Wave of Bombings Hit's Bagdhad

[Nickdfresh]

Is this MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

Bombings kill at least 54 in Iraqi cities
U.S. fights uniformed insurgents near Syrian border

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Posted: 5:50 AM EDT (0950 GMT)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/meast/05/11/iraq.main/story.charred.car.jpg
U.S. soldiers stand guard near a car left charred by a bomb Wednesday in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/11/iraq.main/index.html)) -- At least 54 Iraqis were killed and another 96 wounded Wednesday in six separate bombings -- including a suicide attack by a man with explosives hidden under his clothing that killed 20 civilians lined up to join the Iraqi Army, Iraqi officials said.

That attack -- in the town of Hawija, west of Kirkuk and about 130 miles north of Baghdad -- also wounded 30 Iraqis, according to Iraqi Army Lt. Col. Khalil al-Zawbai.

A car bombing in Tikrit -- the hometown of Saddam Hussein -- killed 30 Iraqis and wounded another 40, Iraqi officials said. That explosion happened at 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. EDT) at a busy intersection, near where a crowd of Iraqi workers gather each morning to be picked up for day labor, Tikrit officials said.

There were three car bombings in Baghdad, including an attack outside a police station in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Dora that killed three Iraqis and wounded eight -- some police officers -- and a car bombing in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad that wounded three Iraqis, police said.

A third Baghdad car bomb exploded at about 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EDT) near an emergency police patrol at Jordan Square in the Yarmuk area of western Baghdad, police said. A doctor at the hospital where the casualties were taken said one person was killed and 11 were wounded, including four police officers.

A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded in Baghdad at 8 a.m. (midnight EDT), wounding four Iraqis, police said. It was not immediately known if there were any American casualties.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops battling insurgents near Iraq's border with Syria have encountered uniformed fighters whose gear may indicate a better-trained opposition than that found in other areas, a U.S. general has said.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that some of the fighters were said to be wearing protective vests.

The American offensive began over the weekend against insurgents thought to be taking refuge and planning attacks in towns along the porous border region.

By Monday, the push had left at least 100 insurgents and three Marines dead, the U.S. military said.

On Tuesday, Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, the governor of Anbar province, was kidnapped by people demanding that U.S. forces cease operations in the area, Anbar tribal sources said.

"There are reports that these people are in uniforms, in some cases are wearing protective vests, and there's some suspicion that their training exceeds that of what we have seen with other engagements further east," Conway said.

When asked further about the significance of the uniforms, Conway downplayed it, telling reporters at a Pentagon briefing that it was not the first time U.S. troops have seen uniformed insurgents.

"We have seen it in some instances," Conway said. "It's spotty."

"Let me make sure it's understood that this is not a single entity that is all in the same uniform," he said. "We're seeing some uniforms on some of the fighters."

When pressed, the general said the insurgents would not have additional legal rights under the Geneva Conventions if captured.

"It is not an organized army per se," Conway said.

"What I expressed to you was one line out of one report that talked about some insurgents wearing uniforms," he said.

Last month, insurgents dressed in Iraqi military uniforms killed an Iraqi general, Lt. Gen. Adnan Qaragholi, and his son at the general's home in southern Baghdad. (Full story)
Marines lead offensive

In the offensive along the Syrian border Tuesday, Marines crossed from the southern banks of the Euphrates River into the northern Jazira Desert "in pursuit of the enemy," the U.S. military said.

They are part of about 1,000 troops involved in the operation, the military said.

Insurgents, including at least two suicide car bombers, attacked U.S. forces in Qaim about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of the Syrian border, the military said in a news release.


Ten insurgents were captured and no Marines were killed, the statement said.

Troops from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines are trying to break down the network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said Monday. Coalition and Marine Corps aircraft are also participating.

Al-Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent in Iraq, is thought to be responsible for many of the bombings in Iraq and has declared himself an ally of Osama bin Laden.

"The region, a known smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters, is also used as a staging area where foreign fighters receive weapons and equipment for their attacks in the more populated key cities," the U.S. military said.

