gilgameshi

Welcome to **** Cheney's America where human blood is exchanged for
oil.
________________________________________________
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20030724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

3 U.S. Troops Die Guarding Convoy in Iraq
1 hour, 25 minutes ago

By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three American soldiers were killed Thursday when
their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in
northern Iraq, a military spokeswoman said

The killings were further signs that an insurgency against American
troops is not losing strength as Washington hoped after the deaths
Tuesday of Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai.

V Corps spokeswoman Spc. Nicole Thompson said the soldiers, members of
the 101st Airborne Division, were traveling in a convoy toward
Qayyarah, 186 miles north of the capital, Baghdad, when they were at
attacked. No soldiers were reported wounded and it wasn't known if any
assailants were killed or wounded.

It was the second attack in two days that killed members of the
division, which led the intense but sporadic fiery assault in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed Odai and Qusai Hussein.


On Wednesday, two American soldiers were killed in separate attacks on
their convoys, including one near Mosul.

The latest deaths brought to 158 the number of U.S. servicemen killed
in action since the war began March 20, surpassing by 11 the death
toll in the 1991 Gulf War.

Odai and Qusai were Nos. 2 and 3 on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted
from the toppled Saddam regime. Guerrilla holdouts loyal to the regime
have attacked U.S. forces at a rate of about 12 times daily in an
effort to wear down the Americans and drive them from the country.

To prove to Iraqis the brothers are dead, Defense Secretary H. Donald
Rumsfeld said the United States would release photographs of their
bodies, but didn't say when. The photos are likely to be gruesome
because the fighting to capture the house was intense.

In Sadr City, a poor suburb of Baghdad formerly called Saddam City,
some residents wanted to be sure the brothers were dead.

"We heard about Odai and Qusai being killed and, frankly, we are
happy," Fadil Abbas told Associated Press Television News. "The
question is, what's the proof of them being killed. We heard about it,
but we haven't seen any proof so far."

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition troops in Iraq, said
the brothers, along with two other Iraqis believed to be a bodyguard
and Qusai's ****age son Mustafa barricaded themselves on the second
floor of a three-story home in Mosul. He said they were killed after
anti-tank rockets were fired from Humvees during the sporadic
four-hour siege.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in
London, Izzedin Kamel Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the two brothers,
said Odai and Qusai were likely relaxing in the Mosul home when the
American soldiers approached it.

"They went to this man in particular because he was a member of the
family and they thought they could stay there for a while, be safe and
then go somewhere else," he said.

In Baghdad Thursday, two Iraqi men were killed after the car they were
in approached a U.S. checkpoint near the downtown al-Geilani mosque
and American troops opened fore. Eyewitnesses told the AP that the two
men were killed after the car caught fire.

"We told the driver not to go ahead because there was an American
checkpoint," said Mahmoud Haider, 50, who witnessed the shooting. "He
refused."

Military spokesman Spc. Giovanni Lorente had no information about the
shooting.

Also Thursday, a leading member of Iraq's interim Governing Council
said Iraq should adopt a constitution and hold free elections within 1
1/2 years at most.

Adnan Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign minister, told British
Broadcasting Corp. radio that the aim of the newly appointed council
was to "shorten as much as possible the transition period" to
self-rule.

"The only way to do that is to have a constitution and free
elections," Pachachi said. He planned to hold talks with Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw later Thursday.

On Wednesday, a tape purportedly made by Saddam called on Iraqis to
press their uprising against the U.S.-led occupation. The tape
reportedly was made Sunday, two days before the killing of Saddam's
eldest sons.

The CIA was ****yzing the audio message broadcast by Arab TV but has
reached no conclusion about its authenticity, said a U.S. intelligence
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Coalition Provisional Authority announced early this
week the closure of a Baghdad newspaper and arrest of its office
manager, who wasn't identified.

