In spite of the killings of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s two sons Uday and Qusai Tuesday, resistance against US troops continues in Iraq.
On Wednesday, a US soldier was killed in a bomb explosion west of the capital Baghdad near the town of Ramadi, just two hours after a soldier was killed in northern Iraq, the US military said.
"A Third Armored Cavalry Regiment convoy hit an improvised explosive device, killing one and wounding two others near Ramadi at 8 am (local time)," said Specialist Giovanni Lorente.
A US soldier was also killed and six others injured in a landmine or bomb explosion near Mosul in northern Iraq at 6 am (local time), the military said.
Meanwhile, the two dead sons have been taken to the US-controlled Baghdad international airport, a senior US official said Wednesday. "As, I understand, their bodies are at the airport”, the official said.
In the meantime, top officials and Senators have been commenting on Tuesday's killings. Edward S. Walker, a former ambassador to the region and president of the Middle East Institute in Washington was quoted as saying that, "Because of their (the sons) demise, people will begin to see there is no going back, that the old regime is symbolically over."
"It would be far better if we had Saddam Hussein's head. But this is a step forward."
"It's the next best thing to getting Saddam himself," said Geoffrey Kemp, a former National Security Council specialist on Iraq, as cited by AP.
However, Iraqis will want more evidence than the word of US officials, he said. "The more specific the US can be in producing the corpses and letting people look at them, the more likely it will be accepted for real."
"I was pleased to learn that these two brutal members of Saddam's regime are no longer a threat," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement. "The Iraqi people are safer today. We will pursue the other members of his murderous regime wherever they might be hiding."
Intelligence officials further said it was unclear whether the two sons were involved in managing the “guerrilla war” against US forces occupying central Iraq or were simply on the run.
Meanwhile, a top US official said that American military personnel were watching the two brothers for the last couple of days, hoping intelligence experts could pick up a conversation with their father. It didn't happen, the official said, requesting anonymity.
Their deaths deny the Bush administration potential intelligence on Saddam's whereabouts and on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, according to officials.
"It's a pity they were not captured," Kemp said. "They would have been tried before the court of the Iraqi people and gotten their just desserts."
"Imagine how Saddam Hussein feels right now knowing that we killed his sons and are on his trail," said Sen. Kit Bond. "His days are numbered, and the Iraqi people should properly rejoice."
Senator John McCain said, "Iraqis can celebrate the removal of yet another remnant of the Baathist regime that brutalized their long-suffering country."
"The frequent, dreadful discovery of mass graves containing the victims of Saddam and his family is a reminder of the justness of our cause that removed a horrible tyranny," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
