Posted on 11/08/2004 8:39:55 AM PST by epluribus_2
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - More than 4,000 U.S. Marines and Army troops punched their way into northeastern Fallujah on Monday, kicking off a massive assault dubbed Operation Phantom Fury that seeks to put an end to half a year of insurgent control of the Sunni Muslim city.
The prelude to the assault on the Askari neighborhood was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that rose to a crescendo by Monday evening, with U.S. strike jets dropping bombs around the clock and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.
Meanwhile, insurgents in Baghdad and nearby Ramadi tried to keep up the pressure on the coalition forces with new attacks, including one on a Catholic church in the capital.
Earlier Monday U.S. troops had fought their way into the city's western outskirts, seizing two bridges over the Euphrates River and helping Iraqi soldiers take the city's main hospital in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Recall during the March on Baghdad & the first month or so of war, many of us had no sleep.. watching for whatever would be next. Feel some deja vu...
Allawi should have actually _itch slapped Annan into a state of reality.
The following song, Frontline, was written by the founding member of the band who was recently discharged from military service having served his time. His father is still in the Middle East through 2005. The lyrical content of this song seems aptly fit for this action being taken by our troops. He wrote this song as a tribute of sorts to his brothers in service and as a rally cry for all Christians so I guess I could say it has double meaning. In either case, they rock and if you like that sort of music they are worth taking a look at.
http://www.pillarmusic.com
Frontline
It’s not like I’m walking alone into the valley of the shadow of death
Stand beside one another, ‘cause it ain’t over yet
I’d be willing to bet that if we don’t back down
You and I w
ill be the ones that are holding the Crown in the end When it’s over, we can say, “Well done”
But not yet, ‘cause it’s only begun
So, pick up, and follow me, we’re the only ones
To fight this thing, until we’ve won
We drive on and don’t look back
It doesn’t mean we can’t learn from our past
All the things that we mighta done wrong
We could’ve been doing this all along
Everybody, with your fists raised high
Let me hear your battle cry tonight
Stand beside, or step aside
We’re on the frontline
And we’ll be carrying on, until the day it doesn’t matter anymore
Step aside, you forgot what this is for
We fight to live, we live to fight
And tonight, you’ll hear my battle cry
We live our lives on the frontlines
We’re not afraid of the fast times
These days have opened up my eyes
And now, I see where the threat lies
We’ve got to lead the way
Our troops look very tough brave and determined.Thats a must see thread.
The US media always reading it wrong..
You think that that is something.
Saudi Al-Majd TV Host Hisham Khreisat: Ramadan, the Month of Jihad
10/17/2004 Clip No. 290
The following are excerpts from a monologue by Al-Majd TV host Hisham Khreisat on Ramadan:
Hisham Khereisat: This great month (of Ramadan) is a month of fasting, a month of blessings and victory, a month of Jihad and martyrdom. Dear viewers, the battles that took place in Ramadan were decisive ones, which we have discussed and perhaps will discuss further in future programs.
The month of Ramadan has always been the month of Jihad since the Great Battle of Badr in the time of the Prophet and to this day. They have always been battles of victory and liberation. The most decisive battles in the life of the nation were always in Ramadan.
Ramadan isn't a month of negligence, sloth, helplessness, submission and retreat, but it is a month of heroism, work, effort, and sacrifice, a month of martyrdom and martyrs. Thus we have been taught by history, by the Koran, and by this living nation who, Allah willing, will remain alive thanks to the blood of its martyrs, the sweat of its prisoners, the blood of its wounded, and the sacrifice of its sons in the course of time.
I think it may have been hard for him to leave without being caught. In any case shoot any women with beards.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1272716/posts
Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle
Sadr's men to stand for election in Iraq poll
Some followers of radical Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr will run in Iraq's parliamentary elections scheduled for January as part of an alliance of Shia parties, representatives of the movement said yesterday.
The declaration by Sadr officials coincided with an announcement by representatives of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the senior Iraqi cleric sponsoring the list, that agreement had been reached among Iraq's main Shia parties on how to divide up the seats.
"We achieved a fair share of the list. We will participate in the elections," said Mahmoud al-Sudany, a Sadr spokesman in Sadr City, the suburb of north-east Baghdad where the movement commands the loyalty of voters estimated to run into the hundreds of thousands.
Fallujah assault not justified: Sadr
Iran supporting al-Qaida terror
U.S. military, intelligence services now certain Tehran backing Iraq Islamists tied to bin LadenAccording to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, al-Qaida-linked terrorists have been observed moving supplies and new recruits from Iran to Iraq, say the sources. While it has long been known Iran was backing the uprising led by Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern Shiite region of Iraq, the Iranian ties to Sunni Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist leader who has pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, has not been certain.
Car bomb wounds security chief of Iraq's Kufa
06 Nov 2004 10:06:17 GMT Source: Reuters
KUFA, Iraq, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion wounded the head of security in the Shi'ite Muslim shrine town of Kufa in southern Iraq on Saturday, witnesses said.
They said several people were wounded when the bomb went off as a convoy carrying the security chief, Abdel-Aal al-Kufi, passed through the town, 150 km (94 miles) south of Baghdad.
Kufa has been a stronghold for anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose followers left the town in August after he agreed to end a revolt that led to weeks of heavy fighting with U.S.-led troops there and in nearby Najaf.
Iraqi security forces later banned Sadr followers from praying in Kufa, where the young cleric once preached weekly.
The stupid SOBs love it.
Nov 9 2004
Headline: Thousands of troops sweep into Fallujah to start bloody showdown with *fanatics*
By Jim Krane
(excerpted) Zarqawi's *thugs* kidnapped and beheaded British engineer Ken Bigley. They also claimed responsibility for the suicide car bomb last week which killed three Black Watch soldiers.
The asterisks are mine for emphasis. Thugs and Fanatics? Tell it like it is! This article is from the UK but check his wording out. Not "insurgents" or some other BS.
You dont see this often when hunting articles.
There is hope for the UK.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14850282%26method=full%26siteid=89488%26headline=phantom%2dfury%2dunleashed-name_page.html
Meanwhile the lefties came out with half a dozen negative Fallujah articles not even worthy of kindling.
--Boot Hill
Most of them are a pathetic bunch of over-paid dolts.
So was it decided Al Sadr would not be tried for murder afterall, and instead be given a voice in Iraqs politics?
If so, seeing is believing. He has an unhill climb.
I wonder where he is, maybe he will be involved in an accident.
How many of us stayed up that first night watching them race across the desert. Nothing to see in any direction except empty desert?
Where do you get camo pajamas?
________________________________________
Here
http://www.wintersilks.com/product.asp?BRANCH=0~&PAGE=&ID=441&KEY=687&sc=WWEBSH04
Kudos to these brave Iraqis for their 2 victories today:
(excerpt)
"Despite the desertions, Iraq's nascent security forces celebrated two apparent victories Monday. In the flash-point town of Iskandariyah, a deadly zone south of Baghdad, Iraqi police disguised as civilians ambushed a rebel checkpoint and killed 25 insurgents, according to Iraqi government officials.
A Babylon province intelligence officer who wouldn't give his name for security reasons told Knight Ridder that 60 officers stormed the checkpoints and sustained no casualties. The all-Iraqi operation came after a string of large-scale attacks on Iraqi security personnel throughout the country.
"They were criminal, armed terrorists and we destroyed them all," the officer said.
The second success was part of the initial push into Fallujah late Sunday night. Men described as elite Iraqi commandos backed by U.S. troops stormed across a bridge and took over Fallujah's main hospital amid enemy fire, according to a news release from the Iraqi government.
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/world/10130991.htm
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