"U.S. Airstrikes Aid Iraqi Army in Basra Siege"
"The American military conducted airstrikes Thursday and Friday to back up stalled Iraqi forces in Basra and battle Shiite militias in Baghdad as continued violence and political infighting worsened the prospects for any timely reconciliation among Iraq'’s warring factions....
Which means the U.S. will just have to stay, huh?
CUI BONO, readers?
Baghdad... is under a strict curfew, its streets and markets deserted and its citizens cowering in their houses....
You know, a return to "normalcy" according to asshole Bush!
In Basra, the conflict has put the city into a state of virtual siege, with electricity and drinkable water cut off in most neighborhoods....
F-18 fighter jets dropped cannon rounds on a militia stronghold and on a mortar team that was attacking Iraqi forces in Basra. The airstrikes, one at 9 p.m. Thursday and a second after midnight, were made at the request of the Iraqi Army, said Maj. Tom Holloway, a spokesman for the British Army.
Major Holloway said that British and American planes had been conducting surveillance runs over Basra since the fighting began to support the Iraqi military, but that this was the first time they had entered active fighting. “I think the point here is actually that the Iraqis are capable, they are strong and they have been engaging successfully,” Major Holloway said....
Oh, I am so tired of the damn lies!!!!!
And here are more:
A Western official said negotiations between Iraqi government leaders and militia leaders in Basra had begun even as gunmen clashed. The official said that British and American aircraft were providing aerial support and that a small number of American ground troops had also entered Basra for the first time in years, mainly to monitor the performance of Iraqi forces....
Pffffftt! What are they doing, just standing around?
Sporadic clashes broke out around the city.Fighting also continued in the Qurna district, 40 miles northwest of Basra.
In Baghdad, an American helicopter fired on Mahdi Army fighters in the Sadr City neighborhood, killing five people, according to the Iraqi police in the area. The American military confirmed the 4 a.m. strike....
Clashes also took place in other Shiite-dominated neighborhoods in the capital, including the Topchi and Huriya districts and Kadhimiya.
As it has been for several days, the Green Zone was pounded by rocket and mortar fire on Friday....
Iraqi politicians said Friday that opposition to Mr. Maliki’s use of military force to root out Shiite militias in Basra was increasing even among some of the Shiite and Kurdish allies in his coalition....
Oh, so this WASN'T A GOOD MOVE AT ALL, was it?
Mahmoud Othman, a member of Parliament from the Kurdish Alliance, said, “The Sadr movement exists in Parliament, and there should have been negotiations before conducting military operations.”
Naw, AmeriKa and her puppet regime would never want to do that!
Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, said the United States had known of the Basra operation in advance, suggesting a good deal of coordination between the United States and Iraq.
Wait a minute, wait a minute!!!!
I was told this afternoon that Maliki ordered this all on his own, without U.S. knowledge!
"Maliki is understood to have provided no advance warning to the coalition about the offensive."
WTF, Times?
WTF?!?!!!!
Despite rising concern over the violence, one senior administration official suggested that the operation in Basra reflected a model of future operations....
This obviously does not bode well for Iraqis -- no matter who they are!!!
“This is what overwatch looks like,” the official said, referring to the American role in Basra so far.
May God forgive us then.
I am so ashamed, and so sorry Iraqis.
Will you ever be able to find it in your hearts to forgive America?
Around Iraq, sectarian violence also erupted on Friday.
But, but, but.. the surge?
American forces shelled Asriyah in the Touz Khormato district, about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, in Kirkuk Province, killing two civilians.
That's sectarian violence?
The US killing civilians?
In Diwaniya, in the southeast, Mahdi Army gunmen attacked the mayor’s office in the Gammas district, killing the mayor.
In Mahmudiya, fierce clashes broke out between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi and American forces in the city center. And in Nasiriya, northwest of Basra, violence erupted after two days of calm, as Mahdi Army gunmen attacked Iraqi Army tanks that patrolled the city, enforcing a curfew...."
I've had enough propaganda for one day, readers.
