Posted on 08/07/2007 10:16:35 PM PDT by Doofer
BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 — Attacks on American-led forces using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the American military. The devices, known as explosively formed penetrators, were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by the American-led forces, according to American military officials. “July was an all-time high,” Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in an interview, referring to strikes with such devices. Such bombs, which fire a semi-molten copper slug that can penetrate the armor on a Humvee and are among the deadliest weapons used against American forces, are used almost exclusively by Shiite militants. American intelligence officials have presented evidence that the weapons come from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran, although Tehran has repeatedly denied providing lethal assistance to Iraqi groups. In recent weeks, the American military has focused on mounting operations in sanctuaries used by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a Sunni group that is predominately made up of Iraqis but has foreign leadership. But, as the information provided by General Odierno shows, Shiite militias remain a major long-term worry. In focusing on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the American goal is to reduce the number of car bombings and spectacular suicide attacks that have aggravated sectarian tensions, encouraged Shiite retaliation and undermined efforts at political reconciliation. While the group is seen by the American military as the most serious near-term threat, there are other signs that Shiite militias remain active. According to General Odierno, the day-to-day commander of American troops in Iraq, Shiite militants carried out 73 percent of the attacks that killed or wounded American troops in Baghdad in July.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It’s about time that the Iranian leadership got their noses bloodied a bit in my opinion.
I’m with you guys. If Iran is intent on killing our soldiers (and they are), it’s high time we took military action against these mad mullahs. Enough already!
Amazing that we continue to let these acts go unpunished. I never would’ve imagined it after Bush’s speech to Congress shortly after 9/11.
I dont know why they bother to keep pointing this out! Is our blood so cheap these days? Is looking at the pictures of our young dead soldiers that painless? Do something about it!
My thought, as well...
IMHO, every one of these we capture should be handed over to our SF troops -- to be set up on the routes the Iranian ayatollas/mullahs/Achmadummynutjob travel frequently. Better yet, I bet there are Iranian dissidents who would love to have them -- for the same purpose...
Bush has little or no capital left to start anything with Iran. They know that and that is why they are doing it. They never would have done this in 2003 or even 2004. But they smell blood in the water and are acting in their own best interest. They know it's just a matter of time before Bush is gone and the next president (R or D) will not want to spend all their political capital on waging this unpopular war and will look for the earliest exit. All they have to do is not poke the bear too egregiously but keep up the pressure to make this an unpopular war.
Ah HA! I have a great idea! Let's just sit back and continue to do nothing about it!
They never would have done this in 2003 or even 2004.
Of course he would have to stop babying the Iraqs and turn our troops loose first... but that would go against his kinder gentler compassionate KGC warfighting.
The only thing I think Bush might be able to pull off is that if Petraeus convinces the public that he has us heading in the right direction and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Al Qaeda is on the run and all but vanquished, etc. But, he adds, Iran has their fingerprints all over the missing last piece of the puzzle, per se, and is responsible for most of our young soldiers deaths, then I think their may exist in some moderate democrats (the one or two in Senate) and the balance of the pubs the will to punch Iran with a haymaker. Perhaps an embargo or a bombing of suspected nuclear sites and refineries that effectively cripples them economically and sets off an internal revolution to overthrow the nutjobs running that country. Of course, this has a high probability of backfiring by actually uniting the Iranians behind their nutjob leaders.
The scumbag Mullahs are conducting their own “surge” against us, trying to defeat us in US public opinion via the ‘Rats and MSM. They know that these weeks and months are crucial. If we didn’t have such treasonous weasels undermining us on the home front they would not dare to shed the blood of our people like this. It should be the end of Iran as a military power, but instead we have to make nice and follow the path set by our Congressional ‘rats.
That is exactly the problem. Why should they give up when the Democrats are cheering them on. Democrats calling our soldiers murderers and thugs.
This should have stopped a long time ago. It is time for Mr. Cruise Missile to visit the Mullahs. Take out their leadership now. If an American dies in a roadside bomb, they get a missile.
Ping to article
That's exactly what's going to get mullahs in trouble. They are getting more brazen and transparent. Due to "no WMDs found in Iraq" and previous failures of CIA (real and imagined) and feeble attempts by Bush and his administration to properly explain what we have been and still are doing Iraq, people (and particularly, Congress) may not be too supportive of another military action against Iran's nuclear program and its potential for WMDs and undefined timeline.
However, the documented cases of acts of war by Iran against Iraqis and coalition forces in Iraq, and failure to stop them after several meetings and warnings face-to-face about the subject, will give us undeniable proof and casus belli, justification and pretext for military actions against Iran's military and nuclear installations inside Iran (which in turn will likely help provide a regime change).
Quad erat faciendum.
WTF? It seems like we’re wasting a lot of time and lives trying to convince the idiotic left that Iran deserves to burn. Bomb them already.
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