3-day sweep secures Baghdad neighborhood (Amariyah)

[Barrett808]

By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writ

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The nightlife is zero and most shops are shut, but U.S. and Iraqi forces said Wednesday that a three-day security sweep has cleaned up — at least for now — a mostly Sunni neighborhood in west Baghdad, notorious for kidnappings, murders and bombings.

U.S. and Iraqi military commanders said the operation in Amariyah is a small step in an uphill campaign to halt the wave of sectarian and insurgent violence in the capital — neighborhood by neighborhood.

Some 12,000 Iraqi and U.S. troop reinforcements are pouring into Baghdad as part of the new security crackdown that began this month amid a surge in Sunni-Shiite violence and fears of a civil war.

On Sunday night, it was Amariyah's turn to be sealed up in a cordon-and-search operation.

"Since we began the operation, not one person from Amariyah has died, not one act of violence has occurred. We have demonstrated that it can be done," Col. Robert Scurlock Jr., commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, told reporters.

"The purpose is to eliminate terrorists and deaths squads," he said.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060816/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_securing_baghdad

Recall the 1991 destruction of the Amariyah bomb shelter by US missiles. I wonder if the memorial shrine is still there.

[Oreo]

1. Meanwhile, the next neighborhood over is in chaos

They're putting band-aids on compound fractures.

The troops concentrate on one neighborhood only to allow another one blow up.

Get them out now!

[grytpype]

2. So we can secure one neighborhood. So what.

We (the US plus what there is of the Iraqi security forces) can't secure the entire country, or even a large percentage of it.

[saigon68]

3. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[Barrett808]

4. Interesting that they're "protecting" a Sunni neighborhood first

One wonders if our loyalties haven't shifted away from the Iran-backed Shi'a.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Three and a half years into the war

The United States armed forces have managed to secure ONE Baghdad neighborhood on a temporary basis.

Anyone in a mood for ticker tape?

[FlavaKreemSnak]

6. Well Bush is upset because the Iraqis are not grateful

So maybe they are going to have more sweeps to root out all the ones who are ungrateful. They will probably have to build more jails though because I don't think very many of them are grateful so that means the sweeps will have to be really big operations.

[damntexdem]

7. And three days from now, the U.S. will start another three-day sweep.

Another corner turned in Iraq -- going around in circles at an increasingly-dizzy pace.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Still winning them hearts and minds - -

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Where are the US troops gonna PUT all them flowers the Iraqis keep throwing at them?