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.

[ohioWfan]

Thank you, sir!

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Quite Welcome,Ma'am...;0)

[STARWISE]

God bless you, and thank you SO much for your service. Prayers for protection and victory over these monsters for you all daily.

[finnman69]

3 years overdue but welcome nonetheless

[tomnbeverly]

Headline:

TROOP SURGE SHOWS PROGRESS IN IRAQ


Yea right... haha like the MSM will every print anything in support of the President or against the Rats for that matter.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

bttt

[Just Lori]

“The indication that we are getting is a lot of the really bad folks have gone into hiding,” Oclander said.

We can't win! It's a quagmire! Get the troops out now! It's all about oil and Haliburton! It's Bush's war! Cheney is the boss! Rove is the architect! Libby is guilty of outting a covert CIA agent! The world hates us! We can't win!

Sincerely,

the Democrats in Washington.

[Just Lori]

Usually quotations are attributed.

Usually, people with half a brain can figure it out.

[gondramB]

This article came out about an hour ago with an update.
Other than the Sadr faction calling the move "provocative" it looks like the first day went well.

>>"They thanked us with respect and a smile," said Shihab Ahmed, a teacher, noting that the Americans greeted him in Arabic and asked permission before entering his house with a bomb-sniffing dog. "I am happy that such a campaign is done in my neighborhood. It doesn't upset me, as it is aiming to clear the area of weapons."

In a few hours, the operation was over for the day. A checkpoint was dismantled, allowing traffic to move normally. The convoy rumbled away, and shopkeepers returned to business as usual.<<

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/world/4601807.html

[Just Lori]

In order to end the war we dropped nuclear bombs, nobody made much of a ruckus out of it.

You're kidding, right? Some folks are STILL raising hell about "what we did to the Japanese people". These haters of freedom will never go away. They were against us then, they're against us now, and they STILL give aid and comfort to those who will do ANYTHING to kill us.

[Man50D]

I wonder how his relocation to iran impacts his credibility with his followers, if it does at all.

We'll have to invade Iran if we are going to stop the terrorists in Iraq.

[leadpenny]

That may be fine for you, but for those of us with a wee bit more than half a brain had trouble with it.

[SoldierDad]

Too bad you don't have any clue about the history of the enemy we are fighting and the level of determination they have had to destroy the U.S. for more than 62 years. Perhaps you should "bone-up" on history before making such inane and incorrect statements.

[The_Reader_David]

With his own followers? Not at all--if an Iraqi was following Al Sadr he or she was already pro-Iranian, and they can cite Mohammed retreating only to regroup and attack later as 'justification'.

With Iraqi Shi'ites in general, I think he's lost credibility. Most Iraqi Shi'ites regard Grand Ayatollah Al Sistani as their leader, and he is definitely anti-Iranian, regarding the Iranian clericalist regime a usurpers in their claim to lead Shia Islam, and regarding the 'Hastener' sect of which Ahmadinejad and his spiritual mentor Masab Yazdi are part as heretics.

(Al Sistani has also been objectively pro-US, except for a two-to-three month period last year when he tried to get Al Sadr back into Iraqi civil society. When that failed, he came out quietly for the suppression of all armed militias, and Al Maliki followed within a week.)

[cookcounty]

"Yeah, perhaps you can tell me what the ROE changes are?

Don't know about announced ROE, but from reports on the ground a few things have changed. Decisions are made at the the tactical level which were being made higher up before, and there has been a much increased use of airstrikes against targets that were otherwise getting away.

Also, arrests being made by IA rather that the Americans is actually better, since there is less leverage and interference from ACLU and other al-Qaeda allies in the interrogations

[Sandy]

Can I help it if only one person out of those who read it was able to figure it out?

It was obvious mocking sarcasm, if you ask me. Generally, though, it's best to just dumb things down with a /sarcasm tag, otherwise the slow folks tend to come unhinged.

[Past Your Eyes]

I must be a little slow myself because I didn't realize that so many people could be both slow and knee-jerk at the same time. I will dumb it down in the future. I will dumb it down in the future. I will dumb it down in the future. I will dumb it down in the future. I will dumb it down in the future. I will dumb it down in the future.

";^)

[SunkenCiv]

...

[Fred Nerks]

thanks for the ping...watching and waiting; we're gunna come out on top of this thing!