James Janega, a Chicago Tribune reporter embedded with the Marines, said troops had battled about 300 insurgents in and around the town of Ubaydi.

Janega said U.S. forces suspect residents of nearby towns signaled the approach of an armored column by flicking their house lights on and off.

The Marines had not intended to make Ubaydi part of the operation but fought there most of Sunday and into Monday, he said.

"Their goal is to push through this region. It's about nine miles wide. They've pushed through about half of it," Janega said.

The operation is reminiscent of the siege of Falluja in November and another offensive along the Euphrates in February.

Three other U.S. Marines died Monday in combat in eastern Anbar province, the U.S. military said. Those incidents don't appear to be related to the offensive in the western part of the large province.

Two of the Marines were killed by an indirect attack during combat in Qarma, about 30 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A homemade bomb killed the other Marine in Nasser Wa Salaam, just west of Baghdad, near Abu Ghraib prison.

The latest deaths brought the number of American troops killed in the war to 1,606, according to U.S. military reports.
Other developments

# The U.S. Senate unanimously approved an $82 billion spending package Tuesday evening to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other projects, including border control and tsunami relief. President Bush said he would sign the bill. (Full story)

# The deadline set by Iraqi militants holding Australian hostage Douglas Wood has passed, with no news on his fate. (Full story)

# Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday his government is working "to confirm what happened" to a Japanese citizen reportedly taken hostage when insurgents attacked a convoy Sunday in northwestern Iraq. Western security sources said there were 20 people in the convoy of a London-based security company and that 13 are missing. (Full story)

CNN's Kevin Flower, Kianne Sadeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

[Sarge's Little Helper]

Is this MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

Bombings kill at least 54 in Iraqi cities
U.S. fights uniformed insurgents near Syrian border

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Posted: 5:50 AM EDT (0950 GMT)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/meast/05/11/iraq.main/story.charred.car.jpg
U.S. soldiers stand guard near a car left charred by a bomb Wednesday in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/11/iraq.main/index.html)) -- At least 54 Iraqis were killed and another 96 wounded Wednesday in six separate bombings -- including a suicide attack by a man with explosives hidden under his clothing that killed 20 civilians lined up to join the Iraqi Army, Iraqi officials said.

That attack -- in the town of Hawija, west of Kirkuk and about 130 miles north of Baghdad -- also wounded 30 Iraqis, according to Iraqi Army Lt. Col. Khalil al-Zawbai.

A car bombing in Tikrit -- the hometown of Saddam Hussein -- killed 30 Iraqis and wounded another 40, Iraqi officials said. That explosion happened at 6:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. EDT) at a busy intersection, near where a crowd of Iraqi workers gather each morning to be picked up for day labor, Tikrit officials said.

There were three car bombings in Baghdad, including an attack outside a police station in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of al-Dora that killed three Iraqis and wounded eight -- some police officers -- and a car bombing in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad that wounded three Iraqis, police said.

A third Baghdad car bomb exploded at about 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EDT) near an emergency police patrol at Jordan Square in the Yarmuk area of western Baghdad, police said. A doctor at the hospital where the casualties were taken said one person was killed and 11 were wounded, including four police officers.

A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded in Baghdad at 8 a.m. (midnight EDT), wounding four Iraqis, police said. It was not immediately known if there were any American casualties.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops battling insurgents near Iraq's border with Syria have encountered uniformed fighters whose gear may indicate a better-trained opposition than that found in other areas, a U.S. general has said.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that some of the fighters were said to be wearing protective vests.

The American offensive began over the weekend against insurgents thought to be taking refuge and planning attacks in towns along the porous border region.

By Monday, the push had left at least 100 insurgents and three Marines dead, the U.S. military said.

On Tuesday, Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, the governor of Anbar province, was kidnapped by people demanding that U.S. forces cease operations in the area, Anbar tribal sources said.

"There are reports that these people are in uniforms, in some cases are wearing protective vests, and there's some suspicion that their training exceeds that of what we have seen with other engagements further east," Conway said.

