Posted on 10/06/2004 12:11:52 AM PDT by neverdem
U.S. Forces Take Strategic Bridge as Major Operation With Iraqi Troops Begins
MUSAYYIB, Iraq, Oct. 5 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces fanned out across a vast region south of Baghdad early Tuesday in what U.S. commanders described as a major operation to regain control of lawless areas where insurgents routinely use supply routes to bring weapons and fighters into the capital.
More than 3,000 troops will target dozens of insurgents in raids extending west of the Euphrates River, military officers said. On Tuesday, U.S. troops took control of a bridge that insurgents had used to move bombs, money and people into Baghdad, sowing the growing disorder there, U.S. military officials said.
Three U.S. Marines were wounded in an ambush near the marketplace in the city of Haswah, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, just before the operation began. Another Marine and two Iraqi National Guardsmen were injured by a car bombing Monday morning about 20 miles away near the city of Latifiyah, U.S. military officials said.
The operation here is part of a U.S. strategy to reclaim regions in Iraq that have fallen into the hands of insurgents. Last week, U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control over Samarra, north of Baghdad, in what U.S. officials described as a template for dealing with problem areas before planned nationwide elections in January. Fallujah, Ramadi and Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood are among the key areas still effectively controlled by the insurgency.
"Right now, time is not on their side," said Col. Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is conducting much of the operation here. "If we can get to the elections, they know we'll get the upper hand. The next three or four months are going to be the high-water mark" for military activity.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Kill 'em all..send them to Allah, but strangely they will wake up in a very warm place and not a single virgin in sight..poor bastards, not!
May God go with our armed forces..
CENTCOM: IRAQI, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES LAUNCH OPERATION IN NORTHERN BABIL
Thanks for the link!
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