U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia

[grytpype]

Source: Washington Post

U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia

Americans Appear To Take the Lead As Iraqi Units Wait

By Sudarsan Raghavan and Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 28, 2008; Page A01

BAGHDAD, March 27 -- U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting.

Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army's AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead.

The clashes suggested that American forces were being drawn more deeply into a broad offensive that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, launched in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, saying death squads, criminal gangs and rogue militias were the targets. The Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite rival of Maliki, appeared to have taken the brunt of the attacks; fighting spread to many southern cities and parts of Baghdad.

As President Bush told an Ohio audience that Iraq was returning to "normalcy," administration officials in Washington held meetings to assess what appeared to be a rapidly deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/27/AR2008032700781.html?nav=rss_world/mideast

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Well, who didn't see this coming?

This Basra attack was supposed to showcase Maliki's power and the Iraqi army's capability!

And now look at what's happening, the Iraqis are standing by and watching American forces engage the Mahdi Army!

This is a major crisis! And Bush says everything is returning to normal and this is a sign of progress! Jesus, the guy needs to be committed!

[David Dunham]

1. So much for the ceasefire

[grytpype]

2. I'm glad things are returning to normal over there.

I would hate to see what it would look like if things were going to hell!

[Art_from_Ark]

3. The inmates are definitely in control of the asylum

Unfortunately, this is not an occupation by lovable lunatics, like in the movie "King of Hearts".

[saigon68]

11. "Bring Em On" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[neverforget]

4. And McSame wants more of this shit.....

[IsItJustMe]

13. Yes, a hundred years more. And probably a few more wars and/or invasions in between.

The problem is, when you see our military as a hammer, everything looks like nails.

[mrJJ]

5. Going to get nasty

Al Sadr still has not called on his militia to fight yet. What the heck happens when he does actually call on them to do battle? These forces are only fighting the fringe elements of the al sadr group. Its going to get nasty real soon.

[IsItJustMe]

14. You will see the real problems begin when they figure out that the loyalty of many in the Iraq Army

lies elsewhere, and not in the make shift bull shit gov't there.

[razors edge]

6. General Dynamics and GE must rotate stocks

so they don't come off as 22 year old wannabe.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. Look at it this way:

This will distract the pirates away from Iran. That cannot be a bad thing.

[HuffleClaw]

10. erm, they will use this to 'justify' war with Iran

they've already begun.

'iran-made weapons...'

[MidwestTransplant]

8. A quote I heard on KO today

We stand up so they stand down, we stand down so they stand up but instead they fall over. Or something to that effect.

[grytpype]

12. Totally true.

[Purveyor]

9. Well then any talk of a US troop drawdown is just folly, eh? Timely indeed... n/t

[hatrack]

15. "As Iraq's military stands aside, we will step in"

Shades of the Easter Offensive of 1972 - where we bombed the shit out of the NVA so that ARVN wouldn't have to actually, y'know, fight them.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. It's Hue 1968 all over again. Oh wait, Hue 1968 was Fallujah in April and Nov. 2004!

Good morning, Iraq-nam!

[saigon68]

18. The symbol of Iraq-Nam

Electric wires clipped to testicles

[Javaman]

17. more of the "hitting mercury with a hammer" logic. nt