Iraq Notebook
Iraqi security forces upset over fighting in Fallujah

	JOHN MOORE / AP Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion 5th Marines, yesterday unloads cases of military meals for a family in Fallujah, Iraq, whose relative was killed by an insurgent mortar attack.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq — Iraqi security forces fighting alongside Marines in Fallujah are angry, saying they're outgunned by Sunni insurgents and resent being sent to fight fellow Iraqis.

"Eighty percent of us want to leave and go to Baghdad" because they don't want to fight civilians in Fallujah, said Amar Hussein, a medic in the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

The 36th ICDC Battalion was supposed to be the elite of the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces, with members drawn from the militias run by various members of the Governing Council in order to fight insurgents who have been attacking U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies for months.

"We are not a force. We are just guys with AK-47s (assault rifles)," said Numan Jabar, a Kurdish fighter brought into the ICDC. "We must have better weapons, more pay, more training."

Others question the noncombatant death toll reported by witnesses inside Fallujah.

"I feel there are very few terrorists in Fallujah, but because of the way the Americans are treating the civilians, we are creating more and more terrorists every day," said Firaz Munshed, a Shiite in the force.

In the south, police and some ICDC abandoned their stations when faced with attacks by Shiite militiamen; some left out of fear, some out of mixed loyalties.

A battalion of the U.S.-trained Iraqi army refused outright to fight in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. The force came under fire as it left the capital and turned around, saying it did not sign up to fight fellow Iraqis.

The ICDC forces stationed in Fallujah before the fighting have abandoned their posts — and U.S. commanders acknowledged that some may be joining the insurgents.

EU official says Iraq conflict could get worse than Vietnam
 
TULLAMORE, Ireland — The conflict in Iraq could become "much more serious" than the war in Vietnam and any comparison between the two is misplaced, the European Union's external relations commissioner said yesterday.

"The comparison ... that Iraq could become as difficult an issue as Vietnam is misplaced, because I think it is arguably much more serious," Chris Patten said after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland.

"If things go wrong in Iraq we will be living with the consequences for a very, very long time."

Jesse Jackson is seeking release of U.S. hostage

JACKSON, Miss. — The Rev. Jesse Jackson will contact religious leaders in Iraq to seek the release of Thomas Hamill, the American civilian truck driver who was working for the U.S. military in Iraq, Hamill's family said yesterday.

Hamill, 43, a fuel-tanker driver for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, was captured April 9 when gunmen attacked his convoy outside Baghdad.

In 1990, during the first Gulf War, Jackson negotiated the release of Americans held by Iraqis in Kuwait and Iraq. In 1999, he helped secure the release of U.S. soldiers held in Kosovo.

Insurgents free Japanese; other foreigners still missing

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents freed two Japanese hostages unharmed yesterday, leaving 15 foreigners missing or confirmed kidnapped in a spate of abductions that erupted alongside some of the worst violence in the country since the U.S.-led invasion.

A Dane and a businessman from the United Arab Emirates were reported seized Friday.

Top U.S. military spokesman appears to faint at briefing

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq appeared to briefly lose consciousness during a news conference yesterday, bumping his face into a podium microphone. There was no immediate explanation for the apparent fainting spell suffered by Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, who delivers daily briefings to Baghdad-based journalists.

As he listened to a question, Kimmitt's eyes rolled upward and he began leaning forward into the podium. The podium's microphone struck him on the mouth. After a few seconds leaning against the microphone, he slumped backward but remained standing.

Two aides led him out a side door. About 15 minutes later, Kimmitt returned again and resumed answering questions.

Iraq air force must be rebuilt from scratch, coalition says

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's once-mighty air force is being rebuilt from scratch but without planes for now and with just 100 men who are undergoing training in Jordan, the U.S.-led coalition announced yesterday.

By October, the Iraqi air force is expected to have a small fleet of light reconnaissance planes, a pair of Boeing C-130 Hercules transport craft and six Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopters.

Iraq's previous air force once was considered the best in the Arab world. At its zenith in the late 1980s, it listed nearly 750 combat aircraft, including Soviet MiGs and Sukhois and French Mirage fighters.

Iraq's air force fell apart after two wars with the United States and a dozen years of international sanctions. Saddam's military tried to salvage its last few planes by burying them in the desert. U.S. forces unearthed the planes, which could not be salvaged.

The air force's chief role will be to patrol Iraq's borders.

Also ...

The Army announced yesterday that Spc. Frank K. Rivers Jr., 23, of Woodbridge, Va., a Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade soldier who died in Mosul, Iraq, last week, suffered heart failure during physical training.

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