Baghdad offensive to begin: U.S. officers

[BigBadBrian]

Baghdad offensive to begin: U.S. officers
By Dean Yates
Sun Feb 4, 9:02 PM ET



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S.-Iraqi campaign to stabilize Baghdad will begin soon and the offensive against militants will be on a scale never seen during four years of war, American officers said on Sunday.




Briefing a small group of foreign reporters, three American colonels who are senior advisers to the Iraqi army and police in Baghdad said a command center overseeing the crackdown would be activated on Monday.

"The expectation is the plan will be implemented soon thereafter," Colonel Doug Heckman, senior adviser to the 9th Iraqi Army division, said at a U.S. military base in Baghdad.

"It's going to be an operation unlike anything this city has seen. It's a multiple order magnitude of difference, not just a 30 percent, I mean a couple hundred percent," he added, referring to previous offensives that failed to stem bloodshed.

The plan will involve U.S. and Iraqi forces sweeping the capital's neighborhoods for militants and illegal weapons and then holding cleared areas. But some analysts fear that as in previous crackdowns, militants will simply melt away and wait them out, or strike in areas where they are not deployed.

All three officers sought to talk up the ability of Iraq's forces to perform better than in previous crackdowns.

Their comments came a day after a suicide truck bomb killed 135 people in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, the single biggest bombing since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The joint offensive is seen as a last-ditch effort to halt all-out civil war between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites.

President Bush is sending 21,500 reinforcements, most earmarked for the Baghdad offensive.

Critics of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki say an offensive last summer failed because the Iraqi army committed too few troops and because he was reluctant to confront the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The firebrand cleric is a key political ally of Maliki.

NO BARRIERS

Asked if the Mehdi Army's stronghold in Sadr City would be cleaned out, Heckman acknowledged the political sensitivity but said all options were open.

"If we feel we need to clear Sadr City to bring stability, we will do that. Are there restrictions that will not allow us to do that? Right now there are not," Heckman said.

Maliki has vowed the crackdown will tackle militants across the sectarian divide. The Pentagon has said the Mehdi Army poses a greater threat to peace in Iraq than Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.

The Baghdad command center that will begin operations on Monday will be headed by an Iraqi general. However, U.S. troops will not take orders from Iraqi officers.

Colonel Chip Lewis, senior adviser to a national police division in Baghdad, said the Iraqi security forces were more confident than they were before the last offensive. At that time, some Iraqi units did not show up.

Heckman said the offensive would gradually build up.

There was anecdotal evidence some militias had sought to melt away ahead of the campaign, the officers added.

"The end of the summer is when we should see some concrete results and be able to say is this working or not," Heckman said. That would be around September.

One problem that bedeviled last summer's offensive was the reluctance of Iraqi soldiers in the regionally recruited army to be deployed in the capital, far from their homes and families.

This time soldiers will get pay bonuses to come to Baghdad and will be given a finite tour of duty, so they know their deployment will not be open-ended, the American officers said.

Another difference would be the establishment of what the officers called joint security stations, which will be set up in nine Baghdad districts and where Iraqi and American troops will live and patrol side-by-side.
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070205/ts_nm/iraq_offensive_dc)

[Seshmeister]

Pointless unless the US plans to stay there permanently.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
Pointless .

The surge?

or Brie's threads?

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
Pointless unless the US plans to stay there permanently.

Why?

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
Why?


Because the minute we pull out, they'll be right back to killing each other.

4,000 years has proved that anything short of a DICTATOR in that region means all out bloodsport.

Imagine my shock it's all about RELIGION. :rolleyes:

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Critics of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki say an offensive last summer failed because the Iraqi army committed too few troops and because he was reluctant to confront the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The firebrand cleric is a key political ally of Maliki.

NO BARRIERS

Asked if the Mehdi Army's stronghold in Sadr City would be cleaned out, Heckman acknowledged the political sensitivity but said all options were open.

"If we feel we need to clear Sadr City to bring stability, we will do that. Are there restrictions that will not allow us to do that? Right now there are not," Heckman said.

Maliki has vowed the crackdown will tackle militants across the sectarian divide. The Pentagon has said the Mehdi Army poses a greater threat to peace in Iraq than Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.

The Baghdad command center that will begin operations on Monday will be headed by an Iraqi general. However, U.S. troops will not take orders from Iraqi officers.