The statement said Al-Mustaqila, which means "The Independent" in
Arabic, published an article July 13 calling for "death to all spies
and those who cooperate with the U.S." It said killing them was a
religious duty.

gilgameshi

Welcome to **** Cheney's America where human blood is exchanged for
oil.
________________________________________________
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20030724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

3 U.S. Troops Die Guarding Convoy in Iraq
1 hour, 25 minutes ago

By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three American soldiers were killed Thursday when
their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in
northern Iraq, a military spokeswoman said

The killings were further signs that an insurgency against American
troops is not losing strength as Washington hoped after the deaths
Tuesday of Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai.

V Corps spokeswoman Spc. Nicole Thompson said the soldiers, members of
the 101st Airborne Division, were traveling in a convoy toward
Qayyarah, 186 miles north of the capital, Baghdad, when they were at
attacked. No soldiers were reported wounded and it wasn't known if any
assailants were killed or wounded.

It was the second attack in two days that killed members of the
division, which led the intense but sporadic fiery assault in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed Odai and Qusai Hussein.


On Wednesday, two American soldiers were killed in separate attacks on
their convoys, including one near Mosul.

The latest deaths brought to 158 the number of U.S. servicemen killed
in action since the war began March 20, surpassing by 11 the death
toll in the 1991 Gulf War.

Odai and Qusai were Nos. 2 and 3 on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted
from the toppled Saddam regime. Guerrilla holdouts loyal to the regime
have attacked U.S. forces at a rate of about 12 times daily in an
effort to wear down the Americans and drive them from the country.

To prove to Iraqis the brothers are dead, Defense Secretary H. Donald
Rumsfeld said the United States would release photographs of their
bodies, but didn't say when. The photos are likely to be gruesome
because the fighting to capture the house was intense.

In Sadr City, a poor suburb of Baghdad formerly called Saddam City,
some residents wanted to be sure the brothers were dead.

"We heard about Odai and Qusai being killed and, frankly, we are
happy," Fadil Abbas told Associated Press Television News. "The
question is, what's the proof of them being killed. We heard about it,
but we haven't seen any proof so far."

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition troops in Iraq, said
the brothers, along with two other Iraqis believed to be a bodyguard
and Qusai's ****age son Mustafa barricaded themselves on the second
floor of a three-story home in Mosul. He said they were killed after
anti-tank rockets were fired from Humvees during the sporadic
four-hour siege.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in
London, Izzedin Kamel Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the two brothers,
said Odai and Qusai were likely relaxing in the Mosul home when the
American soldiers approached it.

"They went to this man in particular because he was a member of the
family and they thought they could stay there for a while, be safe and
then go somewhere else," he said.

In Baghdad Thursday, two Iraqi men were killed after the car they were
in approached a U.S. checkpoint near the downtown al-Geilani mosque
and American troops opened fore. Eyewitnesses told the AP that the two
men were killed after the car caught fire.

"We told the driver not to go ahead because there was an American
checkpoint," said Mahmoud Haider, 50, who witnessed the shooting. "He
refused."

Military spokesman Spc. Giovanni Lorente had no information about the
shooting.

Also Thursday, a leading member of Iraq's interim Governing Council
said Iraq should adopt a constitution and hold free elections within 1
1/2 years at most.

Adnan Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign minister, told British
Broadcasting Corp. radio that the aim of the newly appointed council
was to "shorten as much as possible the transition period" to
self-rule.

"The only way to do that is to have a constitution and free
elections," Pachachi said. He planned to hold talks with Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw later Thursday.

On Wednesday, a tape purportedly made by Saddam called on Iraqis to
press their uprising against the U.S.-led occupation. The tape
reportedly was made Sunday, two days before the killing of Saddam's
eldest sons.

The CIA was ****yzing the audio message broadcast by Arab TV but has
reached no conclusion about its authenticity, said a U.S. intelligence
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Coalition Provisional Authority announced early this
week the closure of a Baghdad newspaper and arrest of its office
manager, who wasn't identified.

The statement said Al-Mustaqila, which means "The Independent" in
Arabic, published an article July 13 calling for "death to all spies
and those who cooperate with the U.S." It said killing them was a
religious duty.