Posted on 09/05/2005 8:11:07 PM PDT by playball0
BAGHDAD, Sept. 5 -- Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law, according to tribal members, officials, residents and others in the town and nearby villages.
Residents said the foreign-led fighters controlled by Zarqawi, a Jordanian, apparently had been exerting authority in the town, within two miles of the Syrian border, since at least the start of the weekend. A sign posted at an entrance to the town declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Qaim."
The report from Qaim, about 200 miles west of Baghdad, marked one of insurgents' boldest moves in their cat-and-mouse duels with U.S. Marines along the Euphrates River. U.S. forces have described border towns in the area as a funnel for foreign fighters, arms and money into Iraq from Syria.
-snip-
Marines conducted heavy airstrikes in the past week on suspected insurgent safe houses in area. Ground fighting has also been reported between Zarqawi's group and Sunni Arab tribes more open to the Iraqi government and U.S. military.
-snip-
Witnesses in Qaim said Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians who they consider to be allied with the Iraqi and U.S. governments or anti-Islamic. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a young woman dressed in her nightclothes lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It creeps closer and closer to the source.
Why would they put up a sign like that?
It's some kind of diversion, meant to draw us there and away from other activity...
Sounds target rich - Jdam time!
MOAB.
Ain't THAT the truth!
Pfft... in order for the WP to say the American Military asserts athority it would require total peace, enforcement of all laws, and no deaths/injuries or bombs going off.
In order for little ZarQuief there to 'assert athority' all he has to do is murder a bunch of civilians and then hide while his thugs walk around the streets for a day or two talking a big game (that is until the US Military shows up and the go hide again)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1400031/posts
"Now it is no longer a safe haven, and it will never be a safe haven again," said Chase. He was quoted as saying insurgents have had a network of illegal "rat lines" of men and materials moving from Syria into Iraq that had to be stopped, and said the offensive would continue for several days.
How many Daisy Cutters would it take to level the town?
You might be on to something....
The WaPo shouldn't get its hopes up. This is only temporary. Their "freedom fighter" pals are about to get their asses kicked.
ping
My thoughts exactly. "Asserting Control" is in the eye of the left-wing beholder.
Probably one. It would also take out the suburbs as well. What I think is so silly is that these terrorist are so cowardly that they hide rather than try to stand their ground.
Land between them and Syria. They are likely counting on time to scurry back across the border and have the US attack an unoccupied town for PR.
Grrrrr.......
Go get 'em boys!
PR of Qaim, meet JDAM the eliminator of muslimes.
In any case it's not a very smart move on their part.
U.S. and Iraqi officials in recent weeks have welcomed reports of local Sunni Arabs challenging the presence of foreign fighters. But the accounts from Qaim indicated a setback. -Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer Washington Post Foreign Service
I've excerpted from the middle of the story - this view of it rightly frames the lead story. By leading this Iraq-news-roundup with the stuff about Zarqawi's thugs killing some people and terrorizing a town magnifies its importance into a PR victory for the bad guys. The Washington Post does a disservice here.
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