Rumsfeld Visits Iraq

Two car bombs shook the capital in quick succession Sunday, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier, and wounding 16, U.S. and Iraqi officials said, as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to troops in the field. A Marine was reported killed in action west of the capital.

Rumsfeld met with American troops in Iraq's western desert, telling them it was unlikely the United States would pull out any troops before next year's elections. He said the violence was expected to increase in the run-up to the elections.

It was Rumsfeld's first visit to Iraq since the United States handed over authority to an interim government June 28. With American troops getting killed at a rate of more than one per day in Iraq, Rumsfeld's trip was not announced in advance.

A dozen Marines from a 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment platoon based 30 miles southwest of Baghdad told the Washington Post in blunt terms their frustrations with the way the war is being lead and, in some cases, expressed doubts about its rationale.

They also said the situation is getting worse every day. One of the Marines, 21-year-old Cpl. Brandon Autin, said the platoon was not afraid of being punished for speaking out. "We don't give a crap," he said. "What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?"

A videotape of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley appeared Sunday on an Islamist Web site, showing the civil engineer pleading that he wanted "to live a simple life" moments before he was decapitated.

The nearly five-minute tape appeared two days after Bigley's family said it had proof that the 62-year-old civil engineer from Liverpool was dead. The body has not been found.

The tape showed Bigley, dressed in an orange prison-style jump suit and seated in front of seven armed, hooded men. Behind them was a banner of the feared Tawhid and Jihad group, the extremist organization which has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide attacks and beheadings of Westerners.

Bigley made a brief statement, saying, "I am not a difficult person. I am a simple man who wants to live a simple life." He then told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that "more than ever I need your help."

"Here I am again, Mr. Blair," Bigley added. "Very, very close to the end of my life, you do not appear to have done anything at all to help me."

In Baghdad, a suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near a police academy, police Cap. Ali Ayez said at the scene. At least four mangled bodies lay on the street amid scattered shoes, papers and a handbag. Police collected body parts on stretchers.

The dead included three police academy students and a female officer, Ayez said.

U.S. forces assisted the wounded, including a police recruit who received stitches in his abdomen. Police recruiting centers have been frequently targeted in an attempt to undercut support for Iraq's security services.

The nearby Kindi Hospital received 10 bodies and treated five wounded from the blast, said Dr. Ali Ghazi. Police said 15 people were injured in all.

Another car bomb exploded as an American military convoy was passing near a small market in east Baghdad, police Lt. Ahmed Hussein said at the scene. An American soldier wounded in the attack was evacuated for treatment but died at a nearby military medical facility, a military statement said.

The blast also wounded at least one bystander and left a gaping crater in the road.

Iraq's most feared terror group, Tawhid and Jihad, claimed responsibility for both attacks. The claim, posted on an Internet site known for its Islamic content, could not be verified.

Capt. Mitchell Zornes of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division confirmed that a convoy was targeted in one of the blasts but he wasn't immediately sure which one. One wounded American soldier was evacuated to a medical facility, he said. Improvised bombs — some left by the side of the road, others rigged in vehicles — have become insurgents' weapon of choice in Iraq.

A Marine was killed in action in Anbar province Saturday, a day before Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to the area, the military said in a statement. No other details were released.

Rumsfeld addressed Marines at Al Asad air field in Iraq's western desert Sunday morning. "Our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi election," he said. "But again, it will depend entirely on the security situation here in this country."

Rumsfeld had breakfast with senior Marine leaders — including Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the top Marine in Iraq, and Maj. Gen. Keith Stalder, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing — before fielding questions at a town hall style meeting with 1,500 Marines.

"We're so fortunate to be able to count on you in this time of peril," Rumsfeld said to applause as he stood at a makeshift podium inside an aircraft hangar.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government hopes to suppress insurgents and take control of rebel enclaves before the legislative elections planned for January. U.S. and Iraqi officials have been negotiating for weeks with tribal and religious leaders in key rebel strongholds but have said they are prepared to use force if talks fail, as they did in Samarra last month.

Also Sunday, clashes broke out between U.S. forces and insurgents in Hit, west of Fallujah, killing one Iraqi and wounding two, police 1st Lt. Muhsin Nassir said. The U.S. military did not immediately comment on the clash about 100 miles west of Baghdad.

In Bagdad, an Iraqi intelligence officer was killed Sunday morning in a drive-by shooting, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman of the Interior Ministry. Three gunmen in a car opened fire on the man as he left his house to go to work, Abdul-Rahman said. He did not identify the officer.

South of the capital, the U.S. command said 15 more insurgents were rounded up Saturday in a joint American-Iraqi operation to suppress resistance in an area notorious for ambushes and kidnappings. At least 78 people have been apprehended since the push began last week, the military said Sunday.

Rebels in the area fought back Saturday, firing several mortar rounds at U.S. forces near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, said Capt. David Nevers, a Marine spokesman. U.S. forces returned fire with mortar and artillery shells, he said.

Three civilians were killed in the exchanges, including a father and child, said Dr. Dawood al-Taie of nearby Mahmoudiya hospital.

Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Saturday to begin handing in weapons, a significant step toward restoring order in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum, a center of Shiite militant resistance.

So far, al-Sadr has not pledged to disband his militia, a key U.S. and Iraqi government demand. But American and Iraqi authorities are eager to end the clashes in the Shiite stronghold so they can concentrate on suppressing the more widespread Sunni insurgency.