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WASHINGTON, June 16, 2008 – Forces in Iraq detained 20 suspects and have found several weapons caches during operations over the last three days, military officials said. Coalition forces in Mosul captured two wanted men and detained nine other al-Qaida in Iraq suspects during operations today. One of the wanted men, an alleged bombing cell leader, was captured along with five suspected associates. The wanted man also is believed to manufacture bombs and target Iraqi and coalition forces. The other wanted man has alleged ties to al-Qaida in Iraq senior leaders and was captured with four additional suspects. Officials said...

The Shiite government signals a desire for an alliance with the United States. Shouldn't that be welcomed?THOUGH IT was hardly noticed in Washington, Iraq's Shiite-led government sent a powerful message to Iran and to the Middle East last week. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose coalition is often portrayed as an Iranian client, traveled to Tehran for a meeting with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah bluntly declared that Iraq's "most important problem" was the continuing presence of U.S. troops. He pressured Mr. Maliki to stop negotiating a package of agreements with the Bush administration that would delineate a "strategic...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces captured suspected terrorists and seized several weapons caches across Iraq during the past three days, military officials said. In operations today: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large weapons cache in the Rashid district of Baghdad. The cache consisted of scores of 122 mm rockets with fuses, components to make several hundred explosively formed projectiles, blocks of C-4 explosives, and sticks of TNT. During operations yesterday: –- Iraqi soldiers discovered a large explosives cache after an intelligence-driven raid on the western side of Mosul. The cache consisted of 80 mm mortar rounds,...

Muqtada al Sadr. Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Sadrist political movement to boycott the upcoming provincial elections. Sadr's order comes one day after his order to disband the Mahdi Army as a fighting force and the creations of a small, armed wing to attack Coalition forces exclusively. Sadrist aides claim Sadr rejects the election process and fears being associated with the occupation. "Sayyid Muqtada does not believe in elections or in the coming provincial governments as long as the occupation forces are here," Salah al Obaidi, a senior aide to Sadr, told The Washington Post. "We don't want...

The US Army captured a senior Mahdi Army military commander in Baghdad. The Mahdi Army commander led a 2,000-man strong brigade in the Karadah district in eastern Baghdad, Multinational Forces Iraq reported. The US military could not release the commander’s name as they are still exploiting the intelligence information related to his capture, Major Joey Sullinger, a public affairs officer for Multinational Division Baghdad told The Long War Journal. The commander was detained during a raid in the Sumer al Ghadier neighborhood in the New Baghdad district, which borders Karadah to the north. US soldiers from the 66th Armor Regiment...

An Iraqi tank is stationed on the main road leading into Amarah. AFP photo. Iraqi security forces, backed by the US military, have started an operation against the Mahdi Army in the southern border province of Maysan. Amarah, the provincial capital of Maysan, is thought to be one of the locations senior Mahdi Army leader retreated to after Iraqi forces moved into Sadr City last month. Amarah is also a forward command and control hub for Iranian operations in southern Iraq. Iraqi security forces established checkpoints along the entrances to the province, and have closed down the border crossing...

BAGHDAD — Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr revealed Friday that he plans to create a powerful new fighting force to battle what he calls "the occupiers" in Iraq. Al-Sadr's announcement came in the form of a statement read after Friday prayers in the holy Shiite city of Kufa. The statement called on his nearly 60,00-strong Mahdi Army militia to exercise restraint. "The resistance will be carried out exclusively by a special group which I will announce later," Sadr's statement read, adding that "weapons will be in the hands of this group exclusively and will only be directed at the occupier,"...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq today captured a man believed to be the leader of an Iranian-backed enemy “special group” and another who's an alleged al-Qaida chieftain during separate operations conducted near Kut and in Mosul, respectively, military officials said. Coalition forces captured the suspected Iranian-trained explosives expert in Numaniyah, southeast of Baghdad near Kut. Intelligence sources told coalition officials the suspect has numerous Iranian contacts with whom he would meet when smuggling weapons and bomb-making materials into Iraq. Coalition forces entered the suspect’s residence and subdued him without firing any shots after the man made...

