seruriermarshal
06-22-2004, 09:44 AM
U.S. Soldier Killed in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A mortar attack in Baghdad and two assaults on U.S. forces northeast of the capital killed one soldier and wounded nine others, the military said Tuesday, as militants showed no sign of letting up in attacks against Americans ahead of the June 30 transfer of sovereignty.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Army scheduled the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing for Spc. Sabrina Harman in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal case, the U.S. command said.
The session, known as an Article 32 hearing, will determine if the 26-year-old will face court martial.
The session will be held Thursday, a military spokeswoman, Lt. Beatriz Yarrish, said. A military official said the defendant undergoing the hearing was Megan Ambuhl, 29 Centreville, Virginia, but Yarrish said her Article 32 hearing has aleady been held.
South Korea, meanwhile, said Tuesday it will evacuate all of its citizens working for businesses in Iraq by early July as the country awaited word on a South Korean man held by militants there. The government said there were about 22 businessmen still in Iraq.
Iran said Tuesday it plans to prosecute eight British navy sailors serving in Iraq on charges of entering Iranian waters, Iran's state-run television said Tuesday.
The eight were detained in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway on Monday as they were delivering a patrol boat for the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. The waterway runs along the border between Iran and Iraq.
Troops were attacked twice on Monday in the predominantly Sunni Muslim city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Maj. Neal O'Brien of the 1st Infantry Division.
In the first attack, one soldier was wounded by an improvised explosive device — a homemade bomb. In the second attack, two soldiers were wounded by small arms fire and evacuated to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, O'Brien said. All three are in stable condition.
Also Monday, a mortar attack in north-central Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier and wounded six other soldiers, the military said. A contract worker was also wounded.
Iraqi insurgents also gunned down four U.S. Marines on Monday west of Baghdad, apparently stripping the dead of their flak jackets before fleeing.
A videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed the bodies lying in what appeared to be a walled compound. They were in uniform and one was slumped in the corner of a wall.
The bodies had no flak vests — mandatory for U.S. troops in contested areas — and at least one was missing a boot. Next to one body is an open fieldpack, suggesting the dead were looted.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, confirmed the killings but gave few details. He said a U.S. quick reaction force found the bodies after the troops failed to report to their headquarters as required.
The mortar attack happened in north-central Baghdad. Seven Army soldiers were wounded in addition to the one killed, the U.S. command said.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday that the government could not say if Kim Sun-il was still alive. Kim's captors had given South Korea until sunset Monday to halt its troop deployment to Iraq.
"We have various intelligence and information on that matter, but we cannot give you a definite answer," said ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.
Hundreds of South Koreans attended a candlelight vigil in Seoul Monday to protest the government's decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq, the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain. South Korea now has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern city of Nasiriyah.
Kim, 33, who works for a trading company in Baghdad, was believed to have been kidnapped about 10 days ago. A videotape broadcast by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera shows him pleading for his life.
The kidnappers claimed to be from the Monotheism and Jihad group led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to have ties to al-Qaida.
Chanting anti-U.S. slogans, hundreds rallied in Fallujah on Monday to protest an American airstrike on Saturday. Demonstrators accused the Americans of falsely claiming that al-Zarqawi had sought refuge in Fallujah to create an excuse to attack the city.
Kimmitt told reporters the attack killed "key personnel in the Zarqawi network" but he would not confirm that any foreign fighters were among the dead.
Iraqi officials in Fallujah, long one of the centers of anti-American militancy, maintain the attack killed only Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi Health Ministry said at least 17 people died.
Elsewhere, five Iraqi contractors were killed Monday in an ambush on their three-vehicle convoy 30 miles south of Mosul. The U.S. command said two others were wounded.
The recent kidnappings and attacks appear aimed at undermining the interim Iraqi government set to take power June 30, when the U.S.-led occupation formally ends. U.S. and Iraqi officials have vowed to go ahead with the transfer.
Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said that by week's end, all Iraqi government ministries would be under full Iraqi control.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has promised to crush the terrorist threat and said Sunday his administration was considering martial law in some areas to restore law and order.
But both he and the interim president later sought to temper those remarks, saying martial law was only one of several steps under consideration.
In an interview Tuesday with the British Broadcasting Corp., Allawi said his Cabinet was considering "public safety laws" rather than martial law as it devised a security strategy for Iraq.
Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday the government would be within its rights to impose martial law, but it was not inevitable.
Also Tuesday, U.S. authorities released three busfuls of prisoners from the notorious Abu Ghraib detention center, bringing the total number set free in the last two months to over 2,000. The prison is at the center of a scandal over abuse of inmates by U.S. troops.
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From
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_29)
REGIMENTAL PRAYER
Almighty, merciful, and loving Father,
you are the one who hears all our prayers and grants our petitions.
We ask you to remember, as we do,
the tremendous sacrifice made by those who went before us.
They have given their lives so that we might live and breathe freely.
We ask you to receive them into your hands.
Father, give us the strength and wisdom to learn from their example,
to uphold freedom and life at home and around the world.
Keep us vigilant as we guard the frontiers of freedom.
Give our leaders the wisdom and the strength to lead well.
Grant all of us courage and confidence.
Be, for all of us, troopers, a wise counsel in keeping peace
and a strong shield for us against our enemies.
Oh heavenly Father, give us the determination
that the peace and freedom won at such a high price be lasting!
Father, hold all of the troopers in the palm of your almighty hand
and protect them in the shadow of your wings.
Amen.
Other news :
Car bomb kills two children in western Baghdad: witnesses
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A car bomb killed two children in western Baghdad, witnesses said.
"The explosion went off while a civilian car was passing and two children were burnt in the back of the vehicle," said Hassan Abdel Kazem, who owns a shop near the site of the attack.
He added that the children's parents were also wounded in the attack in the Amariyah district.
Four cars were destroyed in the blast and American forces had surrounded the area, he added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040622/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_baghdad_blast&cid=1514&ncid=1480)
R.I.P
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A mortar attack in Baghdad and two assaults on U.S. forces northeast of the capital killed one soldier and wounded nine others, the military said Tuesday, as militants showed no sign of letting up in attacks against Americans ahead of the June 30 transfer of sovereignty.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Army scheduled the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing for Spc. Sabrina Harman in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal case, the U.S. command said.
The session, known as an Article 32 hearing, will determine if the 26-year-old will face court martial.
The session will be held Thursday, a military spokeswoman, Lt. Beatriz Yarrish, said. A military official said the defendant undergoing the hearing was Megan Ambuhl, 29 Centreville, Virginia, but Yarrish said her Article 32 hearing has aleady been held.
South Korea, meanwhile, said Tuesday it will evacuate all of its citizens working for businesses in Iraq by early July as the country awaited word on a South Korean man held by militants there. The government said there were about 22 businessmen still in Iraq.
Iran said Tuesday it plans to prosecute eight British navy sailors serving in Iraq on charges of entering Iranian waters, Iran's state-run television said Tuesday.
The eight were detained in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway on Monday as they were delivering a patrol boat for the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. The waterway runs along the border between Iran and Iraq.
Troops were attacked twice on Monday in the predominantly Sunni Muslim city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Maj. Neal O'Brien of the 1st Infantry Division.
In the first attack, one soldier was wounded by an improvised explosive device — a homemade bomb. In the second attack, two soldiers were wounded by small arms fire and evacuated to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, O'Brien said. All three are in stable condition.
Also Monday, a mortar attack in north-central Baghdad killed a U.S. soldier and wounded six other soldiers, the military said. A contract worker was also wounded.
Iraqi insurgents also gunned down four U.S. Marines on Monday west of Baghdad, apparently stripping the dead of their flak jackets before fleeing.
A videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed the bodies lying in what appeared to be a walled compound. They were in uniform and one was slumped in the corner of a wall.
