- The general in charge of coalition forces in Iraq said
it will be years before the U.S. can "draw down" its forces there
and warned Americans to brace for more casualties.
-
- Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said he expected that a "significant
engagement" was coming, "where tens of American soldiers or coalition
soldiers" are killed.
-
- Sanchez told the Chicago Tribune in yesterday's editions
that coalition forces are winning the war despite daily reports that suggest
the military is encountering more trouble than it had bargained for.
-
- He said he is "very comfortable" with the current
forces, 140,000 troops, all but a few thousand of whom are American, and
he said for the first time publicly that the coalition force level won't
be reduced anytime soon.
-
- "I see us being here a while yet," said Sanchez,
who took command in June.
-
- Meanwhile, unemployed former soldiers in Saddam Hussein's
disbanded army clashed with occupying troops yesterday in Baghdad and Basra
in violence that left at least two Iraqis dead.
-
- The British Army said one of its soldiers shot dead an
armed Iraqi during an angry demonstration by hundreds of men who had gathered
in Basra to collect redundancy payments after being laid off from the Iraqi
military.
-
- In Baghdad, a stone-throwing mob of ex-Iraqi soldiers
charged at U.S. forces and Iraqi police in a protest over jobs and pay,
killing one protester and injuring 25 people, including two policemen.
-
- In the Basra incident, officials said the protest broke
out when ex-soldiers acted on a false rumor that yesterday was the last
day they would receive stipend payments.
-
- "An Iraqi was shot and killed by members of the
coalition forces, and the incident is under investigation," British
Army Maj. Niall Greenwood said.
-
- Enemy fires on patrol
-
- Also yesterday, the military reported a 4th Infantry
Division soldier was killed and one was wounded in an attack at Sadiyah,
60 miles northeast of Baghdad.
-
- The patrol was hit with small-arms fire and a rocket-propelled
grenade at about 11:45 p.m. Friday, spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle said.
-
- The death brought to 88 the number of American soldiers
killed in hostile action in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat
over on May 1. Since the start of the war, 317 U.S. soldiers have died
in Iraq.
-
- - With News Wire Services
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- All contents © 2003 Daily News, L.P.
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- http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/123809p-111121c.html\
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