Carefully Planned Attacks Target U.S. Troops in Iraq, Military Says

The would-be assassin lay in wait outside the fence of the military compound, biding his time in the early morning darkness Sunday until the right moment came. The day was already hot as the soldier headed toward an open-air restroom. The gun barrel poked through a gap in the fence and a round slammed into the American’s chest. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have been wearing his bulletproof vest inside a compound, but troops are getting regularly attacked in Iraq, so the U.S. military is at a heightened state of alert. The bullet hit his vest. The soldier, whose identity was not available, pulled out his pistol and fired four rounds as he fell backward. The gunman escaped, and the soldier survived. But the premeditated assault in the Baghdad ghetto now known as Sadr City has added to the certainty that U.S. forces in Iraq are being targeted in carefully planned attacks. U.S. military officials have said they believe the assaults are being staged by “remnants of the regime” seeking to destabilize postwar Iraq. Now officers on the streets say there is evidence that people are being paid to kill Americans. Full Story