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Huge blitz destroy saddam die hards Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003300279,00.htmlhttp://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003300279,00.html
Blitz on Saddam's assassins
From NICK PARKER in Iraq
A HUGE blitz to destroy Saddam Hussein’s diehards was under way last night.
US air and ground forces mounted more than 20 raids and rounded up 60 suspects in a bid to halt a wave of attacks in Iraq.
The massive swoop — codenamed Operation Sidewinder — was unleashed as it emerged British Paras had been only 100 YARDS from six Red Caps trapped and massacred inside a police station.
But the men from 1 Para, who were locked in a deadly gun battle of their own, were unable to help because they were unaware of the RMP squad’s presence.
Last night the top US official in Iraq warned the six Red Caps might not be the last casualties of the campaign to restore calm.
Paul Bremer said: "There are people out here, particularly remnants of the old regime, perhaps even terrorists from neighbouring countries, who do not accept the military outcome.
“We are going to fight them and we will capture or, if necessary, kill them until we have imposed law and order. Unfortunately we will continue to take casualties.”
Bremer also stressed the need to kill or capture Saddam himself — for without him resistance would have no focal point.
He announced that military operations were under way in several parts of the country and that fighters were captured “by the dozens or by the scores”.
Raids, spearheaded by the mighty US 4th Infantry Division, kicked off at 2am local time in a wide swathe from the centre of Iraq to 50 miles north of Baghdad.
They were expected to last for several days. Guerillas have stepped up attacks on US troops in recent days, carrying out ambushes against convoys, shooting individual soldiers and lobbing grenades.
Yesterday 500 British troops re-entered Majar al-Kabir for the first time to investigate the deaths of the Red Caps.
A communications failure was blamed for the fact that 1 Para did not know the RMP were there.
One soldier, Lance-Corporal Gregg Fuller, 24, said: “The first I knew the RMP were there was when their bodies were brought out.”
The tragedy cast new doubt on the reliability of the Army’s ageing Clansman headset system, which is due to be replaced.
Back into the
town of death
Return to tragic scene ... men patrol street
outside police station in Majar al-Kabir
From NICK PARKER
in Majar al-Kabir, Iraq
THE bodies of the six British Red Caps were long gone as Paras swept back into Majar al-Kabir — but the fear remained.
It was in the eyes of locals watching a rumbling armoured column retake the bullet-scarred streets.
And it haunted the faces of the young soldiers still shocked by the cold-blooded slaughter of their comrades.
The British arrival had been announced both at the mosque and by British Army leaflets promising no revenge for the killings.
But tension was high as I watched 500 troops re-enter Majar backed by a steel cordon of armoured vehicles.
Grim ... Paras in the police station
Both sides knew only too well that the dumb bravado of a single potshot could spark another bloodbath.
Troops arriving at the police station were greeted by a banner on a wall directly opposite proclaiming: “Be aware that you are in Iraq.”
Its message was answered by a Scimitar armoured vehicle which rumbled to a halt in front of the building.
The armoured car’s cannon pointed straight at the banner as if to reply: “Be aware who’s in charge.”
Turbanned town imam Sheikh Zekeria Jasim wailed appeals for calm through a loudspeaker as Army helicopters clattered overhead.
Tensions broke with the arrival of a maroon-bereted Para officer armed only with a smile and a handshake.
Captain Guy Wintour, 30, walked briskly into the crowd and grabbed the hand of Ismail al Majidi, a 33-year-old local military officer.
Sign ... Iraqi warning
The pair talked in broken English and other soldiers on the streets were suddenly greeted as locals relaxed.
The 500-strong British contingent included many of the Paras who were caught up in a furious gun battle in the town last Tuesday morning.
Major Chris Kemp, 39, the officer commanding 1 Para’s Charlie Company on the fateful day, was among the first back in the town. He said: “It was a hard fight and we were very lucky to get everyone out alive.”
Corporal William Brown, 27, was driving one of a patrol’s two Pinzgauer troop carrying vehicles on Tuesday.
Corp Brown, of Aldershot, Hants, said: “From nothing it suddenly seemed like there were thousands of them all around us. First they were chanting and clapping, then they started stoning us.
“One stone went straight through my windscreen. Rocks were thrown that were so big they’d have killed you if they’d hit your head.
“It got more and more crazy and we found ourselves penned in - that’s when the rounds started coming in.
Return ... troops watched
“The first shot came from a sniper with a rifle on a roof.
“Then they started hammering at us from all sides - bang! bang! bang! We knew we had to get out or we would have been killed.”
Yesterday Mahmout Shaker, a 50-year-old health worker who joined the welcome for the returning Brits, said: “We feel terrible about what happened on Tuesday.
“We want the British to know they are welcome here. We respect them and share their sadness.”
It was hard not to believe him and townsfolk like him who spoke of their continuing support for the British.
But as the tanks and body armour confirmed, it will be much harder for our troops to trust the people of this town for a long time to come.
SADDAM Hussein’s mouthpiece Comical Ali tried to be granted asylum in Britain, it emerged yesterday.
Propaganda chief Ali — Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf — contacted top BBC man John Simpson to ask British authorities for help.
But world affairs editor Simpson said: “Nobody was even interested in interrogating him.”
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