U.S. forces block roads in insurgent-held city (Ramadi)

AP/MSNBC ^ | 6-18-06 | AP

[SevenMinusOne]

RAMADI, Iraq - Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops set up outposts Sunday in southern parts of Ramadi as part of an operation to establish Iraqi army bases in the country’s largest Sunni Arab city and wrest it away from months of insurgent control.

U.S. commanders stressed that the operation was not a large-scale assault on the city but rather an “isolation” tactic to prevent insurgents from receiving supplies or reinforcements from outside. Arab television networks and some Western outlets have reported on an impending attack on the city.

Two long columns of U.S. and Iraqi armored vehicles late Saturday encircled the southern side Ramadi, the capital of volatile Anbar province, and met little resistance.

[SevenMinusOne]

Ramadi is about to heat up - The next phase is underway -

[SevenMinusOne]

Ping

[bnelson44]

Looks like it

[SevenMinusOne]

“The good news is that we didn’t get as much resistance as we’re prepared for,” said Lt. Col. V.J. Tedesco, commander of the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division. “I really think the fight will be in the coming days.”

Thousands of troops The overnight operation involved thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops who trickled out of area bases and began erecting two outposts where Iraqi soldiers are expected to begin patrolling a southern neighborhood known as the Second Officer’s Quarter.

The area of about 10,000 people, a cluster of homes once set aside for Baath Party officials and Iraqi soldiers in an artillery brigade, has rarely seen U.S. or Iraqi troops. Iraqi troops were expected immediately to begin patrolling the area outside their new outposts, following the “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy that U.S. officials have laid out.

The new outposts will also allow U.S. or Iraqi forces to oversee all major entrances into this city of about 400,000. The new outposts are supposed to block key southern routes where insurgents receive many of their supplies and reinforcements, commanders said.

Residents pack up - U.S. commanders said they had reports of residents fleeing before the operation, but that the numbers were much smaller than reported.

“We are seeing some people leaving, but not an exodus,” said Col. Sean MacFarland, commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. “The numbers are in the dozens to hundreds (of families), not anywhere approaching a thousand.”

[Kakaze]

" “We are seeing some people leaving, but not an exodus,” said Col. Sean MacFarland, commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. “The numbers are in the dozens to hundreds (of families), not anywhere approaching a thousand "

The rats are fleeing.

[SevenMinusOne]

U.S. commanders said there were equal numbers of Iraqi and American troops in several battalions involved in the operation, but no figures of forces were given.

The operation had a considerable show of a wide array of forces: in addition to long rows of tanks, Marines in boats patrolled the Euphrates River while Navy Seals and Iraqi sniper teams established positions. An Iraqi tank company was also involved in the effort.

[SE Mom]

Not according to the liberals- they daily harp on the need for "standing up" Iraqi security and army. Apparently they're not able to grasp the notion that this exactly what's transpiring. Just not at the Fast Food rate they demand.

[GSlob]

About 2800 years ago Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III was besieging some town in that very neighborhood. Maybe it was a proto-Ramadi. The king was a philanthropist - and had the besieged town surrounded by a wall, believing that a strict diet would prevent diseases and do them a lot of good. When the starving besieged started to trickle out, he had them flayed alive and impaled on the stakes he had planted on his circumwallation walls, in the full view of the besieged town. This sight finally broke the resistance spirit, the town surrendered, and the survivors were mildly admonished and sold into slavery. And the rumor flew far and wide, and for the next century or so there was no resistance to Assyria in that vicinity, and the MSM scribes from "New Babylon Times", "Assyria Inquirer", "Nineveh Globe" and their ilk were praising the good, kind, wise, and mighty king Tiglath-Pileser III in cuneiform on every flat surface available to them. Maybe there is a lesson in that history.

[Coop]

The rats are fleeing.

I would hardly consider families wanting to vacate a war zone "rats."

[Marine_Uncle]

"Ramadi is about to heat up - The next phase is underway -"
Roger that. I just had sent a brief desire list for ar Ramadi in another post to you. Been wondering when someone would light the candle.
These planned light action could turn into a real shit kicking session. The article could be reasonable accurate, perhaps a colonel spelled it out to the reporter. But I bet we have second tier ready to jump if need be, and of course a lot of airpower is going to be available to TD buildings, temp bunkers and the like.
Perhaps as in Fallujah, our army artillery shall get a chance to zero in on a bunch of GPS coordinates and take apart a bunch of buildings where goons will inevitably hold up when they realize their gooses are cooked, if they stay outside and try to run around like assholes.
Forgive my poorly phrased French. Been working all day and tired so I slip a little with the grammatic constructs.

[hawkaw]

Has there been any other news out of this area?