Iraqi police have captured three Iranian-backed Special Groups operatives behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers at the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center in January 2007. Meanwhile, US troops captured another Special Groups leader in the Al Kut region, The Iraqi police captured the three "key criminals" behind the 2007 Karbala attack in Musayyib, just south of Baghdad, on June 5. The three Special Groups operatives are "suspected of trafficking and emplacing explosively formed projectiles." Explosively formed projectiles are the signature weapon of Shia terrorists with links to Iran. The US military immediately suspected Iran's Qods Force, the...

Sadr returns to Iraq for a short period of time in May 2007 to deliver a sermon in Kufa. [AP Photo] Click to view. Written by Bill Roggio and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross for The Daily Standard. IN THE PAST MONTH, Iraqi and coalition forces have succeeded in their fight against the Mahdi Army's "special groups." On May 3, the U.S. military destroyed a special groups command center in Sadr City, killing a wanted leader in the attack. On May 25, Iraqi special operations forces captured a mid-level special groups leader in the al-Shuala area of Baghdad. And on May 31,...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2008 – Coalition forces killed five enemy fighters, destroyed a foreign terrorist hideout, and detained seven terrorism suspects in operations across Iraq today. A tip from a detainee led coalition forces to a foreign terrorist hideout site in a remote area of northwestern Iraq. When forces arrived, enemy fighters attacked. Coalition forces returned fire and called in air support. Five terrorists were killed. Forces found several suicide vests and heavy machine guns at the site. The site was destroyed. Also today, coalition forces targeted members of a terrorist bombing network in Beiji, south of Mosul, and detained...

Several thousand demonstrators protested against the US in rallies across the country on Friday. The placard says: ’No agreement with US occupiers’ American troops in Iraq would be confined to their bases and private security guards subject to local law if Iraq gets its way in negotiations with the US over the future status of American forces. According to a senior Iraqi official, the negotiations between the two allies became so fraught recently that President Bush intervened personally to defuse the situation. On Thursday he telephoned Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, to assure him that Washington was not seeking...

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi Army and National Police turned in weapons in separate incidents throughout Baghdad, while Multi National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained suspected criminals June 7. At approximately 12:30 p.m., June 7, policemen from the 2nd National Police Division turned in a weapons cache found in the Kadamiyah district to MND-B Soldiers. The cache, brought to the 2nd NP headquarters by a local citizen, consisted of a 60 mm mortar tube, two rockets, two smoke grenades, an 82 mm mortar round; 26, 82 mm mortar rounds; five 82 mm illumination mortar rounds; 42, 60 mm mortar rounds and...

TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi Army soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, uncovered several weapons caches in Sadr City, Baghdad, June 7. The soldiers seized a weapons cache at approximately 5:30 a.m. consisting of an explosively formed projectile, a 155 mm artillery round, an improvised-explosive device, explosive wire, two anti-tank rockets and an anti-aircraft rocket. At approximately 5:45 a.m., soldiers in the same unit discovered two more caches, the first of which consisted of two 60 mm mortar rounds, three machine guns, four Russian sniper rifles, five AK-47 magazines and 200 AK-47 rounds. The second cache consisted of a rocket...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi National Police and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized a number of weapons caches and killed one criminal June 6 in Baghdad. Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, discovered 11 rocket warheads, four 122mm mortar rounds, a rocket tube, and a medium-sized bomb at approximately 10:15 a.m. northwest of Baghdad. National Police from the 8th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division, seized 16 rocket-propelled grenades, eight boosters, a pineapple grenade and an RPG night site at approximately 10:40 a.m. in the Oubaidy area of New Baghdad. Iraqi NPs from 2nd Bde., 1st NP...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed four terrorists and destroyed two foreign terrorist safe-houses in northwest Iraq Saturday, also capturing two wanted men in Mosul. Near Bi’aj, about 130 kilometers southwest of Mosul, Coalition forces targeted several foreign terrorist safe-houses. At the first location, the force immediately came under attack by small arms fire. Coalition forces responded in self-defense, returning fire and calling for supporting aircraft to engage the enemy. Four terrorists were killed in the ensuing engagement. Coalition forces discovered a vehicle with a foreign license plate adjacent to one of the target buildings. Inside the building they found weapons,...

