically elected administration.

The United States and its coalition partners consider adoption of the new constitution and national elections as key steps in the reestablishment of a sovereign Iraq.

However, the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has not decided how to chose the delegates to a constitutional convention that will write the document. Leaders of the majority Shiite Muslim community want the delegates chosen in a national election, something U.S. officials believe would take too long.

Other proposals have included the Governing Council selecting delegates from a list of nominees submitted by regional and local leaders.

In Tikrit, a U.S. official said Sunday that an American major general was aboard a military helicopter that flew with the Black Hawk that crashed there last week, killing six soldiers. The Black Hawk was apparently shot down by insurgents.

The helicopter carrying the general, whom the military refused to identify, landed safely, according to Maj. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman of the 4th Infantry Division.

The Black Hawk helicopter, however, burst into flames Friday and plummeted into a grassy field on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, military officials said, citing witnesses. Two of the dead were from the Department of the Army headquarters at the Pentagon, the military said.

_

Associated Press correspondents Mariam Fam in Mosul, Jim Gomez in Tikrit and Bassem Mroue in Baghdad contributed to this report.

[TexKat]

A US Army soldier of the 1st Armored Division patrols the center of Baghdad late Sunday, Nov 9, 2003 after several loud blasts echoed across the Iraqi capital. Three mortar shells hit a residential area of Baghdad, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

U.S. Army soldier patrol the center of Baghdad late Sunday, Nov 9, 2003 after several loud blasts echoed across the Iraqi capital. Three mortar shells hit a residential area of Baghdad, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The soldiers later came under fire. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

U.S. Army soldiers arrive to check the site of an evening mortar attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad November 9, 2003. Several loud blasts echoed across the Iraqi capital Baghdad and police said a mortar bomb hit a house in the center of the city, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Photo by Nikola Solic/Reuters

Iraqi's celebrate on top a burning truck trailer in the outskirts of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2003. The trailer was set on fire because residents of Fallujah claimed that the truck was carrying supplies for American troops. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

A barefoot Iraqi man is detained by soldiers of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division during a raid in the suburb of Baquba, November 9, 2003. U.S. troops raided several houses in Baquba late in the afternoon, looking for members of a suspected cell planning attacks on coalition forces. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

An Iraqi boy tries to set a truck trailer on fire in the outskirts of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2003. The trailer was set on fire because residents of Fallujah claimed that the truck was carring supplies for American troops. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Iraqi's celebrate next to a burning truck trailer in the outskirts of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2003. The trailer was set on fire because residents of Fallujah claimed that the truck was carrying supplies for the American troops. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

A British Army soldier collects pieces of forensics evidence at the site of a roadside bombing in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, November 9, 2003. One soldier was injured according to local police. REUTERS/Atef Hassan

British soldiers seal off the area in Basra, southern Iraq, Sunday, Nov 9, 2003 after a British soldier was injured when a land mine exploded, witnesses said. Two British military vehicles were driving by the city's teaching hospital on their way to the main army base in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces when the blast occurred, according to an Iraqi police officer.(AP Photo/Nabil Aljurani)

An Iraqi man suspected of being a former Saddam Hussein bodyguard sits handcuffed in the back of a US military Humvee hours after he was nabbed from a house during an overnight raid in the village of Tal Maghar, some 20km south of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk Saturday. Security officials say dozens of Saddam's followers have been assassinated in southern Iraq as they try to regroup and attack the coalition.(AFP/file/Roberto Schmidt)

[livius]

Great pix and great details! Thanks! I'd love to see these in the mass media (although I guess I never will).

[gg188]

Soldiers arrested 18 people in a deadly missile barrage last month

Arrested? Arrested.

These people don't have any fear of us. They think we are wussies. What is mercy and fairness to US is cowardice and weakness in their worldview. Until they have abject, unmitigated fear of our soldiers we will continue to face this.

These 18 should have been marched into the street, shot, and left.

[Abcdefg]

" . . . U.S. troops drove away immediately without shooting back."

That's nice.

[open mind-closed fist]

These 18 should have been marched into the street, shot, and left.

Let's stay on the high road and not stoop to the barbaric level of the enemy. We'll win far more hearts 'n minds that way.

And collect far more intell too.

[cookcounty]

" (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Isn't this the same photographer that managed to show up within seconds at every Sunni Triangle ambush, and got himself arrested ? Did he get released?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[U.S. Arrests 18 in Attack on Iraq Hotel Associated Press via Yahoo News ^ | 11/9/03 | SLOBODAN LEKI]

Er, Slobo, we have in fact taken prisoners of war who are out of uniform. Thus, they may be interrogated and otherwise disposed of at our discretion, including summary execution by firing squad.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Don't know. But he is surely not Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Jeez, why can't these people select names that are distinguishable? our fifths of the population must go by the same surname. What happens in an airport if the pager requests Mr. Mohammed report to the information desk?

[American in Israel]

Great post! Lots of work and great information.

I figure they should hold a military trial and have a public execution of anyone convicted of the rocket attack.

In the case of the setting fire of the trashcan truck, mow them down with automatic fire. Open insurection can not be tolerated, and a strong hand is what they understand, and would to to each other. Attacking American military supplies is an act of war and should have the normal consequences of a war act.

On the other hand the trash cans are still good, they catch on fire full of trash all the time. It is the truck trailer that was damaged.

[Brian Allen]

Khalid Shaikh MohamMad is "Sayed [Mr] Khalid.

His father was Sayed MohamMad.

[His mother was nine]

[samtheman]

Great pix and great details! Thanks! I'd love to see these in the mass media (although I guess I never will).

The mainstream media is only interested in stories that make President Bush look bad. To them, that's the only news that's fit to print (or broadcast).

[windchime]

"As part of the new tactic, U.S. jets dropped three 500-pound bombs in the Tikrit area and blasted at least three buildings early Saturday after the Black Hawk crashed — apparently due to hostile fire."
"Late Saturday, U.S. F-16 jets dropped three 500-pound bombs in the Fallujah area after a series of ambushes wounded three paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the military said."

I like the new tactic!

[TexKat]

Hooah. I like it too windchime. I overlooked the Fallujah bomb dropping. Way to go.

[windchime]

Is it glass yet? :)

[gg188]

Let's stay on the high road and not stoop to the barbaric level of the enemy

Thank God that, for just one example, Harry Truman didn't feel that way in Summer of '45.