MORE BLOOD ON BUSH'S HANDS
Roadside Explosive Kills 2 U.S. Troops and 2 Iraqis
Young men celebrate in Khaldiya after the attack, vowing to fight 'the Americans until the last drop of our blood.'
U.S. death toll is at 545.
By Sebastian Rotella, Times Staff Writer
KHALDIYA, Iraq — A roadside explosive Thursday killed two U.S. soldiers
and two Iraqis on foot patrol in this town that has become a vortex of
anti-American violence.
A third U.S. soldier from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was wounded in
the attack. The assault brought to 545 the number of American troops killed
since the start of combat in March, a U.S. military spokesman said.
The U.S. military said
the dead Iraqis were a
police officer and a
translator.
After the bodies were
taken away, and after
U.S. soldiers had
charged into nearby
stores to round up
suspects, the young men
of Khaldiya gathered on
the dusty roadside near
the blast site.
And they celebrated.
"We have pledged ourselves to God the almighty that we will continue these
attacks against the Americans until the last drop of our blood," said Ahmed
Abed, a rangy 32-year-old who wore a warmup jacket in the Iraqi national
colors — green, red, white and black — and described himself as a
middleweight boxer. "If they finish off our men, then the women will fight. If
they finish off the women, then the children will fight."
The youthful crowd showed no pity for the young men who had just been blown apart. A chorus of
voices exulted in the gory details and denounced what they called abuses at the hands of U.S. troops.
"I saw the pieces of their bodies spread around," said Kamal Hathal, a mechanic. "I saw a child holding
a piece of flesh on a stick…. After such attacks, we hold our heads high in the air and feel proud. Why
don't the Americans go away? Once they have accomplished their target, gotten rid of Saddam, why
are they staying?"
In Khaldiya, currents of Iraqi nationalism, fundamentalist Islam and nostalgia for former President
Saddam Hussein converge in an almost palpable hatred.
The town, in the Sunni Muslim-dominated region west of Baghdad, lies along the road between the
insurgent bastions of Fallouja and Ramadi. Bedraggled huts mix with the columned facades of
mansions, signs of wealth accumulated through smuggling and other illicit activities during Hussein's
regime.
Khaldiya has been the scene of fierce attacks on U.S. troops and Iraq's fledgling security forces. Last
month, six U.S. soldiers died in two roadside explosions not far from Thursday's blast. In December, a
car bomb devastated the police station, killing at least 17 Iraqis.
Surviving officers blamed American forces for that attack, an allegation U.S. commanders called
absurd — but one that demonstrated the hostility in this region, even in the U.S.-backed police force.
Thursday's explosion occurred at 10:30 a.m. Witnesses said they saw about a dozen soldiers,
accompanied by several uniformed Iraqis, patrolling on foot on the main road east of a highway
overpass at the entrance to town. As the patrol reached a long off-ramp leading to the bridge, a soldier
poked at something with his foot, said Shihab Ahmed, who was at a shop on a ridge across the divided
highway.
"I saw one of the soldiers was doing like this with his foot and something exploded," said Ahmed, a
weather-beaten 62-year-old in a tribal headdress and robe.
U.S. soldiers rushed to the scene, witnesses said. The troops descended on nearby stores, arresting a
number of men, including a shopkeeper and a barber, the witnesses said.
Ahmed said he was handcuffed and held for more than three hours before an officer questioned him
through an interpreter and released him.
"He was older than the others. He treated me in a very good way," Ahmed said. "Very human."
Still, Ahmed and his friends complained that, almost a year after the war, their town frequently went
without electricity for hours at a time. They said the streets had become more dangerous.
"This is not freedom," he said. "This is humiliation."
The emotions were hotter across the road, where several dozen younger men gathered at an
automotive service area. There was debate about whether the slain Iraqi officer should be considered a
martyr or a necessary sacrifice in the attack carried out by "the brothers" of the insurgency.
"Our main motive for resisting the Americans is a religious one," said Ali Mehdi, a truck driver. "And
patriotic feelings. The people want to defend their honor and their country…. The Americans promised
they would bring peace and security and democracy to this country. But they have brought nothing."
In a separate attack, insurgents fired mortar rounds and rockets at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad
early Thursday morning, slightly wounding a U.S. soldier. American troops returned fire, killing an Iraqi,
officials said. They detained 55 people for questioning.
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