Free Republic

The lightning advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and its allies from Mosul to the outskirts of Samarra, as well as its capture of several towns in eastern Diyala, all over the course of several days, appears to be part of a greater strategy to surround the capital of Baghdad before laying siege to it. This plan, to take over the "belt" region outside of Baghdad and cut off the capital, appears to be the same strategy used by the ISIS' predecessor back in 2006. The 2006 plan, which was drawn up by the Islamic State...

Iraqis have faced down terrorists, elected a constitutional assembly and approved a constitution. On Wednesday, they elected a permanent national government. I dipped my finger in purple ink to show my solidarity with liberty-seeking Iraqis and with our troops for risking their lives on the front lines of freedom. Together with Iraqi forces, they put to shame those who said it couldn’t be done. More than 15 million Iraqis voting for a parliament sure sounds like democracy to me. We are making progress in Iraq. The Iraqis believe this too. Further, they are doing their part: rebuilding their country, strengthening...

AD DWAR, Iraq, Dec. 20 — Before his capture in a coffinlike underground bunker outside this bleak town, Saddam Hussein spent months moving furtively among 20 or 30 nondescript safe houses in the Sunni Muslim heartland, where a tightknit network of family and clan sheltered him and brought him news from across American-dominated Iraq, American military officials say. With that, he used a word-of-mouth system of couriers to carry his instructions back to a cluster of Baathist cells that helped him guide the anticoalition insurgency, the Americans say. The 66-year-old Mr. Hussein traveled on foot, by small boat along the...

On the afternoon of April 4, Army Lt. Col. Eric Schwartz was summoned to a command tent pitched in a dusty field 11 miles south of Baghdad. His brigade commander, Col. David Perkins, looked up from a map and told Schwartz he had a mission for him. "At first light tomorrow," Perkins said, "I want you to attack into Baghdad." Schwartz felt disoriented. He had just spent several hours in a tank, leading his armored battalion on an operation that had destroyed dozens of Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles 20 miles south. A hot shard of exploding tank had burned...

The UAE's leading semi official daily newspaper Alittihad reported today that a US Governemnt delegation has arrived in Amman, Jordan yesterday on its way to Baghdad for negioations with the Iraq Government about an immmediate ceasefire.