Military Split on Blast at Mosque; U.S. commanders on the ground dispute top brass' claim that a bomb-making class at the Iraqi complex might have been responsible HOME EDITION

For weeks, U.S. troops have been working to calm a potentially incendiary state of affairs in this city, which has emerged as a caldron of anti-U.S. activity. The last thing they want is to inflame passions further. One possible explanation circulating widely among moderate Iraqis here is that agita...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Los Angeles times
Main Author Patrick J. McDonnell and Terry McDermott
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 04.07.2003
Subjects
FALLOUJA, Iraq
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Summary:For weeks, U.S. troops have been working to calm a potentially incendiary state of affairs in this city, which has emerged as a caldron of anti-U.S. activity. The last thing they want is to inflame passions further. One possible explanation circulating widely among moderate Iraqis here is that agitators seeking to discredit U.S. forces deliberately planted the explosives at the mosque compound, a scenario that would exonerate the dead. U.S. military officials here say they have not ruled out the possibility that outsiders planted a bomb. The top U.S. officer in Fallouja, Col. Joseph DiSalvo, said that "there was no disconnect" between field officers and their superiors in the Central Command. The colonel and others left open the possibility that the Central Command may have alternative sources of information.
ISSN:0458-3035