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Army soldiers seized multiple weapons caches in Sadr City June 6. The IA soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 1st IA Division discovered 15 AK-47s, 200 AK-47 rounds, two Berno rifles, a damaged rocket launcher, 14 fake identification cards, three license plates and an 8 mm video tape at approximately 6 a.m. At approximately 8:15 a.m., the soldiers seized a sniper rifle, an AK-47, 100 PKC rounds, five rocket-propelled grenade propellants and a Baghdad protection badge. Iraqi soldiers from the 68th Brigade, 11th IA Division seized 25 82 mm mortar rounds, 19 artillery rounds, six 60 mm mortar...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2008 – U.S. Central Command is part of an Interagency Task Force for Irregular Warfare, a CentCom operations section initiative that recently stood up to track and target “violent and extreme actors” in the command’s area of operations, the Air Force general who’s spearheading the effort said yesterday. “Regionally, we look at influences of extreme actors that are malign that would provide, from within their borders, exporting either violence or activities that would be disruptive to their neighbors,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes, CentCom’s deputy director of operations, said to online journalists and bloggers during...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2008 – Coalition forces killed four enemy fighters and detained dozens of suspected terrorists in recent operations, military officials said. The leader of an Iranian-backed “special group” surrendered to coalition forces today in Hayy, about 190 miles southeast of Baghdad. Acting on intelligence information, coalition forces raided the presumed residence of the special group leader, who’s suspected of directing and ordering attacks against coalition forces in Wasit province, as well as attacks and kidnappings against civil authorities there. The man also is suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons -- specifically, Katyusha rockets -- into Baghdad. In a separate...

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq captured an alleged leader and a suspected primary weapons smuggler and financier for Iranian-backed enemy fighters today. Acting on intelligence information, coalition forces conducted a raid on the home of the suspected “special groups” leader in Mahawil, south of Baghdad. He surrendered without incident. In a separate operation east of Kut, intelligence tips helped coalition forces track down the hideout of a suspected special groups member who sources allege is the primary weapons smuggler and financier for Iranian-backed enemy elements in that area. The suspect and an associate surrendered when coalition...

Iraqi police announced the arrest of five senior leaders of the Mahdi Army in the city of Karbala as assassination attempts were made on three police commanders in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The largest attack occurred in a Shia neighborhood in Baghdad, and resulted in more than 13 killed and 50 wounded. The Karbala police announced the captureof Mahdi Army commanders Ali Abd Taan, Sayyid Munadil, Muhsin Sharea, Haidar Jouri, and Razzaq al Samma. The five men lead a Mahdi Army unit in Karbala that was behind attacks on Iraqi police forces during a religious festival in August 2007. The...

Iraqi and Coalition forces press operations against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and Basrah despite the cease-fire signed with the Mahdi Army in Sadr City. The Iraqi Army has expanded its operations in Basrah province to the east just along the Iranian border, while eleven Mahdi Army fighters have been captured during operations in Baghdad over the past 24 hours. Iraqi soldiers and police, backed by US and British advisers, have expanded Operation Knights’ Assault to the eastern town of Abu Al Khasib, a region east of Basrah on the Iranian border. A brigade from the 1st Iraqi Army Division,...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces struck a blow against a Special Groups criminal ring when they captured a key suspect Saturday in the Rusafa district of Baghdad. Intelligence sources led Coalition forces to the residence of the suspect who is believed to be a key assistant to a senior Iranian-trained Special Groups leader who recently fled Sadr City under pressure from Iraqi Security Forces. Intelligence shows that as Iraqi Security or Coalition forces come close to capturing senior Special Groups leaders, the criminals flee and hide until the situation calms. “Most of the senior Special Groups leadership have fled Sadr City...

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq after Friday prayers to denounce a government deal with Washington on US troop levels.Followers of the anti-US cleric brandished placards outside mosques in their Sadr City Shiite stronghold in the capital as security forces stepped up their presence there.A key member of the Sadrist movement, Sheikh Mohannad Al-Gazawi, denounced the proposed deal that will extend the US troop presence in Iraq beyond 2008."This agreement binds Iraq and gives 99 percent of the country to America," he said.The faithful carried placards slamming "the...

