[treeclimber]

here we come again

[Coop]

God bless them all.

[thag]

The region has become known as a "triangle of death" for the numerous attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents and criminal gangs on Shiites, Westerners and members of the Iraqi security services.

Sunni Muslim insurgents and criminal gangs....there's a difference?

thag

[randog]

...the massive Fallujah operation, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 U.S. soldiers and injured more than 400.

Yeah, that's all we got out of the Fallujah operation--dead and wounded American soldiers. AP is crap.

[SMARTY]

The whole country has to be neutralized. These criminals have to be accounted for, to a man. Otherwise, their fanaticism will breed decades more of unrest with or without a coalition presence. Do it NOW while coalition forces and the political will to use them are in place! This CANNOT emphasized enough!!! In future US Presidential administrations, policy may go limp and turn the thing into a continual, and internecine battle which nothing and no policy will ever remedy. The time is NOW and the RIGHT MEN WITH THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP are there to do it.

[TomGuy]

Zarqawi has been sighted south of Bagdad, Kirkuk area. Hopefully, the troops are on his trail and will capture or kill him soon. At least his 'safe houses' and butcher shops in Fallujah are no longer available to him

[Oldeconomybuyer]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces launched an offensive on Tuesday on a cluster of rebellious towns southwest of Baghdad in what has become popularly known as the "triangle of death," the U.S. military said.

"The joint Iraqi-U.S. force captured 32 suspected insurgents, including a number of high-interest individuals, in a series of early-morning raids some 50 miles south of Baghdad," it said in a statement.

The new offensive, dubbed Operation Plymouth Rock in an apparent reference to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, involves 5,000 American, British and Iraqi forces.

The push began in the town of Jabala but would stretch to several Sunni Muslim towns southwest of the capital where insurgents have long since banished police and rule the streets.

It comes weeks after a U.S.-led offensive to crush rebels in the Sunni town of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Violence in Sunni areas has spiked since the start of the Falluja assault, which drew condemnation from some Sunni political groups and clerics who have threatened to boycott a Jan. 30 election in protest.

Long the main power in Iraqi politics, the 20-percent Sunni Arab minority fears domination by the 60-percent Shi'ite majority. Many Shi'ites have been particularly angered by attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims passing through the area southwest of Baghdad to the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala.

The U.S. military said it was trying to cut lines of communication between rebels in the western Falluja area, Baghdad and the province of Babylon, southwest of the capital.

"In the past three weeks, Iraqi security forces and Marines have rounded up nearly 250 insurgents," it said, referring to the area of the present offensive.

"Since the joint force began operating together in mid-August, more than 600 anti-Iraqi elements have been taken out of action."

[SunkenCiv]

"clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds"

Great, provided they don't accept embedded demagogues with video cameras.