"Iraqis crack down on province; Diyala often center of violence" by Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times | July 30, 2008
BAQOUBA, Iraq - The Iraqi government's most ambitious effort yet to stamp its authority over long-troubled parts of the country began yesterday with polite requests to search homes in and near the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba.
It was a modest and carefully prepared launch of a campaign that Iraqi commanders say will make use of nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and eventually stretch across a region east of Baghdad that is roughly the size of Maryland. The government's previous crackdowns focused on individual cities.
Iraqi soldiers and national police encountered no resistance as they knocked on doors in Baqouba and the town of Ghan Bani Sad, about 15 miles to the south. But this is well-trod ground for the Iraqi forces and their US counterparts, who have conducted repeated operations in the area since last year.
And it still ain't cleaned out? Sigh!!!!
Even with the extra forces deployed under the Bush administration's troop build-up last year, the US military did not have sufficient numbers to push into more remote parts of the province, where fighters hide among thick palm groves, and in isolated hamlets, vast desert expanses, and rugged mountains. Most of the additional forces have returned home.
WTF, readers?!?!
Do the LIES EVER STOP?!!!!!
Also see: Occupation Iraq: Still Surging
US commanders, who had been expecting the Iraqi crackdown to begin later in the week, were caught off guard and scrambled to mobilize forces when hundreds of Iraqi troops cordoned off parts of the city before dawn yesterday and began searching for weapons and fighters.
Listen to this bullshit; yeah, the Iraqis caught us off guard!
PFFFFFFFTTTT!
The US officers' main concern was that the arrival of large numbers of predominantly Shi'ite troops to arrest Sunni Arab insurgents could trigger new clashes in a region scarred by years of sectarian bloodshed.
Residents too were apprehensive about the treatment they would receive, particularly members of the 10,000-strong local Sunni and Shi'ite guard force hired by the US military to help ensure insurgents do not return after major clearing operations are completed."I knew the sectarian crap was all bullshit!!!
Memory Hole: The Dream Vacation
Memory Hole: The Uniters of Islam
Occupation Iraq: Sectarian Saviors
Case closed on AmeriKa's MSM and its PROPAGANDA SHOVELING, folks!
