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

To: JDN who wrote (763087)	6/30/2007 11:12:11 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Iraq Government condemns U.S. raid in Baghdad slum The military reports that 26 militants were killed in a firefight in Sadr City. The Iraqi government says it didn't OK the mission, and local leaders say innocent bystanders are among the dead. By Ned Parker Times Staff Writer 12:33 PM PDT, June 30, 2007 latimes.com A U.S. search early today for fighters allegedly linked to Iran turned into a raging firefight in which the military claimed it killed 26 militants. The Iraqi government rebuked the Americans for carrying out the raid in a Baghdad slum without its permission, and local leaders said many innocent bystanders had been hurt. In another development that could strain relations with Iraqis, the U.S. military announced that two soldiers had been charged with premeditated murder for allegedly killing three Iraqis in Baghdad's southern belt, dubbed the Triangle of Death for its reputation as a foothold of Sunni militants. And an armor-piercing bomb of a type the U.S. military believes is manufactured in Iran claimed the life of a U.S. soldier and wounded three others in southern Baghdad, the Army said. The military faced a backlash from the Iraqi government for the predawn raids in Sadr City, the bastion of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi Army militia and home to more than 2.5 million people. The U.S. military said in a statement that 26 "terrorists" who attacked soldiers with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs had been killed. An additional 17 militants were detained in the operation against extremists with "close ties to Iranian terror networks," it said. However, representatives from Sadr's movement and civilians said the Americans had opened fire mostly on innocent civilians. Sheik Salah Obeidi, a Sadr spokesman in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, said that among the dead were three women and an old man from a single family. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who has been in a tug of war with U.S. commanders about raids in Sadr City, issued a statement criticizing the U.S. military for not clearing the operation with the Iraqi government. In the murder case, two U.S. soldiers are accused of planting weapons on three Iraqis that they had slain separately in the area of Iskandariya, 30 miles south of Baghdad. The U.S. military identified them as Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley of Candler, N.C., who faces three counts of premeditated murder, obstructing justice and planting weapons on his alleged victims, and Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval Jr. of Laredo, Texas. Sandoval faces one count of premeditated murder and placing a weapon on one of the dead Iraqis. The U.S. military also reported that it found 35 to 40 bodies in a mass grave south of Fallouja in Al Anbar province, where tribes have turned against Islamic militants linked to Al Qaeda in the last year. ned.parker@latimes.com Times staff writers Raheem Salman, Saif Rifai, Wail Alhafith contributed to this report.