[The Reaper]

From Fox News. Nine US deaths.

May be some buddies of ours.

RIP.

TR



Violence Strikes Iraq's Sunni Triangle

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

FALLUJAH, Iraq — The charred corpses of four coalition civilian contractors, all Americans, were pulled out of burning cars, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and hung from a bridge by rejoicing residents Wednesday. Five U.S. soldiers died in a separate bombing nearby.

Chanting "Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans," locals cheered during the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles, which left both in flames. Others chanted the more standard "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam."

The four contract workers were killed in a rebel ambush of their SUVs in Fallujah, a Sunni Triangle (search) city about 35 miles west of Baghdad.

The State Department is contacting the families of the victims. All four were men, said Sgt. 1st Class Lorraine Hill, a coalition spokeswoman.

Support for Saddam Hussein has always been strong in the area, and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.

"It is not surprising that they are engaging in attacks as we increasingly make progress ... their strategic goal is to turn back the progress," Dan Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, told reporters Wednesday. "Those aren't people we're interested in helping — those are people we have to capture or kill so this country can move forward."

In a separate incident in Malahma, 12 miles to the northwest of Fallujah, five 1st Infantry Division soldiers died when their M-113 armored personnel carrier ran over a bomb.

Also in Ramadi, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy, witnesses said. U.S. officials in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.

On Tuesday in Ramadi, one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bombing, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

"We condemn these attacks in strongest possible terms," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in Washington Wednesday. "We mourn the loss of life."

"Iraqis are realizing freedom is on its way. As we move forward, obviously there will be those who want to stop the progress, but there's no turning back," McClellan continued.

"These former regime elements, these terrorists and others who are making trouble, will be dealt with and will be defeated," Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday.

"We regret the loss of any life and I express my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives to date," he added. "But those lives are lost in the cause of freedom and the Iraqi people will be free. It will happen."

Another 'Black Hawk Down'?

The brutal treatment of the four contractors' bodies was some of the most graphic violence since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.

It was reminiscent of Somalia in 1993, where a mob dragged the corpse of a U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu (search), eventually leading to the American and U.N. withdrawal from the failed East African state.

Associated Press Television News pictures showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole. Others tied a yellow rope to a body, hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street of town. Two blackened and mangled corpses were hung from a green iron bridge across the Euphrates.

"The people of Fallujah hanged some of the bodies on the old bridge like slaughtered sheep," resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Some of the corpses were dismembered, he said.

Beneath the bodies, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones and the phrase, "Fallujah is the cemetery for Americans."

"If you think of a gangster mentality, that is exactly how Iraq was ruled for the past 35 years. It was only recently that efforts have been made to free the country," said retired Navy Capt. Chuck Nash, calling former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "the Al Capone of the 21st century."

"These people have the most to lose in a free Iraq because they have the most to gain under the gangsters," Nash said of the attackers in Fallujah. But "what we can't do is to ease off at this point. These people cannot gain from this activity."

APTN showed the charred remains of three slain men. Some were wearing flak jackets, said resident Safa Mohammedi.

One resident displayed what appeared to be dog tags taken from one body. Residents also said there were weapons in the targeted cars. APTN showed one American passport near a body and a U.S. Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.

"Most of the people in Fallujah want to move on with their lives ... want to be part of a new Iraq. There's a small part of Fallujah that just doesn't get it," Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad Wednesday.

"They [attackers] have a view somehow that the harder they fight, the better chance they have" at restoring some of the pro-Saddam movement, Kimmitt continued.

Witnesses said the two SUVs were attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Hours after the attack, the city was quiet. No U.S. troops or Iraqi police were seen in the area.

"It's a horrifying site ... it's brutal and terrible and reminds you of 'Black Hawk Down,'" retired Army Maj. Gen. Donald Edwards told Fox News, referring to the book and movie depicting the Mogadishu disaster. "I think it's a harsh reality that these people are very unpleasant people ... It's an area that's going to be a problem, I'm afraid, for a long time to come."

Asked whether the attacks would cause U.S. military servicemen and women to question their missions, Edwards replied: "This will only strengthen their resolution. They're not going to quit."