2 U.S. soldiers die; Fallujah killings denounced

By Seattle Times news services

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BAGHDAD, Iraq — A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another in a prosperous section of the Iraqi capital, and a Marine was shot dead in western Iraq, the U.S. military announced yesterday.

In Fallujah, clerics used yesterday's sermons to denounce the mutilation of the bodies of four American civilians who were killed there Wednesday. U.S. officials said Marines who recently assumed security duties in western Iraq were planning a forceful campaign to re-establish control of Fallujah, but by nightfall no major troop movements were reported.

The bomb in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood exploded around 6 a.m. as soldiers from the Army's 1st Armored Division were on patrol.

In western Iraq, a member of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was fatally shot late Thursday night in the far west of al-Anbar province, military officials said.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that a car bomb exploded today near a U.S. military patrol north of Baghdad, wounding several soldiers. A witness said a car parked on the side of the street in al-Aswad, a village just north of Baquba, exploded as American soldiers were passing by. The U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate confirmation of the incident.

In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber killed himself and two other people at the entrance to the town hall in Riyadh, 16 miles west of Kirkuk. The attack occurred during a reconciliation conference between former members of the outlawed Baath party and U.S. soldiers, according to Lt. Gen. Shukur Shaker Hakeem, a police commander in Kirkuk province.

The bomber had been denied access to the meeting because of strict security measures, Hakeem said. U.S. troops detained an Iraqi police officer with alleged ties to the bomber.

The military death toll for March was 49, making it the second-deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1. The deadliest month was November, when 82 troops were killed. Since the start of the war, 601 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq.

Yesterday in Brussels, Belgium, western allies told U.S. officials that the increasing demands of their military effort in Afghanistan prevented them from considering a NATO mission in Iraq.

A U.S. State Department spokesman denied the stand was a disappointment. The U.S. expects that NATO will have a role in Iraq, although the exact nature will depend on future talks, U.S. officials said.
 
The Bush administration has been eager to spread the military burden of securing Iraq and has been pressing NATO for months to quickly join the effort. NATO's presence also would give the administration some political relief by broadening the coalition that deposed Saddam Hussein.

But at a foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters, European officials told their U.S. counterparts they cannot participate in Iraq because they feel overwhelmed by the strain from their military efforts in Afghanistan, diplomats said.

This message "won't make (the Americans) very happy," said an official of one key ally. He predicted that if NATO does make a "decision in principle" to join the Iraq effort, it won't happen until just before a NATO summit set for Istanbul, Turkey, at the end of June.

Political opposition could be eased if the United States seeks a resolution at the U.N. Security Council authorizing a broader international role in Iraq. The United States is planning to hand sovereignty back to Iraq on June 30 and a request from the new government for NATO assistance also would help, a European diplomat said.

Given NATO's commitment to Afghanistan, however, it is unclear how many soldiers could be sent. One official noted if NATO's role in Iraq became comparable to its role in Bosnia, about 700,000 troops would be needed. But the idea of pulling together such a force from NATO members — many of them tapped out by multiple missions — was "political science fiction," the official said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had been in Brussels yesterday for NATO talks, conceded that evidence he presented to the United Nations that two trailers in Iraq were used for weapons of mass destruction may have been wrong.

He said he hoped the intelligence commission appointed by President Bush to investigate prewar intelligence on Iraq "will look into these matters to see whether or not the intelligence agency had a basis for the confidence that they placed in the intelligence at that time."

Information from The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press is included in this report.

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