Blasts Rip Iraq Police Stations, Kill 55

[thedrifter]

Blasts Rip Iraq Police Stations, Kill 55

By ABBAS FAYADH

BASRA, Iraq - A series of explosions ripped through three police stations and a police academy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra Wednesday, killing at least 55 people, including some 10 schoolchildren, and injuring at least 238, officials said.

Three near simultaneous blasts targeted police stations at rush hour in Basra. At about the same time, a fourth explosion ripped through the police academy in the Basra suburb of Zubair. An hour later another blast targeted the same police academy.

Forty-five people were killed in the police station blasts and 10 were killed in the police academy explosions, officials and witnesses said. The injured included two British soldiers at the police academy, Maj. Hisham al-Halawi, spokesman for British forces in Basra, told Al-Arabiya television.

The attacks came a day after Iraqi leaders named a tribunal of judges and prosecutors to try Saddam Hussein, placing a longtime opponent of the ousted dictator in the forefront of the case against him and his former Baathist inner circle.

At one station in the Saudia district of Basra, four vehicles were seen destroyed including two school vans that were passing that station at the time of the attack. One was carrying students from a girls' middle school and the other carried kindergarten students.

Some 10 children were among the dead, Iraqi Police Col. Kadhem al-Muhammedawi said. It was not immediately clear which bus they came from.

Cars outside of the station were charred. The interior of one of the school buses was burned out, the seats shredded.

British forces who rushed to the scene were being hampered by angry protesters, said a Ministry of Defense spokeswoman in London, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The facade of the Saudia station was also heavily damaged and there was a hole 6-feet deep and 9-feet wide in front of the Saudia station.

More than 40 dead and 200 injured from the blast were brought to Basra's Educational Hospital, the city's largest, said Ali Hussein, an emergency physician at the facility.

Dozens of bodies could be seen in the morgue and in the hallways of Basra's Educational Hospital.

Another five dead and 36 injured were evacuated to a second hospital, Basra General Hospital, hospital officials said.

Witnesses said 10 people were killed in the police academy explosions.

"We don't know yet who committed these bombings," al-Halawi said. He said two British soldiers were wounded in the al-Zubair attack.

British military spokesman Squadron Leader Jonathan Arnold said the blasts were believed to have been caused by car bombs. Al-Muhammedawi said, however that the blast may have been caused by rocket attacks.

Also Wednesday, about 35 Iraqi insurgents attacked U.S. Marines in the besieged city of Fallujah with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, setting off a heavy gunbattle, the military said. No casualties were immediately reported.

Iraqi security forces, some wearing flak jackets and carrying weapons, moved back into Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, on Tuesday, part of an agreement between U.S. officials and local leaders aimed at ending hostilities. The accord calls on insurgents to hand in weapons and allows civilians to return.

U.S. officials have warned that if guerrillas do not surrender their weapons, Marines are prepared to storm the city _ likely sparking a new round of bloody fighting.

On Tuesday, a senior member of Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress was appointed to head the all-Iraqi tribunal _ a potentially controversial choice.

Chalabi, a longtime exile who returned to Iraq and was named to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, is mistrusted as an outsider by many Iraqis who want to see Saddam prosecuted by Iraqis who were present under his brutal rule.

Meanwhile, guerrillas fired a barrage of mortar rounds at Baghdad's largest prison, killing 22 prisoners in an attack a U.S. general said may have been an attempt to spark an inmate uprising against American guards. The slain prisoners were all security detainees, meaning they were suspected of belonging to the anti-U.S. insurgency or to Saddam's former regime.

A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul: It was the 100th American combat death in April, the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.

At least 1,100 Iraqis have been killed in fighting since the start of the month, according to an Associated Press count based on reports from hospitals and Iraqi and U.S. officials.

Tuesday's mortar attack was the bloodiest against the sprawling prison complex of Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad. Ninety-two prisoners were wounded, 25 of them seriously, said Col. Jill Morgenthaler, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

"This isn't the first time that we have seen this kind of attack. We don't know if they are trying to inspire an uprising or a prison break," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told AP. In August, six security prisoners were killed in a mortar attack on the lockup, which was once Saddam's most notorious prison.

In the tribunal appointments, Salem Chalabi, a U.S.-educated lawyer and nephew of Ahmad Chalabi, was named by the Governing Council as director-general of the court, said INC spokesman Entefadh Qanbar.

Salem Chalabi named seven judges and four prosecutors, and further judges will be appointed, Qanbar said.

No date has been set for the trial of Saddam, who was captured by U.S. troops in December and has since been undergoing CIA and FBI interrogation at an undisclosed location in or near Baghdad.

