The NYTimes > Middle East > Bomb Blasts and Suicide Attack Kill 6 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Bomb Blasts and Suicide Attack Kill 6 U.S. Soldiers in Iraq:
"Two soldiers died in the northern city of Mosul today, after a suicide driver rammed his explosives-filled vehicle into an American convoy at 2:20 p.m. One soldier was seriously wounded and two others returned to duty, the military said.

Four soldiers were killed by roadside bombs, one in the western part of the capital at about 4:40 this morning, the military said. Three others were killed late Tuesday night in eastern Baghdad, when a roadside bomb exploded in their convoy.

At least 1,075 American soldiers have died since March 2003, when the war began."

Sunday, April 06, 2003
Urban War Begins: 'It Was Real Scary'
A block away, an Iraqi family grieved, smaller than it was the day before. Omar, a 15-year-old boy, sat on the roadside weeping, drenched in the blood of his father, shot dead by American marines for running a roadblock here.

It had been dark, there were suicide bombers about, and just that night marines had a found a large cache of weapons stowed on a truck. As a result, the marines manning the checkpoint were under strict orders to stop every car. The minibus, they said, kept coming anyway. They fired four warning shots, tracer rounds, just to make sure there was no misunderstanding.

Omar's family, 10 in all, were driving together to get out of Baghdad. They said they had stopped in time, just as the marines had asked. In the confusion, the truth was elusive, but it seemed possible that Omar's family did not understand.


Baghdad Blasts at Arms Dump Kill at Least 6
In the statement, the Central Command said, "An unknown number of individuals attacked U.S. Third Infantry Division soldiers who were guarding a cache of captured Iraqi ammunition near Baghdad this morning."

"During the attack, the assailant fired an unknown incendiary device into the cache, causing it to catch fire and explode," the statement said. "The explosion caused the destruction of the cache as well as a nearby building."

The American military is trained to obliterate its enemy with overwhelming firepower. But it is not a police force, trained to track down dangerous groups or individuals in heavily populated areas. And so, in the eyes of many Iraqis here, the American soldiers often seem impotent, unable to provide security for them or their families.

For at least a decade, the Army has worked to make itself more lethal, even though — or, perhaps, because — it has repeatedly been used in peacekeeping operations, defense analysts say. Even within the military, that strategy has caused some controversy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/13/international/middleeast/13CND-IRAQ.html?pagewanted=all&position=