U.S. Launches New Offensive in Baghdad
16 June, 2007By: LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press WriterExcerpt:
BAGHDAD (AP) – The U.S. military, which just days ago completed its latest troop buildup in Iraq, has launched a large offensive operation in several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad, the top U.S. commander said Saturday. Gen. David Petraeus said the operation began in the last 24 hours and will put forces into key areas surrounding Baghdad that, according to intelligence, al-Qaida is using to base some of its car bomb operations.Petraeus, who met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a morning breakfast, also said that he doesn’t have all the American troops he might want, but he knows he’s got all he’s going to get.“There’s never been a military commander in history who wouldn’t like to have more of something or other—that characterizes all of us here,” he told reporters traveling with Gates. “The fact is frankly that we have all that our country is going to provide us in terms of combat forces. That is really it right now.”He said the buildup of nearly 30,000 additional forces that has just been completed allowed him to launch the latest assault. The move, he said, is allowing him to send operations for the first time into “a number of areas around Baghdad, in particular to go into areas that were sanctuaries in the past of al-Qaida.”He said: “Our job now, frankly, along with the job of our Iraqi counterparts … is to do everything that we can with the additional forces that we have.”
Link: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8PPUC7O0&show_article=1&cat=0
Quite frankly, we need to do a clean sweep of Iraq, from top to bottom and be as ruthless as possible. You stand in our way, you die. Though the majority of the violence is being carried out on ‘soft targets’ in specific areas around Baghdad, the peripheral threat cannot be ignored. In other words, wouldn’t hurt to lob a few ICBMs at Damascus and Tehran just to let them know we don’t appreciate the infiltration of Islamic terrorist scumbags from their geographical cesspools.
The Iraqi military and the new Parliament are doing their best, but they need to realize that once our mission is done, and the reins are handed to them, they will have to carry the burden of national security and protection of their fledgling democracy. This is an entirely new concept for these people, considering all they’ve ever known are Kings, Emirs, colonization, and dictators.
When they succeed, they will still be surrounded by a snake pit of Islamofascists, hell bent on destroying everything they’ve accomplished. Add to that, the internal strife between the religious and ethnic tribes, and it will be a rough transition.
They will have to be strong enough to maintain a delicate balance of independence and diplomatic relations with allies who share a dedication for their future. They must also make it clear to the likes of Assad, Ahmadinejad, and the al Qadea, that Iraq won’t be held back from making progress into the 21st Century.
Stick that up your turban, Osama.