Posted on 07/13/2007 10:14:04 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD - U.S. forces battled Iraqi police and gunmen Friday, killing six policemen, after an American raid captured a police lieutenant accused of leading an Iranian-backed militia cell, the military said.
Seven gunmen also died in the fight, a rare open street battle between American troops and policemen.
Washington has demanded the government purge its police force of militants, and U.S. and Iraqi authorities have arrested officers in the past for militia links. But the Bush administration said in an assessment Thursday that progress on that front was "unsatisfactory."
The lieutenant was captured before dawn in eastern Baghdad, but the soldiers came under "heavy and accurate fire" from a nearby Iraqi police checkpoint, as well as intense fire from rooftops and a church, the military said in a statement.
As the Americans fired back, U.S. warplanes struck in front of the police position, without hitting it directly, "to prevent further escalation" of the battle, it said. There were no casualties among the U.S. troops, but seven gunmen and six of the policemen firing on the Americans were killed, the statement said.
The captured lieutenant was a "high-ranking" leader of a cell suspected of helping coordinate Iranian support for Shiite extremists in Iraq as well as carrying out roadside bombings against mortar attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, the military said. The lieutenant is believed to be linked to the Quds Force, a branch of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, it said.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, which controls the police, said he had no immediate information on the clash and refused to comment.
The U.S. military accuses Iran's Quds Force of organizing Shiite militants into so-called "special groups" and arming them with weapons and explosives — including a particularly deadly form of roadside bombs called explosively formed penetrators. Iran denies the claims.
Infiltration by Shiite militias is pervasive in the Iraqi police, fueling a deep mistrust of the force among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, who often accuse policemen of involvement in kidnappings and slaying of Sunnis — or at least ignoring them.
Friday's raid came amid a nearly month-old security crackdown in Baghdad by U.S. forces targeting Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents. A day earlier, U.S. troops battled militiamen in east Baghdad's Amin district in a fight the military said killed nine insurgents and two civilians — both Iraqi employees of the London-based Reuters news agency.
Iraqi police and hospital officials put the death toll higher, at 19, saying a woman and two children were among the dead.
The U.S. offensive in Baghdad — and parallel ones to the north and south — have brought a relative easing in attacks in the capital in recent weeks — though it remains far from calm, with occasional car bombs and police still reporting 20 to 30 bodies a day found dumped in the city, apparent victims of sectarian slayings.
On Friday, a volley of at least four mortars were fired from the city's dangerous southern districts at the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district where al-Maliki's offices and the U.S. Embassy are located. The mortars hit near the home of a senior Iraqi military official, killing two Iraqi soldiers, an Iraqi army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the press.
There was no immediate word from American authorities on casualties. It would be the second time in a week that mortar fire into the Green Zone — nearly a daily occurence — has caused deaths. A heavy barrage Tuesday night killed three people, including an American.
The U.S. crackdowns — which began in mid-June, backed by an extra 28,000 troops sent this year — aim to pacify Baghdad and allow the govermnent to pass key laws intended to sway Sunnis away from the insurgency to support the political process.
But an interim report issued Thursday by the Bush administration showed only spotty progress, fueling claims by critics in Congress that the Iraqi strategy is failing. President Bush said it was too early in the strategy to judge and has vowed to veto a measure passed by Thursday by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to withdraw U.S. troops by spring 2008
A top adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki complained that Bush supporters and opponents in Washington "will both blame Iraqis" for the shortcomings.
Sami al-Askari said the government was serious about the measures. "From now until the end of the year, draft laws related to national reconciliation will be finished," al-Askari told U.S.-funded Alhurra television late Thursday.
But the benchmarks — including one to share control of the oil industry and its profits — have been held up for months by wrangling between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish members of al-Maliki's coalition.
The even tougher benchmark of amending the constitution — which many Sunni Arabs see as paramount — has been relegated to a parliament committee. Sunnis want to blunt the constitution's provisions on federalism, but Kurds and Shiites want only limited changes.
At the same time, al-Maliki's administration has been severely weakened by a Sunni Arab boycott of his Cabinet and parliament over separate disputes.
President Jalal Talabani said there were "positive developments on the political level," particularly in the effort to reshape the Cabinet to establish "a front of moderate forces committed to the politial process and democracy in Iraq."
He also said the military offensives being waged by U.S. troops in and around Baghdad were making progress. "A successful campaign is on to eliminate terrorists and so far large areas of Diyala and Anbar have been cleared," Talabani said Thursday evening, referring to provinces north and west of the capital.
