Posted on 11/08/2003 6:43:11 PM PST by Brian S
BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (AFP) - Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Washington was "sobered" by attacks against coalition troops in what he called "a war zone," as two more US soldiers were killed in Iraq Saturday.
While the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was temporarily closing its offices in Baghdad and Basra amid escalating violence, Iraq's interim Governing Council welcomed Turkey's decision not to send forces to the war-torn country.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul urged the United States not to show bias towards Iraqi Kurds and warned Ankara would not refrain from taking military action if it perceived a security threat emanating from Iraq.
Armitage acknowledged that "in the Baghdad, Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah areas, we have got a security problem and we are sobered by that problem."
But after talks with US administrator Paul Bremer and Iraqi officials, he told a news conference he was "convinced we have a very solid plan to get these people who are killing us and killing Iraqis."
While US President George W. Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1, Armitage stressed that the administration had never said combat had ended altogether.
"I think it is a war zone," he said of Iraq.
Confronted with the security nightmare, ICRC spokesman Florian Westphal said in Geneva that the Red Cross will temporarily pull out of Baghdad and Basra, but will "remain present in the north of Iraq".
"We do want to make it clear that part of the reason we are doing this is because we are deciding against military protection, the two things are connected," he told AFP.
The announcement came a day after the United Nations also said it had pulled out all its international staff from Baghdad because of the worsening security situation.
Meanwhile, a day after six soldiers were killed when a Blackhawk helicopter came down near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, two more US soldiers were killed and one wounded when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
The latest deaths brought to 146 the number of US troops killed in combat since May 1.
A round was fired toward the closed off US-led coalition's fortress-like Baghdad compound Saturday, but the shell fell short, a military spokesman said. Separately, a US military officer said an army convoy came under attack in central Baghdad, but gave no further details.
The continued unrest came as the cause of Friday's chopper crash was still unclear.
"The investigation is ongoing and the results are inconclusive," US military spokesman Mike Escudie told AFP, speaking from the Florida headquarters of the Central Command, which is in charge of operations in Iraq.
The US military said earlier that neither enemy fire nor a mechanical failure could be ruled out.
In Washington, meanwhile, the leader of US Senate Republicans suspended a politically damaging inquiry into possible inadequacies or misuse of pre-war intelligence on Iraq, saying it was being manipulated "to politically wound the president of the United States."
The announcement by Senate Majority leader Bill Frist in a floor speech Friday capped a heated political row in the upper congressional chamber triggered by a leaked Democratic memorandum outlining a strategy for using the probe for political gain.
"At this moment of peril in our nations history, as our intelligence agencies and our armed forces in the Middle East are at war against our mortal enemies, those responsible for this memo appear to be more focused on winning the White House than they are on winning the war against terror," said the Tennessee Republican.
Back at the site of the helicopter crash, the US 4th Infantry Division bombarded the surrounding area, calling the attack "Operation Ivy Cyclone".
Spokeswoman Josslyn Aberle described it as a "show of force" after insurgents carried out ambushes against US forces.
The crash came less than a week after a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down outside Fallujah, killing 16 soldiers in the deadliest single strike since the start of the war.
But although Saturday capped the bloodiest week for US troops in Iraq since May 1, US Secretary of State Colin Powell vowed that Washington will not withdraw its forces "until security and stability are restored."
"We want to end our presence in Iraq as soon as possible but we will never turn our backs and run because the situation gets difficult from time to time, " Powell told Asharq al-Awsat daily.
In yet further testament to the lingering security headache, Spanish intelligence sources warned Madrid there is a "high risk" of an attack on its Baghdad embassy, the El Pais daily reported Saturday.
El Pais cited sources close to the report as saying the warning was a factor in Tuesday's decision to leave only a skeleton staff at the Baghdad mission.
Spain was a solid ally of the United States in the Iraq conflict and now has 1,250 troops serving in the war-torn country.
A Newsweek poll released Saturday meanwhile showed 51 percent of Americans disapproved of President George W. Bush's overall handling of the Iraqi situation.
Fifty-three percent thought the United States does not have a well-thought-out plan for post-war Iraq, 60 percent said their government was spending far too much money there, 75 percent were afraid the US would get bogged down in Iraq for many years without favorable results, and 54 percent thought too many US troops were in Iraq and should be brought home.
Turkey's announcement that it was abandoning plans to send troops to Iraq in response to a request from its US ally was broadly welcomed.
"The (Iraqi) Governing Council welcomes the decision of the Turkish government not to send forces," Governing Council spokesman Hamid al-Kifai told reporters Saturday.
"The Governing Council has always said that security and stability cannot be maintained in the presence of foreign forces."
burs/aln/mk
Iraq-worldwrap
John - we're not personally aquainted but you once did a mega-ping for me. If I might impose once more ... its important. Thanks. Charlie.
A soldier puts the Texas flag back onto the casket of U.S. Sgt. First Class Gary L. Collins after the wind blew it off during his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, November 25, 2003. Collins, from Hardin, Texas, was killed in Iraq (news - web sites) on November 8, 2003, when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle hit an explosive device in Fallujah. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Daughters Taylor, 8, (L) and Landry stand with their mother Kassandra as the flag-draped casket of U.S. Sgt. First Class Gary L. Collins is carried to its burial site during his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, outside Washington, November 25, 2003. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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