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]
Let's play offense boys...and Git er done!
Going against Sadr?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6307587.stm
Intense clashes have been taking place in orchards outside the holy city of Najaf, as Iraqi troops backed up by US forces battled several hundred armed men, whose identity is as yet unclear.
The provincial governor of Najaf said a US military helicopter had been shot down by what he called "enemy fire" in Zarqa, scene of the clashes, and Iraqi police were quoted as saying the two crew on board were dead.
A Reuters correspondent reported seeing an American helicopter trailing smoke after a burst of machine gun fire.
Thousands of pilgrims descend on Karbala for Ashura
US military officials would not comment on what they termed an ongoing operation but said the reports were being checked.
Concerns over security have been heightened as Shia Muslims mark the religious festival of Ashura, which in previous years has been hit by co-ordinated attacks.
Some 10,000 Iraqi police and security forces have stepped up patrols in Karbala, where Shia pilgrims have been converging.
Security has also been tightened along the 110km (70 miles) of highway from Baghdad to Karbala that runs through the Sunni areas, the French news agency AFP reports.
Ashura draws huge numbers of Shias to Karbala from across Iraq and beyond its borders.
Brings joy to my heart to know that the last thing some murdering, fleabag whackjob terrorist will see is the muzzle flash of a US Marine Rifle.
FR thread Mortars hit Iraqi girls' school; 5 dead
ap article Mortars hit Iraqi girls' school; 5 dead
SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Mortar shells rained down Sunday on a girls' secondary school in a mostly Sunni area of western Baghdad, killing five pupils and wounding 20, witnesses and police said. At least seven other people died in a series of bombings and shootings across the capital, mostly in Shiite areas.
Elsewhere, Iraqi troops backed by U.S. helicopters battled insurgents 12 miles northeast of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraqi officials said. Provincial Gov. Assad Sultan Abu Klil said a U.S. helicopter went down during the fighting, but U.S. officials would not confirm the report.
Klil said the operation was launched after reports that insurgents planned to assassinate Shiite clerics and pilgrims during the Ashoura festival, which reaches its climax Tuesday.
Two car bombs exploded within a half-hour of each other in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing a total of 11 people and wounding 34, police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader said. The first blast, which killed six and wounded 19, occurred at a popular car market and the second went off near a restaurant.
Also Sunday, U.S. troops captured 21 suspected terrorists including an al-Qaida courier in a series of raids in Baghdad and Sunni areas north and west of the capital, the U.S. command said. Three of the suspects were believed to have close ties to the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq, the military said.
The U.S. military also reported the deaths of three more American service members — all on Saturday. A Marine died from wounds suffered in fighting in Anbar province, a stronghold of Sunni insurgents, and two soldiers were fatally injured in separate bombings in the Baghdad area, the military said.
Sunday's mortar attack occurred about 11 a.m. at the Kholoud Secondary School in the Adil neighborhood of western Baghdad, police and school officials said. Several projectiles exploded in the courtyard, shattering windows and spraying pupils with glass. AP Television News footage showed blood smeared on the stone steps and walkways.
Hours after the attack, grieving parents wept as the bodies of the victims were placed inside wooden coffins. Police said four girls were killed instantly and a fifth died later. AP television footage showed the fin from one of the mortars lying in a walkway.
The area has been the scene of reprisal attacks by Sunni and Shiite extremists that have persisted as U.S. and Iraqi soldiers prepare for a security crackdown. A Sunni group, the General Conference of the People of Iraq, accused Shiite militias and said the markings on the mortars indicated they were manufactured in Iran.
More than 150 people, mostly Shiites, have died in bomb attacks in the last week as the majority Islamic sect in Iraq celebrates a 10-day festival leading up to Ashoura, the holiest date in the Shiite calendar.
Elsewhere, a bomb exploded about 7:30 a.m. in a minibus carrying passengers to a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Sunday, killing one and wounding five, police said.
The explosive device was hidden in a bag left by a passenger who got off the bus before it detonated in the Baladiyat neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. The bus was heading to the adjacent Shiite district of Sadr City, which has been targeted several times in the past.
A parked car bomb exploded in an intersection near an outdoor market in Sadr City about five hours later, killing at least four people, two of them women, and wounding 39, police said. The sprawling Shiite slum is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army that is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and has blamed for much of the country's spiraling violence.
About five minutes later, a bomb hidden in a bag exploded in an outdoor market in the Baiyaa neighborhood in western Baghdad, an area that is mostly Shiite, although a significant number of Sunnis live there. At least two people were killed and 17 wounded, including two children, police said.
Outside the capital, a car bomb exploded near a mosque in the Sunni city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding four, police said.
Iran, meanwhile, closed several border crossings with Iraq for Ashoura, which culminates on Tuesday with processions and ceremonies, including self flagellation, to mark the Shiite saint Imam Hussein's death in a battle.
Iranian state television said the crossings were closed to "contain the large number of pilgrims" bound for the Shiite holy city of Karbala in southern Iraq who were planning to cross into Iraq without "legal documents." The report indicated that not all border crossings had been closed and that some pilgrims were allowed through elsewhere.
Also Sunday, drive-by shooters killed a high-ranking Shiite official at the Iraqi industry and mines ministry, along with his 27-year-old daughter and two other people.
Insurgents have frequently targeted high-ranking Iraqi officials who are seen as collaborators with the U.S. forces. Last Wednesday, Iraq's higher education minister, a Sunni, escaped an assassination attempt after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade as he was traveling in southern Baghdad, killing one of his guards and seriously wounding another.
Harry Reid stated, "I just hope for the President's sake there are no Iranians being killed!"
[sarc. off]
It is a shame, but, you are right.
How bout long before the election - PC be damned!
As distinguished from.....?
Ahmed al-Hassani, of the hardline Ansar al-Sunna, said: “We will keep going in our war that does not accept any midway solutions. Either they pull out of our country or the war will continue until we achieve victory.”
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n103114
I'll do my part home side and not vote for the democrat contender for the presidency.
No matter what she says or does before the election.
I'm grateful for the good news that comes in to FR that the MSM misses by their inept attempt to bring the news home.
Yup, 19,500 and along with them comes 19,500 old grumpy, sarcastic mother-in-laws. And they call that paradise?
What's a US Senator going for these days on eBay?
I wouldn't be surprised if he said just that. It might be an impeachable offense, yaknow. He probably salivates at the thought.
But, Al Queada isn't in Iraq!!!
bump
"What really burns me up about all of this is why the *** didn't we do this before the election?"
What makes you think we didn't? We have been doing this for almost four years.
Before the election? How about sometime in the last 3 1/2 years. To use our boys as policemen is just absurd. Conservatives were supposed to know better.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.