Posted on 01/28/2007 11:06:07 AM PST by cgk
Edited on 01/28/2007 11:44:41 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
Oh good.....he sounds real sane.
300 dead terroists and there will probably be more, that is no small fire fight there. Lots of bullets, grenades and rockets going back and forth. Hope our guys, including the Iraqi Army, are getting it done without taking a lot of casualties.
Two Soldiers Killed in Iraq Helicopter Crash
American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, Jan. 28, 2007 – Two U.S. soldiers were killed today when a Multinational Division Baghdad helicopter crashed north of Najaf, Iraq, military officials reported.
Officials said the helicopter was involved in operations to assist Iraqi security forces who had been attacked.
A news release announcing the crash did not report the type of helicopter and did not say whether it went down as a result of enemy action. Officials said operations continue in the area, the soldiers' bodies have been recovered, and that the incident is under investigation.
The soldiers' names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
(From a Multinational Corps Iraq news release.)
The media would have put a negative spin on the operation, like the Tet Offensive, if it was before the election.
As I predicted. The question remains (as I asked re: Lebanon), where are the men then?
I am inclined to agree with Omar.
Yep.
I agree. don't think this has anything to do with the surge, either.
I thought they wanted martyrdom. Nope, they prefer to live and spend their Iranian salaries. LOL
Now it's time to watch the Iraqi borders and keep them out.
Good point!
Defeating the enemy within, including the MSM fifth column, is gonna be very sweet!
Raids foil plot to kill Shia pilgrims
Stephen Farrell in Baghdad and Hassan al-Jarrah in Najaf
Clashes 'kill 250 insurgents' in Najaf
1,500 policemen sacked in Baquba
Iraqi troops backed by US tanks and helicopter gunships fought insurgents near the Shia city of Najaf yesterday as the Government said it had foiled an attempt to kill pilgrims during a key religious festival.
A US helicopter crashed during the fighting. Witnesses said that they saw it come down after trailing smoke during a machinegun battle.
Iraqi police officials in Najaf said that 250 insurgents were killed during bombing raids and gun battles, although similar claims have been wildly exaggerated in the past.
US military officials confirmed that two soldiers were killed aboard the helicopter after it crashed while “conducting operations to assist Iraqi Security Forces.” Their remains have been recovered. As the violence flared 100 miles south of Baghad, police officials in the northern town of Baquba said that the town’s mayor and 1,500 policemen had been fired.
Ghanim al-Qureyshi, the provincial police chief, said that halid Al-Senjeri, a Sunni, was dismissed as mayor amid suspicions that he was collaborating with Sunni insurgents. The policemen were dismissed for fleeing instead of fighting insurgents who attacked the town last November, wreaking havoc on the capital of Sunnimajority Diyala province bordering Iran.
In Najaf there were conflicting reports about the battle. Assad Sultan Abu Klil, the provincial governor, said that the operation — which continued after nightfall — was launched after intelligence reports that insurgents planned to kill Shia clerics and pilgrims during Ashoura. This is a religious festival during which hundreds of thousands of Shias converge on nearby Karbala to commemorate the 7th-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’ s grandson, Imam Hussein.
The death of Hussein and his brother Abbas at the hands of the Damascus-based caliph Yazid was the defining event in the early history of Islam that led to the schism between Sunnis and Shias, reflected in the post-Saddam era by the power struggle between the two communities for control of Iraq.
The Ashoura ceremonies, which involve self-flagellation and blood-letting by the most devout pilgrims, have been targeted by Sunni guerrillas.
But other officials at the joint US and Iraqi coordination centre said that the rebel fighters wore headbands, indicating that they belonged to a Shia faction named Jund al-Samaa (Soldiers of Heaven), reflecting religious and political divisions even within Iraq’s majority Shia population. It is possible that Sunni insurgents, foreign fighters or even other Shia groups dressed like the Samaa to confuse government forces.
A week ago killers dressed in US army uniforms penetrated security cordons around a supposedly secure building in Karbala, killing one US soldier at the scene and abducting and later killing four others.
The joint Najaf operation, in which US forces provided ground and air support for Iraqi troops, is the model President Bush and Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, are to rely on for the forthcoming Baghdad security operation intended to restore order and curb attacks by Sunni insurgents and Shia death squads.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-2572321,00.html
Great pics of the moonbat convention.
Police chief sacks 1,500 officers
The mayor of Baqouba and 1,500 policemen in Diyala province have been fired in a bid to end the raging violence in the region northeast of Baghdad, the provincial police chief has said. Ghanim al-Qureyshi, who took over police operations in the violent province after his predecessor was sacked last month, said Mayor Khalid Al-Senjeri, a Sunni Muslim, was dismissed over suspicions he was collaborating with Sunni insurgent fighters. Only last week, the mayor was reported kidnapped by Sunni insurgents who blew up his office in Baqouba and stole several new police vehicles. He was released a few days later. Baqouba is the Diyala province capital.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html#0
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