[Ragtime Cowgirl]

In Kut, Task Force Stryker led an assault to regain control of the CPA compound and three bridges into the town, Kimmitt said. Elements of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, and 2nd Light Armored Cavalry Regiment destroyed the Sadr bureau in the city and were to continue operations through the night. Kimmitt said the coalition expects to regain firm control of all government facilities and Iraqi police stations in the city by April 10.

"We have seen numerous instances in which the people of Al Kut, once they realize that the Sadr militia is no longer in control, are coming outside their houses and waving to coalition forces..."

In the Sadr City section of Baghdad, the coalition remains "in firm control," with Sadr and his followers posing no threat the Iraqi security forces and coalition forces can't handle...

The southern region, where the Multinational Division Southeast operates, is generally quiet..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sponsored by:

 April 9,  2004:

Murad Sezer / AP photo

Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, fire mortar shells from the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq on Friday. Marines have been fighting insurgents in several neighborhoods in the western Iraqi city in order to regain control there.

 

Murad Sezer / AP photo

Marines control one of the main entrances to the city of Fallujah on Thursday. Hundreds of Iraqis, after being inspected by the Marines, entered the besieged city, taking with them tons of food and medical supplies for the people there.

 

Samir Mizban / AP photo

A Sunni insurgent holds a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he flashes the victory sign at the site of an attack on a U.S. convoy near Abu Ghraib, Iraq, on Thursday.

 

Michael Probst / AP photo

An unidentified injured U.S. service member is carried to a waiting ambulance at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Thursday. Eight soldiers injured during combat in Iraq were flown out of that country on a C-17 to get medical treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

 

Stephen Morton / AP photo

Air Force Sgt. Casey Hust plays “Taps” on Thursday during a memorial service at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., for Capt. Judson Brinson and Capt. Thomas Moore, Air Force instructor pilots who were killed in the crash of a small military plane last weekend in Savannah, Ga. About 500 people attended the service, which was held in a hangar at the base.

 

Ten-month-old Elena Escudero, strapped to her mother, Laurie, looks at the signs her mother holds to express thanks to soldiers from the 143rd Military Police Company, being welcomed home at the Army Reserve Center in West Hartford, Conn., on Thursday following service in Iraq. Escudero said she had no family or loved ones among the returning troops; she just wanted to express her appreciation. Johnathon Henninger, The New Britain (Conn.) Herald / AP photo

Willie J. Allen Jr., St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times / AP photo

Staff Sgt. Stanley Souvenir, a member of the Army Reserve’s 320th Military Police Company, carries son Jordan, 2, as he holds the hand of his other son, Tyler, in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Thursday after the unit returned from a deployment to Iraq.

 

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Sgt. David Walker, from Eagle River, Alaska, with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st Armored Division Cavalry, tries to get some much-needed rest on Thursday in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City after previously getting only two hours sleep.

 

Wathiq Khuzaie / Getty Images

A crowd of Iraqis loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr cheer Thursday after attacking and burning two vehicles in a convoy of auto parts and fuel trucks destined for U.S. troops in Abu Ghraib, Iraq. The U.S. military vowed to crush the al-Medhi army and has labeled its leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, an “outlaw.”

 

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st Armored Division Cavalry, watch as a military surveillance plane circles over Sadr City, Iraq, on Thursday.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Coast Guardsman Jeremy Cummings mans an M-60 machine gun Wednesday on a patrol boat that is part of Joint Task Force operations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees from the Afghanistan conflict are held. On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to consider whether the detainees can ask U.S. courts to review their cases. Approximately 600 prisoners from the U.S. war in Afghanistan remain in detention.

 

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Spc. Marcus Morris, from Gardner, Mass., mans a machine gun mounted atop a Humvee as he participates in a driving patrol at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Thursday.

A soldier removes posters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that were hanging on a statue in Firdos Square in Baghdad on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. It was on April 9, 2003 that soldiers pulled down Saddam Hussein’s statue from this very place.

Jerome Delay / AP photo

Roger Severn, a soldier with the 143rd Military Police Company, hugs his son, Elliot, after he and other members of the unit returned home Thursday following their deployment to Iraq. The soldiers arrived at the Army Reserve Center in West Hartford, Conn. Jeff Bustraan, Connecticut Post / AP photo

                 ~  ~

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[Plutarch]

[+ Pics]

Is there a line on this? U.S. Marines favored over the Fallujah Insurgents by 280 to 4?

[rudypoot]

He said the insurgents fear the democratic process in Iraq and "are trying to accomplish with the barrel of a gun what they could never accomplish at the ballot box."

