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Iraq | ||
Troops mass as attack on Mosul looms | ||
2008-05-05 | ||
The government is massing troops for an imminent attack on the northern city of Mosul, the interior minister said. The minister Jawad al-Bolani said the government has deployed “elite units” in the city, home to nearly three million people and currently one of the most violent places in the country. U.S. troops will assist with aerial bombardment, logistics and artillery. U.S. marines will intervene if necessary. The battle to overtake Mosul is billed as the ‘last’ major offensive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends to launch to bring the country under control. Mosul is now a bastion of al-Qaeda whose fighters have been under extreme pressure from the so-called Sahwa (Awakening) Council, a newly formed militia of Sunni tribesmen financed by the U.S., in other Sunni-dominated areas. Bolani said the troops sent to calm down Basra were being redeployed in Mosul.
Mosul is a mixed city. Though predominantly Sunni Arab, it holds sizeable communities of Kurds, Christians, Shebeks and Yezidis. “The battles in Basra are over. The armed forces and police have completed their preparedness for the battle of Mosul. The Qaeda gangs and criminals face dark future there,” the minister warned. He predicted the attack to be swift with minimum damage and casualties. But the analysts expected a long and difficult ‘street-to-street and house-to-house’ fight as the city is almost completely under the Qaeda and other forces resisting U.S. occupation.
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Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
#11 ION RIAN > POSSIBLE OUTCOMES OF A GEORGIAN-ABKAZIAN WAR. * Small dedicated force or group can hide from larger opposing = enemy force, and fight on, from high mountain areas for a long time, as dependent of Aggressor's level of training and proficiencies. * Reliance of THIRD PARTY POLITICS AND ORGANZATIONS, e.g. RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS [UNO?]. ASYMMETRIC WARFARE = RUSSO-CHINA "LOCAL/WAR ZONE" STRATEGEMS [anti-US]. |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-05 22:01 |
#10 IIRC, Yon started out covering Deuce-Four in Mosul and was there when Lt. Col. Kurilla got shot. We've had people in Mosul since and have been making progress. I've read that some of the rats driven from Baghdad and Anbar have relocated in Mosul. If that's true, we've got to eradicate that nest. Still, it's got to be a better situation that Basra if only since we've had boots on the ground there who could and did act, as opposed to the politically hamstrung and undermanned Brits in Basra. This is going to be a fight up there but it's going to end in our favor. I'm thinking that after this the days of open war with AQI will be over. There will still be hit-and-runs, maybe forever, but they won't have any ground they could even suggest is a "liberated zone" in Iraq. That is an extremely important fact, as the Malayan Emergency clearly showed. |
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 2008-05-05 17:54 |
#9 yeah but we have already been thought this miosul shitseveral times. if the iraqi army can't hold off the insurgents then what is there use. especially since these ppl have been fight for 1000' of years maybe they could learn too aim alil nbetter or completely do away with them since we are goonna have bases there for yrs too come. the iraqis except for a few are bunch of fuckin imbeciles who couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a cannon |
Posted by: sinse 2008-05-05 17:50 |
#8 Mosul is important to Iran as Basra is. Continual applications of weed killer is necessary as the people living there get back on their feet. |
Posted by: DarthVader 2008-05-05 17:03 |
#7 I thought we already did the Mosul thing...... Like fire ants, I guess. You need to keep applying the treatment or they come back. Interesting that a post yesterday talked about US Special Forces whacking baddies near Mosul |
Posted by: SteveS 2008-05-05 16:37 |
#6 I am sorry. I am so sorry for using the 'G' word. I am positive that radical Islam would never wipe out all the joos or Christians. They would never do that. They would save a few of us for whatever fun they require. But never the 'G' word. I don't know what I was thinking. Someone must have snuck up behind me and untied one of my hands. From now on I'll fight 'fair', I promise. I do have a suggestion though. Maybe if and when we stop all the 'fair' play and get down with the blood and guts then maybe radical Islam will fade into the past. Till then, they appear to have the motivation and will, while we have time restrictions and global warming to consider. Then again, I'm using logic, and this is 2008, an era sans logic. |
Posted by: wxjames 2008-05-05 15:18 |
#5 I thought we already did the Mosul thing...... |
Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-05-05 13:56 |
#4 There's been a lot of activity in Mosul and in the 'burbs as well. Mosul has never actually "fallen" to AQI but it is full of their associates. This will not be Fallujah nor Basra. This will be individual by individual. And, I suspect, dead body by dead body. AQI has no where else to go. |
Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2008-05-05 13:52 |
#3 The statement that Mosul is completely under Al Qaeda control is BS. The eastern half of the city is largely under control of the Kurds. The Western section closest to the river is largely Christian. Most of the action is taking place in West (especially NW) Mosul. I expect there will be a lot of searches and patroling in these areas, but not necessarily a lot of fighting. Al |
Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-05-05 12:16 |
#2 Calls for genocide on Rantburg. Lovely. |
Posted by: gromky 2008-05-05 11:40 |
#1
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Posted by: wxjames 2008-05-05 11:29 |