Marines launch bid to secure Ramadi ("Operation River Blitz ")

[leftchick]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050220/325/fcv7h.html

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a large-scale operation around the rebellious city of Ramadi, as part of a nationwide effort to restore order in the wake of last month's election.
<snip>

The operation also comes as Iraq is in the process of trying to form a government following the January 30 election, which handed power to the country's 60 percent Shi'ite majority for the first time after decades of Sunni Muslim dominance.

"Operation River Blitz is designed to target insurgents and terrorists who have attempted to destabilise the Anbar province by terrorising the populace through wanton acts of violence and intimidation," the U.S. military said in a statement.

"We were asked by the Iraqi government to increase our security operations in the city to locate, isolate and defeat anti-Iraqi forces and terrorists," said Major General Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marines expeditionary force.

[booksenkatz]

1. Fallujah Redux

Our seats in hell will be firmly secured once and for all.

[bemildred]

2. Same old same old.

Bullshit in the media, death and disfunction in the streets.

[leftchick]

3. 300,000 people in Ramadi

are about to be liberated much like Fallujah.

:(

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Does that mean they've finished

flattening Mosul?

[ausiedownunderground]

4. Haven't the Marines "Subjued" Al Ramadi by now. LOL

This is a US MSM "Plug" surely! Why are the US military suddenly bringing up Al Ramadi now. I thought the US Marines were in "control" of this City. It's a lot bigger and meaner than Fallujah!! Don't tell me that America is about to bring "Democracy and Freedom" to this city as well! In your dreams america!

[jmcgowanjm]

5. Desperate circumstances generate desperate responses

IMHO, this article substantiates Resistance Reports

IRR 021905

Ba‘qubah – Diyala Province.

Entire US column reported wiped out in ambush near Iranian border.

A US military column was completely wiped out in fierce
fighting with Resistance forces according to the
Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent in the town of al-
Mundhiriyah, near the Iranian border, east of
Ba‘qubah.

The correspondent, who was at the scene of the battle,
wrote that a US column made up of eight vehicles came
under Iraqi Resistance attack in the Jalabiyah area, known
as the at-Tilal or hilly area, at 10pm Friday night.  The
Resistance fighters holed up in strongholds in the
hills unleashed a sweeping attack on the US column,
using missiles, pipe rockets, bazookas, and land mines
that they had planted in the path of the American forces
before their arrival.

Four US tanks, three Humvees, and one armored vehicle
were destroyed in the fighting that lasted two hours,
the correspondent reported.  He said that US dead were
in excess of 60 men.  An adjutant commander of the Iraqi
border guards confirmed that the entire US column was
wiped out.

Resistance attack kills four US troops, captures one more
near ar-Ramadi Saturday evening.

In a dispatch posted at 6:40pm Mecca time Saturday
evening, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in ar-
Ramadi reported that a short while before Iraqi
Resistance fighters had launched a rocket attack at a US
patrol made up of three Humvees in the as-
Siramik neighborhood west of ar-Ramadi.

Eyewitnesses reported that the attack, which took place at
the western entrance to the city, destroyed a Humvee and
left four US troops dead.  A fifth American was taken prisoner
by the Resistance fighters after the Humvee was destroyed
and four others killed.  The fifth man tried in vain to catch up
on his own with the rest of the US column that fled from
the scene at high speed.

Witnesses said that the there were 10 masked men in the
Iraqi Resistance detachment that carried out the attack and
that they were armed with pipe rockets and medium
weight machine guns.  Witnesses later saw the
blindfolded American captive being driven away by
the Resistance fighters as crowds proclaimed “Allahu
Akbar!” <“God is greatest!”> local men and women,
having gathered to view the aftermath of the attack

http://www.freearabvoice.org

[lebkuchen]

6. Why not start w/the ten mile stretch from airport to Baghdad?

If the Marines can't secure that, then they have no hopes of securing a highly populated city, unless they plan to level another one and call it "peace."

[leftchick]

11. good point. That stretch of road is like the wild west...

only worse....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3146834

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Whatever happened to all those tunnels

that they claimed Saddam had, that ran from the airport to downtown Baghdad? I guess they didn't exist either?

[jmcgowanjm]

15. Time magazine admits that the US is begging the resistance for peace.

Who will be the last US Trooper to die
in Iraq.

Remember the elections?-Hey guys, that was just for fun.
Good luck w/ the Sunnis, We're outta here!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1029862,00.html

IRR 022105
Iraqi Resistance martyrdom fighter wearing explosive belt
blows up high-ranking US officer in ar-Ramadi. . .

In a dispatch posted at 7:25pm Mecca time Sunday night,
the ar-Ramadi correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam reported
that a short while before Iraqi Resistance forces had killed
a high-ranking US officer and five of his
aides.

The correspondent reported that an Iraqi Resistance
martyrdom fighter wearing an explosive belt blew himself up
next to the officer as he reviewed his troops along the
western boundaries of ar-Ramadi. The correspondent
reported an employee of the al-Anbar Province
puppet government office building as saying that a
person wearing the uniform of the puppet “national guard”
was able to break into a gathering of soldiers standing around
a high-ranking US officer. He threw himself at the
American officer along with his companions and aides and
blew himself up, killing the officer and five of the other
officers who were around him.

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2295/

[tlcandie]

7. Blitz this and blitz that... death, destruction and chaos... everywhere

they/we turn! :cry: Fallujah now safest city/town in Iraq...why because of the microwave dishes they use to affect their mental processes and all the depleted uranium that will kill them sooner rather than later? :cry:

[TexasLawyer]

8. terrorising the populace ...

"terrorising the populace through wanton acts of violence and intimidation..."

Isn't that what we did when we flattened Fallujah and left the people's carcasses for the dogs? My God, what are we doing?!?

[meganmonkey]

9. Lemme guess - Zarqawi is in Ramadi now...

:eyes:

[Cooley Hurd]

10. Damn it! Why do this? What possible positive outcome...

...can come from this? Haven't they learned the "stick to the hornet's nest" strategy only strengthens the resolve of the insurgency?:shrug:

They need to back off the Anbar province for a while...:grr:

[daleo]

12. Operation River of Blood

Freedom will soon be reigning down on their heads.