Stay Angry
Posted on 08/10/2005 9:04:23 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
Stay Angry
Following a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack on Coalition Forces in Baghdad Aug. 6, residents of the Sumer Al Ghadier District took action - action that was a pleasant surprise to the Soldiers on the ground.
After the U.S. medics treated the wounded at the scene, local residents constructed a hasty barricade with trees, bricks, and anything else available, to further protect the Soldiers from additional danger.
"This is the first time that I can remember where Iraqi civilians actually built a barrier to protect my Soldiers," said Lt. Col. Steven Merkel, commander of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.. "The Soldiers are still talking about the helpful actions of the local community and have asked to go back to the neighborhood to thank those responsible."
Capt. David Ahl, 1-9 FA information operations officer, said, "It became very obvious that the Iraqi people are tired of terrorist activity. When I saw them putting up barricades to protect us after the VBIED exploded, I knew right then that the days of terrorist activity are counting down fast."
The Baghdad citizens, so quick to lend a hand, not only helped to physically protect the Soldiers, but were also forthcoming with valuable information about the area, which led to the apprehension of a man suspected in involvement in a previous VBIED attack.
"The continued commitment of the Iraqi people to help their Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces demonstrates, more than ever, that they are growing increasingly intolerant of the violence brought on by the terrorists and more eager to play a positive role in the future of Iraq," Merkel said.
Cheers rang out in the closing moments of a ceremony that transferred the security responsibility for one fifth of the Diyala province to the Iraqi army July 31. Improved security in the Diyala Province has allowed Coalition Forces to successfully transition operational control of Forward Operating Base Scunion to Iraqi control. "Today’s ceremony is a demonstration of the Iraqi army’s commitment to providing security for their own country," said Col. Steven Salazar, Commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Task Force Liberty. "They are well trained and equipped."
Iraqi soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, hoisted the Iraqi flag over the newly named Forward Operating Base (FOB) Khamees, named in honor of an Iraqi Army Major killed in action June 26th.
Diyala Provincial Governor Ra’ad Hameed Juwad believes the citizens of Iraq are gaining a sense of security. "The Iraqi army gives confidence to the people of Iraq," Ra’ad said. Delivering the ceremony’s keynote speech, Ra’ad emphasized the progress the Iraqi army has made and said their progress is only the beginning of what they will achieve in the future.
"This is just one more example of Coalition Forces turning over control to the Iraqi people," said Salazar.
"It’s our responsibility to take care of our land and to protect our people and we will do it," said Col. Saman Asi Talibany, Commander of 2nd Brigade.
The Iraqi soldiers welcomed their new responsibility as they assembled below the newly raised flag.
"Where are the terrorists today?" shouted the soldiers. "Hell for the terrorists today!"
By Sgt. Matthew Acosta and Cpl. Natalie Loucks
(This is just the latest in a string of bases being turned over to the Iraqis. The beginning of Iraq's "Ownership Society".)
The words poured out rapidly and from the heart. Almost every day, it seems, Zeeshan Siddique had something new to write in his journal. In one entry he comments on his feelings of isolation. Elsewhere he talks about his bouts of diarrhoea. In other entries he writes of his worries that some of his associates may be "chickening out".
At times the journal reads like that of any other young person in a foreign land, homesick and unhappy. But according to Pakistani intelligence officials this journal is the diary of a British jihadist - a 25-year-old from the London suburbs who intended to give up his life in a holy war.
Mr Siddique, who spent a number of years in Hounslow, was arrested in May by the Pakistani security forces after they apparently received reports that he was acting suspiciously. When the authorities entered his room in the north-eastern city of Peshawar, investigators apparently found an electrical circuit that could be used as a bomb detonator and a desktop computer that contained aeronautical mapping and the cryptic 35-page diary written in English and covering the period from 2 March to 6 April this year.
Across the top of the first page of the diary was a quotation from the Koran. It read: "The greatest tests are truly to be soon alleviated." In Mr Siddique's first entry he wrote: "All alone in a strange land. I can trust no one except Allah." In an entry on 26 March he questioned how fellow Muslims could live peacefully in London when the "kufr" (unbelievers) have turned the world into a "battlefield for the Muslims". London, he wrote, was the "vital organ of the minions of the devil". On 5 April he said he would make an "all-out immense effort to rejoin my contingent".
The New York Times reported that Pakistani officials believed Mr Siddique was preparing to become a suicide bomber. They said phone numbers found with Mr Siddique have been traced to members of al-Qa'ida as well as British extremists involved in a failed plot to detonate bombs in London in 2004. These reports cannot be confirmed.
