Posted on 05/13/2007 5:18:54 AM PDT by jern
Edited on 05/13/2007 9:40:51 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Thousands of U.S. soldiers searched Sunday for three Americans who were missing after their patrol came under attack in an explosion that killed four of their comrades and an Iraqi army translator. Two bombings one in northern Iraq and another at a market in Baghdad killed at least 67 Iraqis.
The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, said it had captured several soldiers in the attack, but offered no proof to back up its claim, posted on an Islamic Web site.
The search for the missing Americans began after insurgents attacked a patrol of seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter before dawn Saturday near Mahmoudiya.
The U.S. military said Saturday that five people were dead and three were missing.
On Sunday, U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell confirmed that the Iraqi interpreter was among the dead and that all the missing were Americans. He said about 4,000 U.S. troops were involved in the search.
Caldwell said the bodies of the three slain soldiers and the Iraqi interpreter had been identified, but the military was still working to identify the fifth.
"Everybody is fully engaged, the commanders are intimately focused on this, every asset we have from national assets to tactical assets ... are being used ... to locate these three missing soldiers," Caldwell said.
Mahmoudiya is about 20 miles south of Baghdad in an al-Qaida-dominated area known as the "triangle of death." Two U.S. soldiers were massacred there last year after they disappeared at a checkpoint.
President Bush has been getting regular updates on the missing soldiers, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said in Washington.
Meanwhile, a suicide truck bomber crashed into the offices of a Kurdish political party, killing at least 50 people, including the police chief, and wounding scores, officials said. It was the second suicide attack in Kurdish areas of the north in four days.
The suicide truck bombing in Makhmur, 30 miles south of Irbil, badly damaged the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Makhmur is just south of the autonomous Kurdish-controlled areas, but it has a substantial Kurdish population.
The blast also killed the police chief and damaged the mayor's office, officials said.
Ziryan Othman, the health minister of the Kurdish regional government, said at least 50 people were killed and 115 were wounded, including the city's mayor.
Cars were charred and crushed by the blast, with some flipped over. The tires of one appeared to have been incinerated. Most of the small KDP building appeared to have been destroyed, reduced to a pile of bricks. Other buildings had walls blown out.
A group of people hurriedly pulled a body from a demolished car.
Outside the hospital in Irbil, security guards closed the hospital to visitors and read a list containing the names of the wounded who had been admitted.
Hearing the names of his son and daughter, Qassim Amin, 61, a Kurd, thanked God that they had not been killed. Both are employees at the KDP party office, he said.
"Makhmur is an open, peaceful area, and al-Qaida is trying to destabilize it by causing fighting between Arabs and Kurds," Amin said.
In Baghdad, a parked car exploded near the popular Sadriyah market, killing at least 17 people and wounding 46, police said. The area has been hit by several blasts usually blamed on suspected Sunni insurgents, including a car bombing on April 18 that killed 127 people.
AP Television News footage showed a crater in the ground filled with debris, splintered wood, metal and a tire. A white truck appeared to be crumpled by the blast.
With violence on the rise, Caldwell also announced that an additional 3,000 forces have been sent to Diyala province, scene of heavy fighting.
Last week, the top U.S. commander in the north, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, said the U.S. didn't have enough troops to restore order in Diyala but more had been promised.
"There is a recognition clearly that up in Diyala there has been an uptick in the violence," Caldwell said at a news conference in Baghdad.
On Sunday, Iraqi gunmen drove into the Diyala capital of Baqouba, pulled two handcuffed men out of the trunk and shot them to death one in view of a bustling market and the other near a movie theater, police and witnesses said.
"This is the destiny of traitors," the gunmen yelled as they shot their victims.
Three other civilians also were killed execution-style in a market in the city center, police said.
Well said. Ditto.
The Democrats are VERY happy today. These soldiers are just fodder for them to throw under the bus in their all-encompassing campaign to destroy the Administration and Republicans and grab power for a generation. That's the only game in town, ever, for Democrats.
They've got the straw-man well set up, so that any bad news at any time is good for them.
