Posted on 10/03/2005 6:34:39 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
QAIM, Iraq — A U.S. offensive aimed at Al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents in western Iraq entered its third day Monday, with airstrikes in a town on the banks of the Euphrates River , witnesses said. At least 36 militants have died since the fighting began, officials said.
No serious U.S. casualties have been reported in the "Iron Fist" offensive by 1,000 Marines, soldiers and sailors near the Syrian border.
In Baghdad, Iraq's oil minister narrowly survived an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb blasted his seven-car convoy, killing three of his escorts, officials said.
Elsewhere, roadside bombs and fighting between insurgents and Iraqi forces on Monday wounded at least seven Iraqis in Ramadi, a militant stronghold 70 miles west of the capital, police and hospital officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
poing...
Live by the Sword and Die by the US Marines!
The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.
Please, all, pray for these boys' success.
In this house, ma, we pray for them every single day.
Crush the insurgents (er. Terrorists!!).
They do not understand any other language or ways.
Apologies to the girls and girlymen down at the DNC but we're going to continue fighting the War on Terror without you.
Squeeze Play
Iron Fist, a battalion sized operation aimed at "al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists operating in and around Sadah", was announced on October 1. But a slightly older article in the San Francisco Chronicle described some of the events leading up to it. (This account was also referenced by Bill Roggio)
Saturday, October 1, 2005 -- Outside Sada, Iraq -- The mortar rounds hit in the early morning. The first one, a harbinger of the assault to come, whooshed up from the sleepy border town of Sada at around 5:30 a.m. Friday, landing in a burst of sparks several hundred yards short of the sandstone cliffs where U.S. Marines were camped out.
The article went on to describe how insurgents near a "blue mosque" in Sadah fired mortars and rockets at the 1st Mobile Assault Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment as they kept watch over the town from a position on some elevated ground. The Marines kept on sleeping for a while, then when the fire crept closer, jumped into their Humvees and relocated.
As the 3rd Battalion prepared for an assault on insurgents holed up in five Iraqi towns on the border with Syria, the mortar and rocket attack suggested that the Marines are up against a well-armed and determined enemy. ... Lt. Col. Julian Alford, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, stationed outside the western Iraqi town of Qaim, said fighters linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi control Sada and four other towns in this western corner of Anbar province, including Qaim.
The mortar position and a car loaded with ammunition was subsequently destroyed by a Marine helicopter gunship strike which resulted in secondary explosions. This tracks very closely with an account provided by the DOD and widely reported in various newspapers that "Coalition forces, including helicopters from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, engaged and killed eight armed terrorists in fighting early Oct. 1, officials said." One aerial attack that was not widely reported elsewhere was a fixed wing strike.
An F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter, flying so high that it was invisible from the ground, dropped a 500-pound bomb known as Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, on the house, sending a plume of black smoke in the air. Several seconds later, there was a large cracking sound and the rumble of an explosion.
Read the whole thing ...
www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com
God bless our fierce warriors! GIVE 'EM HELL!
Tah Rah Rah BOOM Dee Ay! A terrorist died today!
Believe me, I do pray for the U.S. military in Iraq.
My husband, age 44, has been out of the Army for 11 years (he got out August 1994).
He just got orders to go on active duty starting October 9.
He is leaving his job at Cingular.
We have 4 teenagers.
He will be gone at least 18 months, and likely will end up in Iraq starting January 2006.
36 to 0. It's a quagmire, I tellya. A quagmire.
Prayers to you and your family. Prayers of protection for your husband for you and for your teens. Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Strong.
And keep on praying.
You have my admiration and my empathy. And a big ol' Southern hug!
Please thank your son for his service and let him know of the love and appreciation his grateful nation feels for him!
I will keep your family in prayer as well. I know how difficult this can be for those waiting at home.
Will add your family to my prayers!
LOL!!
How many years was your Husband in for?
That's it for me tonight. Bedtime.
US kills 12 rebels on day two of Iraq offensive
10-02-2005, 15h49
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
BAGHDAD (AFP)
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=73125
"Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Baqer Sulagh had earlier launched a scathing attack on Saudi comments on alleged Iranian meddling and sectarian divisions in Iraq, telling reporters in Amman that he would not take lessons from 'a bedouin on a camel.'"
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