G.I.'s May Be Targets of Kidnappers and Rebels Posing as Policemen

Thursday, March 11, 2004
By Thom Shanker

New York Times Writer

One passage in the Zarqawi letter, which was translated by American officials, broadly describes a strategy of kidnapping American troops. "As you know, these are the biggest cowards that God has created and the easiest target," it says. "And we ask God to allow us to kill and detain them so that we can exchange them with our arrested sheiks and brothers."

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- NYT
American forces arriving in Iraq are being singled out for kidnapping by insurgents, according to senior military officers. The insurgents, they say, may make a symbolic spectacle of abducted soldiers or use captives to negotiate the release of Iraqi prisoners.

Military commanders are also concerned about a possible new terrorist tactic: posing as police officers. Two American civilians and their translator were killed Tuesday, and initial reports indicated that their attackers were dressed in Iraqi police uniforms.

The warning on kidnapping is being given to Marine Corps and Army ground forces rotating into Iraq. The military officers say the information has come from a number of intelligence discoveries, though they would specify only one: a seized letter the Americans say was written by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian suspected of ties to Al Qaeda.

The highly protective measures now in place for American troops in Iraq are considered sufficient, commanders say, adding that security measures are constantly being reviewed. Some 110,000 American troops are rotating into Iraq.

Security briefings for arriving troops include a stern reminder to never walk or travel alone.

"The terrorists want to capture one of our soldiers," a senior American military officer said. "It's always harder to take two."

(More: NYTimes.com / International)

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Dan