Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (187636)	5/2/2004 2:50:57 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1570343

Nine U.S. Troops Die; American Hostage Free Sun May 2, 2004 02:09 PM ET (Page 1 of 3) By Tom Perry BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nine U.S. servicemen were killed in Iraq Sunday -- six of them in a mortar attack -- but U.S. commanders also announced American civilian Thomas Hamill had escaped after being held hostage for three weeks by gunmen. U.S. Marine Major T.V. Johnson told reporters the mortar attack had targeted a military base two hours drive from Falluja, the flashpoint Sunni city some 30 miles west of Baghdad, but would give no further details. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in northwest Baghdad and another died when guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb and fired assault rifles at a U.S. base near the northern oil city of Kirkuk. After April became the bloodiest month for U.S. troops in Iraq with 129 combat deaths, American commanders were able to report good news when Hamill, a trucker, ran into the arms of a U.S. patrol close to Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit. "He had an opportunity to escape, saw some U.S. forces and made his dash," General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Americans on breakfast television. UPSURGE IN VIOLENCE In April's upsurge in violence, soldiers from other countries in U.S.-led forces and foreign civilians were also killed and more than two dozen foreigners were kidnapped, jeopardizing transport, construction and oil projects key to U.S. efforts to win hearts and minds in Iraq. Three Italian civilians and a U.S. soldier remain hostages. No new kidnappings have been reported for nearly two weeks. Hamill's wife Kellie said: "I feel wonderful. It's the best feeling I've had. I am so ecstatic and I just want to thank everybody that has prayed and sent their prayers to us." Pictures of Hamill, 43, as a hostage joined those of coffins of dead American soldiers under the Stars and Stripes as unwelcome images for President Bush as he campaigns for re-election in November. Film of Hamill free may help offset the latest bad news photographs from Iraq -- U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners at a Baghdad jail -- that has outraged opinion in the Arab world. Continued ... reuters.com