SADDAM SIGHTING IN KIRKUK ... 'EXECUTIONER' CAUGHT; Lethal foe learning ... resistance expands
arabtimesonline.com
BAGHDAD (Agencies): US forces said they were digging in for a protracted struggle against a more "lethal" Iraqi resistance, while they faced growing calls Friday to leave the country amid fresh violence in which two Iraqi attackers died. The top US commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, admitted following a spate of deadly attacks this week that US forces were facing a deadlier foe than when they toppled Saddam Hussein six months ago. "The enemy has evolved and he is a little more lethal, a little more complex, a little more sophisticated and in some cases a little more tenacious," Sanchez said Thursday.
The danger of the enemy "has increased a little bit because they are using more improvised explosives against us ... So he has evolved, he is learning, but so are we and this will continue for a little while," he said. Every week between three and six US soldiers were being killed and another 40 were wounded, Sanchez said. He added that the resistance had expanded from pro-Saddam loyalists to a steady flow of foreign "terrorists" slipping into Iraq from Syria and northern Iran. Nevertheless, he said, his soldiers would not leave Iraq anytime soon. "It will definitely be years. We never said it would be anything less than years," Sanchez told reporters.
Three US soldiers were killed in separate attacks Wednesday night - the highest number of US deaths in combat in a single day since Sept 20 - raising the toll to 88 since US President George W. Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1. The head of Iraq's top Shiite political party demanded that national elections be held to choose the drafters of a new constitution, piling pressure on the US-led coalition. "The drafting of a permanent constitution for the country must be done by a panel elected by the Iraqi people," Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, who heads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, said at a mourning ceremony in Najaf for his brother, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, assassinated in August.
"It must be ratified through a nationwide referendum," Hakim said before a crowd of 10,000 people marking the final week commemorating 40 days of mourning for the slain cleric. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has come out publicly in favour of an election to the conference that would draft a new constitution. "Aziz, you are the leader," the crowd chanted, as green and black Islamic flags fluttered in the air by Hakim's mausoleum at Revolution Square in the heart of Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of the capital.
Prayer leader Sadreddin al-Qobanshi also called for "the speedy withdrawal of occupation forces," from Iraq, a demand repeated at weekly Friday sermons across the country. For its part, the US-led coalition said later Friday it would not stand in the way of Iraq's interim 25-member Governing Council if it wants to hold elections to choose who writes the country's new constitution. "It will be for the Governing Council to decide," said spokesman Charles Heatley. While the council has appeared to favour the council's own nomination of delegates to a constitutional conference, Heatley reiterated that the US boss in Iraq, Paul Bremer, who holds a veto over the lawmakers, would not stand in the council's way.
"He (Bremer) has always said Iraq, this is a decision for you ... This is your decision. This is your baby," said Heatley. The Governing Council is soon expected to make a decision on how to proceed on writing the constitution after receiving recommendations Tuesday from a preparatory committee on the matter. Once a constitution is written, it will be submitted to a national referendum and then elections for an Iraqi government will be held, clearing the way for the coalition to relinquish its control over the country.
Explosions
Explosions killed four Iraqis and wounded five others, and American soldiers arrested a man described as one of Saddam Hussein's "executioners," the US military reported Friday. The US military said the man they labeled a Saddam executioner was caught in a raid in Baquoba, 70 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. Maj Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division, did not identify the man by name. She said he and another man, identified as a former general, were arrested in an overnight raid. The alleged executioner will be turned over to Iraqi police for questioning and trial if his identity is verified, Aberle said.
Overnight, the US military reported soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division witnessed two Iraqis killed as they were trying to place a roadside bomb in Kirkuk, 240-kms miles northeast of Baghdad. Two other Iraqis were killed south of Tikrit when a bomb exploded at a traffic circle. Tikrit, 200-kms miles north of Baghdad, was Saddam's hometown. Raids late Thursday and early Friday uncovered a large cache of weapons in the town of Salman Pak, including five rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two dozen grenades for the weapons, two anti-aircraft missiles and more than 72,000 heavy machine gun bullets. Soldiers also arrested three people carrying documents linking them to the Saddam Fedayeen, the regime's former militia, Aberle said.
Also Friday, attackers in a car hurled a hand grenade at two US Army vehicles outside the Al-Karma Hotel in Baghdad, witnesses said. Five Iraqis, including four teenagers, were wounded. No American soldiers were hurt, but they did uncover an unexploded roadside bomb planted in the median of the street near where the grenade attack took place. The US Central Command reported, meanwhile, that a 1st Armored Division soldier drowned in a swimming pool in Baghdad on Friday. It gave no other details.
Missile
Polish troops in Iraq have found four French-built advanced anti-aircraft missiles which were built this year, a Polish Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters on Friday. "Polish troops discovered an ammunition depot on Sept 29 near the region of Hilla and there were four French-made Roland-type missiles," Eugeniusz Mleczak said. "It is not the first time Polish troops found ammunition in Iraq but to our surprise these missiles were produced in 2003," Mleczak said. The Roland anti-aircraft system is a short-range air defense missile in service with at least 10 countries, including France and Germany.
It is mobile, usually mounted on a vehicle, and defence experts say the missiles are highly effective against aircraft attacking at low and medium altitude. Mleczak said Polish troops were notified about the missiles by a local Iraqi, who received a reward for the information. "The ammunition depot was neutralized," said Mleczak.
Shelter
Saddam Hussein was reportedly seen in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk five days ago and is moving in increasingly smaller circles in order to evade capture, Jalal Talabani, a leading member of Iraq's governing council, has said. Talabani, who also heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main groups controlling the Kurdish north of the country, told The Guardian newspaper published Thursday that he had received unconfirmed reports that the ousted Iraqi dictator had sheltered last weekend among a Sunni Arab community on the outskirts of Kirkuk.
"Saddam has good relations with those Arabs whom he brought to Kirkuk to ethnically cleanse the city of Kurds and Turkomans," he told the paper. Saddam had been moving between the Hawija area and the Kirkuk plain, sheltering among Sunni Arab tribespeople and Ba'ath loyalists who had gone to ground there after the collapse of the regime. Talabani said capturing Saddam was crucial because the uncertainty surrounding his fate continues to be used as a rallying point for the anti-democratic forces. Saddam was last seen in the war's final days in the Azamiya area of north-east Baghdad |