Bump

[Valin]

Why we fight.

IRAQ THE MODEL
Friday, April 09, 2004
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
The first candle.
-
It’s the day that brought me back to life. It’s the 9th of April and I’m free, and they will not steel my joy again and they will not silence me. A year ago at the same date, the thieves and criminals prevented me from celebrating my freedom in the open air, and today thieves, criminals and fanatics are doing the same, but they will not steal my happiness that is making my soul fly and dance with joy and they can’t stop this.

A year ago, words failed me as I met the 1st American soldier, and I still remember his name, “corporal, Adam” and all I could utter was “thank you!” how could I ever put my whole life in few words? How could I have thanked that soldier enough? How could I have told him what it meant to me to see him and his comrades-who brought me back to life- at last? Thank you Adam, Lieutenant Antonio, Captain Brian Curtis and all the coalition soldiers who I can’t remember their names, and those I never met.

It’s the 9th of April and I feel safe! And I don’t care what those ‘political experts’ on the newspapers and TV channels, say about the ‘occupation’, deteriorated security and ‘unemployment’. You can’t understand this, because you never experienced real fear this long. Let me tell you about it, as I’m one of those who passed Saddam’s filthy test of life.
The statue fell and with it, horror fell. You don’t know what it means to be scared to death most of your life, brothers and sisters. I knew that and I faced it during the reign of evil and darkness. I was afraid to talk, I wasn't allowed to think and I wasn't allowed to feel…I wasn't allowed to love.

How dare anyone imply to me how should I feel? And who they think they are, those who try to put words in my mouth? I’m alive and I’m free, and I have the right to say whatever I feel and chose the words I like. No one will tell me again what to say and what to feel.
Yes, it’s the 9th of April. I lit the 1st candle today to celebrate my 1st year, as a free man and no one will prevent me from celebrating. I, who the earth is no longer enough to contain my feelings, I who have wings now, and I don’t have to carry an ID…I’m Iraqi. I have the right to wander through my country southwards and northwards, without being stopped by someone to ask me who I am and where I’m going. I’m the son of the 9th of April.

Years ago, when I was a fugitive, a Ba’athist who’s a friend of my father and a relative said to me mockingly “how long are you going to live like this!? Get out of this ‘hole’ and turn yourself in to the authorities and do your military service.” I looked at him and I couldn’t say anything, but my soul screamed inside me, “The day when your tyrant becomes a defeated fugitive will come. He will search for a hole to hide in, and I will own Iraq then”. And here comes the dream true!

I’m the son of the 9th of April, tyrant’s clowns, and you have to fear me, you who betrayed me every minute and every day, and you want to chain me again???
You know why it’s impossible now? I was a slave and I never knew who I am…. and now I’m free! Thanks to all who dared to tell the truth and didn’t fear the consequences. And as for you, who saved me and my people, I can’t thank you enough. My voice goes feeble and my eyes swell with tears as I think of the Iraqis, Americans and all the coalition soldiers who gave their lives to free Iraq and make this world a better place. God bless their souls and all those who decided to fight to the end and never been discouraged, even in the toughest moments. I hope you can call me brother, because I’ll never fail you, as you never failed me.
This time, the 9th of April has come again and in what way! The powers of darkness and evil are trying to stifle my candle with their foul breaths but this time I'm alive and free and I will face them, and I will lit it again and again …and again.

By Mohammed.

[McGavin999]

In the west, Ramadi is "quite quiet" today, Kimmitt said, after a local sheik came forward to name 11 insurgents who had been fighting coalition forces. The coalition captured and maintains custody of all 11 insurgents, he said.

WOW, what a major step forward that is! I've heard the Marines have a HUGE amount of money to spend on reconstruction projects. Because of the wisdom of this Sheik, Ramadi is going to get a very large chunk of that money.

[BunnySlippers]

Keep our young men from harm.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Isn't it amazing we get a totally different story from our military people than we get from the media, even FOX? I don't think I will watch the news anymore. I will just get my news from FR!

[XHogPilot]

the CPA should gather all the prominent tribal leaders of Fallujah, Ramadi, Khaldiyah (since those towns are largely tribal ones) and give them two options; either to hand out all weaponry and ammunitions, plus any insurgents and foreign terrorists they have amongst them, or to face the consequences which could be pulling out of the area completely, halting all reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, and leaving it behind the rest of Iraq, if that's what they want.

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com zeyad: 4/5/2004

I've always found Doctor Zeyad to be thought provoking and somewhat eloquent. I would just say "let the Iraqis clean their own toilets".