Iraq War News

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Four Cousins of Saddam in Custody: US
Agence France Presse

Arab News

BAGHDAD, 13 July 2003 — Four men described as cousins of toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were arrested yesterday with other members of the former regime, a senior adviser to the US-led coalition occupying Iraq said. Bernard Kerrick said the coalition “received confidential information ... that gave us the whereabouts and location of several members of the former regime who were involved in human rights violations.�

“Four of the men that were arrested were picked up in the last 12 hours and were cousins of Saddam,� said Kerrick. “They were members of Saddam’s personal security force,� he added, later describing the four as “alleged cousins� of Saddam.

“We found a number of photos during the seizure and arrest that showed these people, these four cousins, allegedly cousins, torturing a man,� Kerrick said, adding that an investigation was under way.

Kerrick did not name any of the arrested men or say where or under what circumstances they were detained.

In a separate statement yesterday, the US military said it had apprehended two “local opposition leaders�, Anwar Al-Asaw and Bashir Ahmed Thanun Al-Dulaymi, in the northern city of Mosul. On July 9 the US announced it had placed in custody two more former senior Iraqi officials from the 55 “most wanted�, of which more than half have already been captured.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police and the US Army presented a united front in the restive town of Fallujah yesterday with plans afoot to scale back the inflammatory presence of American soldiers.

But local police made no secret of their desire to see the backs of the occupiers. The region’s coalition commander stressed a US evacuation of the main police station and municipal office would not occur until sufficient equipment such as pistols and communications systems were obtained, and Fallujah police demonstrated a capability to maintain control.

“There’s no withdrawal, there’s no retreat. It’s a gradual transition and it started roughly a week ago,� Col. Joseph Di Salvo, the Second Brigade commander of the Third Infantry Division, told reporters in Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

He said a few US troops had been pulled back at the police station in the town where relations have been strained since the Americans shot dead at least 16 Iraqi demonstrators in April.

“It’s been reduced a little bit. How much? Less than 10 percent,� Di Salvo said of the number of troops posted with police — a significantly smaller reduction than that announced in a coalition statement Friday.

“There’s always been a plan as the police force gets trained up and also gets the equipment they need and their capabilities increased, then we will reduce our presence,� he said.

A coalition military statement hailed the restructuring as a “transition of responsibility,� and stressed that Iraqi police had “requested more authority in patrolling and securing the town.�

Yesterday, seven Humvees and armored vehicles and 30 US soldiers could be seen around the two-story station which has recently been fitted out with $38,000 worth of renovations and 14 new police cars, a US military spokeswoman said.

Di Salvo said the next step would be for police to conduct patrols alone, although he did not give a timeline for this. He said a less visible US presence would not be a victory for the supporters of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who launch guerrilla attacks on soldiers almost every day in Fallujah, and the rest of the Sunni Muslim belt north and west of Baghdad.

For his part, Fallujah’s US-installed police chief Gen. Riyad Abbas said US troops would eventually patrol the outskirts, while his men would control the town center. “We have not told the coalition forces to leave Fallujah,� Abbas said, papering over the fact some of his men demonstrated against the US presence here on Thursday. “We need all the necessary tools and we cannot do our job until they are back in order.�

Di Salvo insisted the pullback plan was not instituted as a response to Thursday’s police demonstration. Several police officers, however, did not mince their words when asked about the presence of US troops.

“We told the Americans that their presence at the station would make us targets,� deputy police chief Col. Jilal Sabri said.

“If the Americans leave government buildings things will become more stable,� he said, adding that jittery US troops on night patrols have responded heavy-handedly to various incidents, leading to local ire. Other police officers reiterated concern that the US presence made matters worse.

On Friday US authorities concluded training for the first two dozen recruits of a new “facilities protection service� in Fallujah expected to act as an armed civil guard. “We should protect our town, not the Americans,� said recruit Ammar Faiq Jehad.

A US special forces sergeant said it could take time before coalition forces hand over full authority to Fallujah police. “If we leave and things go badly then we’ll have to come back, and it’s harder to come back than to have stayed.� About 4,000 US troops are positioned around Fallujah.

