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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Deaths of 11 troops add to grisly month

Borzou Daragahi Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq – At least 11 U.S. troops were killed during a 30-hour period ending Wednesday afternoon, putting October on track to be the deadliest for Americans in Iraq since U.S. Marines stormed insurgent-controlled Fallujah in November 2004.

The latest surge in attacks on American military personnel has claimed the lives of 70 troops so far this month and comes as a sharp rise in civil warfare between Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni sects has left hundreds dead over the last week, including at least 43 on Wednesday.

U.S. officials attributed the increased casualties to an expected rise in attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as well as to recently changed tactics by U.S. troops, who are flooding Baghdad neighborhoods in an attempt to stanch sectarian fighting. The bulk of the deaths occurred in the capital, where seven troops died from roadside bombs and small-arms attacks.

President Bush acknowledged that the surge in violence in recent weeks could be the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet offensive, the pivotal Vietnam War battle begun in 1968 that helped turn U.S. popular opinion against the war and undermined support for President Johnson.

Asked whether he agreed with a columnist who said that the fighting in Iraq mirrored Tet, Bush said that they “could be right.”

“There’s certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we’re heading into an election,” Bush said in an interview with ABC News.

Bush also said that while he is adhering to his policies in Iraq, he is troubled by the deaths of Americans.

“It breaks my heart, because behind every casualty is somebody with tears in their eyes,” Bush added. “Behind every casualty are families that will be mourning the loss of life for a lifetime.”

A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press poll published Oct. 5 showed that 58 percent of the public says the U.S. military effort in Iraq is not going well – up from 48 percent just a month ago and the highest disapproval rating recorded since the war began in 2003.

Pew’s survey found that 48 percent of the public said it is casting its vote for the House and the Senate on Nov. 7 as a way to vote against the president.

The latest war casualties brought to at least 2,783 the number of U.S. military personnel killed so far in Iraq, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Attacks on U.S. forces have spiked as much as 20 percent in Iraq during Ramadan, which this year began in late September, officials in Washington said.

“Emotions are more intense,” said Thomas Donnelly, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It’s a time to attempt dramatic things because people’s awareness is heightened.”

But defense officials and analysts added that the sharply higher October casualty rate also was due to the increased exposure of U.S. troops to fighting during campaigns in Ramadi and Baghdad.

U.S. forces continue to face a resilient Sunni Arab insurgency in cities like Ramadi, while struggling to stanch an outbreak of civil warfare between Shiites and Sunnis and keep in check Shiite-dominated security forces prone to abusing their power.

Ramadan also has brought an increase in violence against Iraqi civilians, including the kidnapping and beheading last week of 19 young laborers near the city of Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad, that sparked a wave of warfare between Shiites and Sunnis north of the capital.

Iraqi officials said that 54 Sunnis and 26 Shiites were killed over four days of violence in the religiously mixed agricultural region along the Tigris River.

Shiite militiamen responded by abducting and executing dozens of Sunnis, who responded with rocket fire on Shiite enclaves.

The threat of further escalation loomed Wednesday, as mortar rounds fired from Sunni areas again struck the Shiite city of 300,000, said Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Nabil Baldawi.

In addition, the whereabouts of 13 carloads of Shiites abducted Monday night at an illegal checkpoint in the countryside surrounding Balad remained unknown, police said. Security officials reached by telephone estimated 40 people disappeared at the checkpoint but said they have found no bodies and received no demands for their release.

U.S. and Iraqi officials said two battalions of Ministry of Interior “quick-reaction unit” commandos had arrived in the area. The Shiite-dominated force is thought by Sunnis to be involved in sectarian death squad killings.

But a dusk-to-dawn curfew and the arrival of Ministry of Interior forces from the capital appeared to have restored order to Balad and the nearby Sunni village of Dhululiya, local police and U.S. officials said.

“There have been no casualties (in Balad) in the last 24 hours,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeffery Martindale. U.S. ground forces Wednesday backed up local security forces with patrols and attacks against suspected insurgent positions, the release said.

At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 33 injured Wednesday in attacks targeting U.S. and Iraqi security forces. Among those assassinated was the director of intelligence for the southern province of Amara. Four of his guards were also killed in the attack along the bandit- and militia-plagued road to the port city of Basra.