The bodies had no flak vests — mandatory for U.S. troops in contested areas — and at least one was missing a boot. Next to one body is an open fieldpack, suggesting the dead were looted.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, confirmed the killings but gave few details. He said a U.S. quick reaction force found the bodies after the troops failed to report to their headquarters as required.
The mortar attack happened in north-central Baghdad. Seven Army soldiers were wounded in addition to the one killed, the U.S. command said.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday that the government could not say if Kim Sun-il was still alive. Kim's captors had given South Korea until sunset Monday to halt its troop deployment to Iraq.
"We have various intelligence and information on that matter, but we cannot give you a definite answer," said ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.
Hundreds of South Koreans attended a candlelight vigil in Seoul Monday to protest the government's decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq, the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain. South Korea now has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern city of Nasiriyah.
Kim, 33, who works for a trading company in Baghdad, was believed to have been kidnapped about 10 days ago. A videotape broadcast by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera shows him pleading for his life.
The kidnappers claimed to be from the Monotheism and Jihad group led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to have ties to al-Qaida.
Chanting anti-U.S. slogans, hundreds rallied in Fallujah on Monday to protest an American airstrike on Saturday. Demonstrators accused the Americans of falsely claiming that al-Zarqawi had sought refuge in Fallujah to create an excuse to attack the city.
Kimmitt told reporters the attack killed "key personnel in the Zarqawi network" but he would not confirm that any foreign fighters were among the dead.
Iraqi officials in Fallujah, long one of the centers of anti-American militancy, maintain the attack killed only Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi Health Ministry said at least 17 people died.
Elsewhere, five Iraqi contractors were killed Monday in an ambush on their three-vehicle convoy 30 miles south of Mosul. The U.S. command said two others were wounded.
The recent kidnappings and attacks appear aimed at undermining the interim Iraqi government set to take power June 30, when the U.S.-led occupation formally ends. U.S. and Iraqi officials have vowed to go ahead with the transfer.
Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said that by week's end, all Iraqi government ministries would be under full Iraqi control.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has promised to crush the terrorist threat and said Sunday his administration was considering martial law in some areas to restore law and order.
But both he and the interim president later sought to temper those remarks, saying martial law was only one of several steps under consideration.
In an interview Tuesday with the British Broadcasting Corp., Allawi said his Cabinet was considering "public safety laws" rather than martial law as it devised a security strategy for Iraq.
Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday the government would be within its rights to impose martial law, but it was not inevitable.
Also Tuesday, U.S. authorities released three busfuls of prisoners from the notorious Abu Ghraib detention center, bringing the total number set free in the last two months to over 2,000. The prison is at the center of a scandal over abuse of inmates by U.S. troops.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_29)
REGIMENTAL PRAYER
Almighty, merciful, and loving Father,
you are the one who hears all our prayers and grants our petitions.
We ask you to remember, as we do,
the tremendous sacrifice made by those who went before us.
They have given their lives so that we might live and breathe freely.
We ask you to receive them into your hands.
Father, give us the strength and wisdom to learn from their example,
to uphold freedom and life at home and around the world.
Keep us vigilant as we guard the frontiers of freedom.
Give our leaders the wisdom and the strength to lead well.
Grant all of us courage and confidence.
Be, for all of us, troopers, a wise counsel in keeping peace
and a strong shield for us against our enemies.
Oh heavenly Father, give us the determination
that the peace and freedom won at such a high price be lasting!
Father, hold all of the troopers in the palm of your almighty hand
and protect them in the shadow of your wings.
Amen.
Other news :
Car bomb kills two children in western Baghdad: witnesses
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A car bomb killed two children in western Baghdad, witnesses said.
"The explosion went off while a civilian car was passing and two children were burnt in the back of the vehicle," said Hassan Abdel Kazem, who owns a shop near the site of the attack.
He added that the children's parents were also wounded in the attack in the Amariyah district.
Four cars were destroyed in the blast and American forces had surrounded the area, he added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040622/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_baghdad_blast&cid=1514&ncid=1480)
R.I.P