U.S. Forces Capture Six 'Closely Tied' to Saddam

USA Today ^ | 2/6/04 | Unknown

[Coop]

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP)

[Coop]

Here's hoping one of the six is al-Douri! [fingers crossed, but not holding breath]

[b4its2late]

Yee ha bump...

[rhombus]

More excellent work -- where's the media? Oh that's right, they are "sexing up" their lie about an imminent threat and casing Janet's boob.

[Coop]

Flag

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks, Coop! CENTCOM, CJTF7 are days late = busy troops!

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — U.S. forces on Friday captured six people "closely tied" to Saddam Hussein and his regime for suspected anti-coalition activities including attacks on helicopters, a U.S. commander said.

"The individuals are closely tied to the Saddam family and the former regime. They represent some of the last of the main network that we have been targeting for many months," Russell said without providing details.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also, good chance Al-Sistani was lying about suicide attempt, gaining international sympathy and inciting his pals -  with the help of Reuters and their news outlets (reporting unverified facts
from untrustworthy sources).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Coop]

More excellent work -- where's the media?

It's on the AP headlines.

[hoosiermama]

Yes! oh please make it so!

[Coop]

Good news (maybe great news) flag.

[Alamo-Girl]

Buuump!

[BOBTHENAILER]

Great news BTTT

[Cap Huff]

FWIW, an AFP report seems to have a little bit more info. Seems two of the six are big guys:

"In Tikrit, which like Samarra lies within the insurgency-dogged 'Sunni Triangle', American forces detained six Iraqis, including two senior members of a network Saddam Hussein loyalists in an overnight raid in the ousted leader's hometown."

"Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, Kurdish security forces arrested a suspected member of the Islamist extremist group Ansar al-Islam as he tried to flee Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, a political official said Friday. The source said the man had not been arrested over Sunday's twin suicide bombings in the Kurdish town of Arbil that killed at least 105 people. Ansar al-Islam, which controlled an enclave of northeast Iraq before being crushed by US forces at the end of March, is suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

82nd Airborne Division had a big day yesterday, captured many bad guys: CENTCOM TF "All American" security report.

Maybe if CENTCOM/CJTF7 wrote flashy headlines more would be interested in the amazing, and mostly overlooked - even by Freepers, and certainly by the press - successes of our troops weekly in Iraq.

[Dog]

Cap can you post a link to the AFP article.

[Cap Huff]

The article is in “Sify” which comes out of India apparently. The logo on the site suggests it is an AFP source:

“Sistani's office denies assassination attempt”

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13382345

The snippet about the two senior guys is toward the end of the article.

[Cap Huff]

Also the bit about the Ansar al-Islam guy.

[tractorman]

A liberals prayer:

Dear God – if there really is one.
Please make the awful American soldiers stop capturing so many bad guys because eventually they’ll catch all of them and that will make all of the lib candidates look really bad and we’ll never win anymore elections.

[Southack]

Rest assured, this news is not being overlooked.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I know. I'm sorry. Some days, when a new campaign of Dem-press lies is sold by the DNC-press and bought by our neighbors, pushed even by our fair and balanced network, who is now choosing to believe the dishonest news wires again, it's time to stop, turn around, and fight.

I too often hit innocent bystanders on such days.

[windchime]

"Also, good chance Al-Sistani was lying about suicide attempt, gaining international sympathy and inciting his pals - with the help of Reuters and their news outlets (reporting unverified facts from untrustworthy sources)."

Wanted to repeat your comment....just in case it got lost in the good news of the capture.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Feb 16 Businessweek (Paper Copy) has article talking about a possible Shiite Split !

Followers of Muqtada Sadr, a firebrand who scorns the US and israel and advocates an Islamic State are blamed for killing the London based Ayatollah Abdel Majid al-Koei and have also clashed with Sistani's people and with another faction, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose leader Muhammad Baqr al hakimwas killed last August.

Followers of Muqtada Sadr would seem likely to be suspects in whatever happened and I would guess are backed by the Iranians!

Foxnews also had a clip on the assault and whether it did or did not happen.

I am watching for more info!