XPost: alt.military.uk, alt.true-crime, sci.military.naval   
   XPost: uk.politics.parliament, us.military   
   From: Reality@Check.it   
      
   > Three U.S. soldiers die in Iraq, toll nears 4,000   
   > Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:42am EDT   
   > By Mohammed Abbas   
   >   
   > BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers in Iraq on   
   > Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll closer to the 4,000 mark at the   
   > start of the sixth year of the war for U.S. troops.   
   >   
   > The deaths, which brought the number of U.S. soldiers killed since the   
   > U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 3,996, came three days after President George   
   > W. Bush said the United States was on track to victory in Iraq.   
   >   
   > In an upbeat speech marking the fifth anniversary of the war, Bush   
   > acknowledged the "high cost in lives and treasure" but said a U.S. troop   
   > build-up in Iraq had reduced violence there and opened the door to a   
   > strategic victory in the war on terror.   
   >   
   > The war is a major issue in the presidential campaign, with Democratic   
   > presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton calling for an   
   > early troop withdrawal timetable.   
   >   
   > Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain wants to keep troops in Iraq   
   > until it is more stable.   
   >   
   > The U.S. military said the three soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb   
   > blew up near their vehicle northwest of Baghdad. Two Iraqi civilians also   
   > died in the attack. It gave no further details about where the incident   
   > occurred.   
   >   
   > Roadside bombs are the biggest killers of soldiers in Iraq.   
   >   
   > On Friday, a U.S. soldier died from wounds sustained from "indirect fire",   
   > a term commonly used by the military to refer to a mortar or rocket   
   > attack, south of Baghdad.   
   >   
   > Six members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood patrol group were killed early   
   > on Saturday in a U.S. helicopter strike on their checkpoint in Salahuddin   
   > province, police and a local tribal leader said.   
   >   
   > The U.S. military said it had conducted a helicopter attack in the   
   > province, but denied it had attacked a checkpoint. It said the strike   
   > killed six men suspected of placing roadside bombs. Investigations were   
   > under way, the military said.   
   >   
   > SUNNI PATROL TENSIONS   
   >   
   > The U.S. military has credited the formation of what it calls Concerned   
   > Local Citizen groups (CLCs), also known as Awakening Councils, for playing   
   > a crucial role in a 60 percent drop in violence across Iraq since last   
   > June.   
   >   
   > The mostly Sunni Arab neighborhood patrols have some 90,000 men in western   
   > Anbar and provinces north and south of Baghdad. The U.S. military pays   
   > them $300 a month to patrol their neighborhoods and man checkpoints.   
   >   
   > Tribal leader Abu Faruq said Saturday's air strike took place on a CLC   
   > checkpoint near the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.   
   >   
   > "They knew all this area under is my control, and all the men were in   
   > uniform and were not firing their weapons, so why did this happen? If   
   > Awakening checkpoints are hit this way, it is a disaster," he said.   
   >   
   > The incident is the latest in a string of disputes between the CLCs and   
   > the U.S. military. In November, U.S. warplanes attacked a CLC checkpoint   
   > north of Baghdad, killing 25 men.   
   >   
   > In February, CLCs in Jurf al-Sukr, south of Baghdad, said U.S. forces   
   > killed three of their number, and in the same month, neighborhood patrols   
   > in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, temporarily stopped working to   
   > demand more pay and the removal of a local police chief.   
   >   
   > The southern Baghdad districts of Shurta and Hay al-Amil and the southern   
   > city of Kut were reported to be quiet on Saturday after Mehdi Army   
   > fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clashed with Iraqi and   
   > U.S. forces a day earlier.   
   >   
   > Sadr imposed a unilateral ceasefire on his unruly militia last August and   
   > extended it last month, a move U.S. commanders say has helped to reduce   
   > violence in Iraq.   
   >   
   > But the gunbattles in Baghdad and Kut have raised fears that it may be   
   > unravelling at a time when the U.S. military is in the process of   
   > withdrawing 20,000 troops.   
   >   
   > Mehdi Army fighters have complained that the truce ties their hands and   
   > opens them to attack by rival Shi'ite factions and U.S. forces. U.S.   
   > commanders say they only target Mehdi Army units that have ignored Sadr's   
   > ceasefire order.   
   >   
   >   
      
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