Posted on 06/14/2006 7:25:54 AM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers searched cars and secured roads in Baghdad on Wednesday as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a major security crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital.
Despite the stepped up security measures, however, a parked car bomb struck the northern district of Qahira, killing at least four civilians and wounding six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
The crackdown, which army officials said was dubbed Operation Forward Together, began a day after President Bush paid a surprise visit to Baghdad, promising continued U.S. support for Iraqis but cautioning them that "the future of the country is in your hands."
Iraqis encountered more checkpoints and soldiers as they drove to work Wednesday morning, causing traffic to back up in some areas, although noticeably fewer cars were on the streets elsewhere.
Al-Maliki called on Iraqis to be patient with the security measures and promised Iraqi forces would respect human rights and not single out any ethnic or sectarian group.
"We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists," he said during a news conference to formally unveil the plan in Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharrawi, the commander of public order forces under the Interior Ministry, said his forces had not encountered any resistance, even in some of the capital's most volatile areas.
"The people are feeling comfortable with the security measures and they are waving to us," he said. "Until now, no clashes have erupted and no bullets have been fired at us."
Osama Ahmed Salah, a 50-year-old Sunni university professor in western Baghdad, said he hoped authorities would not randomly target the minority sect.
"The security plan operations should not depend on false information and they should not be sectarian or directed against a specific kind of people," he said. "The operations should be well-prepared and they should not be conducted in a way that humiliates citizens."
Security officials said Tuesday that 75,000 Iraqi and multinational forces would be deployed throughout Baghdad, securing roads in and out of the city, establishing more checkpoints, launching raids against insurgent hideouts and calling in airstrikes if necessary.
Al-Maliki also has announced plans for an extended curfew and a weapons ban, saying he would show "no mercy" to terrorists a week after al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.
The government did not say how long the crackdown would last and declined to give precise numbers about checkpoints and troops on Wednesday, citing security concerns.
But al-Gharrawi said Tuesday that the operation was the biggest of its kind in Baghdad since the U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004.
The Iraqi army launched a similar crackdown dubbed Operation Lightning in May 2005, deploying more than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by American troops and air support. However, violence continued to spike and many Sunnis were alienated by the heavy-handed tactics concentrating on their neighborhoods.
The extended curfew is expected to curtail what few social activities Baghdad's 6 million residents have left. But those activities were already restricted in many neighborhoods where the streets are not safe at night.
Bush's visit, meanwhile, prompted a noisy protest in Baghdad on Wednesday by hundreds of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The demonstrators raised Iraqi flags and pictures of al-Sadr while chanting "Iraq is for Iraqis" and "No to the occupation."
Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004 and frequently has criticized the foreign military mission.
Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji, one of al-Sadr's closest political advisers, accused Bush of breaching Iraq's sovereignty by arriving in the country without notice. Bush's trip was made under incredibly tight security and only a handful of close aides knew about it in advance. Al-Maliki himself did not know the president was in Baghdad until five minutes before they met.
"Even the Iraqi prime minister wasn't informed about the visit by the American president to Iraq," al-Daraji said in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV. "These violations by the U.S.A. ... are in fact rejected by the Iraqi people."
He also demanded that U.S.-led troops be withdrawn from the country.
Bush said Tuesday that the U.S. military presence — now at about 132,000 troops — would continue for a while. "I have expressed our country's desire to work with you, but I appreciate you recognize the fact that the future of the country is in your hands," Bush said.
Despite Wednesday's protest, the visit was welcomed by many Iraqis.
"It is truly a surprise visit, but it is a good gesture and a step forward on the path of establishing security and stability," author Abbas al-Rubai said in Baghdad.
Baghdad's residents have suffered most from the suicide attackers and other bombings and shootings that plague the country on a daily basis and al-Qaida in Iraq has been increasingly focusing its attacks on the capital rather than on U.S. targets in western Iraq.
Authorities said they have specific intelligence that would help them focus the new security measures. "Baghdad is divided according to geographical area, and we know the al-Qaida leaders in each area," al-Gharrawi said.
Despite the security crackdown, he warned insurgents were likely to step up their attacks.
"We are expecting clashes will erupt in the predominantly Sunni areas," al-Gharrawi said. "The terrorists will escalate their violence especially during the first week as revenge for the killing of al-Zarqawi."
Civilians have also complained of random violence and detentions by Iraqi forces, especially the police, which are widely believed to have been infiltrated by so-called sectarian death squads.
Al-Gharrawi said there were plans for a single uniform to distinguish legitimate forces in the coming days. "There will be a special uniform with special badges to be put on the vehicles as a sign that it belongs to our forces," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Kim Gamel, Qais al-Bashir and Sinan Salahedding contributed to this report from Baghdad.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Clashes erupted between gunmen and Iraqi troops and a car bomb killed two people on Wednesday as the government launched a security clampdown to root out al Qaeda militants in Baghdad.
Gunmen carrying automatic rifles blocked roads with stones and tree trunks and exchanged fire with Iraqi soldiers in Adhamiya, a Sunni insurgent stronghold that is one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
Civilians fled the area but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Five Iraqi army tanks moved through Adhamiya and clashes later subsided.
In northern Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two people and wounded seven. A Reuters photographer who was 10 meters (yards) from the blast saw a man and a teenager burning amid the wreckage after the bomb caused a big fireball.
On Tuesday President Bush told new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a surprise visit to Baghdad that the fate and future of Iraq was "in your hands."