On the council, Ahmad Chalabi, a favorite of the Pentagon architects of the Iraq invasion, has been a fierce proponent of expunging traces of Saddam's regime. He heads an official De-Baathification Commission that has been aggressive in purging Iraqis with links to Saddam's dissolved party from government positions _ so aggressive that even some U.S. officials have complained that it was getting rid of needed expertise.

Ahmad Chalabi's INC held a seat on the Governing Council commission that drew up the Saddam tribunal.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has recommended the council be dissolved on June 30 and a caretaker government of technocrats take its place. "Then certainly (Chalabi) and the INC will have a diminution in their political status," Dawisha said.

"If that happens, will the judge who is a relative of Chalabi be able to survive, or will the new government appoint a new group of people?"

Elections due by Jan. 31 for a government to replace the caretaker one also affect the tribunal. A court formed by an elected government would have more legitimacy in the eyes of Iraqis, Dawisha said.

Iraqis _ particularly the Shiite Muslim majority repressed by the Baathists _ have been eager to try the man who ruled them with an iron fist for decades. Shiites, particularly local leaders with grassroots support, are likely to dominate any elected government and could want to see their own people lead Saddam's prosecution.

A team of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators has been gathering evidence for a war crimes case against Saddam, while other international groups have been sifting through the mass graves where U.S. officials say 300,000 victims of Saddam's regime were buried.

Aside from the regime's brutal persecution of political opponents, Kurds and Shiite Muslims, Saddam's military used chemical weapons against troops and civilians during the Iraq-Iraq War and a Kurdish uprising of the 1980s.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/200...s/d8232dag0.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Camp Pendleton troops await outcome of renewed cease-fire

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- Thousands of U.S. Marines poised on the fringes of this besieged city relaxed their stranglehold Tuesday, allowing residents to return to their homes, ambulances to pick up the scores of injured and dead and vehicles to distribute humanitarian aid.

In exchange for the loosening of the military cordon, city leaders say they will redouble their efforts to persuade insurgents to surrender their weapons ---- and themselves.

The aim: a peaceful solution to a standoff that is now in its third week.


"If they are sincere, and we're seeing them turning in weapons and identifying bad guys, then we'll slowly, slowly pull out of the city," Col. John Toolan, commander of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Regiment and task force surrounding Fallujah, told his troops during a visit Tuesday to the front lines.

In Washington, however, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a news conference Tuesday that he saw only a remote possibility that negotiations in Fallujah would succeed, and that he was skeptical they would lead to the detention of those responsible for the killing of four American civilians three weeks ago.

Toolan said the Iraqis only have "a couple more days" to produce results before they are judged and the decision to attack is again on the table.

"They (Iraqi leaders) say they've had enough; they want it to stop," Toolan told a few Marines from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, in the living room of an Iraqi home the Marines have occupied for nearly two weeks.

The troops listened closely, staring up at the towering, fatherly New Yorker whom Marines say they trust to make the right decisions.

"We'll give them a chance ---- a couple of more days to find out if they are really sincere," he said. "Then we'll judge how they did."

Other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have been more specific, saying that Friday is the deadline for cooperation.

Under the terms of the renewed cease-fire, which has been peppered with attacks by insurgents but largely honored by the Marines, Iraqis pledged to disarm and turn in insurgents to avoid a major assault by the Marines, many of whom seem to be chomping at the bit for decisive action.

Residents will be allowed to keep and travel with assault rifles, but machine guns, rockets, grenades and mortars have to be surrendered.

Military officials also have asked that the town turn over the key leaders of the insurgency, as well as those responsible for killing and mutilating four American contractors in Fallujah on March 31.

For their cooperation, U.S. officials postponed an attack and granted several key concessions.

A strict 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was rolled back to 9 p.m. and relaxed to give violators the benefit of the doubt unless they show hostile intent.

Many residents who fled during the fighting have been able to return to their homes. The conditions of their return, however, were still unclear Tuesday as several commands seemed to be following different rules.

During his visit Tuesday, Toolan told the troops that many military leaders around Fallujah and those "running the show in Baghdad" wanted to exploit the Marines' hard-earned foothold in the city and strike a final blow against the insurgents who are concentrated in the western third of the city.

But, he said, they would first give peace a chance.

According to BBC reports, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, the chief Coalition spokesman in Baghdad, made it clear Tuesday that military operations will resume in Fallujah if the regional and local Iraqi leaders do not satisfy American demands.

Troops in and around Fallujah say they wish they had continued their push into the city with the momentum they had achieved in the first few days of fighting. Then, tanks blasted buildings, the Spectre gunship ruled the night and American fighter jets dropped 500-pound bombs on enemy positions to protect the troops on the ground.