This is the money shot of the piece.
Talk amongst yourselves.

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
The plan will involve U.S. and Iraqi forces sweeping the capital's neighborhoods for militants and illegal weapons and then holding cleared areas..

Won't be pulling out and turning it back over to the assholes this time,LM.
The "stay the course" version is what you had in mind.

[LoungeMachine]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=109837

Want to know what BigBadBrian posts at Freeper?


LMAO

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
[B]One problem that bedeviled last summer's offensive was the reluctance of Iraqi soldiers in the regionally recruited army to be deployed in the capital, far from their homes and families. [/]



Jesus H. Cruise!!!

It's YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY, AHMED!!!! :mad:

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
Jesus H. Cruise!!!

It's YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY, AHMED!!!! :mad:


Exactly.

I'm so sick and fucking tired of DRAGGING these assholes kicking and screaming into a 21st. century democracy I could spit.

IT'S NOT IN THEIR NATURE TO GET ALONG.

"IRAQ" NEEDS TO GO BACK TO 3 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS.

Fuck Western Colonialism:mad:

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=109837

Want to know what BigBadBrian posts at Freeper?


LMAO



Uhhh...

Ping.

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Exactly.

I'm so sick and fucking tired of DRAGGING these assholes kicking and screaming into a 21st. century democracy I could spit.

IT'S NOT IN THEIR NATURE TO GET ALONG.

"IRAQ" NEEDS TO GO BACK TO 3 AUTONOMOUS REGIONS.

Fuck Western Colonialism:mad:


It will never work over there-at least our version.

This Maliki douchebag is too tight with Al-Sadr.

Looks too much like the pecking order in Iran to the Sunnis.

That's where the trouble is. :mad:

But it's late in the 4th qtr., we have the ball, and when it gets close to the red zone, hand the fucker off to Iraq and leave the field.

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=109837

Want to know what BigBadBrian posts at Freeper?


LMAO

How'd you find this? hehehe:D

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
How'd you find this? hehehe:D

Bush told me about The Google that's on the internets these days. :D

I like how the first post is; "go back to the d.u. you baby killer"

When did the Free Republic turn to Shit?

:D

I like how he saves his A-material for us, though.

He hasn't called anyone a baby killer in here for at least a year. ;)

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
It will never work over there-at least our version.

This Maliki douchebag is too tight with Al-Sadr.

Looks too much like the pecking order in Iran to the Sunnis.

That's where the trouble is. :mad:

But it's late in the 4th qtr., we have the ball, and when it gets close to the red zone, hand the fucker off to Iraq and leave the field.


And had we listened to the experts, and HISTORY........

We could've saved ourselves the trouble, and lives.

This was a war OF CHOICE.

Not our's. BushCO's :mad:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
This is the money shot of the piece.
Talk amongst yourselves.

No, this is the money shot of the piece and the fundamental reason that it will never work:

"The joint offensive is seen as a last-ditch effort to halt all-out civil war between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites."

--because the US is trying to hold together three ethnic communities that do not want to be together...

Hurray!! We're involved in another civil war!!

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
No, this is the money shot of the piece and the fundamental reason that it will never work:

"The joint offensive is seen as a last-ditch effort to halt all-out civil war between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites."

--because the US is trying to hold together three ethnic communities that do not want to be together...

Hurray!! We're involved in another civil war!!


It's about time. :D

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
It's about time. :D

Hey bro...

How's it been. I had a fuck of a time getting back on line...

[BITEYOASS]

Baghdad Offensive?!?! I thought the damn mission was accomplished. (sarcasm) How the fuck can we have a military offensive on a place we already occupy? Clusterfuck would be a good word to describe this war at the moment.

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
No, this is the money shot of the piece and the fundamental reason that it will never work:

"The joint offensive is seen as a last-ditch effort to halt all-out civil war between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites."

--because the US is trying to hold together three ethnic communities that do not want to be together...

Hurray!! We're involved in another civil war!!

"They" aren't trying to make Sunnis and Shias hold hands over there,
it's a mission to eliminate insurgents in Baghdad.The sunnis are leaving in droves from the city b/c of the shiite majority and lack of security provided by the predominant shiite ISF and police. Maliki has raised our eyebrows by giving a pass to Al-Sadr's people,and belive me,IF he casts a "restricted area" towards them again,should they start some shit during this campaign,the military and this country should,and more than likely will,leave his ass hanging where he stands.
I sense that you and I come from different places,but we also want the same thing;This war to end.