When asked further about the significance of the uniforms, Conway downplayed it, telling reporters at a Pentagon briefing that it was not the first time U.S. troops have seen uniformed insurgents.

"We have seen it in some instances," Conway said. "It's spotty."

"Let me make sure it's understood that this is not a single entity that is all in the same uniform," he said. "We're seeing some uniforms on some of the fighters."

When pressed, the general said the insurgents would not have additional legal rights under the Geneva Conventions if captured.

"It is not an organized army per se," Conway said.

"What I expressed to you was one line out of one report that talked about some insurgents wearing uniforms," he said.

Last month, insurgents dressed in Iraqi military uniforms killed an Iraqi general, Lt. Gen. Adnan Qaragholi, and his son at the general's home in southern Baghdad. (Full story)
Marines lead offensive

In the offensive along the Syrian border Tuesday, Marines crossed from the southern banks of the Euphrates River into the northern Jazira Desert "in pursuit of the enemy," the U.S. military said.

They are part of about 1,000 troops involved in the operation, the military said.

Insurgents, including at least two suicide car bombers, attacked U.S. forces in Qaim about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of the Syrian border, the military said in a news release.

Ten insurgents were captured and no Marines were killed, the statement said.

Troops from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines are trying to break down the network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said Monday. Coalition and Marine Corps aircraft are also participating.

Al-Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent in Iraq, is thought to be responsible for many of the bombings in Iraq and has declared himself an ally of Osama bin Laden.

"The region, a known smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters, is also used as a staging area where foreign fighters receive weapons and equipment for their attacks in the more populated key cities," the U.S. military said.

James Janega, a Chicago Tribune reporter embedded with the Marines, said troops had battled about 300 insurgents in and around the town of Ubaydi.

Janega said U.S. forces suspect residents of nearby towns signaled the approach of an armored column by flicking their house lights on and off.

The Marines had not intended to make Ubaydi part of the operation but fought there most of Sunday and into Monday, he said.

"Their goal is to push through this region. It's about nine miles wide. They've pushed through about half of it," Janega said.

The operation is reminiscent of the siege of Falluja in November and another offensive along the Euphrates in February.

Three other U.S. Marines died Monday in combat in eastern Anbar province, the U.S. military said. Those incidents don't appear to be related to the offensive in the western part of the large province.

Two of the Marines were killed by an indirect attack during combat in Qarma, about 30 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A homemade bomb killed the other Marine in Nasser Wa Salaam, just west of Baghdad, near Abu Ghraib prison.

The latest deaths brought the number of American troops killed in the war to 1,606, according to U.S. military reports.
Other developments

# The U.S. Senate unanimously approved an $82 billion spending package Tuesday evening to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other projects, including border control and tsunami relief. President Bush said he would sign the bill. (Full story)

# The deadline set by Iraqi militants holding Australian hostage Douglas Wood has passed, with no news on his fate. (Full story)

# Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday his government is working "to confirm what happened" to a Japanese citizen reportedly taken hostage when insurgents attacked a convoy Sunday in northwestern Iraq. Western security sources said there were 20 people in the convoy of a London-based security company and that 13 are missing. (Full story)

CNN's Kevin Flower, Kianne Sadeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

[Nickdfresh]

Actually I think SARGE IS PAYING ATTENTION fuckheads!

[DrMaddVibe]

Which is more than you.

[DrMaddVibe]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156166,00.html

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Using car bombs and a man with explosives strapped to his body, insurgents launched five attacks in northern and central Iraq on Wednesday, killing more than 60 people in three cities, police said.

The attacks occurred as hundreds of U.S. Marines pushed through a lawless region of western Iraq near the Syrian border in a military offensive aimed at supporters of the country's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search).

On Tuesday, the more than 1,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in Operation Matador battled past well-armed militants who fought from basements, rooftops and sandbag bunkers.

Insurgents also kidnapped the region's provincial governor as a bargaining chip.

