Heavy Fighting in AR Ramadi Iraq~~~ Sadr's fighters have attacked US Forces.

Fox News

[debg]

"Number 1, We have enemies of ours that are now hiding in mosques for protection and because of our "politically correct" sensitivities, we are impotent to do anything about it."

Interesting poll from CNN (whodathunk!):

[Dog]

Thanks for the laugh..

[OXENinFLA]

Q; I haven't seen details on the other NATO countries that are currently in Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of recruiting and retention. Do you --

SEC.-GEN. DE HOOP SCHEFFER: No, the only thing I can say in answer to your question, of course, is that this is not, as such, NATO operation, but 17 out of 26 nations have forces on the ground and NATO's role is supporting the Polish lead of the multinational division. The only thing I can say is that whenever that will be necessary, of course, the NATO allies on the ground as individual nations will do their job, as I've -- you have seen and I've seen Italian soldiers being involved in certain operations. We follow that closely, of course, and we go on -- NATO will go on in doing what it's doing, and that's support the Polish division leadership of the multinational division.

[DCPatriot]

something is up if he is starting to talk about "dialogue"

Pretty hard to "talk" with your head stuck on a pike.

[BushMeister]

Yes, thanks for reminding me of the Zarkawi letter. I have read it in full several times. I think his main initial goal was civil war between Sunnis and Shia. If they both turn on us in a big way, it might be worse even than what Zarkawi was after.

Yes, it's still too soon to say that the sky is falling. And one silver lining is that we still have some troops in Iraq that are due to be rotated out that haven't left yet. Sucks for them, of course, but they might be retained, in part.

[Types_with_Fist]

I know we're hearing twelve Marines, but I also keep hearing the phrases "Significant US Casualties," and "Heavy US Casualties." 12 Marines is a horrible loss but it doesn't sound like we've heard the worst of this yet. My question is if the phrases "significant" and "heavy" are coming from anyone in the government.

[MEG33]

The price is high and God willing,we will pay it with the blood of our precious sons and our deficit spending.God bless our allies who are willing to contribute.

May we all never have to pay too high a price for the pacifism,anti Americanism and indifference of those who stand aside..

[jwalsh07]

Flashback time:

"The Wall Street Journal published an interview with Bui Tin who served on the General Staff of the North Vietnam Army and received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. During the interview Mr. Tin was asked if the American antiwar movement was important to Hanoi's victory. Mr. Tin responded "It was essential to our strategy", referring to the war being fought on two fronts, the Vietnam battlefield and back home in America through the antiwar movement on college campuses and in the city streets. He further stated the North Vietnamese leadership listened to the American evening news broadcasts "to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement." Visits to Hanoi made by persons such as Jane Fonda, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and various church ministers "gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses." Mr. Tin surmised, "America lost because of its democracy; through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win." Mr. Tin further advised that General Vo Nguyen Giap (Commanding General of the North Vietnam Army) had advised him the 1968 Tet Offensive had been a defeat."

Does nybody here think that the jihadists are ignorant of history?

[BushMeister]

I would add, though, regarding the Zarkawi letter, that we tend to focus too much on Al Qaeda sometimes. The Sunnis and Shia, and even the Kurds, have interests of their own that don't necessarily dovetail with what Al Qaeda wants.

[netmilsmom]

>>NATO's role is supporting the Polish lead of the multinational division>>

God Bless the Poles!

[mitchbert]

Debka has a record of jumping on rumors, but at the same time if issues are close to home for them in Israel they're record isn't bad. Often we've seen stuff that seemed utterly implausible but came to fruition 2 or 3 weeks later. At the same time, we've seen many examples where they were just flat out wrong.

We stay skeptical, but also aware that sometimes they do get things right before anyone else. Just being prudent, I guess ;-)

[Eurotwit]

Do you have a link?

I would like to keep that piece for future reference...

[OXENinFLA]

There's quite a bit of info in that RUMMY - NATO Presser.


It sounds like NATO will be getting more heavily involved.

[jwalsh07]

LINK.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Fox is now reporting that the attackers at Ramadi may have been former Saddam military!!!

[JustAnAmerican]

"Just as well, there was a poll in Stars and Stripes a few months ago that showed that there wasn't strong support in the rank and file for Bush, at that point they weren't going to vote overwhelmingly for him.

It really doesn't matter who they vote for, the point is their Vote better count or there will be an awful lot of angry folks ready to start lynching Politicians.

[prairiebreeze]

Bret Baer reporting that the Pentagon thinks that many of the enemy in the theater are Baathists, old Republican Guard.

He also confirms that wave after wave of attacks by the enemy did take our guys by surprise.

Prairie

[BushMeister]

Yes, I'm fully aware of that quote, and the effect of the anti-war movement on the conduct of the Vietnam War.

Some of those 20 wounded Marines in Ramadi are "critical" says Bret on FOX News, for those who are cubicle bound. Number of KIA might rise.

It's very frustrating that we don't even know for sure who attacked us in "wave after wave of attacks" in Ramadi.

Mort Kondracke on FOX says "expert" told him that Army handover to Marines in Ramadi and "kindler, gentler" attitude might have encouraged the perps to attack us. Hard to believe.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Fred Barnes is saying Mort is all wrong!