Posted on 01/20/2007 6:31:11 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 20 American service members were killed in military operations Saturday in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years, including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five slain in an attack by militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said.
Saturday's toll was the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday.
The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter.
The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk helicopter during good weather in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqouba.
Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, a U.S. spokeswoman, said the cause of the crash had not been determined. Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a U.S. media relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that the helicopter was believed to have suffered technical troubles before going down.
Five U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday night when militia fighters attacked a provincial headquarters in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, the military said in a statement.
The statement said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars or rockets. The statement said three other soldiers were wounded repelling the attack.
"A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashoura commemorations," said a statement from Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.
Karbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad and thousands of Shiite pilgrims are flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashoura festival commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
Brooks said Iraqi officials and security forces as well as U.S. troops were present at the meeting, but his statement did not mention other casualties from the attack. It said the headquarters had "been secured by coalition and Iraqi security forces."
Earlier, Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali had reported that U.S. troops raided the provincial headquarters looking for wanted men but left with no prisoners. But Brooks said that report was incorrect.
The general did not identify any group suspected of staging the attack, but residents reached by telephone had reported seeing military helicopters flying over the local headquarters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been accused of playing a big role in sectarian killings, has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks by operations in which key commanders have been captured or killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops.
Also Saturday, roadside bombs killed a soldier in the capital and one in Nineveh province north of Baghdad.
The U.S. military also announced that combat Friday had killed an Army soldier in Nineveh province and a Marine in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital. The Marines often delay death reports, raising the possibility that Friday's toll was higher.
The helicopter crash was the fourth deadliest since the start of the war. The worst crash occurred on the war's deadliest day, Jan. 26, 2005, when a Marine transport helicopter crashed during a sandstorm in Iraq's western desert, killing 30 Marines and a sailor. On the same day, six other U.S. forces died in combat for a total of 37 deaths.
The second highest daily toll was on March 23, 2003 when 28 service members were killed as American forces were pushing toward Baghdad on the third day of the U.S.-led invasion.
Meanwhile, the first reinforcements of U.S. troops under the new Bush strategy have already started to flow into the Baghdad region. A brigade of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, part of the buildup, has arrived in Baghdad and will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the first of the month, the American military said Sunday.
The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne consists of about 3,200 soldiers who will "assist Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full Iraqi control of security in the city," the military said in a statement.
In south Baghdad, U.S. helicopters dropped Iraqi police commandos into the dangerous Dora neighborhood to stage a raid on the Omar Brigade, an al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Khalaf said 15 insurgents were killed and five captured during an intense battle at two abandoned houses taken over by Sunni gunmen, who he blamed for a series of kidnappings and killings in a bid to cleanse the once-mixed neighborhood of Shiite residents.
"We were provided with helicopter support by our friends in the multinational forces and we did not suffer any casualties," Khalaf said. U.S. aircraft gave covering fire, but the U.S. military did not respond to a request for comment on the raid.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi police and hospital officials said a joint U.S.-Iraqi force searched a hospital in the volatile Sunni-dominated western neighborhood of Yarmouk.
Dr. Haqi Ismail, the hospital manager, said the raid occurred at 4:30 a.m.
"They were looking for someone, they searched all the rooms and the emergency unit," he said.
Al-Sadr's followers voiced increasing anger over Friday's capture of a senior aide to the radical cleric in a raid in eastern Baghdad.
Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, accused U.S. forces of trying to provoke the Sadrists into violence during the expanding campaign to quell Iraq's fighting.
"We condemn strongly the arrest of Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji. He is moderate and well-known as a media personality and always available in negotiations," al-Rubaie said. "He is a peaceful man and what was mentioned in the American release is lies and justification for the aggression against al-Sadr's movement."
U.S. and Iraqi forces reportedly detained al-Darraji during a raid on a mosque complex before dawn Friday.
The U.S. military, in a statement that did not name al-Darraji, said special Iraqi army forces operating with U.S. advisers had "captured a high-level, illegal armed group leader" in Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood, next to the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City. It said two other suspects were detained for further questioning.
Sadiq al-Rikabi, an al-Maliki adviser, told Al-Arabiya television the operation was not coordinated with Iraq's political leaders and was not part of the new security campaign.
Police reported at least 16 Iraqis slain in attacks Saturday. In addition, officials said 29 bodies were found in Baghdad and three in the northern city of Mosul, most of them showing signs of torture — a hallmark of killings by sectarian death squads.
Just like Vietnam, the media is trying to lose this war for us.
Hmm, the article says the helicopter suffered a mechanical glitch. No one shot it down. Helicopters don't really fly, they beat the air into submission, but not so very infrequently, the air wins.
Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a U.S. media relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that the helicopter was believed to have suffered technical troubles before going down.
When the big numbers of troops arrive, the militias will simply disappear. There will be nothing to apply the firepower to.
Oh dear Lord, my heart and prayers go out to their families, friends and battle buddies.
The MSM is such a crock. 20 in one day is not a fun thing, and my prayers and sympathy go out to all the families. I suspect my son will be deployed there within months, although we don't know for sure at the present.
But it was not uncommon to lose 3,000 servicemen in an single day during WW II. Thank god we didn't have today's media back then.
If they are going after the Shiite militias, they are doing the job, finally.
But I guess you'd just rather kill 'em all and let God sort them out? Well, I hate to tell you, but that's just not going happen, , even with the use of strategic sized nukes. Nor would it work if it did, unless by "all" you mean all Muslims, including the ones fighting side by side with our forces against the evil ones, and the ones giving us basing rights in their counties, and so on.
No, these things have to be done properly. The right people have to be killed or imprisoned. (I prefer killed BTW, less repercussions).
Seems to me that they have, what with raiding hospitals, grabbing Mookie's aides, and whatever was going down with those US choppers buzzing around Mookie's HQ.
Say no more, we know who you've thrown in with. Pretty unsavory company I'd say.
The troops, for the most part, don't think it's a quamire, nor does their military and civilian leadership.
Now the Cape Cod Orca, Nancy Pelosini, Dingy Harry, Mad Murtha, and that whole crowd, along with the various ABCCBSMSNBCAOLTIMEWARNERCNN talking heads, call it a quagmire, as they have from day negative 600 or so. They predicted a quagmire in Afghanistan before the first boots hit the ground there.
But you're welcome to that crowd, you can have 'em.
About 400,000 fewer casualties, for starters.
All our cities are more or less intact. Well except for New Orleans, and the terrorists had nothing do with that quagmire, except for the NOPD and NO mayor that is.
We've got pile and piles of dead terrorists that won't be shooting up your local mall.
We've got at least semi-functioning Free governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Functioning in the face of foreign and foreign supported terrorist actions the likes of which even Israel has rarely experienced. The Mad Mullahs and Angry Ayatollahs are giving it their best shot, and are not winning.
Well Laverne this is how I see it, he "Jorge" is commander-in-chief, if he doesn't have the get up to give the order. Then get out of the way and let someone else do it. But we've got to stop this hunker down and get good men killed stuff.
That is the one Sadr uses, although he has considerable presence in Sadar City, which is really a western neighborhood of Baghdad.
You think those US helicopters were just sightseeing around Sadr's HQ?
You obviously didn't listen to the President's recent speech about the increase in troop strength. You also haven't been following recent news stories to closely. The reason the troops pulled back after clearing an area was that their were not sufficient troops, coalition and/or Iraqi, to hold them. That's Bush's fault, and he likely got that advice from Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld is out, and the President seems to be getting different advice now.
We've got a Marine as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, we've put the General who literally wrote the book on fighting insurgencies in as the Commander on the ground in Iraq, and for the first time ever, put a Carrier Admiral in charge of CentCom.
Your critique is welcome. Let's see how it goes.
Before you go running off at the keyboard like that, you really ought to get your facts straight. The German surrender, VE day, was in May of 1945, the Japanese surrender, VJ day, didn't occur until August of that year.
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen.
That so sucks,hold you close in prayer.
How about the former commander of the 101st Airborne who commanded it during the initial invasion of Iraq? He's just been named Commander of the Coalition forces in Iraq. Earlier he commanded a battalion in the 101st, and a brigade in the 82nd. Not special ops, but definitely a down and dirty bunch. Or is a paratrooper just too "wimpy" for you? Additionally he's most recently been the commander of the Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth.
As for "Top Special Forces generals, the Chief of Staff of the Army, http://www.army.mil/leaders/leaders/csa/biography.html> General Peter Schoomaker, was pulled out of retirement in 2003 to become the CoS. He was Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command from July 1994 to August 1996, followed by command of the United States Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina through October 1997. His most recent assignment prior to assuming duties as the Army Chief of Staff was as Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, from November 1997 to November 2000. He's also served with and commanded more conventional units as well.
"Top" and "Special" enough for you?
If your concern is which came first (by 3 months) -- the Japanese surrender or the German surrender -- you missed the point of the statement.
Nope. Tougher than me, for sure. Does that suit you?
"Top" and "Special" enough for you?
Yup.
Now, let's see if they are allowed to fight. Let's see how it goes.
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