- BAGHDAD (Wire Reports) --
Two U.S. soldiers riding in unmarked vehicles died in a roadside bombing
Saturday as the lead American administrator in Iraq vowed to speed up training
of Iraqi armed forces, police and border patrols to stem attacks.
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- Meanwhile, nervous Baghdad parents kept children home
from school Saturday, but warnings of an insurgent "Day of Resistance"
and a general strike otherwise had limited impact across Iraq.
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- "On the security front we will accelerate the turnover
of responsibility and authority to Iraqis," said Paul Bremer, who
heads the U.S.-led coalition overseeing Iraq. "It is essential that
they take an essential role in their own defense. This is, after all, their
country, it is their future."
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- Bremer was responding to the deadliest week of insurgent
suicide bombings since President Bush declared the end of major combat
on May 1. By next September more than 200,000 Iraqis will be active in
law enforcement - more than three times the current number - Bremer told
reporters.
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- That depends, however, on Congress passing a multibillion-dollar
aid package that could be approved this week. Bremer also promised to speed
up reconstruction and the handover of the political process. The Bush administration
hopes for a constitution to be drafted by mid-December.
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- "Iraqis bring vital language and cultural skills
to the task of fighting terrorism," Bremer said. "One of the
biggest advantages of getting Iraqis more involved in their own security
is that the Iraqis will be better able to tell who the bad guys are."
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- The two U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division
were killed Saturday in the northern town of Mosul. Two other soldiers
were wounded. The deaths brought the post-combat toll to 122.
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- Attacks have spiked upward recently to an average of
33 a day. Most occur in central Iraq, but Saturday's deadliest blow came
in the north.
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- Bush on Saturday insisted U.S.-led forces are rounding
up insurgents and vowed the new attacks will not drive Americans out. "The
United States will complete our work in Iraq," Bush said in his weekly
radio address.
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- "Leaving Iraq prematurely would only embolden the
terrorists and increase the danger to America. We are determined to stay,
to fight and to win."
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- In another incident Saturday unconfirmed by the U.S.
command, witnesses said insurgents attacked a U.S. convoy near Heet, 75
miles northwest of Baghdad, and one Iraqi was seen waving a piece of a
wrecked vehicle and shouting a pro-Saddam Hussein slogan. There was no
word on casualties.
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