US Raids For Hidden Weapons In Iraq

Large U.S. force raids Iraqi town

Villagers mourn men shot as guerrillas by erring U.S. patrol

AP	2003-06-15 04:03:54

FALLUJAH, IRAQ -- U.S. army units moved in force to seal off the Iraqi town Fallujah west of the Baghdad early today, raid the homes of suspected militia resistance leaders and search for illegal weapons. Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade targeted spots where intelligence reports indicated resistance operations were underway or weapons stockpiled for use against U.S. forces.

The initial thrust against the city 60 kilometres from Baghdad met no resistance, but Iraqis sounded sirens and flashed their porch lights in apparent warning that the U.S. troops were coming.

The 2nd Brigade entered Fallujah and the nearby towns Habaniyah and Khaldiyah on June 4, tripling the number of U.S. troops in the area after repeated ambushes on supply convoys.

The raids across Fallujah by more than 1,300 U.S. soldiers began at about 3 a.m. local time, just three hours after expiration of a deadline for Iraqis to turn in heavy weapons under an amnesty program.

On Saturday, warnings were broadcast on mosque loudspeakers that the Americans were likely to raid Fallujah at the end of the amnesty.

With helicopters whirring overhead, U.S. troops rousted residents from their beds, including women and children, who had been sleeping outside in the cool night air.

The raid followed an extensive action last week against the so-called "Sunni triangle" north and west of Baghdad, which the military declared today had been completed.

About 60 of 400 people taken in that search-and-seizure raid are still in custody for further interrogation, said the U.S. Central Command.

Among them are two former Iraqi generals of President Saddam Hussein's army: the secretary of the defence ministry, and the head of the Iraqi military academy.

Iraqi and U.S. military police said Saturday few Iraqis were handing over weapons under the amnesty program because of the fragile security situation.

Elsewhere in Iraq yesterday, villagers mourned a 70-year-old farmer, three of his sons and another relative whom they say U.S. forces killed by mistake in their hunt for Saddam Hussein loyalists.

An elder in the village of Elheer, about 50 kilometres north of Baghdad, said the four were shot by U.S. troops while trying to put out fires set in their wheat fields by U.S. flares. The troops had fired the flares while chasing Iraqi militants suspected in the ambush of two U.S. tanks Thursday night on a country road about 1.5 kilometres away.

BAGHDAD, June 15 (Reuters) - U.S. forces hunted for heavy weapons on Sunday in towns bristling with guns after a two-week arms amnesty that yielded scant response from Iraqis still anxious about postwar lawlessness.

"Those who carry weapons in public without a temporary permit will be detained, their weapons confiscated, and subject to imprisonment for up to one year and fines," the U.S. army said in a statement. "Coalition forces will aggressively enforce the weapons control policy."

U.S. commanders have said they expect a surge in arrests for weapons offences in the next few days as the new policy comes into force. They hope this will succeed where the amnesty failed in persuading Iraqis to give up their guns voluntarily.

The U.S. army said that during the amnesty period, Iraqis handed in 123 pistols, 76 semi-automatic rifles, 435 automatic rifles, 46 machineguns, 11 anti-aircraft weapons and 381 grenades and bombs -- a drop in Iraq's ocean of weaponry.

Under the new rules, Iraqis may not keep anything more formidable than a Kalashnikov assault rifle in their houses and businesses, and may not carry unlicensed guns.

Many Iraqis have complained that they dare not give up their guns until security is restored following the anarchy that ensued after Saddam Hussein's overthrow on April 9.

Some political parties with private militias have also been reluctant to disarm.

The United States said even family heirlooms and collectors' weapons fell under the new policy, and that Iraqis who voluntarily gave up their weapons would get no reward.

"Iraqis must give up all heavy weapons without any expectation of reimbursement," it said. "It is not an economic issue but one about security."

U.S. forces say they are determined to restore order in Iraq and crack down on guerrillas who have mounted a string of deadly ambushes on American troops in recent weeks.