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 10 enemy fighters, captured 11 suspects, and uncovered scores of weapons in Iraq over the past three days, military officials said. In two-day operations that culminated today, coalition forces detained 11 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists, including two wanted men. One of the wanted men allegedly conducted bombing attacks against Iraqi security forces and the other is believed to be a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader in Salahuddin and Anbar provinces, military officials said. “We will continue to put pressure on al-Qaida in Iraq together with the Iraqi security forces...

Victor Davis Hanson, a former classics professor, is a renowned conservative scholar of ancient history and military affairs who's recently become a nationally syndicated columnist and blogger. The author of 17 books with titles like "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War," "An Autumn of War" and "Mexifornia: A State of Becoming," he is the senior fellow in residence in classics and military history at the Hoover Institution on the Stanford University campus. Hanson, whose scholarship and interest in individual freedom recently earned him a 2008 Bradley Prize worth $250,000 from the Bradley...

A common narrative about the war in Iraq is that fighting against the enemy in urban environments creates more insurgents, thus it is fruitless to even try. But today's Los Angeles Times finally asked Iraqis in Sadr City what they think about the recent fighting and how it impacts their views of the Mahdi Army. The answer: The Mahdi Army has lost significant support from not only residents caught in the crossfire, but from Mahdi Army fighters themselves. In fact, some Mahdi Army fighters were so discouraged by the recent fighting that they vowed to never join the ranks again....

Tuesday's profile of in the Washington Post of Moqtada al-Sadr contains some interesting details that suggest the direction of Sadr's aspirations. First, there's this tidbit: Sadr has said that he is at the third level of clerical study, known as external research, which precedes becoming a "mushtahid", a cleric who can issue fatwas, or religious edicts, on his own authority. Achieving this status normally takes many years of study, but several of Sadr's followers, including Nidawi, said they believe that Sadr will be certified as a mushtahid within the next year. The importance of this is in establishing Sadr's legitimacy...

Al Qaeda web sites are making a lot of noise about "why we lost in Iraq." Western intelligence agencies are fascinated by the statistics being posted in several of these Arab language sites. Not the kind of stuff you read about in the Western media. According to al Qaeda, their collapse in Iraq was steep and catastrophic. According to their stats, in late 2006, al Qaeda was responsible for 60 percent of the terrorist attacks, and nearly all the ones that involved killing a lot of civilians. The rest of the violence was carried out by Iraqi Sunni Arab groups,...

Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has provided services and protection to residents, but fighting in recent weeks has endangered their lives. BAGHDAD -- Four summers ago, when militiamen loyal to hard-line Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr were battling U.S. forces in the holy city of Najaf, Mohammed Lami was among them. "I had faith. I believed in something," Lami said of his days hoisting a gun for Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. "Now, I will never fight with them." Lami is no fan of U.S. troops, but after fleeing Baghdad's Sadr City district with his family last month, when militiamen arrived...

Soldiers from Troop B, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, maneuver down a path while receiving heavy indirect fire and rocket-propelled grenade fire just on the outskirts of Shula May 16. (US Army photo / Sergeant James Hunter) Iraqi Special Operations Forces have captured a senior Mahdi Army Special Groups leader in the Shula neighborhood in the Ghazaliyah district in northwestern Baghdad. The Shula neighborhood has been a target of US and Iraqi forces over the past several weeks as the fighting in Sadr City has largely subsided. The Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured what Multinational Forces Iraq called a...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained numerous suspected criminals in the Bayaa community as a result of Operation Siegfried Line May 24 in southern Baghdad. At approximately 11:45 a.m. Soldiers from 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B, detained 40 suspected militants for questioning. Soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, MND-B, detained a known criminal at 12:15 a.m. during an early morning operation in the Jihad community of southern Baghdad. “With the help of the Iraqi citizens, the Iraqi Security Forces and the 1st BCT ‘Raider’ Brigade, can rid the streets of...

