More news from the "I told you so" war:
Attack on U.S.-Iraqi Base Leaves 22 Dead
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 22 people were killed and 50 wounded Tuesday in an attack at a U.S. and Iraqi base near Mosul, a Pentagon (news - web sites) official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that unknown assailants used rockets and mortars to attack a U.S. and Iraqi forward operating base in Mosul.
The official said it was believed that dining hall at the base was struck.
It was unknown whether the casualties were U.S. or Iraqi personnel, the official said. The base is used jointly by the United States and Iraq (news - web sites).
The attack occurred a day after President Bush (news - web sites) acknowledged that a wave of deadly attacks has raised questions among Americans about whether Iraqis will one day be able to take over from U.S. forces.
The killings were the latest violence in the city, which was initially peaceful after the U.S.-led invasion but become a worrisome trouble spot since U.S. and Iraqi troops invaded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, in November.
Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, was the scene of the deadliest single incident for U.S. troops since the attack on Iraq last year: On Nov. 15, 2003, two Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over the city, killing 17 soldiers and injuring five. The crash occurred as the two choppers maneuvered to avoid ground fire from insurgents.
Mosul was relatively peaceful in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime last year. But insurgent attacks have increased dramatically in the past year and particularly since the U.S.-led military operation in November to retake the restive city of Fallujah from guerrillas.
On Sunday, insurgents detonated two roadside bombs and a car bomb targeting U.S. forces in the volatile city of Mosul 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, in three separate attacks during a two-hour period. Other car bombs Sunday killed 67 people in the Shiite holy cites of Najaf and Karbala.
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, warned Monday that insurgents are trying to foment sectarian civil war as well as derail elections scheduled for next month.
Meanwhile Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) made a surprise visit to Baghdad, urging Iraqis to support national elections and describing violence here as a "battle between democracy and terror."
Blair held talks with Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Iraqi election officials, whom he called heroes for carrying out their work despite attacks by insurgents. Three members of Iraq's election commission were dragged from the car and killed this week in Baghdad.
"I said to them that I thought they were the heroes of the new Iraq that's being created, because here are people who are risking their lives every day to make sure that the people of Iraq get a chance to decide their own destiny," Blair said during a joint news conference with Allawi.
Blair, who has paid a political price for going to war in Iraq, defended the role of Britain's 8,000 troops by referring to terrorism.
"If we defeat it here, we deal it a blow worldwide," he said. "If Iraq is a stable and democratic country, that is good for the Middle East, and what is good for the Middle East, is actually good for the world, including Britain.
Blair, whose trip to Iraq hadn't been disclosed for security reasons, urged Iraqis to back the Jan. 30 national vote.
"Whatever people's feelings and beliefs about the removal of Saddam Hussein, and the wisdom of that, there surely is only one side to be on in what is now very clearly a battle between democracy and terror," he said.
The British leader said that apart from the insurgents' violence, "there is another choice for Iraq: the choice is democracy, the choice is freedom, and our job is to help them get there because that's what they want."
Allawi said his government was committed to holding the elections as scheduled next month, despite calls for their postponement owing to the violence.
"We have always expected that the violence would increase as we approach the elections," Allawi said. "We now are on the verge, for the first time in history, of having democracy in action in this country."
Blair said that as the U.S.-led multinational force, in which British troops are serving, trains and improves the Iraqi security forces, "that brings forward the day that the multinational force can leave" Iraq. The presence of foreign troops in Iraq is strongly opposed across the Arab world.
Blair flew into the Iraqi capital about 11 a.m. aboard a British military transport aircraft from Jordan. A Royal Air Force Puma helicopter flew from Baghdad airport to the city center, escorted by U.S. Black Hawk helicopters.
It was Blair's first visit to Baghdad and his third to Iraq since the dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003. Blair visited British troops stationed around the southern Iraqi city of Basra in mid-2003 and in January. President Bush had paid a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Baghdad at Thanksgiving in 2003.
Blair later flew to Basra, the southern Iraqi city and province where most of Britain's troops are stationed. Britain is the second largest contributor to the multinational force after the United States.
The British leader was a key supporter of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam. His decision to back the U.S. offensive angered many lawmakers in his governing Labour Party and a large portion of the British public.
Before meeting Allawi, Blair met the commander of the multinational force, U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey, and the senior British military officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. John Kiszely. |
