Abrams tanks were used to repel attacks on two army checkpoints

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/919542,iraq042808.article

April 28, 2008Recommend

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
BAGHDAD — Shiite extremists lobbed more rockets or mortar shells at the U.S. protected Green Zone on Monday as American and Iraqi troops engaged militants in the most violent clashes in weeks in Baghdad.

Abrams tanks were used to repel attacks on two army checkpoints, killing 22 militants in one clash late Sunday, the U.S. military said on Monday. Sixteen other militants were killed Sunday in separate firefights.

The militants apparently were taking advantage of a sandstorm that blanketed the capital on Sunday, which enabled them to shell the Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government on the west side of the Tigris River.

Alarms could be heard again on Monday as loudspeakers warned residents to take cover and stay away from windows.


I can remember when reports that "the tanks were rolling again" used to come from eastern European countries like Hungary and they were Soviet tanks. How times change.

Don

[bushmeister0]

1. "Radical," "Anti-American" cleric al-Sadr is a nationalist: The Iraqis understand this. We do not

Prime buzz:

"About 50 leaders representing a variety of Iraqi political blocs took to Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday, a stronghold of fiery religious leader Muqtada al Sadr, to protest the U.S.-led siege of that area.

The leaders promised to work together with Sadrists to remove insurgents and weapons in the area. But they also had six other demands of the government, including that it immediately suspend military activity in the city, supply basic services to residents and prioritize peaceful solutions over military conflicts.

'Whatever point the crisis reaches we will keep our efforts to put an end to it,' said Ahmed Radhi, a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni Muslim bloc. Radhi said the leaders formed a committee to meet with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to solve problems plaguing Sadr City.

'We have a delegation meeting with Maliki to let him know the real situation going on in the city,' said Nassar al Rubaie, a Sadrist. 'We have lawmakers from different blocs and parties to come and watch the situation on the ground.'

Lawmakers representing the Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue and the Kurdish alliance also were present. The leaders said they were moved by pictures of civilian casualties as well as the health crisis plaguing residents in Sadr City."

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/11325

Sadr City isn't going to be another Fallujah, if that's what Petreaus & Co. are thinking. Fallujah had a population of about 300,000, a third or so of whom who had fled before the US attacked in attempt #2 in Nov. 05. Sadr City has population of some 2 million, there's no way airstrikes and Abrahms tanks are going to defeat the Jaish al-Mehdi without an obcene amount of "collateral damage."

Maybe, they're figuring no one back home will notice -- what with all the flag pin controversy going on -- or perhaps they figure they'll just cut out the middle man and go after Iran.

If they don't cut the crap in Sadr City soon, even al-Maliki is going to have to bend to pressure and end this or he's going to be out. He and the US are gambling somehow the Iraqi military will be able to rout al-Sadr & Co., with US "assistance" and he'll be able to write his own ticket in the upcoming elections in the fall.

They figured the initial reaction to the Basra fighting by the other parites involved -- the Sunnis and the Kurds, which wasn't too pro-Sadr -- meant they had a green light to finally criple the JAM enough to bring al-Sadr to heel, but it looks like even the Sunnis can't stand the sight of the oocupiers killing so many Iraqis, even of they are Shiites. If it's a war of attrition the "coalation" wants; al-Sadr will provide it, albiet on the backs of his own "people"

The only other option for the Petraeus is to get those VC tunnels on the Cambodian border (don't tell anyone though, it's top secret.)