August 2, 2006

BAGHDAD — Iraqi resistance fighters have stepped up attacks against US occupation forces over the past weeks, with some security sources linking the momentum to the US-based Israeli onslaught on Lebanon.

"Attacks against US forces have increased, particularly since the Israeli military offensive on Lebanon began," Anbar police officer Yusuf al-Dailemi told the London-based Al-Quds Press news agency.

"Dozens of attacks are being carried out every day against US troops in the Al-Anbar province, western Iraq."

Dailemi further said in recent days attacks on the Americans forces hit a record high of 50.

The US military admitted Tuesday, August 1, that nine marines have been killed in the past week in clashes with Iraqi fighters in Al-Anbar alone.

The army also announced Wednesday, August 2, that another US soldier was killed in the province, a bastion of the Iraqi resistance.

Some 2,579 US troops have been killed in Iraq since its invasion-turned-occupation, according to an AFP tally.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday, July 17, that many American soldiers were growing increasingly disillusioned about the Iraq war and their ability to succeed against an elusive enemy.

Concealed

Some Iraqi resistance fighters claimed the Americans were not telling the truth about their causalities.

"The US military has been concealing its losses over the past few days at a time the world is preoccupied with the Lebanon war," a resistance fighter, identifying himself as Abu Talha, told Al-Quds Press.

"We have inflicted heavy losses on the US troops," he insisted.

"Scores of US soldiers are being killed every day by resistance fighters, but the Americans only admit few numbers."

Iraqi resistance groups said that 50 US armored vehicles were destroyed in attacks in Al-Anbar last July.

Some observers had expected an increase in attacks against American troops in Iraq in view of American support for the Lebanon war.

The Bush administration has been blocking international efforts to call for an immediate ceasefire in the war, which claimed the lives of more than 800 Lebanese civilians, many of them women and children.

Washington also drew rebuke across the Arab and Muslim world for shipping arms and leaser-guided bombs to Israel to be used during the war.

Former US diplomats and analysts said that the blind backing to Israel in its war will turn the "new Middle East" into a quagmire for the US and drive up anti-Americanism to new heights.

Smiling Killers

US soldiers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before carrying out the shootings and threatened to kill another soldier if he informed on them, a military court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecution witness Private First Class Bradley Mason said one of those charged, Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard, told him if he were arrested he would try to get out of it on medical grounds because he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"They just smiled," said Mason.

"I told him (Girouard) that I am not down with it. It's murder."

The soldiers -- Private First Class Corey Clagett, Specialist William Hunsaker, Girouard and Specialist Juston Graber -- are from the 101st Airborne Division and are based in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

They have been charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat, and obstructing justice in the killings in or around May 9 north of Baghdad.

A premeditated murder conviction can bring the death penalty under US military law.

The Article 32 hearing to determine if they will face court martial comes at a sensitive time when the US military is investigating other cases of abuses -- including the killings of up to 24 unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha last year by US Marines.