Rense.com
Grenade Attack On
US General In Iraq
Insurgents Fire On Central Command Chief's Convoy
By Rory McCarthy
The Guardian - UK
2-12-4
| "...it raised concern about whether the attack was a
random assault... or a deliberate attempt to kill [General Abizaid] - which
would suggest a serious breach in military security." BAGHDAD -- America's most senior general in the Middle East came under attack yesterday when insurgents armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades fired at his convoy as it arrived at an Iraqi Civil Defence Corps building. The assault on General John Abizaid's party in the troubled town of Falluja lasted for six minutes, as US soldiers returned fire with rifles and machine guns. Gen Abizaid was unhurt in the incident. But it raised concern about whether the attack was a random assault on the Iraqi base, a common occurrence in Falluja, or a deliberate attempt to kill him - which would suggest a serious breach in military security. Gen Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, had just arrived at the building when the attack started. Three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the convoy from rooftops nearby and gunfire was directed towards the soldiers. None of the American soldiers was hurt. Residents said one Iraqi had been injured. Gen Abizaid, who was travelling with Major-General Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and journalists, cancelled his plans to walk through the town and returned to a US military base nearby. Gen Abizaid "appeared unfazed" by the attack, according to a journalist from the Associated Press who was travelling with him. The general, an Arabic speaker, asked a member of the Iraqi security force about the attack and was told: "This is Falluja. What do you expect?" The town, a centre of the insurgency in Iraq, has been the scene of many attacks against US and Iraqi forces since the war and repeated American raids on houses across the area. Later, Gen Abizaid said: "This is an area where there are plenty of former regime elements out there, willing to fight." The attack comes during a period of particular violence in Iraq. More than 100 Iraqis were killed in two suicide bombings this week and more than 250 have died in the first six weeks of the year. A UN team is currently in the country trying to determine whether it is safe enough to hold general elections this summer before a handover of power to the Iraqis. Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who leads the UN team, met yesterday for two hours with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most respected Shia cleric, who has led the calls for immediate direct elections. After the meeting the UN diplomat said he too accepted the need for elections in Iraq, although he was careful not to say when he thought they should be held. "Sistani is insistent on holding the elections and we are with him on this 100% because elections are the best means to enable any people to set up a state that serves their interest," he said. "We are in agreement with the Sayyid [Sistani] that these elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions so that it would bring the results which the Sayyid wants, and the people of Iraq and the UN." US officials have maintained it is impractical to hold elections so quickly and have suggested a complex system of regional caucuses to select a new government ready for the handover on June 30. The US has promised to hold elections by the end of next year. Mr Brahimi is expected to brief Iraq's US-appointed governing council before he leaves today. Other members of his team are travelling across the country to gauge what possible compromises might be found. The American proposal for regional caucuses now looks likely to be shelved. Some on the governing council have suggested they remain in power for several months with expanded authority until it is safe to hold elections. Others, such as Ayatollah Sistani, insist elections should go ahead now. But the nature of the two latest suicide bomb attacks this week, which targeted groups of Iraqis queuing outside a police station and an army recruitment base, are an indication of just how vulnerable voters at polling booths would be to attacks. The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said agreement was emerging on direct elections in Iraq, but he too gave no indication of the timing of any poll. A spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said Mr Annan understood that "there is a consensus emerging" for direct elections. But he said there was wide agreement any elections "must be carefully prepared", leaving open the question of whether they should be held before or after June 30. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1147090,00.html |
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