Heavy Fighting in AR Ramadi Iraq~~~ Sadr's fighters have attacked US Forces.

Fox News

[Dog]

Just broke on Fox

[b4its2late]

Does Debka have a track record of getting things wrong?

Hit and miss, I think. Though they have been ahead of the curve on several occassions...

[kcvl]

He doesn't look like he has slept too well lately.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right oN!

Its a good thing .... reduce the numbers of the bad guys////

quick as possible of course!!

[r9etb]

Does Debka have a track record of getting things wrong?

LOL!! My Debka epiphany came when they reported on the 600,000 man Chinese army in the Sudan....

[AmericanInTokyo]

Some folks just didn't learn the lesson centuries ago. Guess they'll have to be taught it again.

No Prisoners. No Retreat. Total Victory. Scorched Earth. Fallujah delendra est.

[b4its2late]

Teddy must've been drunk. Or maybe it was one of the few times he wasn't.......

[Toespi]

Looks like an anti-dentite to me.....

[Getsmart64]

100 enemy fighters. Fighting is so bad that our guys had to call for the administrative individuals for assistance. "There are US casulties and US deaths. The enemies appear to be very well trained and the operation appears to be very well trained.

US military on the ground reported that they have killed approximately 80 of the enemy, but they just keep coming. The enemy has stated that this is jihad, holy war."

Didn't these quotes come from a couple of soldiers and were not official reports coming out of Ramadi??...that's what it sounded like to me...yeah...Bret also mentioned....I think he said Sadr....declaring it a jihad...guess Sadr figures his people are losing and has to call a jihad hoping the civilian populace would rise up....we'll see if they do....

[bcoffey]

Does Debka have a track record of getting things wrong?

Is the Pope Catholic?

Is the sky blue?

Is Kerry French?

[Cboldt]

That point does seem to be totally missed by many...including FReepers. The troop commitment is for at least 100,000 for the long term. We're not going anywhere at all. That said, we will still transition on June 30.

Whole lot of room to improve reading comprehension. You are right, political transistion does not equal military pull-out. But then, you're taking away the deceiver's ammo.

Dear God, please put your protective arms around our troops and give them the sense and strength to get through these difficult battles.

[Mo1]

I just noticed on the calender ... Today is the first day of Passover

[San Jacinto]

He doesn't look like he has slept too well lately.

Or missed to many pork rind and vienna sausage dinners, either.

[kcvl]

Wednesday, Apr. 7, 2004.

Shiite Cleric Defiant as Battles Rage

By Hamza Hendawi
The Associated Press NAJAF, Iraq -- A radical Shiite cleric sought by U.S. forces said Tuesday he is willing to die resisting any attempt to capture him, while battles between gunmen and coalition forces in Shiite cities in the south killed at least 15 Iraqis and wounded dozens.

Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to "defend their rights" against U.S.-led forces, as his aides said he had moved from the fortress-like mosque where he had been holed up to his office in this holy Shiite city.

"America has shown its evil intentions, and the proud Iraqi people cannot accept it. They must defend their rights by any means they see fit," al-Sadr said in a statement released by his office.

The United States declared him an "outlaw" after his militiamen battled coalition troops Sunday in Baghdad and outside Najaf in fights that killed 61 people -- including eight U.S. soldiers.

U.S. officials announced an arrest warrant against al-Sadr on Monday, suggesting they would move soon to detain him. The 30-year-old cleric has been a sharp critic of the U.S. occupation and has built up a private militia, the al-Mahdi Army, that U.S. officials say they want to dismantle.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks Monday and Tuesday in a northern Baghdad neighborhood near an area that saw clashes Monday between al-Sadr militiamen and U.S. troops, the military said -- though it was not immediately clear whether they were killed by al-Sadr supporters.

Gunmen battled Italian forces in Nasiriyah in fighting Tuesday that killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 35 others, Paola Della Casa, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition in Nasiriyah, told the Apcom news agency in Rome. The Defense Ministry said 12 Iralians were wounded. Al-Sadr supporters clashed Tuesday with British troops in Amarah, where hospital officials reported 42 wounded and an unknown number of deaths. Bulgarian forces also came under fire in Karbala.

Since Sunday, al-Sadr was in the main mosque in the city of Kufa, south of Baghdad, protected by armed militiamen. But a top aide, Sheik Qays al-Khazali, said Tuesday that al-Sadr had moved to his main office in nearby Najaf.

On Tuesday, dozens of heavily armed militiamen were outside the Najaf office, located in a small alley near Shiite Islam's holiest site, the golden-domed shrine of Imam Ali. The black-garbed gunmen, some carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers, crowded the narrow alley and roamed nearby streets. There was no way to confirm reports al-Sadr was inside.

Asked whether al-Sadr will resist if U.S. forces come to arrest him, al-Khazali replied, "God forbid if this happens, al-Sayed will win martyrdom" -- referring to al-Sadr by an Arabic title meaning "master." Al-Khaz'ali quoted al-Sadr as saying, "My fate will be either assassination or arrest."

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and five wounded in clashes with militants in the Iraqi city of Kut, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

[CasearianDaoist]

yes, many American confound the early years of the war under Westmoreland with the later years under Abrams. It was really going quite well. There is also a tendency to think that the "embassy" withdrawal was a withdrawal of combat units. It was not, they were long out of country. Incidentally, Those films of helicopters being rolled of the deck are exaggerated. they were not that many, and some were actually blown off. It amazes me the myth that persist about that conflict.

[b4its2late]

LOL, but on occasion, they have been correct....

[r9etb]

Today is the first day of Passover

Well, OK then -- let's paint the door frames with salamikaze blood and be done with it.

[MEG33]

Amen

[Cap Huff]

"That CNN channel [International] makes the American version seem rightwing."

I'd have gone nuts if it were not for FR.

[Aeronaut]

[mabelkitty]

He looks like Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico (who looks like Horatio Sanz of SNL).