Posted on 05/26/2005 9:11:06 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Iraq's government will pour tens of thousands of Iraqi troops into Baghdad in an unprecedented operation to seal off the city and hunt insurgents who have launched a fresh wave of violence, ministers said on Thursday.
Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi said 40,000 Iraqi troops would be deployed in Baghdad for Operation Thunder, the biggest Iraqi military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Backed by the 10,000 U.S. troops in Baghdad, they will set up hundreds of checkpoints and block roads into the capital.
The dramatic rise in suicide bombings and ambushes by mostly Sunni Arab guerrillas has killed more than 600 Iraqis in the last four weeks and raised fears that Iraq could slide toward civil war if the Shi'ite-led government does not deliver on pledges of stability.
Dulaimi said the crackdown would expand to other parts of Iraq after starting in Baghdad. But he did not say where the extra troops would come from or what their level of training would be. Many Iraqi troops are undertrained and underequipped.
"These operations will aim to turn the government's role from defensive to offensive," Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor said at a news conference announcing the offensive.
Despite the announcement, attacks persisted nationwide, with at least 15 people killed in bomb blasts and shootings.
The crackdown is the first major security action undertaken by the new government and comes as U.S. forces conduct a security sweep in rebellious western Iraq.
"We shall not leave any place for terrorists or those who shelter them and incite terrorism in Iraq," Dulaimi said. "We will stand against all those who try to shed Iraqi blood ... We will implement the law with everything we've got."
He said troops would be drawn from interior and defense ministry forces and would begin operating in the capital, with the city divided into sections, a unit responsible for each.
"We will also impose a stringent blockade around Baghdad, like a bracelet around an arm, God willing, and God be with us in our crackdown on the terrorists' infrastructure. No one will be able to penetrate this blockade," Dulaimi said.
"You will witness unprecedented, strict security measures."
ANBAR OFFENSIVE
The move comes a day after U.S. forces launched Operation New Market, a security sweep in the town of Haditha, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baghdad, where 1,000 U.S. Marines and sailors, backed by Iraqi troops, are searching for militants.
New Market is the second major security operation in the area this month as U.S. and Iraqi forces step up their hunt for followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who heads al Qaeda's network in Iraq.
An Internet posting this week apparently from the al Qaeda organization in Iraq said Zarqawi, for whom Washington is offering a $25 million bounty, had been wounded in fighting, although it did not say when, where or how.
Other reports on the Web said he had been shot in the chest, but these could not be independently confirmed.
Jabor said he had confirmation that Zarqawi had been wounded. But Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari later said there was no firm news. "We don't yet have accurate information on this matter," Jaafari told reporters.
Earlier on Thursday, another posting was put on the Internet saying that the leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq had met and decided to appoint a deputy to Zarqawi until he recovered. However, hours later, another posting dismissed that report.
"We deny what was issued about the appointment of the so-called Abu Hafs or any other name," said the later posting.
The later statement, unlike the earlier one, was signed by Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi, who usually posts for al Qaeda in Iraq.
The new statement said the group had announced Zarqawi's wounding to show its news credibility and allay fears following reports that the leader had been killed.
"You will hear what will make you happy, faithful brothers, and the allies of Satan will hear what will spite them," it said, suggesting good news about Zarqawi's condition.
Despite the conflicting reports about the leadership of the most feared group in the country, insurgent attacks continued.
A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near an Iraqi police patrol in Shola, a poor district of the capital, killing three people and wounding six, police said.
In central Baghdad, Thamer Ghaidan, a director general at the industry ministry, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting.
In the south of the capital, gunmen shot dead Professor Moussa Salum, a deputy dean at Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, along with three bodyguards.
Two Shi'ite officials were also assassinated in the capital. One was a member of the Shi'ite Dawa party, headed by Jaafari, police said. The other, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was killed when gunmen opened fire on a restaurant he ran.
In Tal Afar, a restive town west of the northern city of Mosul, U.S. forces said they shot dead a child when they returned fire after coming under attack. They said the child had been used by militants as a human shield.
(Additional reporting by Mussab al-Khairalla and Omar Anwar in Baghdad, Maher al-Thanoon in Mosul and Faris al-Mehdawi in Baquba)
Time for a housecleaning.
Sounds like a good move. On many levels.
I wonder if this new offensive is in any way related to the reported wounding of the "Z" man....hmmmmmm?
No, the troops do not get the bounty. My guess is it would be rolled back into the WOT.
My question is... If this operation has not started yet, why are they broadcasting it? Won't this give the terrorists a heads up to evacuate now before the checkpoints are set up?
That's what I was thinking. Announcing it is good public relations but is it the best way to kill the enemy or does it just give them more time to slip away like they are so good at when the heat is on?
Pray tell, why is it being announced in advance?
No idea why, but the new government is running their own show....perhaps trying to show that they are taking action.....
Exactly. Keep it on the QT.
The cowards will just go to another city to kill people now.
no the troops wouldnt get it, although they would get rewarded in other ways, like medals and stuff like that....
the bounty is to get people outside of the military to find him. Motivation and whatnot....
Maybe that's their tactic. Make a lot of noise, beat the bushes, and see who runs (and see where they run to).
Way to do it: massive numbers.
We are very clearly at WAR with SYRIA in the WESTERN region, and IRAQ is going to join us, OFFICIALLY over the next few days or weeks. THEY are going to announce OUR war plans, with SYRIA in stages, and WE are going to wipe out Assad....
Syria is at war with us, and has officially cancelled their so-called diplomatic relations with us, and also pulled their troops from lebanon BECAUSE they are worried we are going to invade from our bases in IRAQ, worse than they are an attack from Israel via the border with Lebanon.
WAR WITH SYRIA is what is going on, and these 'announcements' will be used to introduce the necessity of this war taking place, via IRAQ's political system, rather than ours... initially to softe us up to the idea of taking OUT another muslim terrorist nation.
Afganistan, Iraq, Lebanon, have all three in some measure gotten new governments purged of the radicals. Syria is next. Iran WILL be toppled imo.
Upon reading that sentence I looked back at the heading and noted, "Yes, it is Reuters."
How boringly predictable the MSM is. Their downfall may be tedium as much as bias.
"The cowards will just go to another city to kill people now"
Down in the fine print DM Duly said there would be "a stringent blockade around Bagdad." presumably to solve that problem. We'll see if he's got the horsepower. It's not been done yet because our entire force has never been large enough to isolate and sweep Bagdad---it's a big place with a lotta people. Gen Franks and no one else ever visualized the old Iraqi army being so gutless as to disband enmasse and not hang around to look after their own country. As others have noted it's time for the rags to suck it up and help clean up their own mess.
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