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| Iraq |
| No. 11 in Deck of Cards Captured |
| 2003-07-23 |
| The top U.S. commander in Iraq said Wednesday that the head of the Special Republican Guard, Barzan Abd al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid al-Tikriti, had been captured. Sanchez said Sulayman, No. 11 in the deck of the 55 most wanted Iraqi regime members, was detained Wednesday. Good catch Responding to questions about the killings Tuesday by U.S. soldiers of Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay, Sanchez said dental records, X-rays and four former senior regime figures had helped establish the identity of the men killed in the Mosul shootout. He added that the coalition would provide proof "in due time" to the Iraqi people that Uday and Qusay, second only to their father in power in the ousted regime, were dead. We’re still waiting for those photos. Fred has a place all picked out. The U.S. commander defended the decision to kill the suspects hiding in the Mosul mansion, saying they had repeatedly fired on troops trying to enter the fortified second floor of the palatial villa. "Our mission was find, kill or capture," he said. "We had an enemy that was barricaded and we had to take measures to neutralize the target." They called on them to surrender and got return fire. He said that 10 TOW anti-tank missiles fired from Humvees had silenced most of the resistance, apparently killing three of the four suspects. That’s why there’s not much left of the building. The battle ended at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, when troops stormed up the stairs to the second floor and shot the remaining suspect. Sanchez said U.S. forces would continue to search for other fugitive members of the former regime, including its leader. "The ultimate objective is Saddam Hussein. We maintain the focus on all the high-value targets and we will not fail," he said. "The Saddam Hussein regime will never come back into power. We will ensure the freedom of the Iraqi people." Amen. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Thanks, Frank. I also got a real kick out of Fox's follow up interview with a member of the new Iraqi council. This guy was more than happy that the boyzzzz are dead. He feels that the Americans "pamper" their prisoners too much! He also opined that Uday and Qusay are master manipulators and would trick any (paraphrasing here) "young American interrogator from Wisconsin" into giving them favorable treatment. Hilarious! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-7-23 11:17:31 AM |
| #3 Dar - I think that one was from ABC - the Australian Broadcasting Corp |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-23 10:50:01 AM |
| #2 Yeah--I saw part of the briefing this a.m. Big difference between posting pictures of common soldiers killed in action or captured and two prominent regime figures who have terrorized and enslaved the populace for decades. I particularly want to slap the reporter (Beeb? Had the accent.) who wondered why Uday and Qusay were killed when the Americans are "specialists" in securing an area, like they're supposed to set up camp in the middle of the neighborhood and conduct a set-piece siege while Uday and Qusay possibly scramble away in the sewers or tunnels below the building after destroying all intel and records left behind. Maybe they'll come out after a week if we offer them pizza and Cokes? |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-7-23 10:19:25 AM |
| #1 the Centcom press conference was on MSNBC this AM. All the whining pressies could wring their hands about was why we couldn't take them alive, was there collateral damage or injuries to civilians since you US guys were using all those nasty weapons in a civilian area - "ma'am, we didn't choose where they should hide"... what a bunch of asshats! The biggest question was whether we would be hypocritical in posting the photos of these two worms to prove to the Iraqi populace that they were dead, since we objected to Al-Jazeera posting photos of our dead GI's |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-23 10:04:14 AM |