Addressing a televised news conference as the crackdown got under way, Maliki insisted he was ready to talk to insurgents who do not have Iraqi blood on their hands.
"The door is open for dialogue with gunmen who oppose the political process and now want to go back to political activity under pledges," said Maliki, a tough-talking Shi'ite who has reached out to some Sunni Arab insurgent groups in a bid to draw them into the U.S.-sponsored process.
Iraqi officials said operation "Forward Together" would involve more than 40,000 Iraqi and U.S.-led forces in a sweep to corner al Qaeda in Iraq following the killing of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week in a U.S. air strike.
Similar operations in the past have failed to stem bloodshed that has killed thousands and pushed Iraq toward civil war.
Bush, whose popularity has slumped because of the war that has killed nearly 2,500 U.S. troops, told Maliki during his visit that it was time the Iraqi government developed a plan to improve security.
"The decisions you and your cabinet make will determine as to whether or not your country succeeds, can govern itself, can defend itself, can sustain itself," Bush told Maliki, whose self-styled government of national unity took office last month.
DAILY CARNAGE
With a population of seven million, Baghdad has been the scene of daily carnage and kidnappings.
Maliki, who last week overcame wrangling among Shi'ite and Sunni coalition partners to fill the Interior and Defense posts, is under pressure to deliver on promises to reduce the violence.
He told the news conference the operation was also aimed at restoring security in Baghdad so that families displaced by violence could return. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes fearing religious or ethnic hatred.
Despite growing domestic discontent, Bush has resisted setting a timetable for the withdrawal of 130,000 U.S. troops, saying this depends on the capability of Iraqi forces.
Reuters reporters saw new army checkpoints backed by armored vehicles in Baghdad's western Mansour district and an Iraqi tank in religiously mixed Amiriya, where Sunni Arab insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces have often clashed.
American forces kept a low profile.
As Bush met Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, al Qaeda's new leader in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, said in a statement posted on the Internet that "the day of vengeance" was near.
The death of Zarqawi, a Sunni Arab who attacked majority Shi'ites in a bid to spark civil war, and the appointment of a Sunni as defense minister, have opened a narrow window of opportunity to ease communal hatreds, analysts said.
Sunnis, dominant under Saddam Hussein but now the backbone of the insurgency, view the U.S.-backed process with suspicion.
(Additional reporting by Reuters photographers and cameramen, Ahmed Rasheed, Michael Georgy and Fredrik Dahl in Baghdad)
Good. Operation Green Zone Baghdad.
An iraqi blogger proposed this a long time ago, and it is vitally needed. They have needed to make all of Baghdad a 'green zone' for a long time, a key failure on the PR front that we let terrorists operate in Baghdad. Indeed, we've had better success in the smaller towns than in Baghdad. As long as Baghdad is violent, the press can write their dark missives from hotel rooms, and Iraqis in the capital feel things are not in control.
70,000 troops is a serious presence, and should be enough.
Now is the time to turn the corner on that and really clamp down on terrorism in Baghdad.
". . . should not be conducted in a way that humiliates citizens."
They are making progress. The Iraqi ACLU appears to be learning.
Smoke 'em out, guys.
The BBC can not even spin this as evil Americans:
Last Updated: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 11:18 GMT 12:18 UK
Iraq implements new security plan
The new security plan is the toughest since the invasion of 2003
Tough new security measures have been put in place in Baghdad in an effort to win back control of the city's streets.
Some 40,000 Iraqi and US troops were put on the streets just after dawn, a day after President Bush flew into Baghdad and met PM Nouri Maliki.
Mr Maliki later said he was willing to talk to some insurgents, as long as they did not have blood on their hands.
Meanwhile violence continued, with clashes breaking out between gunmen and security forces in the city's north.
SECURITY MEASURES
40,000 troops on the streets, extra checkpoints, more night raids and air strikes
Ban on personal weapons
Overnight curfew extended to begin at 2030
Vehicle ban during Friday afternoon prayers
Special uniforms and badges for all security personnel
Hotline for anonymous tip-offs
No casualties were reported in the clashes, in the mainly Sunni Adhamiya district, which officials said lasted about half an hour.
A car bomb also exploded in northern Baghdad, killing at least two people and injuring 10, police said. A second car bomb exploded in another northern area, but no-one died.
Fears are high that al-Qaeda in Iraq is preparing new attacks after the killing of their leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Zarqawi's successor, named as Abu Hamza al-Mujahid, has reportedly vowed to defeat "crusaders and Shias" in Iraq.
Difference noticed
But Mr Maliki said that although he would not negotiate with killers of innocent people, dialogue was possible with some rebel groups.
"The national reconciliation initiative holds the possibility of having dialogues with rebels who are opposed to the political process and want to rejoin it with guarantees," he said.
Impact of crackdown
"If their hands are not stained with blood we will open the door to them for a dialogue."
The new security measures will be the strictest imposed on Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003.
The nightly evening curfew will now begin at 2030, not 2300 as it did before, and run until 0600 the next morning.
Extra troops were posted throughout Baghdad early on Wednesday, setting up new checkpoints to secure road travel in and around the city.
Residents said they had already noticed the difference, with more vehicles being stopped and searched and long queues building up as a result.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5078180.stm
Gee, I wonder how the Reuters guy just happened to be so close. I think he needs to be brought in for questioning.
Or at least that's what I thought it said when I first skimmed it!
Many Iraqis Dismiss Bush Visit As Stunt ~ Patrick Quinn spins for the Leftist MSM again
With what you reported here, it seems that he is using Al-Sadr as one of his prime sources....
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