Military upbeat on Baghdad clampdown

[Barrett808]

Military upbeat on Baghdad clampdown
By Alastair Macdonald

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Baghdad has declined in the past two weeks and all but ended in some formerly deadly neighborhoods, the U.S. military said in a cautiously upbeat report on Tuesday on a major security clampdown in the city.

...

A day after President George W. Bush said he was concerned about civil war and was not about to withdraw U.S. troops, the chief military spokesman in Iraq said he saw no sign of such a conflict but U.S. forces were focusing on breaking sectarian "death squads" from both Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim communities.

Twenty-two raids in the past week against such groups in the capital had led to 37 arrests, Major General William Caldwell told a news conference. He presented statistics showing a 16 percent drop in the daily average of attacks in Baghdad since August 7, at 21 compared to 25 in the preceding two months.

"What we have seen in August is a downturn," Caldwell said, two weeks after beefed up U.S. forces and thousands of Iraqi troops and police launched a new phase of what Iraqi and U.S. leaders have called a make-or-break operation to pacify Baghdad.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060822/ts_nm/iraq_dc

[Monkeyman]

1. Sure everytime our troops move in there a slow down

But they move to other cites and the killing keeps going on an on an on

[FlavaKreemSnak]

5. Yes I think we will need LOTS more troops there

Iraq is so big, I don't know how many troops we will need to keep the whole country under clampdown. and Iran is even bigger. I think we will have to have a national service plan like the one in the Democrat's plan somebody posted on here the other day because maybe I am wrong but I don't think that the companies like Blackwater etc have enough people to do it and even with us recruiting old people and gangs and white supremacists etc when you put together like even just Iraq and Afghanistan it is a very big area to keep under clampdown and that does not even count Iran, plus even after we get the bases built we will still have to keep it all under clampdown, PLUS we are also paying for all those clampdowns in the countries with pro-American leaders. I think it is all going to be very expensive and change a lot of things about our lives.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. As expected, the military reports are in conflict with all other reports

and common sense. So what else is new?

[coalition_unwilling]

6. AKA: The "five o'clock follies" of Vietnam. (n/t)

[Oreo]

3. It sure looks like a safe place now.... ahhh Baghdad in August

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=baghdad+bomb&ie=UTF-8

At least two Iraqi workers killed in central Baghdad bomb
Monsters and Critics.com, UK - 5 hours ago
Baghdad - At least two Iraqis were killed and nine injured when a bomb exploded as a group of people were queueing for work in the centre of Baghdad Tuesday. ...
Includes info from eca 158 and eca 164 Raw Story
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Baghdad bomb attack kills eight
BBC News, UK - Aug 16, 2006
... Wednesday's bomb in Baghdad is reported to have hit a small market. "The bomb exploded beside those people who were just here to earn their living. ...

Baghdad bomb blast kills eight
Irish Examiner, Ireland - Aug 16, 2006
A bomb exploded today in a crowd of day labourers in central Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 28, police said. British ...

Violence flares in Iraq, Baghdad bomb kills eight
Reuters AlertNet, UK - Aug 16, 2006
... But the violence continued unabated. A roadside bomb in a small flea market in east Baghdad killed eight and wounded up to 28. "The ...

Baghdad bomb kills 8
ABC News - Aug 16, 2006
... bloodshed continues. A roadside bomb in a small flea market in east Baghdad killed eight and wounded up to 28 on Wednesday. "The bomb ...

BBC News Baghdad bomb blast 'kills seven'
BBC News, UK - Aug 16, 2006
At least seven people have been killed and 18 wounded by a bomb in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security and police officials say. ...

Two Soldiers Killed by Baghdad Bomb, US Army Says (Update1)
Bloomberg - Aug 13, 2006
13 (Bloomberg) -- Two US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said, bringing the number of American deaths around the Iraqi ...

Euronews.net Baghdad bomb blasts kill at least 19
Euronews.net, France - Aug 8, 2006
... been shaken by a series of bomb blasts that have killed at least 19 people. Around 10 died in the deadliest attack, in a market in central Baghdad, and some 70 ...

Baghdad bomb attacks kill 19
ABC Online, Australia - Aug 8, 2006
Four separate roadside bomb attacks have killed at least 19 people in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The deadliest bombing has killed ...

New Zealand man killed by Baghdad bomb
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Aug 9, 2006
Te Ina Marokura Ngamata, 37, was transporting foreign workers through the city when a bomb went off. He had worked as a driver in Baghdad since 2004 and ...

At least 20 killed in string of Baghdad bomb attacks
Irish Independent, Ireland - Aug 8, 2006
At least 20 people have died and almost 60 others have been injured in a series of bomb attacks in

Baghdad today. Ten of the victims ...
Australian injured in Baghdad bomb attack
2GB News, Australia - Aug 6, 2006
... evacuated from Iraq. He was badly injured when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb 45 kilometres northeast of Baghdad. But he was ...