It was also reported that British police are investigating whether Mr Siddique has ties to the July 7 attacks. They want to know whether a diary entry on 13 March in which Mr Siddique says he has learnt that "wagon is now called off" refers to the bombing plot.
Officials said that Mr Siddique, currently in custody, has denied having any role in the failed 2004 plot or the recent attacks in London. He has apparently told them that he first travelled to Pakistan in February 2003 with another British Muslim - one of eight men later arrested on suspicion of involvement in the failed 2004 plot. He said he spent three months in Lahore with Mohammed Junaid Babar, a Pakistani-American computer programmer from New York. Last year Babar pleaded guilty to charges of supplying military equipment to an al-Qa'ida training camp in Pakistan.
Officials said he had also told them that he spent the past two years fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan. At one point he railed in his diary against those Pakistanis who "claim 2 b Muslim" but "don't get it thru there thik [sic] heads" that it is their "fard" - or religious duty - to help him wage his holy war.
His diary is written in mostly capital letters and reveals how he quickly grew uncomfortable with those around him in Peshawar. "I can't live in filth unlike u animals," he wrote on 8 March, calling a group of Pakistani neighbours "dirty geezers" and a Pakistani store owner a "monkey con artist".
Two days later he complained that he could not converse with the locals. "[I'm] constantly laughed at & ridiculed," he wrote.
In an entry on 11 March he wrote about his visit to a group of people he identifies with code names and learnt of bad news. "The relaxing place was done over and 7-8 of the guys taken whilst asleep. Told guys need 2 make a move soon. Cant stik round." Several days later, on 15 March he was told that the "situation is really bad" and that he should "just sit tight & wait it out until things get a bit better".
Mr Siddique has told investigators that he is from Hounslow and is a Muslim of Indian descent. A local newspaper reported that in 1997 the then 17-year-old "ran off to join the mujahedin" in Lebanon but returned to his "frantic parents" a month later.
Officials in Hounslow said last month that Mr Siddique attended a college where he may have befriended Asif Muhammad Hanif, who blew himself up in the suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub in 2003.
DESPITE what you may have read, the military situation in Iraq today is positive - far better than it ever was when we were fighting guerillas in Vietnam, or when the Soviets were fighting the Afghan mujahideen, or in almost any other major insurgency of the 20th century.
With few exceptions, the insurgents in Iraq are not able to undertake militarily meaningful attacks on US troops. They cannot prevent US forces from moving wherever they want in the country and nor can they keep US forces from carrying out the operations they choose to pursue aggressively. This contrasts markedly with the Vietnam and Soviet-Afghan wars, in which insurgents besieged US forces at Khe Sanh and isolated a large Soviet garrison at Khost for nearly the entire conflict, among other incidents.
Yes, the Iraqi insurgents have inflicted a steady stream of casualties on US troops with improvised explosive devices and car bombs, but they are not able to hold ground or attack prepared US forces and fight them toe-to-toe, as did the North Vietnamese and mujahideen. Another piece of good news from Iraq is that the insurgents are offering a mainly nihilistic message. Most skilful revolutionaries promise benefits from their victory. Insurgents frequently work not only to terrorise local villagers but to help improve their lives in small ways.
The Iraqi insurgents offer only fear. They oppose formation of the new Iraqi Government but have not offered any alternative. In January last year the insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said: "We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it." Eight million Iraqis defied him and voted instead. Today, most Iraqis remain committed to finding a way to make the new Government work.
(I recommend reading the entire article.)
Coalition Forces destroyed a house in Baghdad August 6 after confirmation that the structure was being used by terrorists as a storage site for improvised explosive devices.
A detainee, captured earlier this week, provided credible information that the house was purchased as a safe haven for terrorists as well as for storage of weapons and explosives. Coalition Forces discovered that the house contained timing devices, detonation systems and improvised explosive devices.
Before conducting the operation, Coalition Forces cleared all civilians and temporarily moved personal property to a safe distance as a precautionary measure. Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) technicians then destroyed the house. Several secondary explosions resulted.
"Those who recruit, encourage and send suicide bombers on their missions have no interest in improving the lives of the Iraqi people," said Col. Bill Buckner, spokesperson for the Multi-National Corps-Iraq. "Their only interest is to instill fear among the population and to create unrest as the country works towards self-government."
In a related operation prior to the destruction of the house, EOD troops destroyed a vehicle after discovering it was rigged for use as a suicide bomb. Coalition forces inspected the vehicle and realized that the trigger could only be activated by the driver while inside the car.
