4th Infantry Division

There's no clear word yet on who, if anyone, will get the $25 million bounty promised for information leading to Saddam Hussein's capture. But U.S. officials indicated that someone close to the deposed dictator's family might be in the money. Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which captured Hussein, said that during the past week and a half, U.S. soldiers questioned "five to 10 members" of families "close to Saddam." He added, "Finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals."

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military is investigating four U.S. soldiers accused of raping an Iraqi woman near their guard post, killing her and three family members, and burning down their home with the bodies still inside. The rape and murder case, announced yesterday, was opened by the military a week ago after two U.S. soldiers came forward with information about the alleged incident in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. A terse statement issued yesterday by the U.S. Army said that on June 23 the two soldiers reported the alleged American involvement in the family's death March 12 and that a preliminary investigation had found sufficient evidence to continue.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An American officer has been stripped of his command after pleading guilty to assaulting an Iraqi detainee during interrogation, the military said yesterday. A disciplinary proceeding found that the actions by Lt. Col. Allen West were serious enough to "merit a court-martial." But the military said in a statement that mitigating circumstances - specifically, the "stressful environment" of combat - and West's distinguished service record prompted the Army to instead relieve West of his command, fine him $5,000, and order him back to the United States, where he will be allowed to retire.

FORT CARSON, Colo. - High-ranking officers accused of conspiring with 3rd Brigade Combat Team soldiers to cover up the death of an Iraqi civilian thrown from a bridge into the Tigris River have not been criminally charged and received only administrative punishment, the Army confirmed yesterday. Documents summarizing the allegations against the soldiers say three officers encouraged lower-level soldiers involved in the drowning incident to deny what happened. They were identified as Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman, the battalion commander; Maj. Robert Gwinner, Sassaman's executive officer; and Capt.

BAQUBA, Iraq - An unknown assailant hurled a grenade from the upper floor of a children's hospital here yesterday, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding four as they guarded the building, according to hospital workers and visitors. Near Abu Ghuraib, another U.S. soldier was killed yesterday and two others wounded when their convoy was attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, U.S. officials said. The bloody attacks - coming just days after U.S. troops killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in a raid in the northern city of Mosul - raised to 48 the number of U.S. troops killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared the major combat phase of the Iraq war over May 1. The Baquba attack marked the second occasion since Bush's speech in which three U.S. soldiers were killed in a single attack.

FORT CARSON, Colo. - High-ranking officers accused of conspiring with 3rd Brigade Combat Team soldiers to cover up the death of an Iraqi civilian thrown from a bridge into the Tigris River have not been criminally charged and received only administrative punishment, the Army confirmed yesterday. Documents summarizing the allegations against the soldiers say three officers encouraged lower-level soldiers involved in the drowning incident to deny what happened. They were identified as Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman, the battalion commander; Maj. Robert Gwinner, Sassaman's executive officer; and Capt.

WASHINGTON - Within hours of a tip by an Iraqi on Saturday, hundreds of American soldiers and members of a U.S. Special Operations team converged under cover of darkness on two modest farms southeast of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, military officials in Baghdad said. Supported by helicopters and armored vehicles, 600 soldiers from the Raider Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division and a team of American commandos known as Task Force 121 - formed this fall to track down Hussein and terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden - scoured the houses on the two farms near the town of Adwar, about 10 miles from Tikrit.

WASHINGTON - Three soldiers with the Army's 4th Infantry Division have been charged with manslaughter in the drowning of an Iraqi who was allegedly forced in January to jump off a bridge that spans the Tigris River in the city of Samarra, the Army announced yesterday. A fourth soldier from the same division is being charged with ordering a second Iraqi to jump, although that man survived, Army officials said. It was the first time that soldiers have faced serious charges involving the death of an Iraqi who was in U.S. custody, an Army official said, though not the first charges involving the alleged killing of an Iraqi by American soldiers.

WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq is providing Pentagon officials with a biting reminder that the nation's most powerful tank divisions can't run to a fight - they have to sail to it, at speeds no faster than about 22 knots. At a time when Army leaders near Baghdad say they want more tanks and artillery to protect their vulnerable supply lines, the nearest heavy armored division is still at least a week away, its soldiers flying in from Texas but its equipment still sailing around the Arabian Peninsula headed for Kuwait.

