COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Service: Casualties
Nine American Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Qassim Abdul Zahra, The Associated Press
September 10, 2007
Baghdad
- Nine American soldiers died in Iraq on Monday - all but one killed in
vehicle accidents in and around Baghdad, the military said.
The deadliest of the vehicle accidents, in western
Baghdad, killed seven Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers and
wounded 11, and left two detainees dead and a third injured. The cause
of the accident was under investigation, the military said.
In a separate accident, east of Baghdad, an American
soldier was killed and two injured when their vehicle flipped and
caught fire. A ninth soldier died of injuries sustained Sunday while on
patrol in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told parliament
Monday that Iraqi forces are not ready to defend the country without
U.S. help despite what he termed major improvements in security in
Baghdad since the American troop buildup began this year.
Sunni politicians disputed talk that life was
getting better for residents of the capital and blamed al-Maliki's
Shiite-led government for failing to ease sectarian tension.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, appeared before parliament
hours before U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and top commander Gen. David
Petraeus began a series of appearances before Congress to report on the
situation in Iraq since President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 extra
troops to Iraq this year.
"There have been tangible improvements in security
in the recent period in Baghdad and the provinces but it is not
enough," al-Maliki said. "Despite the security improvement, we still
need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to
take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces
that helped us a great deal in fighting terrorism and outlaws."
Al-Maliki said violence had dropped 75 percent in
the Baghdad area since stepped up military operations began in the city
Feb. 14 - although he offered no detailed figures. Thousands of
militants had been killed and captured, he added.
Despite ongoing violence, al-Maliki said his
government had managed to prevent the country from descending into
allout Sunni-Shiite civil war after the wave of sectarian bloodletting
last year.
"We have achieved success in preventing Iraq from
descending into sectarian war and I am fully confident that national
reconciliation is our only way that takes Iraq into safety," al-Maliki
said.
He also said his Cabinet had finalized a draft bill
to allow thousands of former Saddam Hussein supporters to serve in
government posts, a major demand of the Sunnis and one of the 18
benchmarks demanded by Congress will begin debate on the measure next
week.
Sunni politicians acknowledged that Iraq's security
forces were not ready to defend the country on their own but challenged
al-Maliki's statements that life was improving.
"Al-Maliki was talking about the illusion of
improvement in the security situation," Sunni lawmaker Mohammed
al-Dayni. "This is just talk...All streets are blocked with concrete
walls and barbed wires...You can see only few people in the streets.
People are living a confused and abnormal life."
Salim Abdullah al-Jubouri, spokesman for the main
Sunni bloc in parliament, said the "real solution" to the Iraq crisis
was a "fundamental change in the political process," dominated by
Shiite religious parties and their Kurdish allies.
Such views appear to be shared by a large number of
Iraqis, according to a according conducted by ABC News, Britain's BBC,
and Japan's public broadcaster NHK and released Monday.
The poll found that 47 percent of those surveyed
want U.S. forces and their coalition allies to leave the country
immediately and only 39 percent said their lives were going well. Only
25 percent said their own communities have become safer in the past
half year.
The poll was conducted August 17 to 24 with 2,212
randomly chosen adult Iraqis from across the country. The poll has a
margin of sampling error of 2.5 percentage points.
In the north, a suicide car bomber killed eight
people and injured 20 others in an attack near an Iraqi army
headquarters near Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, the local
mayor Najim Abdullah said.
Also Monday, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed three
civilians during a raid in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, police
and residents said.
U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said the
raid targeted a suspected Shiite extremist who eluded capture. He said
there were no reports of civilian or military casualties.
Residents showed AP Television News the coffins of
the people they said were killed in the raid - a woman and her two
daughters. Residents lifted the blanket from inside one of the simple
wood coffins to show the bodies of two little girls lying next to each
other.
A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity
for security reasons, confirmed the woman and two girls were killed in
the firefight.
"Neither the government protects us nor does Bush defend us," lamented resident Abu Ali. "What shall we do?"
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