As many as 100 insurgents were killed in the first 48 hours of the offensive, which began late Saturday night, as U.S. troops cleared villages along the meandering Euphrates River (search), then crossed in rafts and on a pontoon bridge, the U.S. command said.

Many of the dead remained trapped under rubble after attack planes and helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts.

At least three Marines were reported killed and 20 wounded during the first three days of the offensive — the biggest U.S. operation since Fallujah (search) was taken from extremists six months ago.

The operation was launched after U.S. intelligence showed al-Zarqawi followers had taken refuge in the remote desert region — a haven for smugglers and insurgent suppliers. The fighters were believed to have fled to the rural parts of Anbar Province after losses in Iraqi cities.

In one battle in Obeidi (search), an Iraqi town near the Syrian border, foreign fighters laid down in a narrow crawl space under a one-story house and fired their machine guns up through the concrete floor, according to a Washington Post journalist embedded with the U.S. Marines.

As Marines tried to rescue a fallen comrade, the insurgent gunfire repeatedly drove them back, the reporter said. In the end, it took five Marine assaults, grenades, a tank, a rocket launcher and bombs dropped by a U.S. warplane to kill the insurgents by Monday morning, the reporter said.

The Marines got their fallen man, suffering one more dead and at least five wounded in the process, the journalist said in an article in Wednesday's Washington Post.

"They came here to die," it quoted Sgt. Chuck Hurley, one of the U.S. soldiers, as saying. "They were willing to stay in place and die with no hope. All they wanted was to take us with them."

Hundreds of miles to the east, insurgents killed 61 people and wounded 124 in five separate bombings in Hawija, Tikrit (search) and Baghdad.

In Hawija, a small city 150 miles north of Baghdad, a man with explosives under his clothes set them off while in a line of about 150 men waiting outside a police and army recruitment center, killing 30 people and wounding 35, said police Maj. Sarhad Qadir.

"I was standing near the center and all of a sudden it turned into a scene of dead bodies and pools of blood," said police Sgt. Khalaf Abbas. "Windows were blown out in nearby houses, leaving the street covered by glass."

In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, a homicide car bomb exploded in a small market near a police station, killing at least 27 people and wounding 75, said police Capt. Hakim al-Azawi and Nadim Mawloud, an official at Tikrit General Hospital.

When heavy security in the area prevented the attacker from reaching the police station, he swerved into a crowd of people at the market, many of them day laborers who had traveled to Tikrit from poor areas to work local construction sites, police said.

In Baghdad, three car bombs exploded Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 14, police said.

The worst blast occurred in the southern neighborhood of Dora near a police station, killing three civilians and wounding nine, said police Col. Salam Alak.

In Yarmouk, a neighborhood in western Baghdad, a suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in Jordan Square, killing a civilian and wounding three policeman, said police Lt. Col. Kadhim Abbas.

In New Baghdad, an eastern area of the capital, a car bomb exploded near al-Darweesh bakery about 100 yards from a police patrol, wounding two civilians and damaging civilian cars parked nearby, said police Lt. Col. Ahmed Aboud.

After intense fighting with militants entrenched on the south bank of the Euphrates River early in Operation Matador (search), Marines saw only light resistance Tuesday and advanced through sparsely populated settlements along a 12-mile stretch to the border with Syria, according to a Chicago Tribune reporter embedded with the assault.

Gunmen kidnapped Anbar's governor Tuesday morning and told his family he would be released only when U.S. forces withdrew from Qaim (search), the town 200 miles west of Baghdad where the offensive began late Saturday.

Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi (search), his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press.

Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said: "We don't respond to insurgent or terrorist demands."

At the Pentagon, Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday that the assault in the northern Jazirah Desert (search) had run into well-equipped and trained fighters.

"There are reports that these people are in uniforms, in some cases are wearing protective vests, and there's some suspicion that their training exceeds what we have seen with other engagements further east," he said.

Marine commanders in the field told The Chicago Tribune that militants put up an unexpectedly intense fight in villages dotting the Euphrates as it snakes across the desert toward the Syrian border.

