Bush's strategy is sure working!
And the Iraqis are sure appreciative. Why just the other day, they were
all marching in joy for the Hezbollah defeat in Lebanon.
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5 US Soldiers, 2 British Soldiers, 55 Iraqis Killed in Monday Attacks
By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press Writer
Sep 4, 2006, 11:37 AM EDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) —
A popular Iraqi soccer star was kidnapped and 35 bullet-riddled bodies
were found in Iraq on Monday, a day after Iraqi officials touted the
capture of al-Qaeda in Iraq's No. 2 leader as a move to reduce violence
in the country.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of five more American troops,
including a soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad
on Monday.
A roadside bomb also killed two British soldiers and seriously wounded a
third in Ad Dayr, north of the southern city of Basra, British military
spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge said.
Authorities found 33 bodies of people who had been shot to death, all
showing signs of torture, dumped around several neighborhoods in
Baghdad, police said. The bodies, all of men, were blindfolded and their
feet and hands were tied.
In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, police found another two bodies
dumped on a highway. Both had been shot in the head and chest, said
Ma'moun Ajil al-Robai'ei from the morgue at Kut hospital.
Elsewhere in the capital, Ghanim Ghudayer, 22, considered one of the
best players in Baghdad's Air Force Club, was abducted Sunday evening by
unknown assailants, some who were wearing military uniforms, police said.
The head of the Air Force Club, Samir Kadhim, said the player, who also
was on Iraq's Olympic team, had planned to leave for Syria in two or
three days to join a new team there. Iraqi sports officials and athletes
have frequently faced threats, kidnappings and killings.
At least two people also were killed and six were wounded in and around
Ba'aqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, in shootings and bomb attacks.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry announced on Monday that 15 people believed
to have been involved in resistance activities were killed over the last
24 hours by US-led Iraqi army units.
Disagreements continued in the handover of the country's armed forces
command from the U.S.-led coalition to Iraq, with the Defense Ministry
saying a ceremony to mark the transition had been postponed indefinitely.
The highly anticipated ceremony, which was to have marked the formal
transfer of control of Iraq's armed forces to the government, had been
scheduled for Saturday but was called off at the last minute.
The two sides still need "to complete some legal and protocol procedures
that will lead to a complete understanding between the Iraqi government
and the multinational troops," the Defense Ministry said.
Handing over control from the coalition to Iraqi authorities is a key
part of any eventual drawdown of U.S. troops in the country.
An American soldier was killed Monday by a roadside bomb north of
Baghad, while a second soldier died of non-combat related injuries, the
military said.
It also said a roadside bomb killed a soldier near Mosul, and two
American Marines were killed in the Anbar province on Sunday.
In other violence, according to police:
- Two suicide bombers slammed into a checkpoint on the outskirts of
Baghdad, killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding eight.
- Gunmen killed Maj. Gen. Mohammad Thumeil, who served in former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein's military, in Ramadi, 70 miles northwest of the
capital.
- Gunmen clashed with Iraqi forces for about seven hours in Musayyib, 40
miles south of Baghdad, leaving one Iraqi soldier dead and about 100
gunmen arrested.
Al-Jazeerah editorial note regarding the purported Iraqi Shi'i-Sunni
civil war:
It is inaccurate to describe the war in Iraq as if it is fought between
Muslim Shi'is and Muslim Sunnis, as the US corporate media have been
trying hard to do.
It is more accurate to describe it as fought between US-led forces and
Iraqi resistance fighters. Even killing civilians is part of the war, as
the evidence earlier demonstrated that Interior Ministry death squads
and British soldiers were caught either targeting or attempting to
target civilians to make the war appear as if it is between Shi'is and
Sunnis.
This purported Shi'i-Sunni civil war in Iraq aims at distracting Iraqis
and dividing their country into three regions, in preparation for a
final partition and dismemberment of Iraq. Previous statements of Iraqi
elected officials pointed fingers to death squads of the Interior Ministry.
(41 Iraqi Sunni Pedestrians Massacred in a Baghdad Street, 17 Shi'is
Killed in Car Bombs, Interior Ministry Death Squads are Blamed).
Moreover, on September 19, 2005, two British soldiers were arrested by
Iraqi police for driving a car bomb in a Basra street. They were freed
by British forces before being interrogated by Iraqi police. This
incident sheds some light on who might be behind car bomb explosions in
Iraq.
(British Terrorist Operation in Basra, Tanks on Fire, Four Iraqis
Killed, Two Captured British Undercover Soldiers Freed After Demolishing
Prison Hollywood Style).
(British Occupation Forces Suspected Behind Sectarian Terrorism in
Southern Iraq: The Two British Soldiers Drove a Car Bomb in Basra)
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