If you haven't seen this yet: A campaign by active-duty troops asking Congress to drop plans for a withdrawal from Iraq. Lt. Jason Nichols, a 33-year-old naval projects officer who has been in Baghdad since mid-January, said the goal is to keep lawmakers focused on letting the military finish its mission in Iraq, and not prematurely declare failure
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7392499685041821301&hl=en
Petitions for civilians:
http://www.townhall.com/ref/surrender
http://www.gopetition.com/online/11574.html
That is exactly right. We are stuck inside a box.
Ron Paul:Fighting over there has nothing to do with preserving freedoms here at home.
If?
Al Qaeda has been involved with the so-called civil war the entire time.
Twelve year old Nazis were killing Allied soldiers until the last day of the war in Europe and there were no German cities left to speak of. It took two nukes and a multitude of fire bomb raids to convince Japan to give it up.
Strategic bombing to destroy the enemy’s war making ability works but doing it to scare them into surrender, as far as I can see, just pisses them off.
More to the point, what targets are you wanting to obliterate? I guess I would be happy to see the borders between Iraq, Syria and Iran, and Afghanistan and Iran turned into free fire zones, but I would rather see infantry, arty and tac air doing the job.
Michael Frazier
yes I like that, only with a lot of tonnag and chase them all into Iran or Syria.
Five Soldiers Killed in Iraq, Three Missing
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2007 Five soldiers were killed in Iraq today and three others are currently missing following an attack near Mahmudiyah, a senior U.S. military officer reported.
This morning at 4:44 a.m. in Iraq, a coalition force team of eight soldiers (seven Americans and an Iraqi Army interpreter), were attacked 12 miles west of Mahmudiyah, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said in a written statement. As a result of this attack, five soldiers were killed in action and three are currently missing.
A nearby coalition unit heard explosions during the attack and unsuccessfully attempted to establish communications. Coalition forces arrived within an hour, secured the site, and immediately initiated a search, Caldwell said.
The general said coalition forces are currently using every means at their disposal to find the missing soldiers, and will continue these efforts until all are accounted for.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those killed in this attack and for the missing soldiers and their loved ones back home, Caldwell said.
The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending final identification and notification of next of kin.
The specifics are as follows:
— Coalition forces heard an explosion at 4:44 a.m. this morning about 12 miles west of Mahmudiyah;
— After an unmanned aerial vehicle observed two burning vehicles, a quick reaction force was dispatched, arriving on scene at 5:40 a.m.;
— The quick reaction force reported finding five members of the team killed in action and three others whose duty status and whereabouts are unknown;
— Helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, and fixed wing assets are being used to search in the vicinity;
— Checkpoints have been established throughout the area in a concerted effort to focus the search and prevent potential movement of missing soldiers out of the area;
— Coalition forces have engaged with local leaders to enlist their support in providing any information they can, and these engagements continue.
(From a Multinational Corps Iraq news release.)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46000
Amen
Indeed..I include their Mothers and families.
After an unmanned aerial vehicle observed two burning vehicles, a quick reaction force was dispatched, arriving on scene at 5:40 a.m.;
That it took an hour for a QRF to get to the scene is flat out wrong.....In this area of Iraq. If this turns out to be accurate, this QRF was a goatfk.
As for the 3 missing soldiers....I still believe it is extremely remote for 3 U.S. soldiers to be taken alive. Most likely they were KIA at the scene...God bless them all.
“But, if Al-Quaeda is involved and they do post videos of these men being brutalized, then its time to end the surge and start winning dirty. ............... Its time to use the USMC play book used at Tulagi 1942.
TANKS for the info,,,from what I read yesterday,,,
Lt.Col. Morchauser(sp)(the CO) was out there himself
leading the troops in the search,,,
You can follow a censored chronicle of Xth Mtn through the Fort Drum site and their paper The Blizzard.
Good morning.
Has it been confired that the Xth Mtn, 2nd BCT is the unit involved?
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Not as far as I know but this FOB is their’s and they have taken casualties there very recently.
Thanks.
Meanwhile, three to four thousand American babies are slaughtered daily in America.
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