As troops erected a pontoon bridge Sunday, mortar fire began to fall on them from the nearby town of Obeidi, 200 miles west of Baghdad, the Tribune said.

Navy and Marine F/A-18 Hornet strike jets strafed the tree line and Marine Cobra attack helicopters fired rockets into insurgent hideouts, the Tribune said.

When Marines entered the town Sunday, they found insurgents prepared for battle. Sandbag bunkers stood in front of some houses, and other gunmen fired from rooftops and balconies, according to a Los Angeles Times reporter also embedded with the troops. As fighting continued into Monday, the insurgents used boats to ferry weapons across the river.

At one point, the paper said, a Marine walked into a house and a fighter hiding in the basement fired through a floor grate, killing him. Another Marine suffered shrapnel wounds when an insurgent threw a grenade through the window of a house where he was retrieving a wounded comrade, the Times said.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,156166,00.html

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Using car bombs and a man with explosives strapped to his body, insurgents launched five attacks in northern and central Iraq on Wednesday, killing more than 60 people in three cities, police said.

The attacks occurred as hundreds of U.S. Marines pushed through a lawless region of western Iraq near the Syrian border in a military offensive aimed at supporters of the country's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search).

On Tuesday, the more than 1,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in Operation Matador battled past well-armed militants who fought from basements, rooftops and sandbag bunkers.

Insurgents also kidnapped the region's provincial governor as a bargaining chip.

As many as 100 insurgents were killed in the first 48 hours of the offensive, which began late Saturday night, as U.S. troops cleared villages along the meandering Euphrates River (search), then crossed in rafts and on a pontoon bridge, the U.S. command said.

Many of the dead remained trapped under rubble after attack planes and helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts.

At least three Marines were reported killed and 20 wounded during the first three days of the offensive — the biggest U.S. operation since Fallujah (search) was taken from extremists six months ago.

The operation was launched after U.S. intelligence showed al-Zarqawi followers had taken refuge in the remote desert region — a haven for smugglers and insurgent suppliers. The fighters were believed to have fled to the rural parts of Anbar Province after losses in Iraqi cities.

In one battle in Obeidi (search), an Iraqi town near the Syrian border, foreign fighters laid down in a narrow crawl space under a one-story house and fired their machine guns up through the concrete floor, according to a Washington Post journalist embedded with the U.S. Marines.

As Marines tried to rescue a fallen comrade, the insurgent gunfire repeatedly drove them back, the reporter said. In the end, it took five Marine assaults, grenades, a tank, a rocket launcher and bombs dropped by a U.S. warplane to kill the insurgents by Monday morning, the reporter said.

The Marines got their fallen man, suffering one more dead and at least five wounded in the process, the journalist said in an article in Wednesday's Washington Post.

"They came here to die," it quoted Sgt. Chuck Hurley, one of the U.S. soldiers, as saying. "They were willing to stay in place and die with no hope. All they wanted was to take us with them."

Hundreds of miles to the east, insurgents killed 61 people and wounded 124 in five separate bombings in Hawija, Tikrit (search) and Baghdad.

In Hawija, a small city 150 miles north of Baghdad, a man with explosives under his clothes set them off while in a line of about 150 men waiting outside a police and army recruitment center, killing 30 people and wounding 35, said police Maj. Sarhad Qadir.

"I was standing near the center and all of a sudden it turned into a scene of dead bodies and pools of blood," said police Sgt. Khalaf Abbas. "Windows were blown out in nearby houses, leaving the street covered by glass."

In Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, a homicide car bomb exploded in a small market near a police station, killing at least 27 people and wounding 75, said police Capt. Hakim al-Azawi and Nadim Mawloud, an official at Tikrit General Hospital.

When heavy security in the area prevented the attacker from reaching the police station, he swerved into a crowd of people at the market, many of them day laborers who had traveled to Tikrit from poor areas to work local construction sites, police said.

In Baghdad, three car bombs exploded Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 14, police said.

The worst blast occurred in the southern neighborhood of Dora near a police station, killing three civilians and wounding nine, said police Col. Salam Alak.

