[Vision2020] Yeah That Plan Is Working

[J Ford]

Bush should be so proud!  His plan to keep things under control by infusing 
more personnel into Iraq really seems to be working - NOT.



BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 20 American service members were killed in military 
operations Saturday in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years, 
including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five slain in an attack by 
militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said.

Saturday's toll was the third-highest of any single day since the war began 
in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on 
the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two 
American combat deaths from Friday.

The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition 
to
President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the 
conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter.

The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk 
helicopter during good weather in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. 
U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite 
militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqouba.

Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, a U.S. spokeswoman, said the cause of the crash had 
not been determined. Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a U.S. media 
relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that 
the helicopter was believed to have suffered technical troubles before going 
down.

Five U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday night when militia fighters attacked 
a provincial headquarters in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, the 
military said in a statement.

The statement said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the building 
with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars 
or rockets. The statement said three other soldiers were wounded repelling 
the attack.

"A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security 
of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashoura commemorations," said a 
statement from Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander of the 
Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

Karbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad and thousands of Shiite pilgrims are 
flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashoura festival commemorating the 
death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of 
the Prophet Muhammad.

Brooks said Iraqi officials and security forces as well as U.S. troops were 
present at the meeting, but his statement did not mention other casualties 
from the attack. It said the headquarters had "been secured by coalition and 
Iraqi security forces."

Earlier, Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali had reported that U.S. troops raided 
the provincial headquarters looking for wanted men but left with no 
prisoners. But Brooks said that report was incorrect.

The general did not identify any group suspected of staging the attack, but 
residents reached by telephone had reported seeing military helicopters 
flying over the local headquarters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been accused of playing a big role 
in sectarian killings, has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks by operations 
in which key commanders have been captured or killed by U.S. and Iraqi 
troops.

Also Saturday, roadside bombs killed a soldier in the capital and one in 
Nineveh province north of Baghdad.

The U.S. military also announced that combat Friday had killed an Army 
soldier in Nineveh province and a Marine in Anbar province, a Sunni 
insurgent stronghold west of the capital. The Marines often delay death 
reports, raising the possibility that Friday's toll was higher.

The helicopter crash was the fourth deadliest since the start of the war. 
The worst crash occurred on the war's deadliest day, Jan. 26, 2005, when a 
Marine transport helicopter crashed during a sandstorm in
Iraq's western desert, killing 30 Marines and a sailor. On the same day, six 
other U.S. forces died in combat for a total of 37 deaths.

The second highest daily toll was on March 23, 2003 when 28 service members 
were killed as American forces were pushing toward Baghdad on the third day 
of the U.S.-led invasion.

Meanwhile, the first reinforcements of U.S. troops under the new Bush 
strategy have already started to flow into the Baghdad region. A brigade of 
the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, part of the buildup, has arrived in Baghdad 
and will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the 
capital by the first of the month, the American military said Sunday.

The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne consists of about 3,200 soldiers who 
will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of 
the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a 
transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said 
in a statement.

In south Baghdad, U.S. helicopters dropped Iraqi police commandos into the 
dangerous Dora neighborhood to stage a raid on the Omar Brigade, an 
al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group, Interior Ministry spokesman 
Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Khalaf said 15 insurgents were killed and five captured during an intense 
battle at two abandoned houses taken over by Sunni gunmen, who he blamed for 
a series of kidnappings and killings in a bid to cleanse the once-mixed 
neighborhood of Shiite residents.

"We were provided with helicopter support by our friends in the 
multinational forces and we did not suffer any casualties," Khalaf said. 
U.S. aircraft gave covering fire, but the U.S. military did not respond to a 
request for comment on the raid.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi police and hospital officials said a joint 
U.S.-Iraqi force searched a hospital in the volatile Sunni-dominated western 
neighborhood of Yarmouk.

Dr. Haqi Ismail, the hospital manager, said the raid occurred at 4:30 a.m.

"They were looking for someone, they searched all the rooms and the 
emergency unit," he said.

Al-Sadr's followers voiced increasing anger over Friday's capture of a 
senior aide to the radical cleric in a raid in eastern Baghdad.

Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, accused U.S. 
forces of trying to provoke the Sadrists into violence during the expanding 
campaign to quell Iraq's fighting.

"We condemn strongly the arrest of Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji. He is 
moderate and well-known as a media personality and always available in 
negotiations," al-Rubaie said. "He is a peaceful man and what was mentioned 
in the American release is lies and justification for the aggression against 
al-Sadr's movement."

U.S. and Iraqi forces reportedly detained al-Darraji during a raid on a 
mosque complex before dawn Friday.

The U.S. military, in a statement that did not name al-Darraji, said special 
Iraqi army forces operating with U.S. advisers had "captured a high-level, 
illegal armed group leader" in Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood, next to the 
Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City. It said two other suspects were detained 
for further questioning.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, an al-Maliki adviser, told Al-Arabiya television the 
operation was not coordinated with Iraq's political leaders and was not part 
of the new security campaign.

Police reported at least 16 Iraqis slain in attacks Saturday. In addition, 
officials said 29 bodies were found in Baghdad and three in the northern 
city of Mosul, most of them showing signs of torture — a hallmark of 
killings by sectarian death squads.



J  :]

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