Baghdad bomb kills at least 12, injures 29
Houston Chronicle, United States - Aug 3, 2006
... He said the bomb was hidden in a parked motorcycle. ... The attack occurred as Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was visiting Baghdad on a surprise trip. ...

Baghdad bomb kills at least 12
Ireland Online, Ireland - Aug 3, 2006
A bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded in the centre of Baghdad today, killing at least 12 people and injuring 29, police said. ...

25 killed in Baghdad bomb blast
Euronews.net, France - Jul 27, 2006
A car bomb and several mortar attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 25 people. The explosions Thursday took ...

Baghdad: Bomb leaves 4 dead following prayers
Jerusalem Post, Israel - Jul 28, 2006
A bomb planted between a Sunni mosque and a youth center exploded during Friday ... began leaving the al-Ali al-Aadhim mosque in southeastern Baghdad, said police ...

Baghdad bomb hits shopping area
BBC News, UK - Aug 3, 2006
... in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, has killed nine people and injured more than 20, police have reported. An official said the bomb was strapped to a ...

14 killed in the Baghdad bomb attack
Kuwait News Agency, Kuwait - Aug 1, 2006
BAGHDAD, Aug 1 (KUNA) -- At least 14 people died and 15 others were wounded in a fiery car bomb blast in the eastern Al-Karradah district in the Iraqi capital ...

Baghdad Bomb Blast Kills 10, Japanese FM Visits Iraq
Elites TV, TX - Aug 3, 2006
Meanwhile, thousands of Shi'ite followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are converging on Baghdad for a rally Friday to express support for Hezbollah ...

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Monday, 21 August 2006
uruknet.info, Italy - 5 hours ago
... time Monday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US patrol in the city of Hit, about 170km northwest of Baghdad. ...
Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 19 August 2006 uruknet.info
all 3 related »

[knowbody0]

4. yep, all is well

all we need is higher walls!

[creeksneakers2]

7. Weren't a few hundred people shot last Saturday? n/t

[truthisfreedom]

8. upbeat clampdown?

[PointAndLaugh]

9. "clampdown" is the key word here.

Is it all good simply because they are keeping the entire city of Baghdad under virtual lockdown? Is it Mission Accomplished yet?

[Barrett808]

10. US, British military say attacks down in targeted Baghdad districts

US, British military say attacks down in targeted Baghdad districts
by Jim Mannion

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A campaign to staunch sectarian bloodletting in Baghdad has sharply curtailed assassinations and bombings in some of the city's most violent neighborhoods, US and British military officials said.

The positive signs emerged about three weeks after US commanders deployed thousands of additional US troops in the Iraqi capital amid rising sectarian violence and fears of an all-out civil war.

In briefings in Washington and Baghdad, the officials acknowledged that they were still in the early phases of the campaign and that it would take months to fully secure the city.

"Military force will achieve no aims by itself," said Lieutenant General Robert Fry, the British deputy commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq. "All it will do is provide space and provide time to allow a political process to take place, and that is under way."

But officials said attacks have dropped off significantly in the three Baghdad districts targeted so far by US and Iraqi troops -- Dura, Amiriya and Ghazalia.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060823/pl_afp/usiraqmilitary

[sofa king]

11. Ugh.

You know, I really might be less pissed off if we had at least fought this illegal and immoral war to win. This shows what a proper concentration of troops might have accomplished years ago.

But today, it's just part of an elaborate shell game.

[Jacobin]

15. I don't think there is a 'proper' way to fight an illegal war

There is a power vacuum since Saddam is gone and the 'election's were a farce.

As soon as we are run out of their country, they will fight it out until a new military dictator or ayatollah emerges to run the country, unless it splinters into three parts, which parts will then have endless wars with one another.

We have meddled in a quagmire that will vent noxious gases for decades to come.

[sofa king]

17. Too true.

It probably doesn't speak well of my character, but if this war were over and Iraq had moved on to the inevitable totalitarian bananna republic phase, I'd probably be doing my best to forget about it and hating the Bush Administration for their myriad other criminal and amoral acts.

But being criminally violent and criminally negligent at the same time has compounded the problem for everyone. There's no way to bring about a peaceful transition of power when any yahoo with an AK-47 can violently disagree without fear of reprisal. More troops with a clear mission of keeping the peace might have helped. Now, it's fucked getting fucked by two fucks fucking.

[rodeodance]

12. well, my question is we stay there permantly to keep the violence down?

[TomInTib]

13. Isn't there some sort of Muslim Holy thing going on right now?

Maybe they're simply laying back.

They were shooting one another en masse from the rooftops just the other day.

[hobbit709]

14. And what's happening

in the areas that they pulled troops out of for this?

[badgervan]

16. Tried and True Strategy

More good 'ol whack-a-mole, whack-a-mole, whack-a-mole.....

[billyoc]

18. All we are saying,

is give ghetto-ization a chance. :eyes: