Posted on 04/05/2004 2:27:43 PM PDT by AntiGuv
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Four US troops were killed in the past 24 hours in combat in Iraq, including one Marine and a soldier who died Monday in separate attacks, raising to 11 the number killed since Sunday, the US military said.
"One Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Division has been killed as a result of enemy action in Al-Anbar province today," the military said, adding that a US soldier also died Monday of wounds received Sunday during clashes with radical Shiite militants in Baghdad.
Another seven soldiers were killed in the same clashes in the northern Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.
A US soldier was also killed near the northern oil center of Mosul on Sunday in a bomb attack, while the fourth American from the 1st Infantry Division died in a car bomb attack near the police academy of Kirkuk, also in northern Iraq.
I doubt if it would have detered the average American then, but today when 10 of our nation's finest die in service to their country it is considered beyond the pale and re-evaluation of our mission is questioned minute by minute.
We have YET to lose 1/30th as many people in combat during BOTH Iraqi wars as we did on Normandy Beach on JUNE 6,1944.
The U.S. military says three soldiers have been killed in separate fighting around Baghdad. They were members of the 1st Armored Division. They were killed in apparent attacks by insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades.
A statement from the U.S. military said the four were members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, and that they died while "conducting security and stabilization operations."
Fallujah is surrounded by U.S. and Iraqi forces in an operation to crack down on insurgents.
Hundreds of Marines and Iraqi troops launched "Operation Vigilant Resolve" Monday, to hunt down suspected insurgents in the area. It follows last week's attack and mutilation of four U.S. civilian security workers in Fallujah.
U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said military forces surrounding Fallujah are about to show that America means business.
Bremer said there was universal condemnation of last week's mob killing and mutilation of four Americans in the city. Bremer wouldn't comment on any operational details.
Bremer said despite unrest by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, 90 percent of Iraqis share a vision of democracy -- not of power enforced at the end of a gun barrel.
He saif the United States is "on path" to pass political power back to Iraq by June 30, followed by elections seven months later. He also repeated the U.S. position that a renegade Shiite Muslim cleric is an outlaw who has organized illegal militias.
The office of Muqtada al-Sadr released a statement Monday, saying he left the mosque for fear it would be damaged in an assault. Al-Sadr has not said where he's going.
The cleric had been in the main mosque in the city of Kufa, south of Baghdad, since Sunday. Dozens of militiamen were posted outside, vowing to resist any U.S. attempt to arrest him.
The United States declared al-Sadr an "outlaw" after his militiamen battled coalition troops in fighting that left dozens of people dead, including several American troops.
U.S. officials announced an arrest warrant against al-Sadr Monday in connection with the killing of a rival religious leader. But it's not clear when they plan to arrest him.
There's going to be a rotation of British troops in Iraq.
British defense officials said thousands of troops will fly out to Iraq this week to relieve some British forces already serving there. The deployment is expected to take about 10 days.
British officials said the latest move doesn't amount to bringing additional troops to Iraq. They said one brigade is simply taking over from another brigade.
A British defense spokesman said the troop situation in Iraq is always being reviewed, but that Britain has no plans now to send additional forces.
May God continue to bless and protect our awesome troops!
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