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Iraq
Operation Steel Curtain kills 50 near Syrian border
2005-11-15
Update on story posted yesterday by ed. EFL

U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a dawn assault Monday on another town near the Syrian border and killed 50 terrorists insurgents, a U.S. statement said, while the interior ministry reported that a car bomb detonated outside a gate leading into the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, killing two South Africans.

Operation Steel Curtain entered a new phase when U.S. and Iraqi forces moved into the Euphrates River valley town of Obeidi, about 185 miles west of Baghdad. Troops had successfully cleared the old part of the town and were now moving into the other half, the statement said. "Approximately 50 terrorists insurgents are estimated to have been killed in sporadic but heavy fighting. The combined force of Iraqi army and coalition forces has encountered at least six mines and improvised bomb," the statement said. "A suspected car bomb placed in the advance of Iraqi Forces was engaged with a round from an M1A1 tank. The blast from the tank initiated a secondary explosion powerful enough to throw the car onto the roof of a nearby building," it added

The troops assigned to the 2nd Marine Division have already fought their way through two neighboring towns, Husaybah and Karabilah. U.S. forces believe the border towns have been an entry point for terrorists insurgent fighters and weapons into Iraq.

U.S. commanders have said offensives, especially those in the western province of Anbar near the Syrian border, are aimed at encouraging Sunni Arabs to vote in the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections without fear of intimidation by insurgents opposed to the political process. However, several major Sunni Arab political groups insisted Sunday that such operations risk keeping Sunni turnout low because civilians are displaced by the fighting or they will be too frightened to venture out to the polls.

Some alleged the Shiite-led government was intentionally carrying out operations northeast of Baghdad to discourage Sunni Arabs from voting — a charge that Iraqi officials have denied. "We strongly condemn the military operations and demand that they are halted immediately," Saleh al-Mutlaq of the Sunni National Dialogue Front told reporters. "We demand that the United Nations, the Arab League and humanitarian organizations stop these massacres."

Ayad al-Izi, a member of the largest Sunni Arab party, charged that raids by the Interior Ministry in religiously mixed Diyala province were politically motivated to cow Sunnis. "Such practices are aimed at foiling the political process in the country and they ignite the strife in such areas," said al-Izi of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

Posted by:Jackal

#6  #3 ' Imagine the commentary from the soldiers after watching the flying car trick. ' - yeah that was what i thought when i read it too, must be better then watching monster trucks crush cars, what ever happened to monster trucks anyway???
Posted by: Shep UK   2005-11-15 12:17  

#5  "Ma'am, we're from the Homeowners Association. You need to take the car off the roof. It's in the by-laws.... and no clotheslines either..."
Posted by: Frank G   2005-11-15 11:18  

#4  Flying cars. Weren't we all supposed to have them by now? I mean, it is the 21st century.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2005-11-15 11:00  

#3  Imagine the commentary from the soldiers after watching the flying car trick.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-11-15 10:38  

#2  Sunni Arab political groups insisted such operations risk keeping Sunni turnout low because ... they will be too frightened to venture out to the polls.

The Sunni Lions of Islam ...Yaarrr! too sceered to vote.
Posted by: 2b   2005-11-15 05:54  

#1  Article: "We strongly condemn the military operations and demand that they are halted immediately," Saleh al-Mutlaq of the Sunni National Dialogue Front told reporters. "We demand that the United Nations, the Arab League and humanitarian organizations stop these massacres."

This guy is obviously part of the "political wing" of the insurgency. Somehow, I suspect that if we pulled our boys out of Iraq today, the existing Iraqi government isn't going to make the distinction between a military and a "political" wing.
Posted by: Elmenter Snineque1852   2005-11-15 00:26  

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