Official Says Iraq 'Unusually Quiet;' U.S. Troops Find Weapons Cache

News Tribune (Seattle) ^ | September 7, 2003 | Andrew England

[Ex-Dem]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (September 7, 8:40 a.m. PDT) - U.S. forces around Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit have uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition hidden in a row of bunkers residents dubbed the "RPG shopping center," the military said Sunday.

The discovery Saturday included wire-guided surface-to-surface Sager missiles, 315 rocket-propelled grenades and 62 mortar shells, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman. Also, two surface-to-air missiles were fired Saturday at a coalition aircraft as it left Baghdad International Airport, the U.S. military said.

Coalition forces are increasingly being attacked from a distance by mortars and remote-controlled homemade bombs, a possible change in strategy by anti-American insurgents, said military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo.

"It's certainly seemed to us from just looking at the evidence that there is a change in tactics on the ground," he said.

Since mid-August four car bombs have killed scores of people in Baghdad and in holy southern city of Najaf, where an explosion at a mosque last week killed a top Shiite cleric and between 85 and 125 other people.

Yet the country was relatively calm as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ended his three-day visit to Iraq on Saturday. There were 13 attacks on coalition forces in the last 24 hours, but no soldiers had been killed or wounded in the past two days.

"It's been unusually quiet," Krivo said.

Rumsfeld acknowledged Iraq was not as safe, but said the fault does not lie with American forces. He said it was up to the Iraqis to provide U.S. troops with the intelligence needed to stop attacks and lawlessness.

The U.S. military also said Sunday that troops captured a suspected Saddam loyalist alleged to have carried out a grenade attack last month at a children's hospital in which three soldiers were killed.

The Aug. 11 attack was believed to have involved someone who threw a grenade on the soldiers from the upper floors of the hospital in Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The suspect was captured in a Saturday raid but was not identified by the U.S. Central Command. He was among 10 people detained in the sweep in Baqouba, which also netted a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, hand grenades, blasting caps and a detonation cord for a roadside bomb.

On Sunday, the Dubai-based satellite channel, al-Arabiya, aired a tape by Abdul Rahman Al-Najdi, an alleged senior propagandist and financier for al-Qaida. The voice on the tape denied that the terrorist group was involved in the Najaf bombing that killed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

"Our aim is to fight the Americans and kill them," al-Najdi said.

Since the bomb blast, militiamen belonging to a banned military wing of a Shiite Muslim group have been patrolling the city's tense streets carrying assault rifles.

When asked about the rearming of the militiamen, Krivo said the coalition would not turn a "blinded eye to any militia." The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite broadcaster said the U.S. military in Najaf had given militias until Saturday to disarm.

"We are supporting any Iraqi who desires to help secure the country, however, that has got to be through the direction of the central government," he said.

Another senior U.S. military official, who did not wanted to be identified, told The Associated Press that militia groups would be dealt with once the heat had gone out of the Najaf situation.

"Dealing with militia requires finesse, it's going to require great sensitivity to the ethnic groups ... but it is the objective. It's everyone's objective to ensure that central government control is established in this country," he said. "It should be understood in the mid- to long-term ... you cannot have people setting up private armies ... in the short term I would say the situation will be handled gingerly."

[billorites]

"It's been unusually quiet"

They're pining.

Pining for the fjords.

[section9]

True, it has been quiet. Yet the following sentance speaks volumes...

Coalition forces are increasingly being attacked from a distance by mortars and remote-controlled homemade bombs, a possible change in strategy by anti-American insurgents, said military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo.

For three months, local goons have been trying to ambush convoys with infantry. Yes, they've been killing our people, but what hasn't been reported are the casualties the insurgents are taking once the Bradleys open up and when our infantrymen advance to engage.

Insurgents are no match for trained infantry. Period.

That's the way I see it. Indeed, as we move our troops out to the boonies and lower our profile in Baghdad, the utility of the remote control bombs will go down.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Gabrielle Reilly]

Read later.


Please ignore link.
http://www.gabriellereillyweekly.com/full/statedepartment.html

[RippleFire]

bump

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

SALUTE to our troops. ONCE again, jobs well done. They are NOTHING short of amazing. We must never forget how awsome they are. And they do this 24/7. FOR US!

DAMN we love these guys...

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

About post #6, am I in trouble about that word? D*mn?

[Admin Moderator]

No.