Medevac copter crashes, killing 9

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq — A clearly marked medevac helicopter crashed, killing nine American soldiers near Fallujah yesterday, even as the U.S.-led occupation authority readied prisoners for release as part of a “goodwill” gesture toward its critics.

Military officials said they still were investigating the cause of the crash, but a witness told the Associated Press that he saw a rocket hit the tail of the Black Hawk copter, which clearly was marked with a red cross.

Coalition officials also said a C-5 cargo plane with 63 persons on board was forced to make an emergency landing at Baghdad International Airport after being hit by enemy fire early yesterday.

The military also reported the death of an American soldier wounded Wednesday, one of more than 30 who were injured when a barrage of mortars hit a logistical base west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the Washington bureau of Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported that the United States will dispatch U.S. Marines based in Okinawa to Iraq as early as February, citing diplomatic sources. About 46,000 U.S. troops are based in Okinawa.

At the scene of the helicopter downing, Mohammed Ahmed al-Jamali, a 27-year-old farmer, told AP that he heard a whoosh and saw a rocket hit the tail of the helicopter before it crashed near his farm. He said he rushed to the site but found everyone dead.

Another witness, student Waleed Kurdi, 23, said he heard “a loud explosion” before the helicopter broke in two and crashed.

The transport plane reported excessive vibrations in one of its engines before landing safely at Baghdad International Airport, according to the Air Force. A brief statement said later the engine appeared to have exploded as a result of “hostile action from the ground.”

Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of violent anti-American resistance since shortly after the defeat of Iraqi forces in April. Insurgents there shot down an American OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter a week ago, killing one pilot and injuring another.

Anti-U.S. militants also brought down a Chinook helicopter near the city of 200,000 on Nov. 2, likely with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile. That attack killed 16 and injured 26 American soldiers.

Yesterday’s crash darkened a day expected to showcase American generosity with the release of about 100 of the nearly 10,000 Iraqis imprisoned without formal charges as “security detainees.” The group is the first of 506 expected to be released.

A group of about 80 prisoners was released early in the afternoon, but did not appear to include the detainees. A certain number of prisoners who had been held for petty crimes or for questioning are released every week.

A coalition spokesman said not all of the 100 detainees scheduled for release yesterday had obtained “guarantors” — community leaders prepared to vouch for their good conduct.

“The process is under way,” said Dan Senor, a White House aide and spokesman for chief administrator L. Paul Bremer, who announced the release program on Wednesday. “We’re waiting for community leaders to step forward.”

Anxious families swarmed outside the gates of the heavily guarded Abu Ghraib prison awaiting word of their relatives, some of whom have been held for months.

The secretive detentions have sparked criticism from human rights groups and fueled Iraqi resentment against the coalition. Families have grown frustrated as they try to find out whether their missing relatives have been detained, where they’re being held and how to visit them or get them released.

Mr. Senor announced that the coalition would establish an office at Abu Ghraib to help families that have had relatives detained.

The prisoner release, he said, was intended to communicate to “a number of people that thought they might have been left out of the new Iraq or chosen to opt out” that “there’s a second opportunity for them and their loved ones to play a constructive role” in the post-Saddam Iraq.

Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East analyst at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said he doubted the goodwill gesture would have much effect on the resistance.

“The insurgents have their own agenda: fighting a foreign occupation that threatens to reverse the privileges they had grown accustomed to during the previous regime,” he said. “They are not going to be any less motivated by the release of prisoners.”

Outside the gates of Abu Ghraib, a few relatives raged against the coalition forces, but most were wives, mothers and daughters who simply wanted to get a glimpse of their loved ones.

“I’m a mother. What can I do?” said Aziz Hadi, who travels several hours daily to visit the prison, where her son has been held for seven months on a weapons charge.

“My heart won’t let me stay at home. I come every day hoping to see him.”

In Baghdad yesterday, members of the Iraqi Governing Council met with the leaders of the main Kurdish parties to discuss the sensitive issue of federalism, which the Kurds hope will solidify their autonomy in Kurdish areas of the north.

Dividing Iraq into federal states along ethnic and religious lines has been an issue of prime concern — and one that has evoked much discussion inside and outside Iraq — as the February deadline for an Iraqi interim constitution nears.