BASRA, Iraq – Operation Sawlat al-Fursan, or Charge of the Knights, continued operations in Az Zubayr, 20 kilometers southwest of Basra, Iraq May 25. The operation, which began March 24 in Basra, is clearing towns surrounding the Basra area of suspected criminal elements, securing detainees and weapons caches. The 1st Iraqi Army Division led the planning and execution of the most recent mission. United Kingdom and United States Military Transition Teams remain, with U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, embedded with their Iraqi Security Forces counterparts to enable the application of Coalition assets, if necessary. Humanitarian support missions continue as...

Iran has secretly paid Iraqi insurgents hundreds of thousands of American dollars to kill British soldiers, according to a leaked government document obtained by The Telegraph. The allegations are contained in a confidential "field report" written by a British officer who served in Basra during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict. The report, which has never been made public, shows the full level of Iran's involvement in the insurgency for the first time. The document states that the Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) – also known as the Mahdi Army – one of the most violent insurgent groups operating...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaida's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups. Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaida militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Thousands of Iraqi forces also moved into the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad last week imposing control for the first time in years. But truces with the powerful...

US Army Major Carter Price meets with Brigadier General Sameed, the commander of the 22nd Battalion, 6th Iraqi Army Division, at the Office of the Martyr Sadr in the Shula neighborhood of northern Gazaliyah in Baghdad on May 15, 2008. The Office of the Martyr Sadr build was taken over by the Iraqi army after the MAhdi Army used it to conduct and direct attacks. (US Army photo / Specialist Charles W. Gill) Less than one week after pushing into the northern two-thirds of Sadr City from the walled southern neighborhoods, the Iraqi Army is uncovering substantial weapons caches...

I called this AP story fishy from the beginning: Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad…~~~ “(Al-Sistani) rejects the American presence,” he told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to media. “He believes they (the Americans) will at the end pay a heavy price for the damage they inflicted on Iraq.” For good reason it seems. Gateway Pundit has the scoop: Iraqi-American Haider...

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2008 – Army Gen. David H. Petraeus gave senators his view of the U.S. Central Command during confirmation testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee here today. Petraeus, nominated to be the next CentCom commander, currently commands Multinational Force Iraq. The general spoke of the challenges in the diverse and strategically important CentCom area, which he described as “a region of regions,” and spoke frankly on the threat Iran poses to the region and the world. Violent extremism is the biggest threat in CentCom, where U.S. servicemembers are engaged in two wars, Petraeus told the committee. “Al-Qaida...

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 13 enemy fighters, detained 79 suspects, and uncovered makeshift bombs and other weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials said. In Iraq yesterday: -- Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers killed 11 enemy fighters in an ongoing operation in the New Baghdad security district of the Iraqi capital. Military officials said troops killed the combatants either to defend themselves from immediate danger or to prevent the enemy from planting homemade bombs in the area. -- Coalition forces caught two individuals fleeing a mud hut near Beiji that was doubling as a...

Update:  The BBC (no less) is wondering if Bin Laden’s recent statements focusing on Palestine and ignoring Iraq mean al-Qaeda is admitting defeat in Iraq and moving on to try to make gains against democracy and the West elsewhere: The two latest messages believed to be from Osama Bin Laden emphasise the centrality of a struggle against Israel and raise the question as to why he did not concentrate on Iraq.…The two new statements contrast with the importance given to Iraq in another message in March: “Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine. Palestine...

Iraqi Forces Are Leading Operations in Three Iraqi Cities With Little U.S. Suppor As Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee for confirmation hearings today, things are looking up in Iraq. An Iraqi soldier stands guard in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 21,... Iraqi military spokesman said Tuesday that Iraqi troops have moved into Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City to seize control. The mural shows late father of the radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, right, and Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr. (AP Photo/Karim...

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces detained two terrorists and seized weapons in recent operations in Iraq, military officials said. In Iraq yesterday: -- Based on intelligence gleaned from a mid-April operation, coalition forces raided what they believed to be an Iranian-backed “special groups” stronghold in Baghdad’s Rashid district. Troops detained one targeted special groups leader without incident. Military officials believe the captured individual coordinated and conducted attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces in southwestern Baghdad. -- Iraqi special operations forces detained a man in the Ghazaliya area of the Iraqi capital who officials said is an...

