And for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, we pray for the Lord to welcome them into His loving arms!
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.
Prayers for the Connell family. May our Lord comfort them in their grief.
May our Lord give His Divine grace to those soldiers now hunting for the missing.
SD.
With the tight security in force over the release of who was among those killed and who was captured, no news does not mean much yet. Prayers for all involved.
News we hate to hear,,,
TANKS a Bunch,,,And My Prayers Up for your Son too,,,
News will be very slow on this,,,lotta “fog” out there...
My wife and I will be sitting on pins & needles for a while. Thanks for the prayers for Robert. Keep all of our troops in prayer also.
SD
The 10th.Mt. Mom here can’t watch the news at all,,,
She knows nothing of this and I plan to keep it that way,,,
just checked DOD,,,still nothing...
We are praying for her son. Thanks for keeping eyes out for news.
SD
General Cites ‘Massive Effort’ Under Way to Find Missing Soldiers
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2007 – The U.S. military, coalition partners and Iraqi security forces are making a “massive effort” to find three American soldiers missing in Iraq since May 12, a senior U.S. military officer said today.
“We are using every asset and resource available to the United States and our Iraqi allies in these efforts,” Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said during a videotaped release broadcast on the Pentagon Channel today.
A convoy carrying seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter was ambushed by enemy forces as it traveled west of Mahmudiyah, Iraq, during a search for roadside bombs, U.S. officials reported. The attack site is located about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Positive identification has been made of three U.S. soldiers killed in the attack, Caldwell said, and of the Iraqi interpreter. Identification of the fourth U.S. soldier killed in the ambush is pending, he said.
However, “we still have three missing American soldiers,” Caldwell said, noting their current duty status is classified as “whereabouts unknown.”
“We are doing everything we can to locate our soldiers,” Caldwell emphasized, adding that Iraqi citizens are providing tips to help find the missing troops.
Caldwell said credible intelligence information indicates that the U.S. soldiers have been abducted by al Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist group operating in Iraq.
Intelligence teams, manned and unmanned aircraft, and an array of other U.S., coalition and Iraqi assets are being employed in the search operations, Caldwell noted.
Information now being disseminated about the missing soldiers is intentionally limited, Caldwell noted, so as not to jeopardize ongoing search operations. The missing soldiers’ families are receiving all available information, he said.
Caldwell said the U.S. military’s thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the missing soldiers and to those families who have suffered the death of a loved one as a result of the attack.
Thousands of U.S. troops are combing the area where the missing soldiers were last seen, Caldwell said, noting everyone involved is “doing everything we can to find these brave and courageous soldiers.”
The U.S. Army is pledged to honor its tradition of never abandoning a comrade on the battlefield, Caldwell pointed out.
“We live by that creed,” the two-star general said.
Thanks for the ping bnelson. Any additional information will be appreciated.
SD
This search has been goin’ on a long time now,,,JMHO,,,
4,000 men and aircraft can cover a very large area,,,
My post # 190 shows the area south of the ambush turning
to flat open country...
Thanks for the ping, bnelson44.
CholeraJoe and I sent a few care packages to several soldiers in one unit of the 10th Mountain at Baghdad last Christmas. I never heard back so we did not end up adopting them, but I am pinging the Merry Band of Patriots to pray for all the soldiers of this light infantry division, and for the families of the dead and missing men.
SW6906 also sent a care package last Christmas to a soldier in one of the units of the 10th Mountain at Baghdad. Did either of you hear back?
Bookmark
Time to send in General Pershing.
And for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, we pray for the Lord to welcome them into His loving arms!
How do you do this? Its very easy. Its kind of like Boot Camp. Instead of punishing one person. Punish the entire platoon. Here is an example. 1946 in Germany a small town had some resistance, and ended up killing 3 or 4 of our guys. We ended up shelling the town for the next 24 hours. Guess what? We never lost a soldier there again.
The people will flush the thugs out when it gets too hot to handle. All we have to do is turn up the heat. However, our gutless politicians will never allow our generals to do this because they are more concerned with about the people of Iraq then our own troops. That is the sad painful truth.
prayers for certain.
Praying Right Now, in the Name of His Majesty in Heaven.
TANKS a Bunch KM...
Prayers sent. Thanks for the flag.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.