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daimyo
Monticello

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U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003
#5407734 - 03/16/06 10:52 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Press Sec. is having a live conference about this right now.
Article
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. military and Iraqi forces launched the largest air assault in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Operation Swarmer began early today in the southern Salah Ad-Din province with more than 1,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops, about 200 tactical vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft, the U.S. military said in a statement e-mailed from Baghdad.
The goal of the raid is to ``clear a suspected insurgent operating area north east of Samarra,'' the military said. The assault is expected to continue for several days as a thorough search of the area is conducted, it said.
Samarra's Golden Mosque, a shrine sacred to Shiite Muslims, was destroyed in a Feb. 22 terrorist bombing that prompted reprisals against Sunni Muslims and brought the country to the brink of a civil war.
Terrorists, who have been hiding in civilian areas, must be ``rooted out,'' Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with Cable News Network. Referring to terrorists killing civilians, he said, ``they have no conscience so they need to be eliminated.''
Zebari said the country's new parliament was accelerating its efforts to form a national unity government because they recognized that a political ``vacuum'' was dangerous for the country.
Talks over the formation of the government have stalled in recent weeks, and although Iraq's new deputies convened today for the first time since being elected on Dec. 15, the session was left open pending agreement on the designation of a speaker and his two deputies.
Weapons caches containing artillery shells, explosives, bomb making materials, and military uniforms, were discovered earlier this month west of Samarra, according to the statement. Sunni-led insurgents have been able to carry out a number attacks in Iraq by disguising themselves in stolen military uniforms.
Samarra lies about 80 miles (125 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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GabbaDj
BTH


Registered: 04/08/01
Posts: 19,679
Loc: By The Lake
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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: daimyo]
#5408132 - 03/16/06 12:33 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Did Iraq have terrorists before the US took over?
-------------------- GabbaDj FAMM.ORG
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daimyo
Monticello

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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: GabbaDj]
#5408170 - 03/16/06 12:41 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I'm not qualified to answer that properly, but I believe there were some. Whether or not they were training or plotting there is another story.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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Alex213
Stranger
Registered: 08/22/05
Posts: 1,839
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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: daimyo]
#5408578 - 03/16/06 01:57 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
From an article recently posted by "Phred"
No one with first-hand experience of Iraq would claim the country's in rosy condition, but the situation on the ground is considerably more promising than the American public has been led to believe. Lurid exaggerations and instant myths obscure real, if difficult, progress.
I left Baghdad more optimistic than I was before this visit. While cynicism, political bias and the pressure of a 24/7 news cycle accelerate a race to the bottom in reporting, there are good reasons to be soberly hopeful about Iraq's future.
In one slum, amid friendly adult waves, children and teenagers cheered a U.S. Army patrol as we passed. Instead of being viewed as occupiers, we're increasingly seen as impartial and well-intentioned.
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Alex213
Stranger
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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: daimyo]
#5408595 - 03/16/06 02:02 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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US launches major assault in Iraq By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP Published: 16 March 2006 US forces and the Iraqi army today launched what was termed the largest air assault since the US-led invasion, targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital.
"More than 1,500 Iraqi and Coalition troops, over 200 tactical vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft participated in the operation," the military statement said. The attack was designed to "clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra" - 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The military said the operation was expected to continue over several days against insurgent targets in Salahuddin province, where Samarra is a key city.
The assault was launched just hours before Iraq's new parliament was sworn behind the concrete blast walls of the heavily fortified Green Zone - with parties still deadlocked over the next government, vehicles banned from Baghdad's streets to prevent car bombings and the country under the shadow of a feared civil war.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article351700.ece
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downforpot
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Registered: 06/25/01
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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: Alex213]
#5409584 - 03/16/06 05:59 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I bet the explosives used to bomb the Mosque came from one of those stockpiles that had tons of munitions that were left unguarded during the invasion. Now the troops are having to find all of them, scattered all over the country.
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http://www.myspace.com/4th25 "And I don't care if he was handcuffed Then shot in his head All I know is dead bodies Can't fuck with me again"
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers


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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: downforpot]
#5412034 - 03/17/06 09:49 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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I find it amusing that Conservatives claim Iraq is just fine, no problems, everything is rosy....
But 3+ years into an invasion and we're launching the biggest air assault since the invasion...You wouldnt think there'd be that many targets left...
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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daimyo
Monticello

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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: Madtowntripper]
#5412042 - 03/17/06 09:53 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hell, even the conservatives are running away from this war and the president. The cheese stands alone.
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"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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beatnicknick
The Innovator


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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: daimyo]
#5412091 - 03/17/06 10:13 AM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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Mmmmm...Cheese...
-------------------- I don't think for myself. I think as though I'm explaining my thoughts to someone else. I'm concerned only for those listening.
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Jellric
altered statesman

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Re: U.S., Iraqi Forces Launch Largest Air Raid Since 2003 [Re: beatnicknick]
#5417411 - 03/18/06 10:08 PM (17 years, 10 months ago) |
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A more truthful name for the raid would be 'Operation PR'.
-------------------- I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
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