MND-B Soldiers stop IED emplacers in New BaghdadMulti-National Division – Baghdad PAO BAGHDAD, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers killed 11 criminals in an ongoing operation in eastern Baghdad, May 21.  MND-B Soldiers observed armed criminals with AK-47 assault rifles, exiting a sports utility vehicle in the New Baghdad security district. The individual scanned the area and motioned another vehicle forward. Soldiers observed the criminals emplacing an improvised-explosive device. They engaged the suspects with small-arms fire, killing one.  Nearby, MND-B Soldiers encountered four other armed criminals, with AK-47’s and RPK rifles, travelling in a vehicle. They engaged the vehicle and...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces rolled unopposed through the huge Shiite enclave of Sadr City on Tuesday, a dramatic turnaround from the bitter fighting that has plagued the Baghdad neighborhood for two months, and a qualified success for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. As it did in the southern city of Basra last month, the Iraqi government advanced its goal of establishing sovereignty and curtailing the powers of the militias. This was a hopeful accomplishment, but one that came with caveats: In both cities, the militias eventually melted away in the face of Iraqi troops backed by American firepower. Thus nobody...

There are some very naive and delusional liberals who still think the Iraq government victory over the Mahdi Army criminals is actually a victory for Sadr and his Sadrists movement.  But they are simply grasping at straws so they do not have to face how pathetically wrong they have been on the Maliki action itself, the war in Iraq and the war on terror generally.  The fact is the Sadrists and al-Sadr gave political cover for heinous crimes commited by the Mahdi Islamo Fascists as they raped and killed their fellow Muslims.  Once Basra and Sadr City were liberated it...

BASRA, Iraq (CNN) -- The man, blindfolded and handcuffed, crouches in the corner of the detention center while an Iraqi soldier grills him about rampant crimes being carried out by gangs in the southern city of Basra. "How many girls did you kill and rape?" the soldier asks. "I raped one, sir," the man responds. "What was her name?" "Ahlam," he says. Ahlam was a university student in the predominantly Shiite city of Basra. The detainee said the gang he was in kidnapped her as she was leaving the university, heading home. "They forced me, and I killed her with...

The Iraqi security forces have entered the northern regions of Sadr City on Tuesday. Dubbed Operation Salam, or Peace, thousands of Iraqi troops moved into the Mahdi Army stronghold just before dawn and took up positions at strategic points throughout Sadr City. "Operation Salam is going in accordance with well-planned and organized steps," Major General Qassem Atta told Voices of Iraq. Iraqi troops are tasked with securing the neighborhoods, arresting wanted individuals, and searching and seizing unlicensed weapons.

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed one terrorist, captured 26 suspects and nabbed scores of weapons across Iraq over the past three days, military officials said. In Iraq today: -- Coalition forces killed a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader and detained four of his suspected associates in an operation east of Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad. -- Troops in Baqouba and Tikrit captured a wanted man and five additional suspected terrorists who allegedly operate in the Tigris River valley during coordinated two-day operations that wrapped up today. -- Coalition troops caught two wanted men...

Sadr: Hides in Iran as his Iraq minions lose. May 20, 2008 -- DO we still have troops in Iraq? Is there still a conflict over there? If you rely on the so-called mainstream media, you may have difficulty answering those questions these days. As Iraqi and Coalition forces pile up one success after another, Iraq has magically vanished from the headlines. Want a real "inconvenient truth?" Progress in Iraq is powerful and accelerating. But that fact isn't helpful to elite media commissars and cadres determined to decide the presidential race over our heads. How dare our troops win? Even...

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi troops poured into Baghdad's Shiite bastion of Sadr City on Tuesday for the first time in eight weeks as militiamen who have been battling US forces held their fire in line with a truce deal.Large numbers of heavily-armed soldiers fanned out in Sadr City for the first time since the deadly fighting broke out between loyalists of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and US troops in late March.Security officials said they launched "Operation Peace" at dawn to clear the area where mines had been planted by Shiite militiamen in the teeming slum district of northeastern Baghdad.The Iraqi...