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4 troops killed in volatile iraqi province Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4667031/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4667031/
4 U.S. troops killed in volatile Iraqi province
Marines surround Fallujah, prepare for massive crackdown
Marine Pfc. Draper Donavanu was dug in Monday on the outskirts of Fallujah.
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:18 a.m. ET April 06, 2004BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four U.S. Marines were killed “as a result of enemy action” in western Anbar province, the military said in a statement Tuesday.
The four members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed Monday while “conducting security and stabilization operations,” it said. It gave no other details.
Anbar province’s most-populous city is Fallujah, which hundreds of Marines have surrounded, ready to launch a crackdown on insurgents after a mob killed four U.S. civilians, who were under contract to the U.S. coalition as security guards.
Scenes of Iraqis dragging the four bodies through the streets and hanging two of the charred corpses from a bridge showed the depth of anti-U.S. sentiment in the city. The images caused revulsion around the world, and even Sunni Muslim clerics in the city condemned the mutilations as un-Islamic, although they did not criticize the killings.
Fallujah, which is 30 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the most volatile cities in the Sunni Triangle, the heartland of the anti-U.S. insurgency north and west of the capital. Anbar province stretches from Baghdad to the Jordanian and Syrian borders.
Marines take up positions
U.S. forces blockaded roads around Fallujah and stopped all traffic in and out. Military patrols entered the outer suburbs on reconnaissance missions and broadcast warnings on loudspeakers to residents to stay indoors until Tuesday. The streets were largely deserted.
Iraqi police dropped off U.S. leaflets at mosques, announcing a daily 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and ordering residents not to carry weapons. They instructed people to gather in one room if U.S. forces entered their home and to put their hands up if they wanted to talk to the troops.
About two miles from the northern outskirts near a Muslim cemetery, Marines dug trenches in the desert and sharpshooters took position on the roof of a mosque.
Nearby, several Abrams tanks, armored troop carriers, Humvees and trucks waited ahead of the planned operation.
“The city is surrounded,” said Lt. James Vanzant, a spokesman for the Marines. “We want to make a very precise approach to this. ... We are looking for the bad guys in town.”
About 1,200 U.S. Marines and two battalions of Iraqi security forces will be involved in the operation, he said.
Troops will target the killers of the four Americans, as well as guerrillas who have attacked U.S. forces and Iraqi police. “Those people are specially targeted to be captured or killed,” said 1st Lt. Eric Knapp, another spokesman for the Marines.
U.S. copter reportedly damages houses
A witness reported that a U.S. helicopter struck a residential area in the city early Monday, killing five people. The attack damaged five houses, said the witness, Mohammed Shawkat. There was no immediate U.S. comment.
Another witness, Ali Jasim, said that there was shooting near one of the U.S. barricades on a road out of Fallujah and that some Iraqis trying to leave the city were hit. It was unclear whether they were killed or wounded.
Two Iraqi drivers working for The Associated Press were stopped Monday by insurgents who blockaded a road about six miles east of Fallujah. The rebels, who were armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, searched the two vehicles before letting them go.
The California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force assumed responsibility for Fallujah from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division on March 24. The Marines said they intended to take a softer approach with residents, hoping to win popular support.
But the Marines have quickly found themselves mired in violence. On March 26, Marines and insurgents fought a long street battle in which a Marine and five Iraqis were killed.
The same day as the four civilians were killed, five U.S. soldiers died when a bomb exploded under their vehicle in a village near Fallujah.
Support for Bush slips after deaths
The violence appears to have contributed to a drop in public approval of President Bush’s handling of Iraq, although a majority still supports his decision to use military force, according to a poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Four in 10, or 40 percent, approved of the way Bush is handling Iraq, a new low, while 53 percent disapproved.
Bush’s overall job approval was at 43 percent, also a low point for his presidency, down from 56 percent in mid-January. In the new poll, 47 percent disapproved of Bush’s job performance.
Public support for the decision to use military force in Iraq has not changed. The poll found that 57 percent thought the United States made the right decision to use military force, about the same as in early February.
“People are sticking to their guns on whether this was the right decision, but they’re beginning to feel a little more wary about how long our troops are exposed to these dangers,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. “While they think this was the right thing to do, they don’t think Bush is handling it very well.”
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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