Now we are arresting people who were Baath party people. Does anyone remember the lines from the lips of fearless leader about how our problem were with Saddam and not with the Iraqi people? Uh huh
I guess that position is a changeable as WMD's.
U.S. forces launch raids across Iraq early today
By David Rohde
The New York Times
U.S. forces launch raids across Iraq early today
FALLUJA, Iraq — Thousands of U.S. troops backed by tanks, planes and helicopters carried out extensive raids early this morning across Iraq, military officials announced.
It was unclear how many Iraqis may have been killed or wounded in the largest U.S. military operation in Iraq since the end of major fighting. No U.S. casualties were reported.
Dozens of suspected Baath Party members were arrested. It was not known early today whether any senior Iraqi officials were apprehended.
The thrust against the city 37 miles from the capital Baghdad — dubbed "Spartan Scorpion" — lasted only three hours, shorter than expected.
One of three task forces involved in the operation reported only one arrest — a man driving during curfew hours bearing a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
More raids are expected this week, military officials said, although they declined to identify the other cities involved.
The nationwide raids had been planned for days, military officials said, and appeared to be an effort to break the back of a nascent armed resistance that had sprung up in the areas of the country dominated by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority.
A combination of Saddam Hussein loyalists, Islamic militants and foreign fighters are thought to have carried out attacks on U.S. troops.
"This thing is happening all over Iraq tonight," said Lt. Col. Eric Schwartz, who oversaw raids late yesterday in the southern half of Falluja, a city that has become a center of armed resistance. "It's a massive, coordinated effort."
During the raid, Iraqis sounded sirens and flashed their porch lights in apparent warning to each other that the American troops were coming.
In the last three weeks, 10 American soldiers have been killed and dozens have been wounded in ambushes carried out by unknown gunmen in the Sunni-dominated areas north and west of Baghdad.
Using small arms and grenades, the attackers have sharply increased U.S. casualties in Iraq.
Schwartz, who commands a battalion of soldiers in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, emphasized here that the early morning raids would be followed by concentrated relief efforts later in the day to win the support of the Iraqi people. He said soldiers would distribute truckloads of free gasoline, for example, in Falluja and help repair local schools and soccer fields.
In the past, Iraqis have reacted angrily to such raids, calling them heavy-handed and warning that U.S. forces are turning Iraqi public opinion against them. By the time the raids were completed by dawn this morning, angry Iraqis were making those charges again.
The operation began just after 2 a.m. local time, with dozens of U.S. military vehicles — M1-A1 Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees rumbling out of the sprawling U.S. base west of town.
U.S. units blocked all traffic on the main highway running across Iraq and linking Falluja to Baghdad. As convoys of military vehicles converged on their targets, Kiowa helicopters, pilotless drones and fighter jets circled overhead.
Across Falluja, teams of soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division raided houses looking for the men thought to have planned and carried out the recent ambushes of U.S. soldiers, military officials said. Soldiers also raided suspected weapons cachets. In one house, 15 suspected members of the hard-line Saddam Fedayeen were arrested.
Schwartz said some Iraqis resisted and were shot by U.S. soldiers. He did not have Iraqi casualty figures.
He said the goal of the raid and subsequent distribution of relief aid was to show that the Americans are pursuing only the handful of people carrying out the attacks, while at the same time trying to help the vast majority of people in the city.
He said he hoped the people of Falluja would see that the raids this morning were aimed specifically at the militants, not ordinary residents.
"What we have to do is get these Baathist folks," he said.
Schwartz added that tensions had eased somewhat in Falluja since his battalion arrived 12 days ago as part of a redeployment of troops.
A raid at 4 a.m. on a gas station used as a weapons-transfer point showed the advantages and disadvantages of the sweeps.
An Abrams battle tank and four Bradley fighting vehicles drove toward the gas station, which sits just off a main road in the town. In front of the station, all four of the Bradleys abruptly stopped, pivoted and pointed their gun barrels and headlights at it. The rear hatches of the vehicles swung open and infantrymen poured outside, rushing to the guardrail and aiming their rifles at a row of trucks.
In the glare of the headlights, Iraqi truck drivers popped up in the cabs of the trucks where they had been sleeping. Seemingly baffled by what was happening, they obeyed American instructions to line up, be searched and questioned.
"We are searching for weapons," an American soldier explained to the 20 drivers. All of them denied having any arms.
"We have nothing but potatoes," one driver said.
As the Americans scoured the trucks, one man nervously whispered to another in Arabic. "Do you have weapons?" outside the earshot of the Americans.
"No, no," the other answered. "Am I stupid enough to bring it here?"
Tarik Abud Mousa, a 40-year-old truck driver from the city of Qaim in western Iraq, said the drivers had been sleeping peacefully when the Americans arrived. He called the searches a humiliation.
Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.
Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company |
