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Iraq
US Recapturing Baqouba
2007-05-04
Across the walls of the villas they seized in the name of their shadow government, black-masked al-Qaida militants spray-painted the words: "Property of the Islamic State of Iraq." They manned checkpoints and buried an elaborate network of bombs in the streets. They issued austere edicts ordering women not to work. They filmed themselves attacking Americans and slaughtered those who did not believe in their cause.

For months, al-Qaida turned a part of one Baqouba neighborhood into an insurgent fiefdom that American and Iraqi forces were too undermanned to tackle -- a startling example of the terror group's ability to thrive openly in some places outside Baghdad even as U.S.-led forces struggle to regain control in the capital.
Oh, woe is us!
U.S. forces took back the entire Tahrir neighborhood during a weeklong operation that wrapped up Sunday in Baqouba, a city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad that al-Qaida declared last year the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.
Oh woe is them. Especially the dead ones.
Though the operation was a success -- it forced the guerrillas to either flee or melt into the population -- soldiers say the extremists are likely to pop up anywhere else that's short on American firepower. Indeed, even as the Tahrir operation took place, insurgents stepped up attacks on a new police post in the adjacent Old Baqouba district -- which was also cleared recently -- pounding it daily and killing Baqouba's police chief in a suicide car bombing.
No one said it would be easy, but how the Left can support people like that is beyond me.
When U.S. forces began pouring into the embattled district last week, residents said it was the first time they'd seen significant numbers of coalition troops since last fall. U.S. troops set up a combat outpost in northern Tahrir several months ago.

But to the south, residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months, piling weapons into the back of vehicles and taking over the homes of Shiites who had either fled or been killed. "We were terrorized," said one man. "We wondered, Where is the government? Why have they forgotten us? Why does nobody come here to help?"

Baqouba has been wracked by violence for years. But insecurity has skyrocketed since late last year, partly because Sunni militants fleeing Baghdad's security crackdown have sought refuge here.
The hammer has dropped and it's meeting the anvil.
An estimated 60,000 people have fled the city of 300,000, most of them Shiites driven out by Sunni hit squads. Meanwhile, vital government subsidized food and fuel shipments, which normally flow in from Baghdad, ceased arriving because of political corruption in the capital, said Col. David W. Sutherland, whose 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, is responsible for security in Diyala province. "In an insurgency, if you don't have faith in the government or security forces ... you turn to those who will offer you a better way," Sutherland said. "The terrorists were able to drive a wedge between the government and the people. But we're reversing that."

The battle for Baqouba picked up in mid-March...
Posted by:Anonymoose

#11  it forced the guerrillas to either flee or melt into the population

But to the south, residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months, piling weapons

A population that willingly allows these thugs to circulate unchallenged does not deserve to be rescued. With so many people in Iraq being armed, there should have been many more incidents of al Qaeda operatives mysteriously getting their brains blown out. This wasn't happening and the citizens of the Tahrir district deserved their fate. Tough shit, assholes. Show some spine the next time around or suck it up and stop whingeing.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-05-04 22:44  

#10  By the same token, maybe the People's Republic of [name your favored area, Berzerkly mayhaps] could be established with strict commie regime (including "right to work" {=forced labor}, and other goodies {electric fence around not to let the "evil capitalists" in} that I fondly {very much kidding} remember from my another life).
Only for some 20 years... I think a lot of people would get cured, heh.
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-05-04 21:08  

#9  Shipman

Sometimes I agree with the "let them live under AlQ rule for awhile" thought. One problem with this is what happens if AlQ actually gets to rule a country with nukes.
Posted by: mhw   2007-05-04 19:14  

#8   Living under the islamists rule seem to do wonders for the Sunni attitude. It should be our policy for every Sunni area to experience 6 months of it.

That's just plain crazy and it worries me that I think it's a good idea.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-05-04 17:31  

#7  "Glad to see another nest of rats cleaned out."

The clear part of Clear and Hold is generally thought to be the "easy" part. Now for the heavy lifting.
Posted by: doc   2007-05-04 16:58  

#6  ed: Kind of makes you wonder whether or not it has been our policy in some of the more intransigent Sunni cities. Concentrate the bad guyz, while having them oppress their supporters. Kills two birds with one stone.

I remember that very idea was speculated on (probably right here in the 'burg) between the first and second Fallujah ops. I don't know if that was the plan, but it certainly became an overall positive side-effect*.

* Overall in the strategic scheme of things. Obviously not for the victims of Zarq and his monsters.
Posted by: xbalanke   2007-05-04 15:46  

#5  ed: Kind of makes you wonder whether or not it has been our policy in some of the more intransigent Sunni cities. Concentrate the bad guyz, while having them oppress their supporters. Kills two birds with one stone.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-05-04 14:26  

#4  Living under the islamists rule seem to do wonders for the Sunni attitude. It should be our policy for every Sunni area to experience 6 months of it.
Posted by: ed   2007-05-04 14:18  

#3  residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months...We wondered, Where is the government?

Is it possible that noone came for the gunnies because the authorities didn't know where they were? This guy knew but, deciding he was helpless, didn't help. Iraq will have a much better chance at becoming a decent country when the people choose not to be helpless and rat out the bad guys.
Posted by: Baba Tutu   2007-05-04 13:56  

#2  Glad to see another nest of rats cleaned out.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-05-04 13:48  

#1  Very interesting article:

"Fighting eased afterward. Soon, previously empty streets were teeming with crowds of people who shook soldiers' hands as they passed."

"The militants mostly kept to themselves, but they distributed puritanical leaflets commanding women to cover themselves in black from head to toe, and stay home from work. They ordered tea shops shut and warned men not to smoke water-pipes.

"No one dared ask them why," said one father."

"At night, masked men stormed homes, robbing and carrying out extra-judicial killings. "Nobody knew whether they were al-Qaida or the police or just common criminals," said a baker named Ali. "It was total lawlessness."

Amazing that this appeared in a local newspaper.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2007-05-04 13:15  

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