Posted on 04/01/2004 9:29:48 AM PST by kattracks
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops on Thursday vowed to use overwhelming force to enter the volatile Iraqi town of Falluja and hunt down those who killed and mutilated four American contractors.
Marines took up positions on the outskirts of the restive town west of Baghdad where insurgents ambushed the contractors on Wednesday, but the U.S. army's deputy director of operations Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said they would return.
"Coalition forces will respond," Kimmitt told a news conference. "They are coming back and they are going to hunt down the people responsible for this bestial act.
"It will be at a time and a place of our choosing. It will be methodical, it will be precise and it will be overwhelming."
Television footage of jubilant Iraqis mutilating the bodies recalled events in Mogadishu in 1993, when a crowd dragged the bodies of American soldiers through the streets, hastening the departure of U.S. forces from Somalia.
Falluja was relatively quiet on Thursday, but residents said more bloody killings should be expected.
"The Americans may think it is unusual but this is what they should expect. They show up in places and shoot civilians so why can't they be killed?" Falluja shop worker Amir said.
U.S. troops fired on demonstrators in Falluja last April, killing at least 15 people. Many residents then vowed revenge.
Guerrillas near the town detonated a roadside bomb as a U.S. convoy passed by, wounding three soldiers. One Humvee left behind by American soldiers near the site of the attack was later set ablaze and looted by a crowd of Iraqis.
A roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers on Wednesday in the same area, a hotspot for resistance to the occupation.
The U.S governor of Iraq (news - web sites) Paul Bremer vowed to hunt down those responsible for ambushing the contractors, and those who then torched the corpses and dragged them through the streets before hanging them from a bridge.
"The acts we have seen were despicable and inexcusable," he said. "They violate the tenets of all religions, Islam included, as well as the foundations of civilized society. Their deaths will not go unpunished."
TRADE FAIR CANCELED
As the Falluja violence sparked renewed concern among foreign organizations working in Iraq, a high-profile U.S.-sponsored trade fair for companies rebuilding Iraq was postponed.
Organizers of the Baghdad Expo, a major trade fair that had been due to start on Monday, said it was postponed -- a blow to U.S. efforts to draw investment to Iraq and project an image of a stable country conducive to doing business.
No new date was set for the event.
International companies hoping to win a slice of Iraqi reconstruction had been due to take part in the exhibition, along with U.S. companies that have won most of the contracts Washington has awarded to rebuild Iraq so far.
But many companies had expressed concern about security at the trade fair -- the site where it was due to be held was rocketed last month, and Baghdad's main hotels have also been repeatedly attacked with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Washington hopes economic growth in Iraq will help undermine the guerrilla insurgency, but so far, the lack of stability and security in some parts of Iraq has hampered reconstruction.
On Wednesday, a car bomb attack in the town of Ramadi, close to Falluja, killed six Iraqis and wounded five, the U.S. army said. It gave no details on the circumstances or target of the blast.
In Basra on Thursday, a mainly Shi'ite city 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, at least one Iraqi was killed in clashes between Iraqi police and around 100 protesters demanding salaries. The protesters threw stones and set tyres on fire.
The U.S. military death toll last month was the second highest of any month since President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over on May 1 last year.
At least 50 American troops died in Iraq in March, according to Pentagon (news - web sites) figures. The deadliest month for U.S. forces was November, when 82 U.S. troops died.
At least 407 American troops have been killed in action in Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded on March 20 last year to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
Guerrilla attacks in March also killed at least 16 foreign civilians, including the four who died in Falluja on Wednesday.
Yes, if the Saudis want war, let's give them the real thing.
Lower production ?
Let's show them how funding terrorists can really lower their prodiction !
This is what will happen.
Payback's a b*tch!
I believe it was on Fox and Friends this morning.
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.