U.S. soldiers fought their bloodiest clashes last week since President George W. Bush declared major combat over.

The U.S. military said some 70 people were killed in a U.S. raid on a "terrorist training camp" in western Iraq on Thursday, and a U.S. army statement said 27 Iraqis who ambushed a tank patrol were killed on Friday during Operation Peninsula Strike, a sweep of hostile territory north of Baghdad.

But a military spokesman later declined to confirm the death toll from Friday's clashes, and some reports suggested it was lower. Locals around Balad said five civilians had been killed by U.S. forces after an attack on a convoy on Thursday.

In a statement, the U.S. military said that during last week's operation around Balad, some 400 Iraqis were detained and about 60 were still in custody. Four U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with two Iraqi "hostile civilians".

Two former Iraqi generals turned themselves in during the raids, U.S. Central Command said.

It also said on Friday that U.S. forces had captured the commander of the former Iraqi air force, Hamid Raja Shalah al- Tikriti. He was number 17 on a U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Centcom did not say where he was apprehended.

U.S. army spokesman Sergeant Brian Thomas told Reuters that Operation Desert Scorpion, designed to root out members of Saddam's Baath party and Fedayeen militia blamed for a string of deadly attacks on U.S. troops, began on Saturday night.
''We are trying to detain people who want to destabilise Iraq,'' he said, adding that the mission would focus on Baghdad and the tense areas to the north and west of the capital.
U.S. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a television interview that Saddam was probably still alive and at least five groups were operating against American and British forces.
In the Sunni town of Falluja, 70 km (45 miles) west of Baghdad, troops searched some houses overnight, but by morning they were distributing food and supplies. Hostility to the Americans is widespread in Falluja after a series of clashes, but the town was quiet on Sunday with a low-key army presence.
Thomas said Desert Scorpion involved winning hearts and minds as well as chasing guerrillas. Projects such as fuel and food distribution are planned to try to gain local support.
Some 40 U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile action since the United States declared major combat over on May 1.
The attacks have been concentrated in Baghdad and two nearby areas -- to the west around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad, Baquba and Tikrit, Saddam's home town.
The United States says remnants of Saddam's regime are behind the attacks. Many locals say they have no love for Saddam but that anger is mounting towards the occupying U.S. soldiers.
''We were oppressed under Saddam and now we are oppressed under the Americans,'' a local trader said.
Asked about recent attacks on U.S. soldiers, General Myers told the U.S. Fox News Channel on Saturday: ''...there are about five different groups in there that are fighting; they're the ones that are still loyal to the Baath party, and they think that maybe it will come back.''
He added: ''I think, probably the majority opinion is that he (Saddam) is alive and it's something that has to be dealt with...''

[Karl Note: As usual the NYT puts the maximum negative news out as truth! They do not change!]

U.S. Forces Launch Raids Across Iraq to Quell Uprisings

ALLUJA, Iraq, Sunday, June 15 — Thousands of American troops backed by tanks, planes and helicopters carried out extensive raids early this morning in this restive city and in at least two other Iraqi cities, military officials said.

The military operation was one of the largest in Iraq since the end of major fighting. No American casualties were reported, and no figures were released for Iraqi casualties.

Dozens of suspected Baath Party members were detained in the raids, officials said. It was not known early today whether any senior Iraqi officials were apprehended.

The raids had been planned for days, military officials said, and appeared to be the latest phase of an effort to break the back of a nascent armed resistance that had sprung up in the swathe of the country dominated by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority. More raids are expected this week, military officials said.

"This thing is happening all over Iraq tonight," said Lt. Col. Eric Schwartz, who oversaw raids early today in the southern half of Falluja, a city 35 miles west of Baghdad that has become a center of armed resistance. "It's a massive, coordinated effort."

Saying that the raids were part of continuing operations, American military officials said they would not identify the other cities involved this morning.

In the last three weeks, 10 American soldiers have been killed and dozens have been wounded in ambushes carried out by unknown gunmen in the Sunni-dominated areas north and west of Baghdad.