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nday, July 13, 2003 12:00AM EDT

For 82nd, there's no end in sight
Despite dangers, morale up in Iraq

By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer


They're hot, ready to come home and so keenly focused on the threat of attack that they fear every scrap of roadside garbage could conceal an improvised bomb. But living conditions are improving daily, most can contact home regularly and morale will hold up awhile longer.
That was the word Friday from troops of the 82nd Airborne's 2nd Brigade combat team which, with about 3,000 soldiers, is the largest North Carolina-based combat force still in Iraq.

Some of the eight soldiers interviewed from Baghdad via satellite telephone were chosen by the military. Others just happened to be nearby when the interviews started . All painted a similar picture: Troops who probably can handle a couple more months in Iraq without serious problems, but who dwell constantly on the question of when they'll be allowed to come home to their families.

"We don't see an end in sight, and that's the biggest problem," said Spc . Patrick McNulty of Billerica , Mass., who will celebrate his 21st birthday this week.

"I'd just like a specific day when we're going home," he said. "I'd like to be able to call my family and say this is the day I'm coming home and it's guaranteed. But sometimes it seems like that's never going to happen."

Still, McNulty said, he'll last "as long as the Army needs me."

The increasing number and sophistication of attacks on U.S. troops in recent weeks, and the fatigue of the long-serving units like the 3rd Infantry Division, have fueled pressure for a firm plan on rotating weary troops out of Iraq and fresh units in.

Gen. Tommy R. Franks , who recently retired as head of the Army's Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that the Pentagon was nearing a decision on a policy to regularly rotate Army units through Iraq. He also said U.S. troops could be stationed there for years to come.

The 82nd's troops flew to Kuwait in mid-February , arriving in the region before many other units now in Iraq. Its mission then was to be ready to move quickly into Baghdad if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein stepped down suddenly .

That didn't happen, and when the war started in mid-March , the paratroopers were held in reserve for several days before being sent to help stop attacks on the vulnerable supply lines between Baghdad and the Kuwait border. Later they helped keep order in several towns and cities as they moved north, and helped perform humanitarian missions.

Officers are trying to keep the soldiers' minds off the question of when they'll be sent home, in part by improving living conditions and keeping the troops focused on the mission.

To some degree, it's working. Several soldiers described conditions as much better than they were just a couple of weeks ago.

Sgt. Michael E. Garcia, 26, a native of Moreno Valley, Calif., who bunks in a former semi-truck repair building, said he's able to shower daily and gets two hot meals a day. He said there's limited Internet access, and the wait for a telephone is seldom more than an hour. A gym has been set up, and there's a primitive running track around the perimeter of the encampment . There's also a recreation room with a television and air conditioning -- no small matter when temperatures top 120 degrees .

"So things are starting to become routine," Garcia said. "It's not bad, and it's getting better."

Increasing dangers

Things aren't rapidly getting better outside the camps, though. Attacks on U.S. troops are coming at a rate of 10 to 25 a day, Franks told the Senate committee.

More than 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed since May 1 , when President Bush declared the major combat over. At that point, none of the 82nd's paratroopers had been killed in Iraq. Now three are dead.

A soldier in McNulty's unit -- Delta Company, 2nd Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment -- is among them. Spc . Chad L. Keith, 21, of Batesville, Ind., died Monday in Baghdad when a blast from a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle.

It was a blow to the company, McNulty said, all the more so since the paratroopers aren't serving their intended function and haven't been told when they'll be able to leave.

"We were sent here a few months ago to kill the enemy, and now we're doing police work," McNulty said. "It kind of upset us that we're not doing the job we were trained for, and yet people are still getting killed."

Most attacks in Iraq are in Baghdad and the surrounding area -- more than a dozen unsuccessful ones daily in the city alone by some estimates.

"You get on the road and hope and pray that you make it through," said Spc. Ryan Richardson , 22, of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of 319th Field Artillery Regiment. He has to utter that prayer about twice a day, usually for a supply run.

It doesn't help that most Iraqis -- even the large majority that are happy to be rid of Saddam -- want the soldiers to go. The paratroopers have to walk a fine line between being safe and upsetting Iraqis, and potentially adding to the small number that is taking up arms.

"A lot of times, they just come right out and say it: that they appreciate what we did, but that they don't want us here anymore and we should leave," said Spc. Stanley Nabors, 20, of Savanna , Okla., a military policeman.

