Our soldiers die, and you bitch about it. Our soldiers finally shoot back, and you bitch about it. But then, fighting back doesn't get the impression of failure across that you want.

Operation Ivy Cyclone

A U.S. Army statement said the raids were part of "Operation Ivy Cyclone," a new drive to root out guerrillas in the hostile territory around Tikrit. It said 16 people had been detained in the past 24 hours as part of the operation, and five killed.

Three were shot dead after U.S. troops moved in on a position where Iraqis had been firing rockets, one was killed in a gun battle near the town of Balad, and one Iraqi was also killed after he fired on troops who caught him trying to string a decapitation wire across a road, the Army said.

The U.S. military also said it had seized a large cache of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades hidden in a tomb in Samarra, which lies between Baghdad and Tikrit.

It added the 101st Airborne Division had recovered seven surface-to-air missiles in Dohuk in Kurdish northern Iraq.

In an early morning raid south of Kirkuk, the U.S. Army said one of Saddam's ex-bodyguards had been grabbed.

"Iraqi and coalition forces conducted the raid after obtaining information that indicated the individual has been involved in anti-coalition attacks in recent weeks," it said, adding he was apprehended without incident.

In the afternoon of Nov. 4, Task Force Ironhorse soldiers conducted a raid at a location near Al Hadid, believed to be a safe house for people suspected of involvement in mortar attacks against forward operating base Warhorse. The residence was searched and an important weapons cache was located and confiscated. The cache included: 33 blocks of dangerous explosives, 98ft. of detonation cord, 20 blasting caps, and abundant volatile munitions used in improvised explosive devices.

Additionally, soldiers discovered two rifles, eight fragmentation grenades, a machine gun, one rocket propelled grenade launcher, 300 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, and three rounds of 14.5mm anti-aircraft ammunition.

No one was detained as a result of the raid but a terrain model of forward operating bases Warhorse and Scunion, found in the building, indicated that the raided location had been used for planning attacks against coalition forces.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, captured two former Iraqi Army general officers in an early morning raid in Fallujah Nov. 4.

The two generals are suspected of being key financiers and organizers of anti-coalition fighters operating in and around the city of Fallujah.

Also, soldiers from 1-16 Infantry, attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, discovered a large weapons cache in a raid following the generals’ capture. The cache consisted of 225 rounds of 60mm mortar, 20 rocket-propelled grenades, and 100 rounds of .50 caliber machine-gun ammunition.