Active Unit News

U.S. Troops Hope Iraqi Resistance Lessens
Wed Jul 23, 3:47 AM ET
By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - With Odai and Qusai Hussein dead after a fierce gun battle in Iraq (news - web sites)'s north, American soldiers on Wednesday said they hoped guerrilla attacks would diminish. Others feared remnants loyal to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) might seek revenge.
Saddam's eldest sons, the Nos. 2 and 3 on the U.S. list of most 55 most-wanted from the toppled Iraqi regime, were cut down after putting up an intense resistance while surrounded in a villa in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
"If one of my sons was dead, I'd want somebody to pay for it," Sgt. Colin Frederick, a 23-year-old armored scout from Fort Carson, Colo., said while patrolling the dangerous "Sunni Triangle," a bastion of Saddam loyalists stretching north and west from Baghdad. Most attacks on U.S. forces since the end of the war have been launched in the region.
The bodies of Odai and Qusai — long feared by most Iraqis for their roles in the military and intelligence arms of Saddam's brutal dictatorship — were taken to Baghdad's international airport Wednesday to be flown out of the country, American officials said. They would not say why the bodies were being taken out of Iraq or to where.
Iraqis in Baghdad, marked the news of the deaths with celebratory gunfire Tuesday, shooting wildly into the night sky, red tracer bullets screaming skyward.
There was no report of any fighting between coalition troops and Iraqis. However, in the midst of the confusion, a U.S. soldier mistakenly shot a man and a girl who was about six. U.S. soldiers came upon the man as he was shooting his gun and returned fire, thinking they were under attack.
Odai, 39, and Qusai, 37, were run to ground in the house of a Saddam cousin in the north of Mosul, a town known for its pro-Saddam attitudes. Four coalition soldiers were wounded in the shootout, which left the palatial villa in ruins. Two other Iraqis, including a teenager were killed. The teen was thought to have been Qusai's son, Mustafa. The other man was believed to have been a bodyguard, U.S. officials said.
Coalition commander Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said the bodies of Odai and Qusai were positively identified, but said DNA testing would be done. He has not said when the results would be available.
American soldiers on patrol in Tarmiyah, a town in the "Sunni Triangle" 30 miles north of Baghdad, were elated by the news of the deaths, but wary.
"This is the best thing that can happen to the coalition," said Army Capt. Sean C. Nowlan, 31, of the Fort Carson-based 4th Infantry Division. "It deflates their campaign against us."
The deaths were seen as making it more likely Iraqis will be willing to come forward with key information.
"I believe very firmly this will have an effect. This will prove to the Iraqi people that these two members of the Iraqi regime will never come to power again," Sanchez said.
The White House applauded the raid.
"Over the period of many years, these two individuals were responsible for countless atrocities committed against the Iraqi people and they can no longer cast a shadow of hate on Iraq," it said in a statement.
Around the world, leaders said the brothers' death marked a new day for Iraq.
"These particular two people were the head of the regime, which was not just a security threat because of its weapons program but was responsible for the torture and killing of thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqis," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), who was on a tour of Asia.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, one of the staunchest supporters of the tough U.S. line on Iraq, said the brothers' deaths would bring a measure of stability to postwar Iraq.
Both Odai (pronounced oh-DEYE) and Qusai (pronounced koh-SEYE) ranked second only to their father in the deposed regime. The United States had offered a US$25 million reward for information leading to Saddam's capture and US$15 million each for his sons.
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, said in Washington that he looked forward to handing someone a $30 million check.
Mosul was a center of support for Saddam and the Iraqi army during his rule. The dominant city in northern Iraq, it has a large Kurdish population, and many Arabs in the area were apparently loyal to Saddam partly out of fear Kurds could gain power.
After Saddam's fall, there were rumors in the region that the Iraqi leader and his sons were being sheltered by Arab tribes in the countryside between the city and the Syrian border. U.S. special forces were active in the area, and Kurds overjoyed by the fall of Saddam said they were cooperating with the Army in the search for Saddam.

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