Nabors was driving for Col. Arnold Bray when one of those unsuccessful attacks came. A bullet struck his vehicle, apparently from an AK-47 assault rifle. As part of Bray's security detail, his main job was to get the colonel out of harm's way, so he and the other troops didn't hang around to fight.

Making progress

Col. Kurt Fuller, 43, who took over command of the 2nd Brigade from Bray in a ceremony July 6 at one of Saddam's former palaces, said the U.S. forces are making progress. The main brigade force, with help from some armor and mechanized units from other divisions, is responsible for the al- Rashid district in southeastern Baghdad, which includes more than a third of the city and 1.5 million people. The paratroopers' main mission is providing security on the street and at 35 sites that are potential sabotage targets, including major water, sewer and power plants and a refinery that processes a tenth of Iraq's oil.

The U.S. troops aren't just guarding infrastructure, but in some cases are repairing it, Fuller said. Among other things, they have fixed irrigation pumps for fields just outside the city and helped refurbish and equip dozens of clinics. Mainly, though, the thrust has been to contract the work to Iraqi firms whenever possible so the nation's economy gets back to normal.

In addition to guard duty and patrols, the paratroopers are taking on offensive operations based on a growing body of intelligence about who is involved in the attacks. In a raid Wednesday night, Fuller said, U.S. soldiers pulled 15 Iraqis from five or six homes and recovered various weapons.

Fuller believes that the truly dangerous element is perhaps only 1 percent of the Iraqi population. But that can be a problem in a country where there is an assault rifle in almost every home and a vast supply of abandoned ammunition that can be turned into bombs -- recently a favored ambush technique.

As he was being interviewed, two helicopters roared by in the background. They were part of the effort -- increasingly successful, he said -- to keep an eye on key roads to prevent Iraqi fighters from planting the bombs.

The attacks don't go well for the Iraqis, he said. "In nine engagements out of 10, we're able to [identify] the guys responsible and detain them, or in some cases kill them," Fuller said. "So we are being successful. We are getting them off the street, and as we eliminate more and more of them, other people feel more free to give us information.

"So despite what you might be seeing on national television, we're making progress," he said. "But it is going to be a long process."


Staff writer Jay Price can be reached at 829-4526 or jprice@newsobserver.com.

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Top aides to President George W. Bush (news - web sites) insisted July 13, 2003 he did not hype Iraq (news - web sites)'s suspected weapons of mass destruction as they sought to put out a political firestorm ignited by a disputed statement he made in his case for war. Bush waves to journalists upon arriving at the White House after a five-nation Africa trip July 12, 2003. Photo by Hyungwon Kang/Reuters Add News Photos to My Yahoo! Related Resources: Special Coverage: Iraq

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Iraq Democracy Watch: "Token Representation

Various headlines marked the first meeting of the new Governing Authority in Baghdad today.  Last minute negotiations about who would be on the 25-person body lasted into the night, but finally got resolved in time.  Out of 25 people, there are 13 Shi'ites, fve Sunni Arabs and Kurds each, one Assyrian Christian, and one Turkoman, who is conveniently also a woman. 

The real surprise, according to this morning's NYT , is that  "The new interim government will be dominated by the Iraqi exile leaders and Kurdish chieftains," as opposed to people who stayed in Iraq for the duration of Saddam Hussein.  As the Washington Post reports, "the Iraqi opposition leaders "argued that placing more people with political skills on the council, even if they had lived outside the country, would give the group the best chance of success."  Score one for Ahmad Chalabi and the INC.

Everyone is speculating about how much effective power the Concil will actually have.  After it met today, according to a Yahoo news report ,

Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for [Ahmad] Chalabi, described the council's convening as "a positive step and a historic day for Iraq."   " The United States has no intention of colonizing Iraq ,and Mr. Bremer has told me personally that he will not intervene and will stay clear from political decisions made by the council," he said. [Emphasis added.]

But, while no one is paying any attention, as the Guardian reports, the US "plans to mortgage Iraq's future oil supplies..."
Much of the revenue will be securitised over at least a decade under the proposals being pushed by the US Export Import Bank, the Bush administration's trade promotion body, and a lobbying group that includes key American contractors Bechtel and Halliburton.
Reports suggest that $30 billion of loans will be backed by Iraq's reserves, the second biggest in the world
The World Bank has said such commitments should only be made by a sovereign Iraqi government. The plans will complicate a conference on Iraq's existing $120bn debt, which the US wants European powers to cancel. [Emphasis added.] "



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Support Our Troops
U.S. Kills Four in New Iraq Operation

By BORZOU DARAGAHI
.c The Associated Press

BALAD, Iraq (AP) - American forces killed four suspected insurgents and arrested more than 50 people as they launched a fourth major offensive in central Iraq, aiming to blunt anti-U.S. attacks expected during upcoming holidays once marked by Saddam Hussein's regime.

