U.S. Troops Crack Down in Iraq
Monday, November 17, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of U.S. soldiers and tanks rolled into Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit (search) on Monday to intimidate would-be attackers, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others.
Meanwhile, American troops launched a new military offensive in Baghdad in a separate effort to crack down on Saddam loyalists. U.S. forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla positions, military officials said.
Lt. Col. Steven Russell acknowledged that the show of force in Tikrit was mounted "just to display their number and might."
The raid on a Baghdad neighborhood came as an audiotape purportedly made by Saddam urged Iraqis to escalate their fight against the U.S.-led occupation.
In the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, troops arrested a leader of the Fedayeen (search) guerrillas responsible for bomb attacks and ambushes on U.S. forces. The suspect, Kazim Mohammed Faris (search), was a "high value target," a military statement said.
Buildings, factories and other facilities believed used as staging areas for guerrilla attacks have been bombed from the air and blasted by artillery barrages. Troops have carried out dozens of raids aimed at apprehending suspects and seizing weapons and bomb-making materials.
One such "cordon-and-search" raid early Monday in Baghdad's middle-class Azamiyah district (search) netted 21 suspects along with 30 Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, about a dozen shotguns and 10 handguns. Most suspects had violated a one weapon per house rule, the military said.
The U.S. military moves came as the Army tried to determine why two of its Black Hawk (search) helicopters crashed in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing 17 soldiers in the worst single loss of American life since the war began.
U.S. Army helicopters in Iraq are now flying at low altitude, high speed and at varied routes following a series of bloody crashes, most of them due to hostile fire, a U.S. general said Monday.
Hostile fire is believed behind three other crashes since Oct. 25. Some witnesses attributed the Mosul crashes to hostile fire.
'We Will Crush the Resistance'
In Tikrit, hundreds of U.S. troops in tanks and assault vehicles moved through the crowded downtown area Monday.
"They need to understand that it's more than just Humvees that will be used against the resistance and we will crush the resistance," Russell said.
Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad, is part of a region north and west of Baghdad dominated by Sunni Muslims (search) and regarded as a hotbed of anti-American sentiment.
U.S. forces there carried out more than 38 attacks from Sunday night to early Monday, destroying 15 suspected safehouses, three training camps and 14 mortar firing points, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, a spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division (search).
Six suspected Saddam loyalists were killed and 21 arrested, he said.
"Clearly, we're sending the message that we do have the ability to run operations across a wide area," said MacDonald. "We have overwhelming combat power that we will utilize in order to go after groups and individuals who have been conducting anti-coalition activities."
U.S. forces fired a satellite-guided missile carrying a 500-pound warhead at a suspected insurgent sanctuary 10 miles south of Tikrit on Monday. Troops used that missile on Sunday as well, aimed at a suspected training base west of Kirkuk.
"Any of those groups that are working against the best interest of the Iraqis are going to be targeted," McDonald said.
In Samara, three Iraqis who fired on American soldiers were killed in an ensuing clash Sunday night. In Muqdadiyah, two Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade on U.S. soldiers on combat patrol aboard a Bradley fighting vehicle. The soldiers returned fire and killed the two, Macdonald said.
Col. Charles Sexton, commander of one of three participating battalions, expressed satisfaction on Monday that the massive operations had gone off without incident.
Hand Over Your Weapons
But many citizens of the Azamiyah district said they were puzzled by the choice of target, because the area -- which is home to bureaucrats, lawyers and other professionals -- has not seen any rebel activity. Saddam was last seen in public in the neighborhood in April.
Some also were furious that troops were arresting men who had more than the single AK-47. At least a dozen of those taken away were detained after the army confiscated revolvers or bird guns.
"Of course everybody has weapons," said Samir al-Hadith, an engineer who works in Saudi Arabia and returned to Baghdad to check on his home. "There are so many thieves nowadays. We have to defend our families."
"Under Saddam Hussein there was much more security and we could own guns," he said.
Zuheir Ali, 26, was detained after troops found a snub-nose .38 Smith & Wesson revolver in his house along with an AK-47. They left the automatic rifle but confiscated the handgun.
"I don't understand this, we're not criminals, we only want to defend our homes from looters," Ali said.
In a separate incident, an Iraqi informer led U.S. troops to a house near the Husaybah border crossing with Syria where they found 500 bangalore torpedoes, grenades and explosive devices, the military said.
Another Saddam Tape Surfaces
Meanwhile, a tape purportedly made by Saddam surfaced Saturday, and the voice on it urged the rebels to escalate attacks against the occupation and "agents brought by foreign armies" -- an apparent reference to Iraqis supporting the coalition.
The speaker on the tape, aired on Al-Arabiya television, said the only way to end the chaos in Iraq was for Saddam and his now-outlawed Baath Party to return to power.
The CIA said it would review the tape for its authenticity. President Bush dismissed the recording.
"The evil ones now find themselves in crisis and this is God's will for them," Bush said.
The top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer also dismissed the message.
"This is a voice from the wilderness here. This is a man who's followed by a small band of murderers, and they have no vision for the future of Iraq," Bremer said in a television interview Monday. Saddam "is around and we need to capture him or kill him, but he has no future here."
The speaker also lashed out at Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S. military, calling them "stray dogs that walk alongside the caravan."
The last purported tape from Saddam was aired on Arab television Sept. 17. The CIA has been unable to authenticate that recording, saying the audio quality is too poor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