A combination of Saddam Hussein loyalists, Islamic militants and foreign fighters are believed to have carried out attacks on American troops. Using small arms and grenades, the attackers have sharply increased American casualties in Iraq.

Colonel Schwartz, who commands a battalion of soldiers in the Army's Third Infantry Division, emphasized here that the early morning raids would be followed by concentrated relief efforts later today to win the support of the Iraqi people, in a "carrot and stick" approach. He said soldiers would distribute truckloads of free gasoline, for example, in Falluja and help repair local schools and soccer fields.

In the past, Iraqis have reacted angrily to such raids, calling them heavy-handed and warning that American forces are turning Iraqi public opinion against them. By the time the raids were completed by dawn this morning, angry Iraqis were making those charges again.

The operation began here just after 2 a.m. local time, with dozens of American military vehicles — M1-A1 Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees rumbling out of the sprawling American base west of town.

American units blocked all traffic on the main highway running across Iraq and linking Falluja to Baghdad.

As convoys of military vehicles converged on their targets, Kiowa helicopters, pilotless drones and fighter jets circled overhead.

Across Falluja, teams of soldiers from the Third Infantry Division raided houses looking for the men believed to have planned and carried out the recent ambushes of American soldiers, military officials said. Soldiers also raided suspected weapons caches. In one house, 15 suspected members of the hard-line Saddam Fedayeen were detained.

Colonel Schwartz said some Iraqis resisted and were shot by Americansoldiers. He did not have complete Iraqi casualty figures this morning, but said no Americans were hurt.

He said the goal of the raid and subsequent distribution of relief aid was to show that the Americans are pursuing only the handful of people carrying out the attacks, while at the same time trying to help the vast majority of people in the city.

He said he hoped the people of Falluja would see that the raids this morning were aimed specifically at the militants, not ordinary residents.

Colonel Schwartz added that tensions had eased somewhat in Falluja since his battalion arrived 12 days ago as part of a redeployment of troops that has quadrupled the number of allied forces here.
A raid at 4 a.m. on a gas station used as a weapons transfer point showed the advantages and disadvantages of the sweeps.

An Abrams battle tank and four Bradley fighting vehicles drove toward the gas station, which sits just off a main road in the town. In front of the station, all four of the Bradley's abruptly stopped, pivoted and pointed their gun barrels and headlights at it. The rear hatches of the vehicles swung open and infantrymen poured outside, aiming their rifles at a row of trucks.

In the glare of the headlights, Iraqi truck drivers dropped up in the cabs of the trucks where they had been sleeping. Seemingly baffled by what was happening, they obeyed American instructions to line up and be searched and questioned.

"We are searching for weapons," an American soldier explained to the 20 drivers. All of them denied having any arms.

As the Americans scoured the trucks, one man nervously whispered to another in Arabic. "Do you have weapons?"

Other drivers complained that their trucks had just been searched at an American checkpoint up the road. When a journalist took photos of them being searched, they complained even more loudly.

"They are taking the pictures so they can show their people them searching Iraqis," one man said. "Do they think we are monkeys?"

Tarik Abud Mousa, a 40-year-old truck driver from the city of Qaim in western Iraq, said the drivers had been sleeping peacefully when the Americans arrived. He called the searches a humiliation.

