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 : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (762213)	5/13/2007 9:35:20 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Soldiers snatched in surprise attack; intense search on THE PLAIN DEALER Sunday, May 13, 2007 Sudarsan Raghavan and Joshua Partlow Washington Post cleveland.com Baghdad- Hundreds of American and Iraqi troops launched an aerial and ground manhunt Saturday for as many as three U.S. soldiers missing after an assault on a military patrol south of Baghdad. The convoy was carrying seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter, and five of them were killed. The pre-dawn attack occurred 12 miles west of Mahmoudiyah, a volatile city between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers within a rural region dubbed "the Triangle of Death." It is known to be infiltrated by al-Qaida fighters and Sunni insurgent groups. As of early today, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. military officials said. In the hours after the assault, and stretching into the night, American combat helicopters, unmanned surveillance drones and planes scoured surrounding areas, U.S. military officials said. Troops secured a wide perimeter, conducting door-to-door searches and erecting checkpoints to seal off roads and streets to prevent the missing soldiers from being taken out of the area. U.S. military officials also have enlisted local leaders in the search. "Make no mistake," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the military's top spokesman, said in a statement. "We will never stop looking for our soldiers until their status is definitively determined, and we continue to pray for their safe return." A U.S. military source familiar with the manhunt said the two-vehicle convoy was struck with a roadside bomb, then was apparently ambushed by gunmen. Some of the soldiers had been shot. Flames consumed the vehicles, but it was unclear whether the explosion caused the fire or if it had been set later. "It was a planned, coordinated attack," the source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. It was unclear whether the interpreter was among those killed or missing, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman. Nor was it clear whether the interpreter was a soldier or a civilian, Garver added. All of the soldiers were assigned to the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division. The attack was the latest in a series of targeted strikes against American soldiers in recent weeks that have generated high single-day death tolls. On April 23, twin suicide truck bombings killed nine soldiers and injured 20 at a remote combat outpost in Diyala province. On May 6, a roadside bomb struck a convoy in Diyala, killing six soldiers and a Russian journalist, among eight U.S. soldiers killed that day. Saturday's attack occurred in the same region as one in June in which insurgents ambushed three soldiers manning a vehicle checkpoint near a power plant in the town of Yusufiyah. Securing the violent areas around Baghdad has become a primary focus of the security plan launched in mid-February and the troop buildup ordered by President Bush. One of the five new U.S. military brigades sent to Iraq as part of the "surge" deployed to the other side of the Tigris River from Mahmudiyah, working to stop the traffic of explosives into Baghdad and to disrupt areas where insurgents are believed to hide and plan their assaults. The mayor of Mahmudiyah, Mu'aiad Fadhil Hussein, said the attack happened near the village of Beshesha, west of the city. He described it as "one of the most dangerous areas of the city, in which Arab and Iraqi terrorists exist, and not even innocent civilians can enter it." A senior Iraqi army official said he believed that the attack had been carried out by Sunni insurgents. "This area is really full of al-Qaida members," the official said on condition of anonymity. Sheik Mohamad Al Janabi, a reputed al-Qaida member in the nearby city of Salman Pak, said in a telephone interview that he was unable to contact his comrades in Mahmudiyah to determine whether they were responsible for the attack. But, he added, "I can assure you that we will start pressuring Bush in a new way at the same time he is facing pressures from the Democrats and the American people. And there will be no problem to sacrifice 10 soldiers in order to abduct a single American soldier and get him on televisions' screens begging for us to release him." © 2007 The Plain Dealer © 2007 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.