[hideyoursheep]

Anybody else sick over those Brits getting it from the A-10?

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
Anybody else sick over those Brits getting it from the A-10?

Yeah, but I feel sick for our guys as well.

They felt like shit on that cockpit recording. From what it sounded like they were told there were NO friendlies in the area.

But of course the Pentagon has to be such assholes about it.

What's not to expect from the same people who lied about Pat Tillman.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Hey bro...

How's it been. I had a fuck of a time getting back on line...

LMAO

You've got some catching up to do.

ELVIS has made a joke of Main.

More Brie Bullshit.

Welcome back.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Yeah, but I feel sick for our guys as well.

They felt like shit on that cockpit recording. From what it sounded like they were told there were NO friendlies in the area.

But of course the Pentagon has to be such assholes about it.

What's not to expect from the same people who lied about Pat Tillman.

I feel for them in a way. But even if there were no friendlies, I wonder why in the fucking world they would think Iraqi militias would have an infantry fighting vehicle...

I feel for the Brits more...

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Yeah, but I feel sick for our guys as well.
They felt like shit on that cockpit recording. From what it sounded like they were told there were NO friendlies in the area.
But of course the Pentagon has to be such assholes about it.

The pilots ID'd the sign on the vehicle used for what's called passage of lines;an insignia used for units coming forward that the elements ahead are freindly.That way when you move up to relieve a forward unit you dont shoot 'em. Whatever intel they got downstairs was fucked up. they should have held fire and waited.It only took THAT LONG to verify who was where,and the guy giving the green light didn't hesitate to ask.
Fuck!
:mad:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
"They" aren't trying to make Sunnis and Shias hold hands over there, it's a mission to eliminate insurgents in Baghdad. The sunnis are leaving in droves from the city b/c of the shiite majority and lack of security provided by the predominant shiite ISF and police.

And we're supporting this by supporting the terroristic Iraqi gov't, which is supposedly our friend, but they're friends with our supposed enemy (Iran), while our supposed enemies (the Sunnis) are friends with our supposed friends (the Saudis).

God! er, Allah! this is confusing...

In any case, I highly doubt 21,500 US troops will make much difference. BTW, that is the magic number because it's really the only number combat troops we have left...


Maliki has raised our eyebrows by giving a pass to Al-Sadr's people,and belive me,IF he casts a "restricted area" towards them again,should they start some shit during this campaign,the military and this country should,and more than likely will,leave his ass hanging where he stands.

You are quite correct. And his army and police are shit infiltrated with competing Shiite militias...



I sense that you and I come from different places,but we also want the same thing;This war to end.

I think we're close actually...

Read some of Peter Gaibraith's (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B2GGGL_enUS204US205&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Peter+Galbraith&spell=1) extensive, knowledgeable writings on the subject...

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
And we're supporting this by supporting the terroristic Iraqi gov't, which is supposedly our friend, but they're friends with our supposed enemy (Iran), while our supposed enemies (the Sunnis) are friends with our supposed friends (the Saudis).
God! er, Allah! this is confusing...
In any case, I highly doubt 21,500 US troops will make much difference. BTW, that is the magic number because it's really the only number combat troops we have left...

I wouldn't go so far as to say Maliki and W are freinds.They know each other.

Iran (and the majority of Baghdad) are Shiite.
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan,and a large minority of Iraq are Sunni
Al Qaida is a sunni organization.Trying to stay in Anbar.
Not a freind of most sunnis.
Al-Sadr's militia has a name (it escapes me @ the moment) it's more of a threat to Iraq's democracy than to tUS.It's been allowed to exist at Maliki's blessing.
Does that clear anything up?
21,000 in addition to what's already there,plus the 300,000(?) ISF could get it cleaned up enough for us to get out. Croos your fingers.
Anyway I'll give someone else's advice the benefit of the doubt before that "stay the course" BS. Cross your fingers.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
I wouldn't go so far as to say Maliki and W are freinds.


W. has no friends.

Blair was his bitch, but even that love affair has soured.

W. has no one left but his wife Condi. ;)

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
W. has no friends.

