U.S. Forces on Offensive in Iraq, Taunted by Al Qaeda

[Gyre]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6197484&src=rss/topNews§ion=news

"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces launched offensives in three Iraqi rebel strongholds on Thursday on a day Osama bin Laden's deputy ridiculed the U.S. military, saying their defeat in Iraq was just a matter of time.

U.S.-led forces killed nearly two dozen insurgents in a town near the Syrian border and bombed targets in Falluja, west of Baghdad, for the third straight day.

Troops mounted a major offensive in Tal Afar, a suspected haven for foreign fighters about 60 miles east of the Syrian border in northern Iraq, and went into the tense town of Samarra north of Baghdad, while keeping up pressure on Falluja. "

That's great. OBL teases ChimpCo, and Chimpco pounds the shit out of some brown people COMPLETELY UNRELATED (but possibly sympathetic) in retaliation!!! Oh that's right! 9/11 and the Iraqis ARE related, or are they? Guess it depends on which freeper you listen to on any given day. These pieces of sh*t in the WH have got to go.

Gyre

[KeepItReal]

1. Not enough troops to attack in Afghanistan...Can't go into Pakistan...

Way to take the fight to the enemy, Bush & Co...Al Qaeda will sleep tight tonite. As they have for the last 3 years.
<end of sarcasm>

Like someone said, there were no insurgents and/or terrorists in Iraq *before* we invaded.

I personally don't think the real terrorists even want a piece of that action in Iraq. By definition, terrorists do not go after armies who can fight back, they go after unprotected civilan targets to influence public opinion.

on edit...Terrorists *did* bomb the Marine barracks in Beirut. But the Marines weren't allowed to defend themselves properly according to those rules of engagement, I believe.

[Aidoneus]

3. "terrorists"?

it's interesting that you bemoan the lack of "permission" to "defend themselves" in a place they didn't belong. As if popping off car-sized shells at dense population centers wasn't enough involvement there, to say nothing of the CIA's car-bomb massacre set off a year or two later.. Baselessly smearing their attackers so crudely is just misguided. :eyes:

At any rate, thousands of US forces wandering aimlessly around dense neighborhoods was actually something "al-Qa`idah" had wanted, and didn't get, in Afghanistan (they didn't expect an enemy not man enough to face them on the ground, using the drug'n'gun lords from the north instead). Surprisingly, however, they have not had much to do in Iraq. The Islamic resistance based in al-Fallujah is formed from local Sufi & Salafi orders, while they have obviously next to no effect on the Shiite moqawama in the south. The Baathist dictatorship was fobidden from collaborating with the "al-Qa`idah" elements, and the feeling was mutual. Basically, it's hard to nudge in with something already somewhat packed in place. In the Jazirat al-Arabi, it's a different story--that's been their main scene lately.

[ScrewyRabbit]

2. The 'message' of the attacks is directed at a US audience, not

...al Qaeda.

In other words, when news of a new al Qaeda taunt comes over the air waves, the (mis)administration has to turn up the volume on military assaults in order to convince the stupider part of the US public that they're 'aggressively' dealing with 'terrorists'.

[barb162]

4. do you think al qaida

is leading the US troops into traps?

[Ganja Ninja]

5. I get the sense there's a real disaster brewing for our troops.

The news looks pretty bad from Iraq. The whole thing is getting out of control. I'm worried that if Kerry gets elected the collapse will happen right after he takes office. Or that he'll have to be the one to pull US troops out to prevent a disaster. Bush's mismanagement will be blamed on Kerry.

[jmcgowanjm]

6. Australians unlike US have an opposition -to pull troops from Iraq

Flashback: in the case of the 2002 Bali bomb attack, the
alleged terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiah had links
to Indonesia's military intelligence (BIN), which in turn has
links to the CIA and Australian intelligence.

So here we are, weeks from the Oz election and there's
a bombing of the Oz Embassy in Jakarta, which could
only embolden and strengthen PM Howard's party.

So who's the War Party's best buddy?

When did the CIA lose contact w/ Al Qaeda?

And artistic broadcast quality film aired by Moscow TV
after it had been delivered from Georgia by scheduled airline
via London.

