Five US Soldiers Killed in Baghdad

Proof that Iraq remains a dangerous place and that the US must remain vigilent in its efforts to restore law and order and remain there until the job is done.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed five American soldiers on a foot patrol Monday after detonating his explosives vest in central Baghdad, the U.S. military said, the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in more than a month.

Four of the soldiers died at the scene and the fifth died later from wounds, the military said in a statement. The blast also wounded three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter, the military said.

Military spokesman Maj. Mark Cheadle said that "it was reported to us as a suicide bomber."

An Iraqi police officer at the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said two civilians also were killed and another eight wounded in the attack.

It was the deadliest attack since Jan. 28, when five U.S. soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul.

Monday's deaths brought the number to 3,979 members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Meanwhile, a female suicide bomber on Monday killed the head of a local group of Sunni fighters northeast of Baghdad who had turned against al-Qaida insurgents, the leader's brother and a provincial police official said.

Wait for the Democratic candidates (especially Obama) to call for the immediate withdrawal of the troops, a knee jerk reaction, that is exactly the wrong reaction. Terrorists have to know that there are repercussions for attacking US Soldiers, US Citizens and US interests. The repercussion cannot be withdrawal and acquiescence. The US must remain strong and remain tough. Terrorist activities must be put down swiftly and strongly. There can be no waiver, no peace meetings, no concessions.