U.S. Launches Attacks in Western Iraq (AP)

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces launched attacks in western
Iraq in an operation aimed at disrupting insurgents and foreign fighters in the Euphrates River valley, the U.S. military said Friday.

The operation, dubbed Quick Strike, began Wednesday with Iraqi soldiers and Marines positioning their units, said a military statement. They focused on an area centered around the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah, and Parwana, about 130 miles northwest of Baghdad.

U.S. Navy Corpsman Brendan John McGuire, left, of Manalapan, New Jersey and U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Benjamin Adams of Worthington, Ohio, from the 3rd Platoon from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment from Ohio, guard a house in Parwana, near Haditha, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 5, 2005. A roadside bomb nearby killed 14 Marines, many from this platoon, and a civilian interpreter, in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

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