BAQOUBAH, Iraq - A group calling itself a wing of al-Qaida claimed responsibility yesterday for attacks on American troops in Iraq, as U.S. forces killed five Iraqis in raids aimed at preventing such violence during two Iraqi holidays this week. The claim, made in an audiotape aired on Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, insisted that allies of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had played no role in the recent attacks. The Associated Press reported today that a U.S. soldier was killed and four wounded in fighting in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Three soldiers with the Army's 4th Infantry Division have been charged with manslaughter in the drowning of an Iraqi who was allegedly forced in January to jump off a bridge that spans the Tigris River in the city of Samarra, the Army announced yesterday. A fourth soldier from the same division is being charged with ordering a second Iraqi to jump, although that man survived, Army officials said. It was the first time that soldiers have faced serious charges involving the death of an Iraqi who was in U.S. custody, an Army official said, though not the first charges involving the alleged killing of an Iraqi by American soldiers.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interim leaders appealed yesterday for those waging a campaign of insurgency against the U.S.-led occupation to cease provocations and take advantage of "a spirit of forgiveness" that will allow them to reconcile with their Iraqi brothers. The Iraqi Governing Council held out an olive branch to those it said had been deceived by deposed dictator Saddam Hussein, calling on them to "desist from acts of violence and return to the fold of the Iraqi people." Meanwhile, officers of the Army's 1st Armored Division determined that a pre-dawn truck explosion that killed 12 people was probably an accident and not an act of terrorism.

WASHINGTON - Within hours of a tip by an Iraqi on Saturday, hundreds of American soldiers and members of a U.S. Special Operations team converged under cover of darkness on two modest farms southeast of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, military officials in Baghdad said. Supported by helicopters and armored vehicles, 600 soldiers from the Raider Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division and a team of American commandos known as Task Force 121 - formed this fall to track down Hussein and terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden - scoured the houses on the two farms near the town of Adwar, about 10 miles from Tikrit.

There's no clear word yet on who, if anyone, will get the $25 million bounty promised for information leading to Saddam Hussein's capture. But U.S. officials indicated that someone close to the deposed dictator's family might be in the money. Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which captured Hussein, said that during the past week and a half, U.S. soldiers questioned "five to 10 members" of families "close to Saddam." He added, "Finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals."

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An American officer has been stripped of his command after pleading guilty to assaulting an Iraqi detainee during interrogation, the military said yesterday. A disciplinary proceeding found that the actions by Lt. Col. Allen West were serious enough to "merit a court-martial." But the military said in a statement that mitigating circumstances - specifically, the "stressful environment" of combat - and West's distinguished service record prompted the Army to instead relieve West of his command, fine him $5,000, and order him back to the United States, where he will be allowed to retire.

MOSUL, Iraq - U.S. troops hauled away the wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters yesterday to begin an investigation into a deadly collision over this city in northern Iraq as another audiotape purportedly from ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned of more attacks on U.S. soldiers. The helicopter crash killed 17 American soldiers and injured five others, the deadliest single incident for U.S. troops since the war began in March. As troops used cranes and flatbed trucks to cart away the wreckage, Army officials said they had no quick answer on the cause of the midair collision.

MOSUL, Iraq - U.S. troops hauled away the wreckage of two Black Hawk helicopters yesterday to begin an investigation into a deadly collision over this city in northern Iraq as another audiotape purportedly from ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned of more attacks on U.S. soldiers. The helicopter crash killed 17 American soldiers and injured five others, the deadliest single incident for U.S. troops since the war began in March. As troops used cranes and flatbed trucks to cart away the wreckage, Army officials said they had no quick answer on the cause of the midair collision.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military is investigating four U.S. soldiers accused of raping an Iraqi woman near their guard post, killing her and three family members, and burning down their home with the bodies still inside. The rape and murder case, announced yesterday, was opened by the military a week ago after two U.S. soldiers came forward with information about the alleged incident in the town of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. A terse statement issued yesterday by the U.S. Army said that on June 23 the two soldiers reported the alleged American involvement in the family's death March 12 and that a preliminary investigation had found sufficient evidence to continue.

BAQUBA, Iraq - An unknown assailant hurled a grenade from the upper floor of a children's hospital here yesterday, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding four as they guarded the building, according to hospital workers and visitors. Near Abu Ghuraib, another U.S. soldier was killed yesterday and two others wounded when their convoy was attacked with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, U.S. officials said. The bloody attacks - coming just days after U.S. troops killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in a raid in the northern city of Mosul - raised to 48 the number of U.S. troops killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared the major combat phase of the Iraq war over May 1. The Baquba attack marked the second occasion since Bush's speech in which three U.S. soldiers were killed in a single attack.

BAQOUBAH, Iraq - A group calling itself a wing of al-Qaida claimed responsibility yesterday for attacks on American troops in Iraq, as U.S. forces killed five Iraqis in raids aimed at preventing such violence during two Iraqi holidays this week. The claim, made in an audiotape aired on Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, insisted that allies of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had played no role in the recent attacks. The Associated Press reported today that a U.S. soldier was killed and four wounded in fighting in Iraq.