U.S. helicopters dropped 600 troops into two villages south of Baghdad before sunrise Friday, launching an assault on militants believed to be involved in the May kidnapping of three American soldiers, the military said.
The raids took place around 4 a.m. in the villages of Owesap and Betra, about 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital.
"These are areas where we believe al-Qaida was staging attacks, and we also believe they have ties to the May 12th attack," said Maj. Alayne Conway, spokeswoman for the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
Three U.S. soldiers were kidnapped after their patrol was ambushed May 12 near Mahmoudiya, also south of Baghdad. Four other Americans and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in the attack, and an al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility.
Two soldiers remain missing, and the body of the third was found in the Euphrates River nearly two weeks later.
If my sheer speculation that the release of 9 Iranians was based on Iran's promise to release the two Americans I assume they hold from that attack, perhaps the price is that Iran doesn't admit to holding hostages since that is a sensitive subject given that whole Embassy thing and officially Iran doesn't admit to mucking around in Iraq.
Did Iran tell us that the two soldiers have been dropped off in the area? That would justify an entire battalion assault into the area for a rescue mission for darn sure.