In Yarmouk, a neighborhood in western Baghdad, a suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in Jordan Square, killing a civilian and wounding three policeman, said police Lt. Col. Kadhim Abbas.

In New Baghdad, an eastern area of the capital, a car bomb exploded near al-Darweesh bakery about 100 yards from a police patrol, wounding two civilians and damaging civilian cars parked nearby, said police Lt. Col. Ahmed Aboud.

After intense fighting with militants entrenched on the south bank of the Euphrates River early in Operation Matador (search), Marines saw only light resistance Tuesday and advanced through sparsely populated settlements along a 12-mile stretch to the border with Syria, according to a Chicago Tribune reporter embedded with the assault.

Gunmen kidnapped Anbar's governor Tuesday morning and told his family he would be released only when U.S. forces withdrew from Qaim (search), the town 200 miles west of Baghdad where the offensive began late Saturday.

Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi (search), his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press.

Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said: "We don't respond to insurgent or terrorist demands."

At the Pentagon, Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday that the assault in the northern Jazirah Desert (search) had run into well-equipped and trained fighters.

"There are reports that these people are in uniforms, in some cases are wearing protective vests, and there's some suspicion that their training exceeds what we have seen with other engagements further east," he said.

Marine commanders in the field told The Chicago Tribune that militants put up an unexpectedly intense fight in villages dotting the Euphrates as it snakes across the desert toward the Syrian border.

As troops erected a pontoon bridge Sunday, mortar fire began to fall on them from the nearby town of Obeidi, 200 miles west of Baghdad, the Tribune said.

Navy and Marine F/A-18 Hornet strike jets strafed the tree line and Marine Cobra attack helicopters fired rockets into insurgent hideouts, the Tribune said.

When Marines entered the town Sunday, they found insurgents prepared for battle. Sandbag bunkers stood in front of some houses, and other gunmen fired from rooftops and balconies, according to a Los Angeles Times reporter also embedded with the troops. As fighting continued into Monday, the insurgents used boats to ferry weapons across the river.

At one point, the paper said, a Marine walked into a house and a fighter hiding in the basement fired through a floor grate, killing him. Another Marine suffered shrapnel wounds when an insurgent threw a grenade through the window of a house where he was retrieving a wounded comrade, the Times said. I´ll summarize for you;

US goons (oops, that´s servicemen) randomly slaughter dozens of male Iraqis and title them "insurgents" to give people at home the impression something´s being done!

[DrMaddVibe]

We don't need a summarization from a nazis goon like you.

We're capable enough of reading the articles, deciding if there's a political overtone to them and think critically about how it affects us.

Some will do, while others sit and mock.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
We don't need a summarization from a nazis goon like you.

Wow, what an original comeback!

Are you BigBlubberButt´s little brother?

[DrMaddVibe]

???

You're an idiot too!

[LoungeMachine]

Cheney
Perle
Wolfie
Rummy

They all drank the Chalabi kool-ade

Piece of Cake

Greeted as Liberators

They'll be parades!

2 years, and 2 months, and 1,600 dead, and 10k wounded later..................


Well kids, what have we learned?

[BITEYOASS]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Navy and Marine F/A-18 Hornet strike jets strafed the tree line and Marine Cobra attack helicopters fired rockets into insurgent hideouts, the Tribune said.



Cool! I'm glad to see my work finally make it to the press! I just hoped they fired all of there rounds, drop all of the LGB's and fired all the rockets I just built. Cause it's gonna be a bitch to disassemble all of those fuckin weapons. And the LALS II, that's a whole other challenge all together.

[Mishar_McLeud]

Originally posted by kentuckyklira
I´ll summarize for you;

US goons (oops, that´s servicemen) randomly slaughter dozens of male Iraqis and title them "insurgents" to give people at home the impression something´s being done!

