The architect of disaster is going to Baghdad......thrilling.....maybe HE will go to a funeral...unlike the ChickenPres
Baghdad Bomb Attack Kills U.S. Soldier, 4 Iraqis
By Andrew Hammond
Reuters
Friday 05 December 2003
BAGHDAD - A bomb exploded in the middle of a busy Baghdad road on Friday, killing one
American soldier and at least four Iraqis as a military convoy and a packed minibus passed in
opposite directions, police and witnesses said.
The attack came ahead of a visit to Iraq by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a key architect
of the war that toppled president Saddam Hussein but now under fire over the chaos that has
ensued. He is expected to arrive on Saturday.
Police said 16 Iraqis were also wounded in the Baghdad blast, one of two bombings on U.S.
convoys in the capital, as Muslims headed to mosques for Friday prayers. There were no
casualties in the other attack.
In the fatal attack, the U.S. military said in a statement that the device exploded between the
first and second vehicles of the three-vehicle convoy, killing one soldier.
The minibus was badly damaged in the blast, with all its windows blown out. Pools of blood
stained the floor of the wreckage. The blast also blew out shop windows around the area and left
a large crater in the street.
Iraqi police Captain Sami Hadi at the scene said the blast was caused by a mine planted near a
busy market place and a popular mosque in an area of the city known as new Baghdad.
"The mine was exploded by remote control," Hadi said. "These are terrorists, they don't care if
there are Iraqis around."
The attack raised to 190 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in Iraq since Washington
declared major combat over on May 1. Scores of Iraqis have also died in almost daily attacks by
anti-American insurgents or from U.S. fire.
The latest attacks come a day after the United States urged NATO to consider a more robust
role in Iraq.
ANGER
The attack left many Iraqis angry. At a hospital close to the scene of the blast, six old women
dressed in black, all relatives of one of the victims, wailed on the ground.
Saad Yassin, a shop owner whose friend was killed in the explosion, said: "Where are the
police? How can people plant mines like this?
"Neither the police, the (U.S.-appointed) Governing Council or the Americans are running this
country. This country is lost," he said.
Another roadside bomb hit a separate U.S. convoy in Baghdad early on Friday, damaging a
humvee but causing no casualties. North of the city, an armored vehicle caught fire, although
there were conflicting reports over the cause.
Some witnesses said it might have been due to an attack by insurgents. There were no reports
of casualties and the U.S. military said it had no information.
The U.S. request for NATO to play more of a role in Iraq was the first time since the invasion
that Washington had openly pressed the alliance for help in Iraq, where its own costs and
casualties are steadily mounting.
The U.S.-led war, which several NATO members opposed, plunged the 19-nation alliance into
one of the deepest crises in its 54-year history.
NATO currently provides behind-the-scenes support to a 23-nation division of troops led by
Poland in a swathe of south-central Iraq, and 18 of the 26 current and future members of the
alliance have a military presence in the country.
Meanwhile, members of the Baath party, Saddam's political powerbase, have started to
regroup, the Financial Times quoted Britain's special representative to Iraq as saying.
The newspaper said former Baathist leaders who had fallen out with Saddam in the past wanted
to set up a party under a new name to participate in the country's new political climate, with
Iraq's former leader excluded from joining the organization.
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Soldier Dies of Wounds
Defense Link
Thursday 04 December 2003
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Ryan C. Young, 21, of Corona, Calif., died on Dec. 2 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
Washington, D.C., of wounds he received Nov. 8 in Fallujah, Iraq. Young died of injuries
sustained when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. Young was assigned to A
Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kan.
The incident is under investigation.
Go to Original
Soldier Dies From Non-Combat Related Injury
Defense Link
Thursday 04 December 2003
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Chief Warrant Officer Clarence E. Boone, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas, died on Dec. 2 in Kuwait
City, Kuwait. Boone died as a result of a non-combat related injury. Boone was assigned to
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas.
The incident is under investigation. |