As its first public act after it was named Sunday, the new Iraqi governing council abolished six Saddam-era holidays, including the anniversary Thursday of the coming to power of Saddam's now ousted Baath Party.

Meanwhile, gunmen in an Iraqi police vehicle shot at American troops at a checkpoint in Baghdad on Sunday and the soldiers returned fire, witnesses said. It was not clear if there were any casualties, and the U.S. military had no immediate comment. The Americans have been training Iraqi police, and it was not immediately known if the gunmen were actual police or insurgents using the vehicle.

U.S. forces also detained nine ``high value targets'' in raids near Mosul, in northern Iraq. None of the suspects were on the list of 55 most wanted Iraqis from Saddam's old regime.

The military also announced that one soldier was killed and two others injured early Sunday when a tractor trailer crashed accidentally into their vehicle, which was parked at a checkpoint outside a base in Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The Army's 4th Infantry Division launched operation ``Ivy Serpent'' Saturday night with a series of raids on suspected pro-Saddam holdouts, instituting aggressive checkpoints and sweeps through illegal weapons markets in the Baqouba and Balad on the Tigris River north of the capital.

``We're going offensive to disrupt potential attacks against us by Baathists and former Fedayeen elements,'' said Colonel David Hogg, a commander of the 4th Infantry's 2nd Brigade.

He said two homes that were used to produce anti-U.S. propaganda materials were seized and that American forces came under rocket-propelled grenade and AK47 automatic rifle fire in a sweep through seven locations in Diala Province, location of Baqouba.

Hogg said U.S. forces captured three wanted men - a former Fedayeen general, a former Iraqi air force general and the second in charge of the Baath party in Diala Province. He would not give their names.

Since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 31 U.S. soldiers have been killed by enemy forces and scores have been wounded in a series of hit-and-run mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and smalls-arms attacks. Most have taken place in Baghdad and traditionally pro-Saddam Sunni Arab strongholds of central Iraq, known as the ``Sunni Triangle.''

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Sunday that attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq may worsen this summer. ``There's even speculation that during the month of July, which is an anniversary for a lot of Baathists events, we could see an increase in the number of attacks,'' Rumsfeld said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.''

``There's still a lot people from the Baathist and Fedayeen Saddam regime types who are there, who are disadvantaged by the fact that their regime has been thrown out and would like to get back, but they're not going to succeed,'' he said.

Several key anniversaries fall this week - those of the July 17, 1968 coup by the Baath Party, the July 16, 1979 ascendance of Saddam to the presidency and the July 14, 1958 overthrow of the monarchy. U.S. military officials have received intelligence reports - including letters addressed to community leaders urging attacks against Americans - indicating that pro-Saddam and Islamist insurgents plan spectacular anti-U.S. actions to mark those days.

Warnings of attacks have mentioned uprisings in Hawijah, Baji, Kirkuk, Samarra and Balad. American forces said they believed the best defense was to launch a pre-holiday assault on potential insurgents.

``The goal is to knock the Baath Party and the Wahhabi elements off balance,'' said Lt. Col. Nat Sassaman, a Balad-area battalion commander. Wahhabism is the fundamentalist type of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and in parts of central Iraq.

Army officers say many of the attacks in the past were carried out by young men paid about $153 by former regime security officials. The 4th Infantry's 3rd Brigade has begun offering $250 rewards for usable intelligence and $100 rewards for information leading to weapons caches.

America's elusive enemy in Iraq appears to have some level of organization. Using flares and small-arms fire, they have a developed a system to notify one another when the Americans are entering an area.

The three previous operations - Peninsula Strike, Desert Scorpion and Sidewinder - aimed at stemming the insurgency yielded mixed results. Hundreds of suspects were detained, but many were released for lack of evidence. Numerous large weapons caches were discovered, but the attacks against Americans continued.



07/13/03 11:18 EDT


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