Iraqi Villagers Chase Off Assailants Laying Mines

Arab Times ^ | 8-16-03 | AFP

[Ex-Dem]

BAQUBA, Iraq, (AFP) - Villagers in northeastern Iraq chased off four unknown assailants overnight who were laying mines at the scene of a previous blast that injured a US soldier, witnesses said Sunday. According to Ali al-Samarrai, a resident of Al-Abara four kilometres (two-and-a-half miles) north of Baaquba, village guards saw a car pull up with one man inside, another two arrive by bicycle and a fourth on foot at 2 am (2200 GMT Saturday.

The group tried to lay mines at the same spot where the US soldier had been injured in a blast early Saturday. The guards fired in the direction of the men who fled to surrounding orchards, pursued by a US helicopter.

The Baquba region, 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad, is home to both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and has been a regular battleground between US troops and guerrilla insurgents believed to be linked to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

[blam]

"pursued by a US helicopter. "

The best part of this story.

[Gabrielle Reilly]

read later.

[Aaron0617]

Good news bump.

Thanks Iraqi villagers.

[MJY1288]

Here is another "Good News" story :-)

[AdamSelene235]

Give them dividend paying shares in Iraqi oil companies and pipeline saboteurs will start dying of high speed lead poisioning.

[Ex-Dem]

Indeed.

[doug from upland]

A substantial reward needs to be immediately given to the village.

[2111USMC]

"pursued by a US helicopter. " "The best part of this story."

Sorry to disagree with you blam, but the best part of this story would be that they were cut to shreds by machine gun fire from a US helicopter.

JMHO :)

[cibco]

BTTT

[mtbopfuyn]

But they'll be back at it again tomorrow. They never learn.

[BerniesFriend]

Great news..only..don't chase them...KILL THEM!!!!!!!!!!!

[BCrago66]

The Arab New is a peculiar institution: Usually it carries the standard Abab anti-Israel, anti-American crap, but occasional articles like this one actually report interesting news.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Great story. The Iraqi people have been really angry at those causing trouble for our troops. The press needs to report these stories.

Anti-American terrorist wannabes crossing into Iraq, thinking their services will be welcomed by the Iraqi people are finding just the opposite.

One funny story is hidden in a CENTCOM security report from April or May - a man who robbed an Iraqi business was stopped, tied up, tossed in a car trunk and taken by the Iraqi people to our troops.

Iraqis taking care of their own bad guys, and/or turning them in to us, is far more common than the attacks by Iraqis ON our troops.

[Cyber Liberty]

Benjamin Netanyahu wrote that the terrorists can only survive where there is a pool they can swim within. Where there is a sympathetic pool of people, the terrorist can melt into the pool. There may not be much of a pool to swim in, in Iraq.

[livius]

The press needs to report these stories.

They sure do. (They won't, of course.) But things like this encourage everybody all around: Americans in general, military folks in particular, and decent Iraqis who just want to have a good life and be part of the modern world.

[Spruce]

[Seydlitz]

Benjamin Netnayahu wrote that terrorists can only survive where there is a pool they can swim within.

If Netanyahu wrote this, then he was merely paraphrasing Mao. The classic statement on guerilla warfare is Mao's contention that the guerilla is a fish and the people are the ocean in which he swims.

[Cyber Liberty]

It is possible. I don't have the title of Bebe's book handy, but he did not attribute the concept to Mao. I don't know if it's a good comparison, other than the fact that both are talking about fish.