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Us soldiers killed in iraq { August 27 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3346879http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3346879
U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq, Bush Vows No Retreat
Wed August 27, 2003 05:05 PM ET
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq Wednesday, as President Bush vowed America would not retreat from the country in the face of a guerrilla insurgency and terror attacks.
Central Command said one soldier was killed and three were wounded in a blast in the town of Falluja, a hotbed of guerrilla violence west of Baghdad. Witnesses said a U.S. convoy had driven over land mines planted on a road.
In Baghdad, one soldier was killed and two were wounded in an attack on a convoy, the U.S. military said.
The deaths brought to 64 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action, according to the latest Pentagon figures, since Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
The total number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since the start of May now exceeds the number who lost their lives during the invasion and occupation in March and April.
But Bush says efforts to secure Iraq will continue.
"Retreat in the face of terror would only invite further and bolder attacks. There will be no retreat," he said Tuesday.
Washington blames supporters of ousted leader Saddam Hussein and foreign Muslim militants for the attacks; and says Saddam loyalists and groups linked to al Qaeda are the prime suspects for last week's bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, which killed at least 23 people.
POSSIBLE U.N. RESOLUTION
To share the burden, the United States and Britain intend to explore a U.N. resolution next week that would encourage nations to send troops, police trainers and money to the reconstruction of Iraq, diplomats at the United Nations said Wednesday.
One diplomat said there was a push to get something adopted before the mid-September annual General Assembly while Britain was still president of the 15-member Security Council.
But failing that, a resolution may look doubtful for the 150,000-strong U.S. military to get help. At the moment about 21,000 other troops are in Iraq, 11,000 of them British.
Troops from the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, based in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, have launched an operation to root out resistance in hostile Sunni Muslim territory to the north of Baghdad. Officers say Operation Ivy Needle will deprive Saddam and his top lieutenants of places to hide.
"That is our goal. After this, it is going to be difficult for him to hide, for his support network to operate properly," spokeswoman Major Josslyn Aberle said in Tikrit.
Last week, Washington announced the capture of two of Saddam's most senior aides -- "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.
The operation began in earnest Tuesday when 24 suspected members of a criminal gang accused of attacking U.S. forces were arrested by the 4th Infantry Division.
Tuesday and Wednesday, soldiers, backed by tanks and helicopters, mounted scores of raids across three provinces north of Baghdad, detaining a further 27 people.
The United States says it wants to hand over power to an Iraqi government after democratic elections expected next year.
Ramiro Lopes da Silva, appointed head of the U.N. mission in Iraq following the death of envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello in last week's bombing, said the attack on the world body would slow reconstruction and thereby prolong the occupation.
"(I hope) that the groups that perpetrate this kind of action understand that the goals they claim to pursue of a free, independent, sovereign Iraq have been delayed by their action, not accelerated," Lopes da Silva told Reuters in an interview.
"Such kind of action is going only to prolong further the regime of occupation the Iraqis are subject to," he said.
PERLE ACKNOWLEDGES MISTAKES
In Paris, Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon adviser and architect of the war, said the United States had made mistakes in Iraq and power should be handed over to Iraqis quickly.
In an interview with the Le Figaro daily newspaper to be published Thursday, Perle said: "Mistakes have been made and there will be others."
He said: "Our principal mistake, in my opinion, was that we didn't manage to work closely with the Iraqis before the war, so that there was an Iraqi opposition capable of taking charge immediately," he said.
"Today, the answer is to hand over power to the Iraqis as soon as possible," he added.
In Copenhagen, the Danish army said it would compensate the families of two Iraqis killed by Danish soldiers.
The Iraqis were killed by a Danish patrol on August 16 in what was first described by the Danish military as a gunbattle with looters. A Danish soldier was also killed in the incident, although that was put down to "friendly fire."
(Additional reporting by Rosalind Russell in Baghdad, Andrew Cawthorne in Tikrit and Pilar Wolfsteller in Baquba)
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