Booby-trapped bodies of 2 GIs recovered
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military recovered the bodies Tuesday of two missing soldiers from an area it said was rigged with explosives. An Iraqi official said the Americans were tortured and killed in a "barbaric" way.
An insurgent group claimed the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq executed the men personally, but it offered no evidence. The U.S. military did not confirm whether the soldiers died from wounds suffered in an attack Friday or were kidnapped and later killed.
The discovery of the bodies dealt a new setback to U.S. efforts to seize the momentum against al-Qaida in Iraq after killing its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a June 7 airstrike. Violence was unabated Tuesday, with at least 18 people killed in attacks nationwide, including a suicide bombing of a home for the elderly in the southern city of Basra.
Coalition forces spotted the American soldiers' bodies late Monday, three days after the men disappeared following an attack on their checkpoint south of the capital, the military said. But troops delayed retrieving the remains until an explosives team cleared the area after an Iraqi civilian warned them to be alert for explosive devices.
"Coalition forces had to carefully maneuver their way through numerous improvised explosive devices leading up to and around the site," the military said in a statement. "Insurgents attempting to inflict additional casualties had placed IEDs around the bodies."
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the bodies were found together in the vicinity of an electrical plant, which would be just a few miles from where the initial attack took place near the town of Youssifiyah in the volatile Sunni Triangle south of Baghdad.
Caldwell said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. The bodies will be flown from Kuwait to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for positive identification through autopsies and DNA testing.
Menchaca's cousin Sylvia Grice said the soldier visited relatives in Texas last month but didn't talk much about the war.
"He wanted to go out and visit his friends," she said. "He wanted to eat a hamburger. He didn't want to sit down and talk about what was going on. But he was very proud of serving his country and he believed in what he was doing."
The director of the Iraqi Defense Ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The two soldiers disappeared after an insurgent attack at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal, 12 miles south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed in the attack. The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.
Caldwell said only a single vehicle carrying the three U.S. soldiers was attacked. A witness has said two other Humvees were in the area and went after the assailants, while seven masked gunmen ambushed the third Humvee.
Some 8,000 Iraqi and U.S. troops searched for the missing soldiers. One U.S. soldier died and 12 were wounded during the search, Caldwell said, adding that coalition troops killed two insurgents and detained 78. The troops received 66 tips, 18 of which were considered worthy of follow up.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq, posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive and that "we shall give you more details about the incident in the next few days, God willing."
On Tuesday, after Iraqi officials disclosed that the bodies were found, the Shura Council posted another Web statement, saying al-Zarqawi's successor had "slaughtered" the soldiers. The language in the statement, which could not be authenticated, suggested the group was saying the men were beheaded.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. If confirmed, the killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq in a June 12 Web message by the group.
Al-Zarqawi made al-Qaida in Iraq notorious for beheadings and was believed to have killed two American captives himself — Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004. A dozen Americans are still missing in Iraq, Caldwell said.
Just hours before Tucker and Menchaca disappeared Friday, a U.S. airstrike killed a key al-Qaida in Iraq leader described as the group's "religious emir," Caldwell said.
Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, died along with two foreign fighters in the same area where the soldiers' bodies were found. The three were trying to flee in a vehicle.
Al-Mashhadani, identified as an Iraqi in his late 30s, was "a key leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials" and tied to the senior leadership, including al-Zarqawi and his alleged replacement, Caldwell said.
U.S. forces captured Mansour in July 2004 because of his ties to the militant groups Ansar al-Islam and Ansar al-Sunna, but the military let him go because he was not deemed an important terror figure at the time.
Tuesday's violence across Iraq included at least three bombs striking Baghdad despite a security crackdown launched nearly a week ago.
In the bombing of the home for the elderly, an 18-year-old Sunni wearing an explosives belt blew himself up as senior citizens were lined up to collect monthly pensions. Two elderly women were killed and three people were wounded.
Police said the motive was unclear, but sectarian tensions have been worsening in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra.
___
Associated Press writers Patrick Quinn in Baghdad, Ryan Lenz in Balad, and Nadia Abou el-Magd in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Agfp1YSt3sjBRjEv_1vfubas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
21,000 Troops Notified for Iraq Deployment
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has notified about 21,000 Army soldiers and Marines that they are scheduled to be sent to Iraq late this year as part of the latest deployment rotation.
Four major combat brigades from Texas, Alaska and Colorado are scheduled to replace troops returning home from the war, the Pentagon said. Thus, the announcement does not signal an increase in troop strength in Iraq.
In a press release Tuesday, the Pentagon said the planned assignments could change depending on the conditions in Baghdad. The move comes as Pentagon officials and the Bush administration are under increasing pressure from Congress and the public to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.
Combined with last November's announcement of 92,000 American service members scheduled to go to Iraq in the 2006-2008 rotation, this would bring the total U.S. troop level to about 113,000 for that period. That is less than the approximately 138,000 average troop level for the past year, but more than military officials' goal of less than 100,000 by the end of the year.
There are about 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
Not all of the units in the first 92,000 have gone to Iraq yet. A Germany-based Army brigade's travel to Iraq was put on hold just last month _ triggering talk that a U.S. troop cut might be in the offing. They are now scheduled to go this summer. And a Fort Lewis, Washington, brigade began shipping equipment to Iraq this month and the soldiers are expect to follow soon.
The moves suggest that U.S. commanders are sticking largely to their original troop rotation plan for this year, leaving unclear when and if a sizable reduction in U.S. troop levels will begin.
Defense officials said the announcement makes no major changes to the number of troops in Iraq and should not be interpreted as a move to either decrease or increase the size of the military there.
"Force levels in Iraq continue to be conditions-based and will be determined in consultation with the Iraqi government," the announcement said. "Changes may be made that could affect units now being identified and advised to prepare to deploy."
The decision was made by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, based on recommendations by commanders in the field.
The units are: 3rd Corps Headquarters, 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters, the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, all from Fort Hood in Texas; the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Lejeune, N.C.; the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Richardson in Alaska; and the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Carson in Colorado.
___
On the Net:
Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil