Steve Quayle News Alerts

July 17, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces were on heightened alert for new trouble Thursday, marking the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist revolution that enabled Saddam Hussein's political party to rise to power -- sparking rumors that the fallen leader would make some sort of public appearance.

As troops were on the lookout for possible trouble, senior defense officials told Fox News that U.S. troops discovered documents from the Iraqi secret police, known as the Mukhabarat (search), stating that the current rash of postwar attacks, ambushes and organized chaos against coalition forces were planned months before the war in Iraq even began.

Though these documents have not been officially confirmed, the officials say the documents map out how to battle coalition troops after the fall of Hussein's regime, and that these secret police orders were the plan all along.

The military said it had no word early Thursday of fresh attacks on U.S. troops. Saddam and his two sons, Udai and Qusai, have not been seen since the capital fell April, though he has been heard on several audiotapes calling for attacks on U.S. troops in recent weeks.

The eve of the holiday saw a marked escalation in attacks that killed an American soldier and the U.S.-allied mayor of an Iraqi city -- a chilling warning to Iraqis who cooperate with Americans.

The 1968 coup led to Saddam taking power 11 years later. Iraq's new Governing Council, in its first act Sunday, swept aside the July 17 celebration and five other dates that the Baath party used to mark as official holidays.

U.S. soldiers have come under increasingly ferocious and frequent attack by suspected Saddam loyalists in recent weeks -- reaching an average of 12 attacks a day. More than 30 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile action since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities on May 1.

The Pentagon said that as of Monday, 144 U.S. personnel had been killed in combat since the start of the Iraq war. At least two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since then, bringing the total just short of the 147 killed in combat during the 1991 Gulf War.

In Washington, the new chief of the U.S. Central Command (search), Gen. John Abizaid, acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that coalition forces are facing a "classical guerrilla-type war situation" against opponents ranging from members of the Baath Party to non-Iraqi fighters from terrorist groups.

But "they're not driving us out of anywhere," he said.

The U.S. military said one surface-to-air missile was fired on a C-130 transport Wednesday as it landed at Baghdad International Airport. It was only the second known missile attack on a plane using the airport since Baghdad fell to U.S. forces on April 9, said Spc. Giovani Lorente. He said he did not know where the plane came from or whether it was carrying passengers, cargo or both.

Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, who had cooperated with U.S. forces as the new mayor of Hadithah, was killed in an ambush, police Capt. Khudhier Mohammed said. One of the mayor's sons also was killed in the attack 150 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Mohammed said the mayor, who took office after Saddam's fall, was slain because he was "seizing cars" from Saddam loyalists who used to work in the deposed Iraqi leader's offices in Hadithah, a city in the restive "Sunni Triangle" that is home to many supporters of the ousted dictator.

The Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported that residents of Hadithah had accused the slain mayor of collaborating with coalition forces.

Hadithah shop owner Amir Jafar concurred, saying: "This mayor is an unwanted person ... He doesn't belong to this city. He is from another city and he was cooperating with the Americans."

The attack was likely to have a chilling effect on other Iraqi officials.

Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who is now running the Iraqi Interior Ministry and working to rebuild Iraq's police force, was asked if he thought Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network was behind the attacks.

"Nobody is identified as Al Qaeda yet. Could they be out there? It's possible. The bottom line is I don't care if they're Al Qaeda, I don't care if they're Fedayeen. I don't care if they are Baathists, I don't care who they are. If they attack the coalition and they attack the police they're going to be arrested or they're going to be killed," Kerik said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell said there were ongoing discussions about a possible U.N. resolution appealing to member states to supply troops and police to help stabilize Iraq.

The talks began after Germany, India, France and other countries refused to provide troops for the U.S.-led force without a U.N. mandate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92178,00.html