[gratuitous]

7. Huh! MY copy of the Geneva Conventions says . . .

That mass reprisals against citizen non-combatants is a war crime. It's the responsibility of the military to make sure that they're not blowing up civilians, and I'm not really interested in whiny justifications that the bad guys are sneaky, or are using the civilian population as shields.

We're supposed to have a professional, trained military. Any bunch of yahoos with the armaments can blow up a bunch of stuff with indiscriminate use. This is shameful.

[Briar]

9. Geneva Convention?

Just another nasty international plot to thwart American interests and undermine the American Way of Life. America must come First! Any attempt to make it subject to the same law as all other countries will be ignored or resisted. The US must be able to wage war where and when it likes, as the agent of God's will on earth!

[gratuitous]

10. Oh, you're so right!

How could I have forgotten?? Do you think I should just turn myself in, or wait for the Boys in Black to come for me? I mean, I'd like to save them the trouble, but I know how much they like kicking down doors.

[jumpstart33]

8. Spending our weapons and our soldiers lives for Bush's holy war.

I hope all the people who support this man sign up with their families like that Alabama family. I don't support this war and I will not fight in it. I am standing by my principles as much as they are.

[jmcgowanjm]

11. Mark this for Dec04Recall: US KIA over 3500/WIA over 25K

Resistance captures five US troops, shoots down reconnaissance plane
near Samarra'.

Iraqi Resistance forces shot down two US aircraft
over al-Fallujah
on Wednesday. The first – a Cobra helicopter – was shot
down over
the al-Fallujah tourist highway at 2:00pm Baghdad time.
The
Resistance brought it down with an anti-aircraft
missile.

The second aircraft, an American Chinook transport
helicopter
carrying an armored vehicle, was shot down in the al-
Halaabjah area,
7km west of al-Fallujah at 12:00noon local time. Again an
anti-
aircraft missile struck the craft, set it ablaze and brought it
down.

Fierce fighting raged between US troops and the Jaysh al-
Mahdi
militia on Wednesday until sunset in the part of Baghdad
known as
Madinat as-Sadr. The local correspondent of Mafkarat al-
Islam
reported that the battles damaged four US armored vehicles
and
destroyed four US Humvees. At least 18 Americans were
killed in the
fighting. The Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen shot down one
large Chinook
helicopter with a rocket that appeared to be a
C5K.

[xchrom]

12. what utter bull shit

it's all like hitting a pillow -- we can blow these people and there will be yet more when we are done.
and what about all the innocent civilians -- the ones not threatened by saddam -- just folks who are dead, maimed, orphaned, widowed, etc -- all by our lunatic prsident and his stupid ambitions.

[PATRICK]

13. Besides the untouched Al Qaeda

there is the small point that the entire offensive is irrelevant to the general cause of losing Iraq in the long run and in particular radicalizing the Shia into the next ascendancy. The military front, as questionable as it is in the goals of pulling resistance teeth and crushing the most radical Shia and Baathist elements, is even more counterproductive in the larger goals which it assumes will fall into place once the shooting stops.

Whatever their competence in dealing with a nested resistance in an unpopular occupation. military commanders are utterly blind in the political sphere- perhaps even in judging how their tactical planning is tuned to the Bush political campaign. Each bullet fired is in effect ammunition spent on behalf of Bushco, Al Qaeda, and the Iraqi resistance itself while the US military thinks something totally different is going on.

With blindness and insanity like that over and above and through and through a lose/lose situation the ordinary soldier is truly on his own. Talk of supporting the troops is ludicrous when their worst enemies are their own brass and government handing over advantages to the very people our soldiers are thrown against- for ultimate defeat, degradation and lies. Yes, Vietnam was all about the betrayal of the troops, but least of all by the citizens back home who saw everyone betrayed by terrible leadership, terrible lies. But conveniently those responsible snuck out and left vast social rancor unresolved, lies aplenty in place, with the sacrifice of lives reluctantly acknowledged decades later. This fog has covered every disgrace, every criminal at the top as far back as I can remember. Even the Cold War's end was a dismal reluctant affair with deliberate inattention. That too if examined too closely showed the same pawprints of the gilded beast fearful of discovery, discredited claims and punishment.

What clearer example than the Bush dynasty built on several generations of treasonous war profiteering, to lead yahoos into sending the nation's armed forces into a war for Mammon, oil and religious hypocrisy?

More firepower, brutality and death does not better the situation in the least. The exact contrary.