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Trafford ex-Marine a fatality in Iraq

Trafford ex-Marine a fatality in Iraq

1 of 2 U.S. workers for coalition slain

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. officials are worried that Iraqi police -- not just impostors in Iraqi uniforms -- may have been behind the killings of two coalition staffers -- one of them from suburban Pittsburgh -- and their translator, the top American general in Iraq said yesterday.

Robert Zangas. (AP Photo)

The three were the first civilians from the U.S. occupation authority to be killed in Iraq.

One of them was Robert J. Zangas, 44, of Trafford. Zangas went to Iraq last year with his Marine Corps Reserve unit and returned as a regional press officer with the coalition, according to his wife, Brenda Zangas.

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"Even though he was trained as a Marine, he was a very gentle person, " his wife said. "He genuinely cared about people, and he was an excellent father to our three young children."

Besides his wife of 16 years, Zangas leaves behind a 10-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 5 and 3.

Brenda Zangas described her husband as very patriotic, noting that during a radio interview on Veterans Day, he encouraged people to remove their hats and place their hands over their hearts when the national anthem was played or the flag raised.

She said he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Marines in Iraq from February through September of last year because he had been activated from reserve status.

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He returned to Iraq as a civilian, she said, because "he felt like so many things were left undone."

"He was over there helping to rebuild the infrastructure," she said.

The other slain American was Fern Holland, 33, a human rights expert from Oklahoma who worked on women's issues in the Hillah region, where she was killed.

The shooting Tuesday night raised two possibilities: that guerrillas had adopted a new tactic of posing as police to carry out attacks, or that some members of the security forces being trained by U.S. troops are turning to violence.

The Americans and an Iraqi woman working as their translator were driving near Hillah, 35 miles south of Baghdad, when they were stopped at a checkpoint and killed by gunmen.

The attackers then took their car, their bodies still inside, according to the Polish military, which patrols the area. Polish troops stopped the car and arrested the five Iraqis inside.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said it was not yet known whether the attackers were disguised as police or the real thing.

Also yesterday, the military said an American soldier from the 652nd Engineering Battalion was killed the day before when a homemade bomb went off in Baqouba north of Baghdad.

First Published: March 12, 2004, 5:00 a.m.

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