Now that they've been stationary, some have had second thoughts about what will be achieved if the Americans go in for the kill, and at what cost. Some say that the only way to attack without a massive loss of American life would be to level Fallujah in order to save Fallujah.

"This could be it for Fallujah for awhile," Cpl. Jong Kim, 20, of Sunnyvale, said of a Marine offensive against the town.

Brushing dust off his machine gun, poised over the same still and vacant quarter of northwest Fallujah that he and others have watched for days, Kim said he wished that something ---- anything ---- would happen soon. He said he was tired of being on the defensive.

"We could do it, but if we leave, they'll come back," he said of the insurgents. "They're crazy. They're not scared of anything."

Lance Cpl. Anthony Dilling ---- who was patrolling alongside one of his best friends when the Marine was shot in the head on the first day of fighting in Fallujah ---- said he has had enough of the dusty river town.

"I wish they'd just pull us out. I hate this place," he said Tuesday while peering through his rifle scope at the same cluttered section of the city he has stared at for nearly two weeks. "To tell you the truth, I'm scared (expletive) of this place. That first day was the deciding factor for me."

Most of the troops said they were sure they would prevail in an attack, but agreed that whether they take the town by force, the rebels will return.

Toolan seemed to sense or share some of the troops' frustration.

Before he left to visit other units along the cordon around Fallujah on Tuesday, Toolan congratulated the troops for their courage in taking and holding one of the toughest sections of the city, and thanked them for being patient and remaining motivated during the political negotiations.

"Hang in there," he said, patting a corporal on the shoulder. "We'll all know what's going to happen soon enough."

Staff writer Darrin Mortenson and staff photographer Hayne Palmour are reporting from Iraq, where they are with Camp Pendleton Marines. Their coverage is collected at www.nctimes.com/military/iraq.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/200...5_364_20_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Battle in forlorn corner of Iraq


CHERYL WITTENAUER
Associated Press
4/20/2004

ST. LOUIS - Members of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines were getting e-mails from parents grateful the unit wasn't in Fallujah, where four Americans were killed and mutilated last month.

But that unit, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch team covering it as embedded journalists, saw some of the Iraq war's fiercest fighting in weeks on Saturday.

The team's report was a national exclusive. Photographer Andrew Cutraro's image of a wounded Marine being carried to a medical evacuation helicopter ran on the front page of more than 20 newspapers.

Five Marines, dozens of Iraqi insurgents, civilians and the town's police chief were killed in a 14-hour battle in Husaybah. The forlorn corner of Iraq, just 300 yards east of the Syrian border, hadn't gotten much coverage.

"The area's been very neglected," reporter Ron Harris said. "They've been taking fire and heat, and no one was there to report it."

Harris and Cutraro had traveled with the Marine unit in Baghdad and Karbala for several weeks in spring 2003 at the outset of the Iraq war. This time, they met up with the Marines on March 22. They will leave on Thursday, following a memorial service for the five Marines. The unit had no losses its first nine months in Iraq. It lost nine members in a month and a half in al-Qaim, a region in western Iraq where Saturday's deadly battle took place.

Harris, reached by satellite phone in Iraq, said Tuesday he and Cutraro wanted to embed with the same group of Marines they had come to know a year earlier. Before war began in March 2003, the Post-Dispatch team had captured the unit in sketches and images in a series called "Postcards from Kuwait."

The unit, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif., included members from Missouri and southern Illinois, the newspaper's coverage area.

Harris said they went back because they felt it was important to tell the Marines' story in context and because the war is a major national issue that may decide the presidential election.

He said he was able to maintain journalistic objectivity despite living and working so closely with the Marines. He reported the unit's accidental killing of British journalists and "nasty" interrogations by Marines still upset from heavy losses the day before.

"When they went (into Husaybah) Sunday, the day after the attack, they were kicking in doors, ordering everybody out of the house," Harris said. "They scared the hell out of a bunch of people.

"It's not my part to make judgments whether these are good or bad things. I write what I see. Somebody else makes those calls."

The Marines were given the job of bringing peace and security to the region of al-Qaim, but what they have encountered is "full-blown guerrilla warfare," Lt. Jason Johnston told the Post-Dispatch for a story on Easter Sunday.

Harris and Cutraro chronicled a more complex, difficult and dangerous mission the newspaper called the "silent war," in a corner of Iraq that most Americans know little about.

That silence broke Saturday when Marines awoke to a flurry of mortar rounds after a roadside bomb ignited as a decoy. The Marines battled the offensive by reportedly hundreds of Iraqis who had slipped into Husaybah. The battle raged for 14 hours.

Post-Dispatch managing editor Arnie Robbins said the paper's coverage has humanized those at war and explained what is causing the insurgency and violence.

