Iraqi leader is assassinated
Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 17, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. soldiers found a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent in Baghdad, the military said Monday. The device, which partially detonated, was apparently a leftover from Saddam Hussein’s arsenals.
Meanwhile, a suicide bombing killed the head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. Also, the Pentagon is moving 3,600 U.S. soldiers from bases in South Korea to the conflict in Iraq this summer.
If confirmed in subsequent testing, the discovery of sarin would be the first evidence of a banned weapon in Iraq since the war began. The Bush administration based its case for the war on the existence of such weapons.
Soldiers who removed the bomb experienced symptoms consistent with low-level nerve agent exposure, U.S. officials said. No one was wounded in the partial blast Saturday, and the dispersal of sarin from the bomb was very limited, the military said.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cautioned that the sarin results were from a field test, which can be imperfect and more analysis needed to be done.
The former top U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, David Kay, said it was possible the shell was an old relic overlooked when Hussein said he had destroyed such weapons in the mid-1990s.
Former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, speaking to the AP in Sweden, agreed the shell was likely a stray weapon scavenged from a dump and did not signify that Iraq had large stockpiles.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Izzadine Saleem, also known as Abdel-Zahraa Othman, was waiting in a Governing Council convoy at a U.S. checkpoint, preparing to enter the Green Zone, when a bomb was detonated. It apparently had been rigged with artillery shells and hidden inside a red Volkswagen.
Iraqi officials said nine people, including the bomber, were killed and 14 Iraqis and an Egyptian were wounded in Monday’s attack. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt put the death toll at seven. Two U.S. soldiers were slightly wounded.
The Governing Council selected Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a Sunni Muslim civil engineer from Mosul, to succeed Saleem. Al-Yawer will lead the council until June 30, when sovereignty will be transferred to a new interim Iraqi government.
The U.S. military said the car bombing was a suicide attack and Kimmitt said it had the “classic hallmarks” of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant with links to al-Qaida. He is believed responsible for many of the vehicle bombs in Iraq in recent months and for the beheading last week of U.S. civilian Nicholas Berg.
However, a previously unknown group, the Arab Resistance Movement, claimed responsibility.
At the Pentagon, officials said soldiers from the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division will rotate into Iraq on one-year tours, confirming an announcement made earlier in Seoul.
The troops are among the 37,000 American troops permanently stationed in South Korea to deter an invasion by forces of communist North Korea.
A senior defense official who discussed the matter on condition he not be identified said no decision has been made yet on whether the 2nd Brigade will return to its post in Korea after its Iraq tour ends.
The latest identifications reported by the Defense Department of U.S. military personnel who recently died in Iraq:
Army Spc. Philip I. Spakosky, 25, Browns Mill, N.J.; died Friday after he was shot Thursday in Karbala; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.
Army Pfc. Michael A. Mora, 19, Arroyo Grande, Calif.; died Friday when his vehicle turned over in Najaf; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Polk, La.
Army Staff Sgt. Rene Ledesma, 34, Abilene, Texas; killed Saturday by a bomb in Baghdad; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Air Force Senior Airman Pedro I. Espaillat Jr., 20, Colombia, Tenn.; died Saturday in Kirkuk of nonhostile injuries; assigned to the 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
U.S. military deaths
The latest identifications reported by the Defense Department of U.S. military personnel who recently died in Iraq:
Army Spc. Philip I. Spakosky, 25, Browns Mill, N.J.; died Friday after he was shot Thursday in Karbala; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.
Army Pfc. Michael A. Mora, 19, Arroyo Grande, Calif.; died Friday when his vehicle turned over in Najaf; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Polk, La.
Army Staff Sgt. Rene Ledesma, 34, Abilene, Texas; killed Saturday by a bomb in Baghdad assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Air Force Senior Airman Pedro I. Espaillat Jr., 20, Colombia, Tenn.; died Saturday in Kirkuk of nonhostile injuries; assigned to the 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
Other developments
* Two American soldiers were killed in action west of Baghdad, the military said. The troops were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
* The arraignments of three soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners have been moved up a day to Wednesday, an Army spokesman in Baghdad said Monday. Arraignments had been scheduled for Thursday for Sgt. Javal S. Davis, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. “Chip” Frederick II and Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr. Another defendant, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, goes on trial Wednesday before a special court-martial.
* Fighting persisted in the Shiite heartland in southern Iraq, where American jets bombed militia positions in the city of Nasiriyah. U.S. jets also bombed targets in Karbala, and there were clashes in the city.
* Four in five Iraqis believe their former president, Saddam Hussein, was guilty of murdering and torturing civilians in their country, according to a recent Gallup Poll in Iraq. If an Iraqi tribunal finds Hussein guilty of murdering Iraqis, 61 percent of Iraqis say he should get the death penalty.
* Two Russian workers held hostage in Iraq for a week were freed, a Russian news agency reported.
Associated Press
Other developments
* Two American soldiers were killed in action west of Baghdad, the military said. The troops were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
* The arraignments of three soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners have been moved up a day to Wednesday, an Army spokesman in Baghdad said Monday. Arraignments had been scheduled for Thursday for Sgt. Javal S. Davis, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. “Chip” Frederick II and Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr. Another defendant, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, goes on trial Wednesday before a special court-martial.
* Fighting persisted in the Shiite heartland in southern Iraq, where American jets bombed militia positions in the city of Nasiriyah. U.S. jets also bombed targets in Karbala, and there were clashes in the city.
* Four in five Iraqis believe their former president, Saddam Hussein, was guilty of murdering and torturing civilians in their country, according to a recent Gallup Poll in Iraq. If an Iraqi tribunal finds Hussein guilty of murdering Iraqis, 61 percent of Iraqis say he should get the death penalty.
* Two Russian workers held hostage in Iraq for a week were freed, a Russian news agency reported.