Foreigners aid Iraqi fighters

    RAWA, Iraq — Deep in the desolate, bone-dry wasteland of western Iraq, strong evidence has emerged that organized groups of foreign Islamic fighters are involved in the widespread armed resistance to American forces.
    More than 70 Iraqi and Arab fighters were killed on Thursday in a crushing assault by U.S. forces on their camp next to a creek near Rawa, a town on the Euphrates River about 50 miles from Syria.
    Packets of Algerian tobacco, paperwork from Egypt and Yemen, and Saudi religious tracts and shopping tags were found among the scorched ruins of the camp yesterday by the Sunday Telegraph, the first British journalists to reach the remote location.
     Local people who buried the bodies within 24 hours, in keeping with Muslim teaching, recognized just one man. They said they believe that the rest of the heavily armed group, which arrived in a packed truck last weekend and set up camp in the desert, was a mixture of foreigners and Iraqis from other parts of the country.
     The raid, on what U.S. Central Command called a "terrorist training camp," provides the first significant indication that militants from other Arab countries who came to Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion are still operating in the tribal lands west of Baghdad.
     The attack began with an aerial pounding shortly after midnight and is thought to have followed a tip about the group's whereabouts from an informant within the fighters' ranks or from Rawa.
     Although the nationalities of the men are not known, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Algeria provided most of the volunteers for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
     Scattered on the ground were approximately 20 pairs of crumpled black trousers and jackets — the uniform of the fanatical Fedayeen Saddam — Saddam's Martyrs. Military rucksacks and kitbags lay alongside, as well as civilian clothes and training shoes. The remains of a medical kit of bandages, syringes, painkillers and sutures suggested the fighters had been well-equipped.
     Along a gully, the remnants of the group's arms cache stretched for hundreds of yards. About 30 hand-held surface-to-air missile launchers, countless missiles, mortar rounds and flares, and the remnants of rocket-propelled grenades, were strewn across the ground.
     The scorched face of the rock escarpment where the fighters had pitched their tents bore testimony to the ferocity of the attack.
    They probably thought they had found an ideal hiding place next to the bullrushes of a stream in otherwise unforgiving terrain; instead it became a shooting gallery from which there was no escape.
     With temperatures approaching 120 degrees, the stench of rotting bodies escaped from the newly dug graves. The cover of a Koran, a white robe and the coil of a headdress were laid across one. Elsewhere shards of wood marked the spot where body parts had been covered.
     Locals from Rawa said that they had found no identity cards or passports, but it was not clear whether they had been destroyed in the attack or removed by U.S. troops.
     The raid was led by air-assault units from the 101st Airborne Division, soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division and Special Forces. After the site was pounded from the air, troops landed by helicopter to finish off the resistance. One U.S. soldier was injured in the ferocious firefight.
    The Americans suffered one military setback when an Apache helicopter was shot down about a mile from the battleground, apparently by a small, separate band of fighters. The two-man crew was rescued unhurt by U.S. Special Forces, who left six fighters dead at the site before the downed helicopter was removed by an Army crane and truck.
     The operation represented a new stage in the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Troops were sent in for the first time since the war to pummel enemy fighters with the same sort of overwhelming force deployed in the advance on Baghdad.
     North of Baghdad, 4,000 American troops continued their biggest postwar operation, code named Peninsula Strike, to root out pro-Saddam Hussein elements that have staged repeated ambushes on U.S. forces in Iraq's Sunni Muslim tribal heartlands.
    The goal was to capture and interrogate suspected Ba'ath Party loyalists, although 27 Iraqis were also killed in the operation on Friday after a grenade attack on a U.S. tank.
    Early today, U.S. Army units worked to seal off the conservative town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, intending to raid the homes of suspected militia leaders and search for illegal weapons.
    Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade targeted locations where intelligence reports indicated militia operations were under way or weapons stockpiled for use against U.S. forces. The operation was called Spartan Scorpion.
    The initial thrust against the city 37 miles from the capital met no resistance.
    The change in U.S. tactics came as an Arabic newspaper based in London published a letter, purportedly from Saddam, threatening attacks in countries whose troops occupy Iraq.
    The three-page fax is likely to provide succor to anti-American factions in Iraq, although its authenticity is impossible to verify.
     Senior U.S. officials have acknowledged that the failure to locate or capture the ousted dictator or his sons has helped fuel the upsurge in resistance. Forty Americans have been killed in attacks and accidents since the start of May when President Bush declared the war effectively at its end.
    •This article is based in part on wire service reports.


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US Raids For Hidden Weapons In Iraq

U.S. Forces Launch Raids Across Iraq to Quell Uprisings -- NYT

U.S. Forces Launch Raids Across Iraq to Quell Uprisings

Foreigners aid Iraqi fighters