Yes, those who kidnap civils and air their exicution are mellow Iraqi citizens :rolleyes:

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Mishar_McLeud
Yes, those who kidnap civils and air their exicution are mellow Iraqi citizens :rolleyes: I doubt those slaughtered are asked what they do in their spare time before they get murdered. And I doubt that those that actually kidnap and execute civilians walk around advertising the fact!

[Mishar_McLeud]

Originally posted by kentuckyklira
I doubt those slaughtered are asked what they do in their spare time before they get murdered. And I doubt that those that actually kidnap and execute civilians walk around advertising the fact!
You've probably missed my point, I was aiming at your assumption that US forces kill 'innocent' Iraqis who are unjustifiedly called 'insurgents'. I've just brought kidnappers as an example that they should be called even worse than that.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by Mishar_McLeud
You've probably missed my point, I was aiming at your assumption that US forces kill 'innocent' Iraqis who are unjustifiedly called 'insurgents'. I've just brought kidnappers as an example that they should be called even worse than that. We both have the good fortune of living in the free world,

therefore you are entitled to your opinion just as I am and I stand by mine!

[Mishar_McLeud]

Originally posted by kentuckyklira
We both have the good fortune of living in the free world,

therefore you are entitled to your opinion just as I am and I stand by mine!
There are two different things IMO, was it right to wage war against that country for no clear and sensible for a vast public reason, and what allied forces are trying to do now in order no keep at least some stability there. If US forces pull back now, Iraqi police will have to deal with people blowing up themselves with dozens of pounds of TNT in their trucks all on their own, and that would mean hundrets of more lifes loss. I don't forsee significan improvement in the region anytime soon, but you can't know what Iraqis themselves would say regarding America in the 20 years. Japan comes to mind first.

[Nickdfresh]

http://www.theonion.com/images/437/image_article2853_418x430.jpg

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Which is more than you.

Ditto!

May 12, 2005

An Unseen Enemy
Marines find themselves vulnerable as they search for insurgents in desert villages of remote western Iraq.

By Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer

The Marines of Kilo Company were on the fourth day of an offensive against insurgents in western Iraq, but they had seen little action Wednesday until a loud boom rocked this Euphrates River village, followed by the frantic screams of young troops.

They stopped their convoy and looked back to see an amphibious vehicle engulfed in flames. They knew that about 18 Marines from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, were in the vehicle, which had apparently struck a roadside bomb.

Within minutes, the vehicle's gas tanks exploded, setting off mortar shells, grenades, bars of C-4 plastic explosives and thousands of machine-gun rounds inside. Rockets randomly shot out of the vehicle. The explosives would crackle and thunder for the next hour.

Marines from Kilo, traveling 500 yards ahead of Lima, rushed to rescue their comrades trapped inside the burning wreck. A Times reporter traveling with Kilo Company followed them.

Some troops ran through thick, black smoke and pulled out wounded men, lining up some of them within feet of the fire.

Some of the wounded suffered third-degree burns. Seared flesh hung from their bodies. Most of the wounded had severe burns on their arms and faces. Others had shrapnel wounds. A 3-inch shard of metal protruded from one Marine's abdomen.

Marines who survived the blast said they believed that four troops died in the vehicle. Officials on the scene and in Baghdad declined to confirm the casualty toll.

Yup, here come the lies and "Siagon Press Conferences!;)

Lt. Sam McAmis, who commanded a Marine platoon in the operation, recounted trying to pull a wounded sergeant from the fire, but the man's ammunition pouch was stuck in the vehicle's hatch. McAmis said he yanked him out.

"When he came out, my hand was inside his leg, inside his muscle," he said.



Another wounded man inside was not as lucky.

"One of my lance corporals went in to try to get some more people, but there was too much fire," McAmis said. "One Marine had burns over his face. The last thing he did was reach his hand out and an explosion went off" — killing him.

Ahhh yes, isn't war lovely when someone else is dying for the lies?

Sgt. Dennis Wollard of Biloxi, Miss., who survived the explosion, sat glassy-eyed and bare-chested against a building on the edge of the field. He lamented that he couldn't save all the men inside.

"I was at the back door," Wollard said. "I couldn't get 'em all. There had to be six still in there. I don't know how they could've gotten out."

