Posted on 05/27/2003 2:59:02 AM PDT by AntiGuv
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two U.S. soldiers and two unidentified attackers were killed and nine other American troops were wounded in a firefight Tuesday in the troubled town of Fallujah, a hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath Party, the U.S. military said.
Six Iraqis were captured and were being interrogated Tuesday afternoon, said Maj. Randy Martin, a spokesman for the U.S. Army's V Corps. The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and small arms in the attack, the U.S. Central Command said, but Martin said the grenade was thrown by hand.
All the U.S. soldiers hit were from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, based in Fort Carson, Colo., Martin said.
"Who knows what they were thinking when they engaged U.S. soldiers?" Martin said. "We suffered casualties, and the enemy paid a price for those casualties."
Initial reports said the attackers fired from a mosque within in the city, 30 miles west of Baghdad. But Martin said the Americans hit were at a traffic-control point just after midnight with gunfire from one of two vehicles that had pulled into the checkpoint together.
U.S. soldiers were searching the first vehicle and had just found weapons inside when the occupants of the second vehicle opened fire and threw a grenade.
U.S. troops responded with fire from Bradley Fighting Vehicles, machine guns and small arms. They killed two of the attackers and captured six others, the statement said.
An Army helicopter landed during the firefight to evacuate the wounded and was damaged when a Bradley struck it while maneuvering into a firing position.
The wounded soldiers were evacuated to a military aid station in the area. The names of the two dead soldiers were not immediately released.
U.S. occupying forces have run into trouble before in Fallujah, whose 200,000 people benefited greatly from Saddam Hussein's Baath regime. Saddam built chemical and other factories that employed Fallujah's young men and gave others places in his elite Republican Guard.
"Fallujah has been an area of concern for us," Martin said. But he said conditions had been improving before Tuesday.
Protests against the Army's presence in Fallujah turned violent when U.S. soldiers fired on crowds on April 28 and April 30, killing 18 Iraqis and wounding at least 78. The soldiers said then that they were defending themselves and the crowd fired first, but Iraqis said no shots were fired at the Americans. No Americans were wounded by gunfire.
Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier died Tuesday and two others were injured in a road accident near the town of Talil, when their tractor-trailer collided with another vehicle. Another U.S. soldier drowned after diving into an aqueduct in northern Iraq, the Central Command said.
The deaths came after one of the most violent days for U.S. troops in recent weeks.
A soldier was killed Monday and another wounded when their convoy was ambushed in northern Iraq, and four soldiers were hurt in what appeared to be a land-mine attack in a Baghdad neighborhood.
On Sunday, a U.S. soldier was killed and another injured in southern Iraq when a munitions dump they were guarding exploded. The blast was not thought to be a result of hostile action, Central Command said.
In Baqubah, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers shot and killed a woman who tried to approach them carrying two hand grenades. The shooting took place immediately after unknown attackers threw handheld explosives at U.S. soldiers, the Central Command said.
The violence comes even as Iraq's civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer, said Monday that troops have done a great deal to re-establish stability, including turning on water and electricity and improving basic services, and will start a program to help the nation rebuild its economy.
But he acknowledged: "There is still a lot to do, there's no doubt."
The International Atomic Energy Agency said nuclear inspectors would return to Iraq by the end of the week to ensure nuclear material stored at the Tuwaitha complex southeast of the capital remains safe and accounted for.
The mission will be limited to inspecting whether Iraq is fulfilling its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and is not related to weapons inspections, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said in Vienna, Austria.
Another team of international experts has arrived in Iraq to inspect mobile labs that the United States believes were part of a suspected biological weapons program, Col. Tim Madere of the U.S. military said.
A top-ranking Iraqi police official, meanwhile, was fired Monday because of his ties to Saddam's Baathist regime. Though he helped U.S. forces try to recreate a police force in Baghdad, Abdul Razak al-Abbassi was ousted by U.S. officials because he was a full member of Saddam's Baath party.
I suppose that Americans could sweep this town to flush out trouble-makers. No point standing around and waiting for them to attack.
It worked for the Romans.
Of course, we could go back and do the same things we did prior to Sep 11, 2001.
And if you see a Roman, give him my regards.
You are welcome. By the way, check out the terrorist camps in Iraq and Afghanistan. We did what the Romans did in those cases. Twelve thousand pound bombs are our version of Roman treatment.
No need for me to do that, you can do it yourself. If I read things correctly, you can contact Enrico Gasbarra in Rome.(He evidently is ---è il nuovo presidente della Provincia di Roma. )
Well, Carthage was a city not a person. It was destroyed.
No, I meant what I meant, not what you want it to mean. You destroy the enemy, you don't treat them as Clinton did. If the city is a trouble spot, no amount of liberal, leftwing treatment will accomplish much. It must be dealt with as we have the terrorists up to now. You can use the liberal "what about the children ploy" if you like. They are not the question. How you deal with enemies is now clear. You destroy them if they will not comply.
Read my posts, I proposed no such thing. It was in your mind that innocents were savaged. What I stated was destroy your enemy when he does not comply. You don't fool around, unless you want another 9/11.
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.