U.S. troops enter Shiite stronghold of Sadr City

AP ^ | March 4 2007

[jmc1969]

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers entered the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Sunday in the first major push into the area since an American-led security sweep began last month around Baghdad.

Soldiers conducted house-to-house searches, but met no resistance in a district firmly in the hands of the Madhi Army militia led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said Lt. Col. David Oclander.

[SunkenCiv]

met no resistance in a district firmly in the hands of the Madhi Army militia

That's a weird statement in the original article...

[YepYep]

REAL weird.

[YepYep]

The area that was previously firmly in the hands of the Madhi Army militia appears to be MUCH less so now.

May the Lord continue to bless our wonderful soldiers.

[Fred Nerks]

met no resistance in a district BELIEVED TO BE firmly in the hands of the Madhi Army militia...

Hey, it's a tough one. Next question: Where did they go? Did they hide their weapons, take off their hoods and hide under the bed?

[SunkenCiv]

Oh wait, never mind, it's from AP...

[wmfights]

I'd like to know more about this.......do you have some references?

I happened to be watching the history channel a week or so ago and they were interviewing marines who served during WWII. I was surprised they were so straightforward about it.

[Future Snake Eater]

No, I think MNF is doing everything it can with the resources it's being given. The handcuffs are coming from the Executive branch (though as usual there is no shortage of layering bureaucracies to tweak numbers in order to impress generals and politicians), and there's only one man who can answer for that. He is my Commander-in-Chief, I respect that, I follow his orders, and I freely acknowledge that I see a fairly limited scope of things. However, while my Big Picture view is limited, I see the down-and-dirty, rubber-meets-the-road stuff every day, and I can tell you that this "surge" can NOT be successful w/out the Iraqi government and Army and Police taking charge of themselves. Democrats actually want some guarantees in place as to what they do in order to guarantee our continued aid, and I think that's a very necessary thing. So many Iraqis think that it's not their problem, and we need to make sure they clearly understand that it is indeed their problem. Corruption is rampant in the IA, IP, and government offices. If they're not actively supporting terrorists, they're passively doing it by concealing information. Or maybe they have no interest in terrorism at all and just want to steal anything that isn't nailed down. Who knows? Again, my view of the Big Picture is limited, but here's what I know: in Najaf, there were several IA officers among the dead terrorist bodies; every operation we go on in the cities, our route is lined with IP vehicles who immediately start blasting their lights and (sometimes) sirens as we approach our targets, clearly trying to warn people (once they even used those lights to trigger an ambush on my company). The only IA who are worth a damn are the Kurds. You can trust them simply due to their hatred of Arabs. We need more of them.

[Marine_Uncle]

I appreciate your input. Thank you for serving which I forgot earlier on to acknowledge. Much of what you voice some of us have said for a few years. I to have heard stories from my nephew (two tours in the pit under the 1MEF then 2MEF), about how most of the early on Iraqi army where conducting business so to speak. He did have praise for one unit on second tour in al Anbar, and especially for a certain Lt..
The Lt. met his maker.
Yes, unless the IG gets it's ass together the insurgency is not going to end. We can't do much more for them then you all have been doing from day one in essence.
I have been under the impression however, that more Iraqi units are actually performing well, as some articles here at FR have shown. Obviously one question, is just how long can we support them in all the areas required to build their army up to take over. Heck, apparently they still do not have their southern regional supplies depot fully operational.
And obviously they simply do not have a supply system in place yet, that is fully supported by an Iraqi Airforce. So many things still need to be done. Perhaps so little time.

[nonliberal]

If Reagan were in office, there would not even BE a Sadr City, only a smoldering crater.