One terrorist was detained at the location of the car bomb. His name is being withheld for operational security.
No civilians were harmed in either operation.
Source : CPIC - Iraq
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2005 – Iraqi police found one mortar launch tube and arrested one suspected terrorist during a raid in the New Baghdad District in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 8, according to a Multinational Force Iraq report.
Iraqi soldiers load magazines at the Habbaniyah firing range, inside Camp Al Habbaniyah, Iraq, on Aug. 2. Iraqi soldiers and police officers are receiving training from U.S. Marines with 2nd Marine Division on handling, maintenance, operation and fire assault with automatic weapons from a variety of positions and ranges. Photo by Lance Cpl. Brian A. Jaques, USMC (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Police officers assigned to the Al Rashad station were searching the residence of a suspected terrorist. According to police, the suspect later admitted to firing one mortar round into the International Zone in exchange for payment of $500.
The suspect is being held at a Baghdad detention facility pending further investigation.
Elsewhere, Iraqi police found a large supply of stored munitions used for making improvised explosive devices Aug. 8.
The cache consisted of eight 100 mm artillery rounds, 27 82 mm mortar rounds, 28 60 mm mortar rounds, one 122 mm artillery round, four anti-personnel mines, one 60 mm mortar system, three rockets, night-vision goggles, and other IED-making materials including 20 pounds of plastic explosives, propellant and blasting caps. An explosive ordnance disposal team transported the cache to a nearby forward operating base.
In other developments, Iraqi police located an improvised explosive device in the vicinity of the Police Joint Operations Center Aug. 8 in Nasiriyah. Officers secured the area, while an explosive ordnance disposal team officer cleared the IED. The IED consisted of a 122 mm artillery shell with detonation cord attached to an electric detonator. No battery or other trigger devices were found.
Elsewhere, soldiers with 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division, received a tip leading them to a location where they found two mortar rounds. EOD reduced the munitions without incident. No injuries or damages were reported.
In other Iraq news, Iraqi special operations force officers planned and executed a targeted raid against suspected terrorists two kilometers southeast of Haqlaniyah Aug. 8.
Officers secured the target site and detained six suspected insurgents. The detainees were transported to a detention facility for processing and further questioning.
(Compiled from Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)
Sanaa, 9 August (AKI) - Three Spanish tourists kidnapped in Yemen on Sunday have been released, Yemen police say. They were abducted in a province some 500 kilometres to the south of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, by a group of local tribal militants seeking to use them to force the government to release a member of the tribe recently arrested by police.
The governor of the province was among the officials who took part in negotiations with the militants to release the hostages, said one police officer, who revealed that both sides had made compromises. However, it is not known if those included the release of the arrested tribe member.
Kidnapping is a common strategy among tribes in Yemen, who use hostages as levers to extract money or make demands from the government. The hostages are often treated well and released without being harmed. However, in 1998 four were killed when a group of 16 tourists - 12 Britons, two Americans and two Australians - were kidnapped by Islamic militants in south Yemen despite having a police escort. They died when a shoot-out broke out between the militants and the Yemeni security forces, who were trying to rescue them.
| Terrorist Scorecard | |
| The Iraqi "Deck of Cards" Scoreboard | |
| Centcom's New Iraq Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| Saudi Arabia's New Most Wanted Scorecard | |
| The Round-up Blog | |
|
Ping
Bump!
BTTT
Please put me on your terrorist roundup ping list. Thank you.
More and more I'm beginning to believe that Allah is Satan.
"By their works shall ye know them."
Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes
Pinging you!
Ping me please
That's one of the best info on Iraq I've seen. I'm bookmarking your post.
Bump for the morning.
good news source - must read!! Thanks, SV!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460488/posts
Bump!
'Nuff said!
:)
Yup!
This is bad news...for the NY Times.
"All alone in a strange land. I can trust no one except Allah." In an entry on 26 March he questioned how fellow Muslims could live peacefully in London when the "kufr" (unbelievers) have turned the world into a "battlefield for the Muslims".
Just a guess here, but maybe they don't live in a fantasy world,maybe they just want to get on with their lives.
Please add me to your list.
Put me on the roundup ping list, please.
"This is the first time that I can remember where Iraqi civilians actually built a barrier to protect my Soldiers," said Lt. Col. Steven Merkel, commander of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.. "The Soldiers are still talking about the helpful actions of the local community and have asked to go back to the neighborhood to thank those responsible."
Quick, someone send this to Bill O'Reilly. Bill seems to think that our soldiers are losing this war. After reading this, I think not!
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