Militiamen ambush drives back US patrol in Sadr City

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

Militiamen ambush drives back US patrol in Sadr City

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago

Dozens of fighters ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold Tuesday, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun bursts as the American push into Sadr City increasingly faces pockets of close urban combat.

U.S. forces struck back with 200-pound guided rockets that devastated at least three buildings in the densely packed district that serves as the Baghdad base for the powerful Mahdi Army militia.

The U.S. military said 28 militiamen were killed as the U.S. patrol pulled back. Local hospital officials said dozens of civilians were killed or wounded.

Such street battles — in tight confines and amid frightened civilians — are increasingly becoming a hallmark of the drive into Sadr City and recall the type of head-on clashes last seen in large numbers during last year's U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[Purveyor]

1. One would think after 5+ years and hundreds of billions of dollars....

You fill in the ____________ blank.

[xchrom]

2. all of the insurgents in iraq are learning -- and they are not running out

of motivation to drive -- yese drive -- the u.s. out of iraq.

we have neither the energy nor the money to continue for very much longer.

it was all based on a lie -- the american the american soldier all know it.

knowing that undermines us every minute we are there.

[bemildred]

3. It's not a stronghold, it's a giant slum.

"US military attacks giant slum."

Sort of like the "military operations" in Haiti.

[WCGreen]

4. Good ol George was yakin' about how evil it was for them

terrersts to be killin' innocent womin and childrens.

Womin and Childrens.

Damn, Pogo was right.

We have met the enemy and he is us.

[jonnyra]

5. This is sheer insanity

How is this defending our nation? Why are those soldiers dying? Why are we sending them into this hell? To help keep another murderous thug in power?

And the congress creeps do nothing to stop it.

[laststeamtrain]

6. WP: U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City;Fierce Battle Against Shiite Militiamen Echoes First Years of War

U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City
Fierce Battle Against Shiite Militiamen Echoes First Years of War

By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 30, 2008; A01

BAGHDAD, April 29 -- A four-hour battle Tuesday between U.S. soldiers and Shiite militiamen left at least 28 Iraqis dead in the capital's Sadr City neighborhood, making it one of the bloodiest days in a month of sustained street fighting.

The clashes underscored how deeply U.S. forces have been drawn into heavy combat in the huge Shiite district since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unexpectedly launched an offensive in southern Iraq last month against Shiite militias, primarily the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Until Maliki's push into the southern city of Basra, U.S. troops were not intensely engaged in Sadr City, a Baghdad neighborhood of roughly 3 million people that was among the most treacherous areas for U.S. forces early in the war.

But the southern offensive set off a violent chain reaction that spread quickly to Shiite sectors of the capital and has severely strained the cease-fire Sadr imposed on his followers in August and recently reaffirmed. U.S. troops, fighting at times Tuesday on foot and backed by air support, are now engaged in the kind of urban battle within Sadr's stronghold reminiscent of the first years of the war.

<more>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042900560.html?nav=rss_world/mideast/iraq