Blair was his bitch, but even that love affair has soured.

W. has no one left but his wife Condi. ;)


You forgot the puppetmaster himself-Karl and W get together every night before milk and cookies to sing a heart-felt rendition of
"You And Me Against the World" :asshole: :ky: :uck:

[Keef]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Baghdad offensive to begin: U.S. officers
By Dean Yates
Sun Feb 4, 9:02 PM ET



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S.-Iraqi campaign to stabilize Baghdad will begin soon and the offensive against militants will be on a scale never seen during four years of war, American officers said on Sunday.




Briefing a small group of foreign reporters, three American colonels who are senior advisers to the Iraqi army and police in Baghdad said a command center overseeing the crackdown would be activated on Monday.

"The expectation is the plan will be implemented soon thereafter," Colonel Doug Heckman, senior adviser to the 9th Iraqi Army division, said at a U.S. military base in Baghdad.

"It's going to be an operation unlike anything this city has seen. It's a multiple order magnitude of difference, not just a 30 percent, I mean a couple hundred percent," he added, referring to previous offensives that failed to stem bloodshed.

The plan will involve U.S. and Iraqi forces sweeping the capital's neighborhoods for militants and illegal weapons and then holding cleared areas. But some analysts fear that as in previous crackdowns, militants will simply melt away and wait them out, or strike in areas where they are not deployed.

All three officers sought to talk up the ability of Iraq's forces to perform better than in previous crackdowns.

Their comments came a day after a suicide truck bomb killed 135 people in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, the single biggest bombing since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The joint offensive is seen as a last-ditch effort to halt all-out civil war between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites.

President Bush is sending 21,500 reinforcements, most earmarked for the Baghdad offensive.

Critics of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki say an offensive last summer failed because the Iraqi army committed too few troops and because he was reluctant to confront the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The firebrand cleric is a key political ally of Maliki.

NO BARRIERS

Asked if the Mehdi Army's stronghold in Sadr City would be cleaned out, Heckman acknowledged the political sensitivity but said all options were open.

"If we feel we need to clear Sadr City to bring stability, we will do that. Are there restrictions that will not allow us to do that? Right now there are not," Heckman said.

Maliki has vowed the crackdown will tackle militants across the sectarian divide. The Pentagon has said the Mehdi Army poses a greater threat to peace in Iraq than Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.

The Baghdad command center that will begin operations on Monday will be headed by an Iraqi general. However, U.S. troops will not take orders from Iraqi officers.

Colonel Chip Lewis, senior adviser to a national police division in Baghdad, said the Iraqi security forces were more confident than they were before the last offensive. At that time, some Iraqi units did not show up.

Heckman said the offensive would gradually build up.

There was anecdotal evidence some militias had sought to melt away ahead of the campaign, the officers added.

"The end of the summer is when we should see some concrete results and be able to say is this working or not," Heckman said. That would be around September.

One problem that bedeviled last summer's offensive was the reluctance of Iraqi soldiers in the regionally recruited army to be deployed in the capital, far from their homes and families.

This time soldiers will get pay bonuses to come to Baghdad and will be given a finite tour of duty, so they know their deployment will not be open-ended, the American officers said.

Another difference would be the establishment of what the officers called joint security stations, which will be set up in nine Baghdad districts and where Iraqi and American troops will live and patrol side-by-side.
Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070205/ts_nm/iraq_offensive_dc)

Where do you go after posting? You never answer.

Granted, you do offer a snipe here and there.

Do you have nothing otherwise?

But you never seem to offer anything of worth.

Let's hear it? I am curious at this point..

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by Keef
But you never seem to offer anything of worth.

Let's hear it? I am curious at this point..

Don't get your hopes up.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine

LMAO

Try and find what I post at DemocraticUnderground.

Yes, I do have a username there.

:cool:

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Try and find what I post at DemocraticUnderground.

Yes, I do have a username there.

:cool:


Couldn't care less...

Do you LIE in your thread titles there, too?

I'm sure you do. :cool:

[hideyoursheep]

I'm just gonna "shut the fuck up".

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
I'm just gonna "shut the fuck up".

That's the sort of "debate" Brianna counts on.

He's really rather Fair and Balanced in that regard. ;)

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
I'm just gonna "shut the fuck up".



.......until he comes back. :D