Posted on 06/24/2005 2:27:20 AM PDT by iso
Massive police station assault alarms locals despite retreat
Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Friday June 24, 2005
The Guardian
Dawn had yet to break and Baghdad's biggest police station, like the rest of the city, was quiet. About 80 officers dozed inside the fortress, leaving just a few sentries guarding the walls, razor wire and concrete barriers.
It started with mortars. A series of whooshes from north and south followed seconds later by explosions inside the perimeter. Figures emerged from the gloom and knelt in the middle of Hi al-Elam and Qatar Nada streets, pointing rocket launchers.
More figures materialised on rooftops overlooking the station to spray gunfire and lob grenades. Dozens of gunmen, guerrilla infantry, swarmed from houses and alleys. It was just after 5.30am and the station was surrounded.
The defenders heard engines rev and guessed what was next: suicide car bombers. Baghdad's biggest battle in months - and possibly the boldest yet by insurgents - had begun.
They struck on Monday but details of the assault on Baya'a, a vast police complex in the southern suburbs, emerged only yesterday when American and Iraqi officers opened the station to reporters. Bullet holes and debris testified to a synchronised and audacious strike by up to 100 rebels in what is supposed to be a locked-down capital.
The combination of heavy shelling, diversionary feints, infantry thrusts and suicide vehicles - the "precision-guided" equivalent of tanks - left parts of the district of Hi al-Elam a smoking ruin. If the objective was to overrun the station and free its prisoners the offensive failed. The attackers retreated after two hours, leaving dozens dead and captured. But if the objective was to send a message of power and determination it succeeded.
Residents said their confidence in the government and security forces was severely dented. A rash of graffiti has spread across the area: "We will be back." One taxi driver, a Shia who loathes the mostly Sunni Arab resistance, shrugged. "Yes, they will."
Republicans and Democrats, increasingly worried about Iraq, were due yesterday to quiz Pentagon top brass about a US exit strategy which hinges on building up Iraqi security forces.
On one level the assault at Baya'a was being presented as good news for Washington. "The enemy spent weeks, maybe months planning this," said Lt Col David Funk, a US infantry commander responsible for the area. "They failed spectacularly."
Not since April's attack on Abu Ghraib had there been such a concentration of force in the capital and yet the insurgents were repulsed thanks to the heroism of the beleaguered police officers, he said. But in Baghdad, the fact the insurgents had launched the attack at all was more indicative.
The sentries, pinned down by fire from the rooftops, did not respond when they heard the approaching suicide bombers. One vehicle exploded at the main entrance, killing at least four officers but without breaching the compound.
A nearby Iraqi army base was simultaneously targeted by mortars, gunfire and a suicide bomber, trapping the soldiers inside. Gunmen attacked the police station from four sides and came close to overrunning it. From bases in southern Baghdad US and Iraqi ground troops rushed for Baya'a only to confront insurgents at Derwesh Square and on the Doura highway tasked with slowing the relief force. At least three suicide car bombers had been held back for this purpose.
By 6.30am a police machine-gunner on the roof at Baya'a helped turn the tide, firing volleys which forced attackers to take cover and enabled his comrades to take better positions. Residents of the mixed Shia and Sunni neighbourhood made at least 55 phone calls informing the police of insurgent movements. Some fired on the attackers. An off-duty policeman was caught by insurgents, bundled into the boot of a car and later found beheaded.
The attackers retreated at around 7.30am. At least 10 were killed and 40 captured.
"It was our victory," said the Iraqi commander, Col Khaldoon. But residents, picking their way through rubble that had been homes and shops, disagreed.
Last month the government said Operation Lightning, a sweep of the capital by 40,000 troops, would choke the violence. A spate of explosions in the past two days killed more than 40 people but it was the spectacular but less bloody attack at Baya'a that showed the resistance was still in business.
Videos of the assault will almost certainly surface on the internet, the dramatic images of resistance intended to inspire would-be recruits and demoralise opponents.
Lt Col Funk worried about similarities to the Tet offensive, a 1968 push by North Vietnamese forces which failed militarily but whose scale and surprise gave the impression that the US and its allies were failing. "The media got Tet wrong and they're getting Iraq wrong. We are winning but people won't know that if all they are hearing about is death and violence."
umm where exactly is the terrorist victory here? They won because they lost? lol!
Iraq isn't Vietnam, and the Media doesn't have the clout it had back then.
Ping
The reporter is trying to Tetify it.
Civilians just have no business writing or opining on military matters.
It's like a virgin writing a sex manual.
"and yet the insurgents were repulsed thanks to the heroism of the beleaguered police officers"
I don't see anything here that looks like a win for the bad guys. These reporters writing this stuff should at least label it fiction.
Terrorists victory? Only in the wishful minds of the liberal media. The media and terrorists are both losers.
Fat Teddy, Biden, et al. are heartened at the news.
The equation will change once the Iraqis do most of the fighting. The war will be between the US backed Iraqis and the Jihadist backed Iraqis. Except our side (Shiites plus Kurds) represents 80 percent of Iraq. I spoke with a buddy who served in Iraq. He tells me the Iraqi Army is an all volunteer force. They have no shortage of recruits. Initially they came for money, but more are joining because the insurgents have killed their relative or friend. Ever since the Shiites won the election, more recruits are Shiites and Kurds. Once the US is out of the picture, the Sunni insurgents are going to get the full treatment. The Shiite and Kurdish troops are going to do what is necessary to win (unlike the US troops hampered by PR and PC issues). Insurgent prisoners will be tortured and their families punished. I think the US should help Iraq develop a 600,000 man army but a very small Air Force. Once in place, the Iraqi government should build a case against Syria's role in the insurgency in the UN. Get approval for military action, and the US should act as its allie by providing SOF, FIST and air power in a war against Syria. After Syria, Iran and the last terror support group Saudi Arabia. The Shah of Iran was once the US proxy in the Persian Gulf, maybe Iraq could fill that role in the 21st Century.
Media always help terrorists !
Amen!
You are right .
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Eventually, the evidence of success in Iraq is going to be too strong for them to have any effect with their cute little tricks.
Anyone remember when the last time you heard of Iraqi citizens taking up arms to help the police repel an attack.......this is good news.
"Lt Col Funk worried about similarities to the Tet offensive..."
Notice the clever splicing by the reporter. In the quote that follows, Lt Col Funk expresses concern that the media is reporting the war in Iraq as they reported Vietnam. He's not talking specifically about this action--which sounds as much like Tet as Gitmo is like a gulag.
At least 10 were killed and 40 captured.
50% losses. They're winning. Honest...
Sounds like a glorious victory! /sarcasm
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