Bodybags after the war
American casualties have become a daily occurrence in post-war Iraq. Anayat Durrani reports from Washington
Since US President George Bush declared the major combat phase of the war over on 1 May, American casualties have continued to mount. The past week was among the deadliest for the American forces still stationed in Iraq, with five more soldiers dying from enemy fire over a 24- hour period.
The total number of American soldiers killed in action is now 49 since Washington judged the war in Iraq to be finished, 27 of those in the month of July. Guerrilla attacks on US forces have been averaging a dozen a day according to military statements, and the casualty toll since the onset of the war is 163, exceeding the number of US troops that died in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The latest incident involved a grenade attack on soldiers from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force south of Baghdad, killing one. Saturday afternoon one US soldier was killed and two others wounded when their convoy was ambushed with small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and "possibly an improvised explosive device" near Abu Ghurayb, Central Command said. Earlier that day, three US soldiers guarding a hospital northeast of Baghdad were killed in a grenade attack.
Air Force Gen. Richard B Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who arrived in Iraq on Sunday, said it was too early to tell if the spike in attacks is connected to the deaths of Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay. Ten US soldiers have been killed since Saddam's sons and two companions were slain, and US officials are blaming Saddam loyalists for the attacks on American troops.
American soldiers have redoubled their search for Saddam Hussein, heartened by the killing of his sons. Myers said search efforts would focus on what he called the "Ba'thist heartland" -- northern cities such as Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. Troops from a special unit raided a house in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansur on Sunday but found no signs of Saddam. American forces acting on tips from informants searched for Hussein around Tikrit but reported that their target, the ex-president's security chief and possibly Saddam Hussein himself, had left the area the day before.
Myers told reporters in Baghdad that Saddam "was too busy trying to save his own skin" to direct the insurgency against American forces.
"He is so busy surviving he is having no impact on the security situation here," Myers said. "It's a big country, but we'll find him." With the arrest Friday of several of Saddam's bodyguards in Tikrit, American forces say they are one step closer to capturing Saddam. US officials are confident the deposed leader will be found, and with the Bush administration's $25 million bounty on Saddam's head more tips are trickling in from Iraqis helping in the search. An Iraqi informant gave US troops information about the location of Saddam's sons Monday night, US officials said. Uday and Qusay were killed Tuesday during a six-hour gunbattle with US troops. The reward for information on Uday and Qusay was $15 million each.
Army Gen. Tommy Franks said he wasn't surprised when Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were found and killed, predicting that their father would meet the same fate. Franks believes that if Saddam is in fact still alive, informants will turn him in just like his sons.
"I'll even put a timeline on it," said Franks during a 23 July speech at the Fifth annual Military Child Education Coalition conference. "I suspect that within 60 days Saddam will be confirmed dead or he'll be in custody."
Franks noted that unlike Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and his Ba'th Party leadership were widely despised because they tortured and killed their own people.
Meanwhile, the Central Command said four US soldiers serving in Iraq have been charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners of war. The four are accused of punching, kicking and breaking bones of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the largest US-run POW camp in Iraq. The charges mark the first time US personnel have been formally accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners since the war in Iraq began. The soldiers and their families deny the charges. Pentagon officials steadfastly maintain that American soldiers follow international guidelines for humane treatment of detainees. The four are awaiting a hearing and could face a court martial.
