Marine helicopter crash in Iraq kills 31

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A Marine transport helicopter crashed during sandstorms in Iraq's western desert Wednesday, killing 31 troops, while insurgents killed six other American military personnel in the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began.\nMilitants waging a campaign to derail Sunday's election carried out at least six car bombings and a flurry of other attacks on schools to be used as polling stations, political party offices and Kurdish sites, killing or wounding more than two dozen people.\nWhile al-Qaida warned Iraqis to stay away from the polls President Bush called on people to "defy the terrorists" and cast ballots in the crucial election.\nArmy Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, said the helicopter was on a mission in support of the election. The crash occurred among severe weather, but its cause was still under investigation, Abizaid said. An Accuweather map of Iraq showed sandstorms Wednesday in the western region of Iraq near the Jordanian border where the crash took place.\nThe CH-53E Super Stallion was carrying personnel from the 1st Marine Division when it went down about 1:20 a.m. near the town of Rutbah, about 220 miles west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.\nA search and rescue team has reached the site and an investigation into what caused the crash was under way.\nLt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, said 30 Marines and one U.S. sailor were killed in the crash -- the most American servicemembers to die in a single incident in Iraq. It was also the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the March 2003 invasion.\nBush expressed his condolences for the deaths. "The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. It is the long-term objective that is vital -- that is to spread freedom," he told reporters.\nHe said "a lot of Iraqis" were expected to participate in the elections. "Clearly, there are some who are intimidated," Bush said. "I urge people to vote. I urge people to defy these terrorists."\nIn Iraq's Anbar province, four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting, the military said in a statement.\nThe statement gave no further details, but WABC reporter Jim Dolan, who was embedded with the troops who were attacked, said the deaths came when insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy leaving the town of Haditha, west of Baghdad, hitting a vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade.\nAlso Wednesday, insurgents attacked a U.S. Army patrol near the northern town of Duluiyah, killing one soldier and wounding two others, and in the Baghdad area a roadside bomb killed another soldier and wounded two others, the U.S. command said.\nThe day's deaths brought to at least 1,409 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died in Iraq, according to an Associated Press count.\nThe previous single deadliest incident for U.S. troops was also a helicopter crash: In November 2004, two Black Hawk helicopters collided while trying to avoid ground fire, killing 17 servicemembers.\nPreviously, the most Americans killed in one day came on March 23, 2003, when 28 troops were killed in various incidents during the U.S. military's drive to take Baghdad and topple Saddam Hussein. Bush declared major combat finished May 1, 2003, but fighting has continued.