An American Apache attack helicopter crashed in Iraq on Monday, a U.S. military spokesman said.
"We had a helicopter crash northwest of Taji," Lieutenant Colonel Cliff Kent, spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division said, referring to a major airbase north of Baghdad, according to Reuters.
He added that a probe was underway. Both pilots were killed.
In Baghdad, two people died when a roadside bomb went off near a police patrol at Antar Square in the northern Azamiyah neighborhood, police 1st Lt. Mohammed al-Hayali said, according to The AP.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday he is bracing for even more violence in Iraq and acknowledged that the insurgency "could go on for any number of years."
Defeating the "insurgency" may take as long as 12 years, he said, with Iraqi security forces, not U.S. and foreign troops, taking the lead and finishing the job.
The top U.S. commander in the Middle East appealed for public support of the soldiers and their mission. "We don't need to fight this war looking over our shoulder, worrying about the support back home," Gen. John Abizaid told CNN's "Late Edition."
Rumsfeld, making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows, said "insurgents" want to disrupt the democratic transformation as Iraqi leaders draft a constitution and plan for elections in December to choose a full-term government. "I would anticipate you're going to see an escalation of violence between now and the December elections," the Pentagon chief told NBC's "Meet the Press." And after then, it will take a long time to drive out "insurgents".
"Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years," Rumsfeld said on "Fox News Sunday."
"Coalition forces, foreign forces are not going to repress that insurgency. We're going to create an environment that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi security forces can win against that insurgency," he said.
In London, British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said Monday it was sensible for Britain and its allies to engage elements of the "insurgency" to promote stability. He made these comments following press reports that US officials had talks with armed groups in Iraq.
"It's our job politically to pull as many people into the political process. That is an engagement not just by the Iraqi government, but by the Americans, ourselves, others. Everybody," Blair told a news conference.
"We are not compromising our position with terrorism or any of the rest of it. We are simply trying, perfectly sensibly, to pull as many people into the democratic fold as possible."
On his part, former Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi dismissed US accusations against Syria. Speaking in Egypt, he said that fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria are not backed by the government in Damascus. "There are infiltrators, but that does not necessarily mean that they are supported by the Syrian government." "(The infiltrators) are misusing Syria's hospitality and cross into Iraq."
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
