U.S. Compound in Baghdad Is Hit in Attack

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/28/international/worldspecial/28IRAQ.html?ex=1065326400&en=69126d20bafe9ef8&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Three projectiles penetrated the concrete and barbed-wire cocoon of security around the main compound for Americans in downtown Baghdad today, hitting the 14th floor of the Rashid Hotel inside the compound but causing little damage and no injuries.

"It woke us up with a bang, but there was really no further impact than that," said Charles Heatley, a spokesman for the American-led governing authority.

But after several weeks of high-profile attacks and beefed-up security around Baghdad, the strike seemed a message that Americans would be a target no matter how much they sought to protect themselves. This was not news to at least one United States soldier in the compound, which is sealed off from the rest of Baghdad with a huge concrete wall and heaps of concrete and barbed wire.

"I've never felt safe here," the soldier said.

<snip>

[Barrett808]

1. "little damage and no injuries"

Do we believe that?

[bahrbearian]

2. No American Injuries the rest were colateral...

[Barrett808]

3. another report -- also, more details on US killing of civilians

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Guerrillas struck a glancing but bold blow at the heart of the U.S. occupation on Saturday, firing three rockets or grenades at a Baghdad hotel filled with American soldiers and civilians. To the west, in flashpoint Fallujah, U.S. troops killed at least two Iraqi civilians.

...

The U.S. military said the Fallujah victims had tried to run a checkpoint, but later altered that to say the Iraqis had fired on American soldiers. Wounded survivors said the American fire was unprovoked and came from troops lying in ambush. They said four Iraqis were killed -- including two women -- the latest in a string of dozens shot by U.S. troops in the Euphrates River town.

The U.S. administration would like to have thousands of additional non-American troops to help relieve the Iraq security burden on the U.S. Army. "All nations of goodwill should do their part as well," President Bush said in a U.S. radio address Saturday.

But even Bangladesh, long a ready source of Muslim peacekeeping troops, has rejected the idea of dispatching soldiers to Iraq. Like many other governments, it opposed the U.S. war here.

(more)

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~1662675,00.html