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| Iraq | |||
| 2 al-Qaida Leaders Captured in Iraq | |||
| 2007-06-23 | |||
| U.S. and Iraqi troops captured two senior al-Qaida militants and seven other operatives Saturday in Diyala province, an Iraqi commander said, as an offensive to clear the volatile area of insurgents entered its fifth day. The U.S. military also cracked down elsewhere in Iraq, saying in a statement that seven other al-Qaida fighters were killed and 10 suspects detained in raids in Tikrit, east of Fallujah, south of Baghdad and in Mosul. Three other militants suspected of having ties to Iran were detained in a predawn operation by U.S. forces working with Iraqi informants in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City, the military said separately.
Roadside bombs, including EFPs and other makeshift devices used by Sunni and Shiite militants alike, are the No. 1 killer of foreign troops in Iraq. At least 20 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq this week - all but five from wounds suffered from improvised explosive devices, the term the military uses for roadside bombs. The British military also said Saturday that a British soldier had died of wounds suffered the day before in a roadside bombing in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The death raised to at least 153 the number of British troops killed since the war started in March 2003. Violence also continued to target Iraqi forces. Gunmen stormed a school building being used by commandos sent to reinforce security in the northern Sunni city of Samarra, killing two officers and wounding six other people, including five civilians, in a 45 minute gunbattle, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. The attackers, some masked and armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, were targeting Iraqi special forces sent to Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, following the most recent bombing that brought down the twin minarets of the revered Shiite shrine there, the officials said. Six men also were killed after they were seized by gunmen at an illegal checkpoint near the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, according to a member of the provincial council, Ghalib al-Daami. He said those killed included a local council member from the nearby town of Ayn Tamir.
The U.S. ground forces commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, has said more than three-quarters of Baqouba's al-Qaida leadership fled before the Americans moved into the city in force. Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Rubaie said the suspects had been transferred immediately to Baghdad, but he provided no more information about their identities. Seven other suspected al-Qaida fighters had been arrested in the center of Baqouba, and 30 hostages were released from a prison elsewhere in the provincial capital, al-Rubaie said. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it said in a statement earlier Saturday that at least 55 al-Qaida operatives have been killed and 23 detained since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. It also said 16 weapons caches have been discovered, and 28 roadside bombs and 12 booby-trapped structures have been destroyed.
The find displayed al-Qaida's sophisticated support network in Baqouba, a mostly Sunni town of about 300,000 people, located 35 miles north of Baghdad. And that may presage great problems in an outright defeat of al-Qaida even if U.S. forces succeed in ousting the group from Baqouba. The city has received little aid or other services from the central government, which feared supplies would end up in al-Qaida hands. As the al-Qaida field hospital proved, much assistance did bypass residents and found its way to the terrorist organization. Until trust is mended, U.S. military commanders say, any success they have in this offensive could be lost on a city unable or unwilling to reconcile sectarian differences. Historically a mixed province, Diyala has become predominantly Sunni as Shiites fled an influx of Sunni militants from Anbar province. The militants were welcomed by many of Saddam Hussein's former Baath party members. The shifting population balance only increased tension between local Sunni tribal leaders and the Shiite-dominated federal government in Baghdad. ``There are a multitude of systematic functions that aren't working,'' said Maj. Robbie Parke, 36, spokesman for the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. ``The Iraqi government has to say, `Look, Baqouba is in trouble, and we need to help.''' So far that has not happened, U.S. officials say. But there are signs of hope. ``The (Iraqi) government is very immature, but they're getting better and saying the right things. We've got to hold them to that,'' said Odierno, the ground forces commander. He spoke to AP during a trip to Baqouba on Thursday as American forces began in earnest to squeeze al-Qaida, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen after the arrival of the final brigade of an additional 30,000 troops dispatched by President Bush. An Associated Press employee in Baqouba contributed to this report. | |||
| Posted by:lotp |
| #2 Interestingly enough, it used to be a guiding principle of authoritarian regimes ruling over divided peoples that first thing, you create a national police, and have policemen from one group policing the group different from their home region. Then, you create a program like Tito and Saddam did, of intermingling your peoples to make them more homogeneous. But what afflicted them both was that they went at it in a half-assed manner. Instead of a program that would blend them so thoroughly, while under tight control, that it wouldn't matter where they went in the country, there would be NO ethnic or religious difference, there were still entire regions heavily dominated by different groups. On top of everything else, you need to create what amounts to duplicates of every special ethnic monument or treasure, like in Iraq of a special mosque, and insure that every different group has a stake everywhere, not just in a particular place. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-06-23 11:23 |
| #1 There is a 3 hour delay at the water board due to an increase in late arriving candidates. Additional tanks are being constructed as we speak which will relieve the demand resulting from the ripping of a new arrowhead. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-06-23 11:07 |