U.S.: 60 pct of Baghdad not controlled

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - Security forces in Baghdad have full control in only 40 percent of the city five months into the pacification campaign, a top American general said Saturday as U.S. troops began an offensive against two al-Qaida strongholds on the capital's southern outskirts.

~snip~

Baghdad's Arab Jabour and Salman Pac neighborhoods Friday night. It was the first time in three years that U.S. soldiers entered those areas, where al-Qaida militants build car bombs and launch Katyusha rockets at American bases and Shiite Muslim neighborhoods.

The overall commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said during a news conference with visiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the operation would put troops into key al-Qaida-held areas surrounding Baghdad.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070616/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[kurth]

1. Even in the Green Zone:

One measure of how bad things have become is that Western diplomats will no longer visit the Iraqi Defence ministry, even though it is inside the Green Zone.

In fact, militia infiltration is believed to be such that no-one walks anywhere in the Green Zone for fear of being snatched off the street.

So, if the coalition cannot even guarantee its own safety in the heart of its power base, what hope for the rest of Baghdad?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6756425.stm

[lpbk2713]

2. So .... anyone who says *Mission Accomplished* is full of shit, right General?

[maddezmom]

3. was that the same days as the cod piece photo

:puke:

[lpbk2713]

5. Same day. The whole thing was a staged PR stunt, start to finish.

The sailors on the carrier were pissed because they were used as props by Smirky. They were on their way home from being on station in the Persian Gulf and their arrival home was delayed a day so that AWOL Monkey-Boy could use them as a backdrop for Rove's PR stunt.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. And 39% is enemy territory.

1% is safely in our hands. On maps this area is labeled The Green Zone, as that is where all of our hard earned tax dollars ended up.

[truth2power]

6. So....where in that 40% are the amusement parks?...

Somebody needs to drag that POS Petraeus in front of a microphone so he can tell us. 'Cause I really want to know where the Iraqi people are going with their kids, and they're ...you know, laughing and well...amused!

I sure hope those people with the holes drilled in their legs aren't being left near the rides or anything. Would kinda put a damper on things. Know what I mean?

Christ!! Our country's being run by the criminally insane!

[saigon68]

7. run by the criminally insane

Like Gangster Cheney