BAGHDAD, 28 August 2003 — Two US soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq yesterday, as President George W. Bush vowed America would not retreat from the country in the face of an 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 violence west of Baghdad. Witnesses said a US convoy had driven over land mines planted on a road.
In Baghdad, an American soldier was killed in another attack on a convoy, the US military said.
The deaths bring to 64 the number of US soldiers killed in action, since Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
The total number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since the start of May now exceeds the number who lost their lives during the invasion and occupation of the country 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 on Tuesday amid growing criticism in the United States of his Iraq policy as he presses his case for re-election next year.
“Terrorists are gathering in Iraq to undermine the advance of freedom. And the more progress we make in Iraq, the more desperate the terrorists will become.”
Two Iraqi policemen, a looter and a money changer were also killed yesterday in an exchange of gunfire in the Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves Square, in the heart of Baghdad.
Washington blames Saddam loyalists and foreign militants for attacks on its forces. It also says supporters of the former leader 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.
Thousands of troops from the 4th Infantry Division, based in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, have launched a new operation to root out resistance in the area. 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 Maj. Josslyn Aberle said in Tikrit.
“Saddam is a master of hiding. If you look at his history, he had 30 years of practice, doubles running all over the place, secret places and so on.”
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 on Tuesday when 24 suspected members of a criminal gang accused of attacking US forces were arrested by the 4th Infantry Division in the town of Khalis. The raids were nicknamed “Operation Jimmy Hoffa” after a US labor leader who vanished in 1975 before a scheduled lunch with Mafia leaders.
Iraq’s US occupiers had banned Saddam’s image from public display but yesterday they began plastering pictures of him all over central Baghdad.
Instead of the giant portraits on almost every street corner during his rule, this time Saddam features on wanted posters advertising the $25 million reward offered by Washington for information leading to his capture or proving he is dead.
They show Saddam in black and white on a deep red background above pictures of his sons Uday and Qusay with a cross over their faces.
On Tuesday and yesterday, soldiers from the 26,000-strong division, backed by tanks and helicopters, mounted scores of raids across three provinces north of Baghdad, detaining a further 27 people.
Funding the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq is another concern. US authorities in Iraq have all but exhausted nearly $1 billion in seized assets used to pay Iraqi civil servants, and some administration and congressional officials say extra money may be needed sooner than expected.
The top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, was expected to discuss the issue at meetings in Washington this week, officials said.
Bremer said in an interview published yesterday that Iraq would need tens of billions of dollars in contributions from overseas in the next year to fund reconstruction.
He told The Washington Post Iraqi revenue would not be enough to cover the bill for economic needs that he described as “almost impossible to exaggerate”.