He said the unit was picked with a "lot of good planning," but no one could have predicted the ambush that occurred Saturday.

"Was there serendipity? Sure," he said. "It brought their fears and concerns to life. It showed how scary and difficult war is."



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines fight enemy across western Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 200442094220
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva



CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq(April 20, 2004) -- Marines from the 1st Marine Division engaged enemy forces across the entire Al Anbar Province last week.

Marines saw action against enemy forces in Fallujah, where the cordon of the city remains in effect and offensive operations are still suspended, to Husaybah, a town on the border with Syria.

Seven Marines, soldiers and sailors were killed in action in the past week.

Negotiations between Iraqi civic leaders and Coalition Provisional Authority members are ongoing to extend the unilateral suspension of offensive operations into a full-fledged truce. Marines maintain defensive positions in the city and sporadic firefights were reported.

Still, Marines, even at the highest echelons, expressed frustration with enemy forces who violate the agreements and continue the attacks.

"I don't forecast that this stalemate will go on for long," said Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division to reporters in Fallujah. "It's hard to have a cease-fire when they maneuver against us, they fire at us."

Marines remain poised to resume their attacks against the enemy, should talks fail.

"We've got to be patient, but not too patient," Mattis added.

By early this week, a basic agreement for a lasting cease-fire was in the works. Still, Marines harbor doubts the enemy will live up to it.

"An agreement has been reached," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commanding officer for 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, to reporters. "Whether or not that agreement holds is the million dollar question."

Marines witnessed events that demonstrated the enemy's determination to launch attacks from mosques and even use ambulances to transport weapons. Both are protected by Geneva Conventions accords from attacks, but Marines are authorized to target them once they are used for hostile purposes.

Terrorists were discovered to be hiding weapons in sacks stuffed with food and other humanitarian supplies April 14. In the joint operation, Marines and New Iraqi Army soldiers discovered armor piercing rounds, aiming sights for rockets and rifles hidden in bags of grain, rice, and tea. The man detained for transporting the weapons was wearing a poorly made fake Red Crescent uniform in an attempt to make the convoy look legitimate.

The same day, an enemy sniper fled the battlefield in an Iraqi ambulance. The next day, an Iraqi ambulance pulled up to a mosque in Fallujah and another building to unload weapons into both sites.

Enemy fighters shot at Marines from a mosque and a nearby building on Sunday. Marine M-1A1 tanks returned fire against the building, killing one enemy and another group of Marines returned fire at the mosque's minaret, silencing the gun there.

Marines blared loudspeaker messages into Fallujah, saying, "You are cowards for hiding behind women and children. Come out and fight," Byrne said. They also played heavy metal music, including AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill."

Marines on the outskirts of Fallujah uncovered large caches of enemy weapons and captured scores of enemy forces. Marines found hundreds of AK-47 rifles, pistols and rocket-propelled grenades. Larger munitions such as anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers and rockets as well as materials for making improvised explosive devices were also seized.

Marines continue to allow humanitarian aid, such as food, water and medical supplies to flow into the city.

Action against the enemy wasn't limited to Fallujah, though. Marines and soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, serving under the Blue Diamond, raided hundreds of homes and buildings, netting hundreds of weapons and munitions and capturing several detainees suspected of carrying out attacks.

Marines also battled as many as 150 enemy forces Saturday in Husaybah, on Iraq's western border.

A daylong series of firefights began around 8 a.m. when a Marine patrol reported they were under fire by enemy forces wielding machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Additional Marines, backed by helicopter close-air support, were dispatched to the city and soon came under fire by enemy equipped with rifles and RPGs. The enemy forces were operating from positions in the vicinity of the former Ba'ath Party headquarters in Husaybah.

Enemy casualties are estimated to be 25-30 dead and an unknown number of wounded. At least 60 enemy fighters were detained.

"I don't think they expected us to retaliate as hard as we did," said Lt. Col. Matthew A. Lopez, battalion commander for 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment to reporters there.

Enemy forces were observed setting up mortar positions. Women and children surrounded those positions, but it is unknown whether or not they were in those positions on their own free will.

Shots were also fired at medical helicopters carrying wounded Marines from the battlefield.

By Saturday evening, contact with the enemy dropped off significantly, however, fighting at the squad level was sporadic in the city. The city remains cordoned and Marines in that area continue to hunt down enemy forces.



Marines with Regimental Combat Team 1's Headquarters Company, point their weapons toward a nearby field after recieving gunfire from that direction while driving on the outskirts of Fullujah, Iraq.
(USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Nathan Alan Heusdens) Photo by: Lance Cpl. Nathan Alan Heusdens

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...3?opendocument

Ellie