Military

DATE=6/15/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= IRAQ SITREP (L)

NUMBER=2-316738

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

HEADLINE: More Foreign Contractors Attacked in Iraq.

INTRO: For the second consecutive day, attackers have targeted a convoy of foreign contractors near Baghdad and the U.S. military reports an unknown number of people may have been killed. As V.O.A. correspondent Nick Simeone reports the attacks come just days before Iraqis are set to take full control of their country from coalition forces.

TEXT: Unknown gunmen fired on the vehicles carrying the foreign contractors who were working for the U-S led coalition.

U-S military spokesman General Mark Kimmitt.

/// KIMMITT ACT ///

"Two of the vehicles, I believe had some persons in it that were killed. Small arms fire attack, shot from an overpass at three vehicles passing."

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The exact number of casualties and their nationalities is not clear. But the attack comes one day after at least 13 people including several westerners were killed when another convoy carrying civilian contractors was the target of a suicide car bomb in Baghdad.

The ability of Iraqis to take control of their own security is being increasingly tested in the days leading up to the scheduled handover of power on June 30th. At a White House news conference, President Bush emphasized that the more than 200-thousand U-S trained Iraqi security forces will soon have to take charge.

/// BUSH ACT ///

"The Iraqi people are going to have to figure out how to make sure their country is secure enough for a free government to emerge and what you're watching is a government learning how to protect itself."

/// END ACT ///

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says he expects terrorist attacks to increase as the handover of power approaches but he says the sovereign Iraqi government will have a strategy in place to defeat them.

With the coming transfer of power, U.S. and Iraqi leaders are also discussing how and when to hand over to Iraqi authorities former President Saddam Hussein. He remains in U.S. military custody ever since his capture last December. One issue President Bush says he is concerned about is ensuring that the ousted Iraqi leader can not come back to power.

/// SECOND BUSH ACT ///

"I just want to make sure that when sovereignty is transferred, Saddam Hussein stays in jail. That's just a matter of discussion and understanding."

/// END ACT ///

Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar has concerns as well.

/// AL-YAWAR ACT ///

"We must first make sure that we can maintain protection for his life until he goes to trial. We must make sure that the trial goes, as a legal process, he has his own fair chance of a defense."

/// END ACT ///

But neither the U.S. nor the Iraqi government is saying exactly when custody of Saddam Hussein will be transferred. And, a U.S. spokesman in Baghdad says that may not happen until after fighting in Iraq ends. (SIGNED)

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