Another Marine, speaking with a senior officer, held back tears. "I couldn't get to them all, sir. It was just too hot," he said, shaking his head.

As the Marines treated their wounded comrades, retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, the Iran-Contra scandal figure, filmed the operation with a digital video recorder issued by his employer, Fox News. North, who was dressed in Marine camouflage, is traveling with Kilo Company.

About half an hour after the explosion, two Black Hawk helicopters swooped down to take the wounded to the base at Al Qaim near the Syrian border.

The Marines in Abu Hardan stood near the blast scene. Some appeared stunned. Others were angry.

"It was my fault, it was my fault!" shouted a Marine who identified himself as the driver of the amphibious vehicle. He appeared to be uninjured.

Wednesday was the fourth day of a major U.S. assault to rid remote western Iraqi villages of guerrillas. More than 1,000 troops are participating in the offensive.

Since Sunday, Marines said they had killed at least 110 insurgents. Three Americans had been killed and 25 wounded before the attack on the amphibious vehicle. About 20 Lima Company Marines have been killed or wounded since the fighting began.

Kilo Company had spent most of Wednesday sweeping through this village of farms and two-story stone houses along the Euphrates.

They wanted to take control of the Ramana Bridge, where Marines this week took heavy fire from insurgents. Immediately after entering the town, they found a house with a red van parked in a carport. Wires hung out of the gas tank, often a sign of a vehicle bomb.

"We took constant mortar fire from over here. Anybody who comes over that bridge gets lit up," said 3rd Platoon commander Lt. Joseph Clemmey, 26, of Worcester, Mass. "This was supposed to be the mission from God, and so far we've been out here and we haven't seen nothing. This was the climactic moment we were all waiting for, and no one is here."

Two eight-wheeled light armored vehicles broke out of the convoy to train their heavy guns on the vehicle.

"Yeah!" one eager Marine called out.

A few moments later, the guns pounded the van into flames. The rounds burst holes through the front of a nearby house.

A few blocks to the south, rebel fighters fired on Marines. Troops manning tank-mounted machine guns fired back. The rounds blasted holes through a house on the far side of a field.

When the shooting stopped, Marines blared warnings in Arabic from loudspeakers atop a Humvee, demanding that the villagers leave their homes and surrender.

Men in traditional dishdasha robes, women carrying babies, youths in basketball shorts and an old man with a walking stick emerged from their homes and began walking toward the Marines with their hands raised. Several residents waved white flags out of their windows.

Clemmey ordered his men to search the people and put them in a walled-off garden.

"Our house is beside the river. Some people we didn't know came and entered our house and shot from the house. And then the Americans shot at us," said Hassan Rashash, a retired local government official who was sitting against the wall.

He was exasperated. "We cannot go, this is our home. We fight them. We argue. We tell them, 'We have women. We have children.' But we cannot force them to go. What can we do?" he complained.

"You know this is the main road. From here the terrorists come from Syria, and they can go all the way to Mosul," said Mohammed Salah Sulayman, a retired professor who was also being detained. "The terrorists, they move into our houses in the night. We can't do anything. Most of these people here came to my house because they can't go to their own homes."

Other residents also described, in halting English, how foreign fighters intimidated the community.

"Most people here are like me," Rashash said. "You can't love these people who come in your house, in your garden. Who would want this? We are glad the Americans are here."

Clemmey's platoon was followed by a tank. Its main barrel bore its moniker: Stink Fist.

"Remember," Clemmey shouted to his troops in a New England accent, "anyone who has not left the city can be considered hostile."

Marines fanned through waist-high wheat fields looking for mines and bombs. Locked doors were kicked in or blown through with explosive charges. Cabinets were opened and clothes bags emptied in the search for weapons and bomb-making equipment.

But the city was deserted.

"We're fighting an invisible enemy," said Sgt. Jeffrey Swartzentruber of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "They're like the … CIA."

PhantomsofMassDelusionLinky (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-platoon12may12.story):o