Iraqis stand at the site of an explosion in the Amin neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, July 12, 2007 where U.S. troops and militants clashed. An Iraqi photographer and driver employed by Reuters news agency were killed while in the area, the London-based agency said. The victims were identified as photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, but the circumstances of their deaths were unclear. (AP Photo/Ali Kadim)
fyi
The didn’t fight Police but Terrorist infiltrators.
Good!
split it up and split. It is a hole where we will continue to pour billions of bucks and thousands of our best youth for a people who mandate in their constitution that - NO LAW SHALL CONTRADICT ISLAM.
We should not in anyway support such a government or people. They were given the opportunity to choose and they now must be responsible for that stupid evil choice.
You know, we are not there for the Iraqi’s benefit, we are there for ours,...TO DENY Al-Queda a lucrative SAFE HAVEN!!!
Exactly right (first and foremost). Though I would add we are there with the understanding of the reality that trying to bring about a process of dragging the ME out of the dark ages is our best strategy for longterm successes. In the mean time we go after "bad guys" (as we have been 24/7 throughout the ME, SE Asia and the HOA).
Now I would also add that via this process we are looking to allow for an atmosphere where there can be a self-deportation away from radical Islam (and perhaps even Islam itself) - Where freedom goes the truth will follow -
And lets be clear and fair. When our great nation was founded and set-up there were a number of terribly flawed concepts and trades we allowed to continue.....It takes time for LR or democracies to make the right choices.....but with freedoms more often than not those correct choices will out number the flawed ones.
TomasUSMC your notion that Iraq needed to "get everything right" within its first few years.....Is not realistic whatsoever.
Now THAT is unrealistic, shoot that is plain UNREAL.
Not only that but the Iranians and Syrians have been killing our troops for years and our President has yet to drop one single bomb, not one hand grenade on them.
Not just unreal, unbelievable.
Which is why the GOP is now forcing him out, because he just can not fight this war properly. But we have had this debate before. You are willing to wait and watch for things to get better for us.... and I believe giving the enemy that time will not benefit us.
Japan was a complete different situation. Japan was surrounded by NO ONE. It was not surrounded by tens of millions of faithful believers....By the time MacArthur put such demands on Japan.....Japan was completely cut off from the world. It has no abilities for supply...and MacArthur had NO MSM to enrage and spin the rest of the world.
Two completely different eras and situations.
NO LAW SHALL CONTRADICT ISLAM.
You keep insisting that this is the end all - It isn't - There is plenty happening on the ground in Iraq today that many Muslims feel contradicts Islam (Hell our founders allowed a number of ugly trades and practices to continue when this nation was founded....it took time to reverse those notions)
Again, just as it is unrealistic here in the states to think we are going to deport over 12 million illegals....it is unrealistic over there to think we are going stop Islam overnight or kill all of them.....The answer to both question somewhat has the same underlying....That is create an atmosphere where a type of self-deportation takes place. A self-deportation away from radical Islam (and perhaps Islam itself).
Now, we are in agreement regarding in retrospect, very early on, we should have made it abundantly clear (in no uncertain terms) with a large show of force (air strikes) upon the first even glimpse of interference from the Iranian & Syrian sides of the border. We should have unleashed a segment of hell on either or both those nations....Very early on under the premise that no one will try and influence situations on the ground in Iraq.
I agree.
More people need to see this....
Though I would add we are there with the understanding of the reality that trying to bring about a process of dragging the ME out of the dark ages is our best strategy for longterm successes.
In the mean time we go after "bad guys" (as we have been 24/7 throughout the ME, SE Asia and the HOA).
is so damn important....and it is so difficult for so many to accept....
I slept right through it. As usual. Apparently, it was quite a noisy firefight.
Didn't hear about it until I was walking to the office much later that morning.
U.S. forces battled Iraqi police and gunmen Friday, killing six policemen, after an American raid captured a police lieutenant accused of leading an Iranian-backed militia cell, the military said.Obviously a false accusation.
Thanks E.
President Bush said it was too early in the strategy to judge and has vowed to veto a measure passed by Thursday by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to withdraw U.S. troops by spring 2008.Veto! Veto! Veto! Veto!
Thanks for the ping, but I can hardly keep my eyes open. Gotta hit the sack for another day at the nut house.
good post.
Thanks for dropping by...you are one hard working non-young guy!
It gets a bit rough Ernest.
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