Semper Fi
DoD Identifies Marine Casualties No. 610-05 IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 16, 2005
The Department of Defense announced today the death of four Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Jonathan R. Flores, 18, of San Antonio, Texas
Cpl. Jesse Jaime, 22, of Henderson, Nev.
Cpl. Tyler S. Trovillion, 23, of Richardson, Texas
Lance Cpl. Dion M. Whitley, 21, of Los Angeles, Calif.
All four Marines died June 15 when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. All four Marines were assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was operating with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, which was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).
Al-Zarqawi Blamed for Spike in Iraq Deaths Thursday June 16, 2005 11:16 PM
By FRANK GRIFFITHS - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S. general on Thursday blamed Iraq's recent spike in bloodshed on a terrorist leader condoning the killing of fellow Muslims, while a suicide car bomber rammed into a truck in Baghdad, killing at least eight police officers and wounding 25 others.
The U.S. military also reported that five Marines and a sailor were killed Wednesday near the volatile western city of Ramadi.
Separately, Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez was charged with murder Wednesday in the deaths last week of two Army officers at a base north of Baghdad, the military said Thursday.
The military initially attributed the June 7 killings of the officers - Capt. Phillip T. Esposito 30, of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen, 34, of Milford, Pa. - to an insurgent mortar attack near Tikrit but said further investigation showed the blast pattern was inconsistent with such an attack.
Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's hope to provoke sectarian war suffered a setback Thursday when the Shiite-led parliament and leaders of the disaffected Sunni Arab minority, which is thought to provide the backbone of the insurgency, agreed on a process for drafting Iraq's constitution.
Elsewhere, dozens of hooded insurgents surrounded a downtown mosque in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, to prevent a meeting of local politicians and tribal leaders on the country's new charter and reconciliation efforts.
``We told them to leave Iraq's issues for us, we are the only ones who can liberate Iraq by fighting infidels and not by holding conferences. And instead of spending money for this conference, they have to give it to us to buy weapons to help our fighting against the Americans,'' a masked man told Iraqi reporters outside the empty mosque.
U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston took aim at al-Zarqawi, saying the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq is most responsible for the nearly 1,100 violent deaths since the Shiite-led government took office seven weeks ago.
``With Zarqawi's push recently, we certainly see the fantastic rise in the number of civilians killed, given that he has proclaimed that taking out civilians is an acceptable thing,'' said Alston, spokesman for the U.S.-led international military force in Iraq.
Last month, an audiotape said to be from al-Zarqawi denounced the country's majority Shiites as collaborators with the Americans and said it was justified for Muslims to kill such people even if they are Muslims.
Alston's focus on al-Zarqawi, whose small group is blamed for many of the bloodiest attacks and hostage takings in Iraq, apparently was aimed at reinforcing growing dissatisfaction among Iraqis over insurgents targeting civilians. He said that anger has brought an increase in calls to tip lines.
``We are getting reports that cells in his network are concerned about the consequences of this behavior and a consequence of what it has done to the Iraqi people,'' Alston said. ``The Iraqi people are increasingly exposing the insurgency. This is not a popular insurgency.''
He said tips to Iraqi authorities resulted in Tuesday's arrest of Mohammed Khalaf, also known as Abu Talha, who was al-Qaida's leader in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
``This is a major defeat for the al-Qaida terrorist organization in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi's leader in Mosul is out of business,'' Alston said.
As he spoke, Shiite politicians succeeded at including Sunni Arabs in the work of drafting Iraq's new constitution. Senior members of the Shiite-dominated parliament committee writing the charter reached agreement with Sunni groups on their representation on the panel, a political breakthrough just two months before a deadline to prepare the charter.
The stalemate over that issue had threatened Iraq's political process as it was about to enter its final stretch, with two key nationwide votes planned for later this year - a constitutional referendum in October and a general election in December.
The constitutional process, and attempts to open channels with some militant groups not tied to extremists, are touted by the United States and Iraq's government as a way to help defuse the insurgency.
``Those who are terrorists, those who are al-Qaida and al-Zarqawi, and those who are Saddam elements, we have (nothing to) say to them,'' Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Thursday.
``But other Iraqis who are dissatisfied with something and believe that struggling with weapons will not lead to achieving their demands, we are ready to listen to them and permit them to come back to the democratic process in Iraq.''
Martinez, 37, a supply specialist with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 42nd Infantry Division, a New York-based National Guard unit, is facing two counts of premeditated murder, according to a statement from Multi-National Corps, Iraq.
He was being held at a military jail in Kuwait and has been assigned a military attorney and has the option of hiring a civilian lawyer, the statement said.
The suicide bomber plowed his black sedan at high speed into a truck carrying police officers from checkpoint to checkpoint on the road connecting Baghdad with its airport. The officers were part of an evening replacement shift, said police Maj. Moussa Abdul Karim and medic Najam Abid of the al-Yarmouk hospital.
The Marines died Wednesday after their vehicle was attacked near Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. A sailor attached to the Marines' unit, the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed Wednesday in Ramadi by gunfire, the military said.
In other developments:
-Judge Salim Mahmoud al-Haj Alia and his bodyguard were killed by gunmen in eastern Mosul. The al-Qaida-affiliated Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility in an Internet posting.
-A roadside bomb in Mosul killed an Iraqi police officer, officials said.
-Police found the bodies of 11 people in two towns in the so-called Triangle of Death, an official said.