| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Missile Fired at U.S. Plane in Iraq |
| 2003-07-17 |
| Severely EFL In a marked escalation in attacks, suspected insurgents tried to shoot down a U.S. transport plane with a surface-to-air missile Wednesday, killed an American soldier in a convoy and gunned down the mayor of an Iraqi city. The new American commander in Iraq acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that coalition forces are facing a ``classical guerrilla-type war situation’’ against opponents ranging from members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to non-Iraqi fighters from terrorist groups. Gen. John Abizaid spoke on the eve of a banned holiday Saddam loyalists could use to demonstrate their power. The U.S. military said one surface-to-air missile was fired on a C-130 transport as it landed at Baghdad International Airport. It was only the second known missile attack on a plane using the airport since Baghdad fell to U.S. forces on April 9, said Spc. Giovani Lorente. He said he did not know where the plane came from or whether it was carrying passengers, cargo or both. Meanwhile, Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, who had actively cooperated with U.S. forces as the new mayor of Haditha, was killed when his car was ambushed by attackers firing automatic rifles as he drove away from his office in the city 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, police Capt. Khudhier Mohammed said. One of the mayor’s sons also was killed. Mohammed said the mayor, who took office after Saddam’s fall, was slain because he was ``seizing cars’’ from Saddam loyalists who used to work in the deposed Iraqi leader’s offices in Hadithah, a city in the restive ``Sunni Triangle’’ that is home to many supporters of the ousted dictator. The American soldier was killed and three others were injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack west of Baghdad near the Abu Ghraib prison, a U.S. military spokesman said. In a separate attack, an 8-year-old Iraqi child died when an assailant threw a grenade into a U.S. military vehicle guarding a bank in west Baghdad. The American driver of the vehicle was wounded along with four Iraqi bystanders, according to Army Maj. Kevin West. ``They’re killing more Iraqis than they are Americans,’’ West said, shaking his head. That doesn’t bother the Ba’athists. The Haditha police captain, whose station is next to the mayor’s office, told The Associated Press some government employees received a leaflet Wednesday warning them not to go to work. The leaflet was signed ``Liberating Iraq’s Army.’’ The Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported that residents of Hadithah had accused the slain mayor of collaborating with coalition forces. Hadithah shopowner Amir Jafar concurred, saying: ``This mayor is an unwanted person ... He doesn’t belong to this city. He is from another city and he was cooperating with the Americans.’’ "We just HAD to shoot ’im. Had to!" The attack was certain to have a chilling effect on other Iraqi officials. Samir Shakir Mahmoud, one of the members of the new Governing Council hand-picked by Iraq’s U.S. administrator, hails from Haditha. Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who is now running the Iraqi Interior Ministry and working to rebuild Iraq’s police force, was asked if he thought Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network was behind the attacks. ``Nobody is identified as al-Qaida yet. Could they be out there? It’s possible. The bottom line is I don’t care if they’re al-Qaida, I don’t care if they’re Fedayeen. I don’t care if they are Baathists, I don’t care who they are. If they attack the coalition and they attack the police they’re gong to be arrested or they’re going to be killed,’’ Kerik said. Now let’s make it happen. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Rafael - Yours sure looks like the best approach. As it appears, now, we have nothing left to lose and a lot to gain by choking off any resupply of arms and idiots. Do we have enough boots? I dunno. I still favor adding to your recipe a no-BS, no-warning, complete sweep. One warning - then shoot to kill would be the ROE. Purpose is to collect the arms. All of them. Except only shopkeepers and similar - and they only get shotguns. Police take over afterwards and should be armed to the teeth and wired to each other in a modern combat comm net for rapid-response mutual support. 6 months of lockdown ought to be worth a few years of peace - if they don't become complacent and let their guard down. Mebbe even send people to Israel for training in this type of policing - they sure have the most practical applicable experience. If Iraqis went, too - now wouldn't THAT be an eye-opener! Of course, it would invite more stupidity - so nix the Iraqis going anywhere. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-17 11:12:57 AM |
| #1 Zero freedom of movement. Curfews. New ID cards. Fortress Baghdad. Now let's make it happen. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-7-17 5:22:20 AM |