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U.S.-Iraqi offensive yields results
A major thrust in Diyala province, which began Tuesday, has left at least 30 suspected insurgents dead and uncovered 1,000 roadside bombs.
By Tina Susman, Times Staff Writer
8:30 AM PDT, June 20, 2007
BAGHDAD -- At least 30 suspected insurgents have been killed in two days of operations being conducted in Diyala province as part of a major thrust by U.S. and Iraqi forces to clear Al Qaeda operatives from the region, the military said today.
Soldiers conducting Operation Arrowhead Thunder also have uncovered more than 1,000 roadside bombs around the provincial capital, Baqubah, where the offensive is being conducted, Iraqi security officials said.
Local residents reported heavy fighting in some neighborhoods and aerial bombardments on the western side of the city, where the U.S. military says many insurgents have been based since the last major offensive in March cleared them from eastern Baqubah.
Until early Tuesday, when some 10,000 troops launched the new mission, U.S. forces rarely had crossed the Tigris river into the western side of town. The latest operation is targeting insurgents who have tried to establish Baqubah as their own capital with strictly Islamic rules imposed on residents.
Read the rest here:
U.S.-Iraqi offensive yields results - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq21jun21,0,6199777.story?coll=la-home-center - broken link)
U.S.-Iraqi offensive yields results - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq21jun21,0,6199777.story?coll=la-home-center - broken link)
I know in the grand scheme of things this may not seem like much but this is reaaly good news, and deserves to have attention, taking 1000 roadside bombs out of the picture is huge!
Yes, Michael Yon has some great stuff - I think I'm going to order a print of the boy hearding the sheep. I came across his site just recently - I've donated to Operation AC and they e-mailed the link. I stayed up until 3am the other day to read through his blog.
IMHO, it's sources like these that are the real deal - no sound bites, and no political spin.
Yes, Michael Yon has some great stuff - I think I'm going to order a print of the boy hearding the sheep. I came across his site just recently - I've donated to Operation AC and they e-mailed the link. I stayed up until 3am the other day to read through his blog.
IMHO, it's sources like these that are the real deal - no sound bites, and no political spin.
Did you ever see Yon's "Gates of Fire" post?
Absolutely amazing. Yon almost got kicked out of Iraq for this, because he picked up a wounded soldiers weapon and fired at terrorists that wounded Americans in close quarters combat!
Quote:
Kurilla was running when he was shot, but he didn’t seem to miss a stride; he did a crazy judo roll and came up shooting.
BamBamBamBam! Bullets were hitting all around Kurilla. The young 2nd lieutenant and specialist were the only two soldiers near. Neither had real combat experience. AH had no weapon. I had a camera.
Seconds count.
Kurilla, though down and unable to move, was fighting and firing, yelling at the two young soldiers to get in there; but they hesitated. BamBamBamBam!
Kurilla was in the open, but his judo roll had left him slightly to the side of the shop. I screamed to the young soldiers, “Throw a grenade in there!” but they were not attacking.
“Throw a grenade in there!” They did not attack.
“Give me a grenade!” They didn’t have grenades.
“Erik! Do you need me to come get you!” I shouted. But he said “No.” (Thank God; running in front of the shop might have proved fatal.)
“What’s wrong with you!?” I yelled above the shooting.
“I’m hit three times! I’m shot three times!”
Amazingly, he was right. One bullet smashed through his femur, snapping his leg. His other leg was hit and so was an arm.
With his leg mangled, Kurilla pointed and fired his rifle into the doorway, yelling instructions to the soldiers about how to get in there. But they were not attacking. This was not the Deuce Four I know. The other Deuce Four soldiers would have killed every man in that room in about five seconds. But these two soldiers didn’t have the combat experience to grasp the power of momentum.
This was happening in seconds. Several times I nearly ran over to Kurilla, but hesitated every time. Kurilla was, after all, still fighting. And I was afraid to run in front of the shop, especially so unarmed.
The Commander fights…
…and fights, as more bullets kick up dust.
And then help arrived in the form of one man: CSM Prosser.
Prosser ran around the corner, passed the two young soldiers who were crouched low, then by me and right to the shop, where he started firing at men inside.
A man came forward, trying to shoot Kurilla with a pistol, apparently realizing his only escape was by fighting his way out, or dying in the process. Kurilla was aiming at the doorway waiting for him to come out. Had Prosser not come at that precise moment, who knows what the outcome might have been.
Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle. But the American M4 rifles are weak - after Prosser landed three nearly point blank shots in the man’s abdomen, splattering a testicle with a fourth, the man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser.
If you have never read it you can read it and see the photos here:
Michael Yon : Online Magazine » Blog Archive » Gates of Fire (broken link)
That was an amazing read!
Last edited by American_Libertarian; 06-25-2007 at 03:30 PM..
Yes it was. But this section really hits home, and you'd probably never see this in the media:
Quote:
The doctors rolled LTC Kurilla and the terrorist into OR and our surgeons operated on both at the same time. The terrorist turned out to be one Khalid Jasim Nohe, who had first been captured by US forces (2-8 FA) on 21 December, the same day a large bomb exploded in the dining facility on this base and killed 22 people.
That December day, Khalid Jasim Nohe and two compatriots tried to evade US soldiers from 2-8 FA, but the soldiers managed to stop the fleeing car. Then one of the suspects tried to wrestle a weapon from a soldier before all three were detained. They were armed with a sniper rifle, an AK, pistols, a silencer, explosives and other weapons, and had in their possession photographs of US bases, including a map of this base.
That was in December.
About two weeks ago, word came that Nohe’s case had been dismissed by a judge on 7 August. The Coalition was livid. According to American officers, solid cases are continually dismissed without apparent cause. Whatever the reason, the result was that less than two weeks after his release from Abu Ghraib, Nohe was back in Mosul shooting at American soldiers.
LTC Kurilla repeatedly told me of - and I repeatedly wrote about - terrorists who get released only to cause more trouble. Kurilla talked about it almost daily. Apparently, the vigor of his protests had made him an opponent of some in the Army’s Detention Facilities chain of command, but had otherwise not changed the policy. And now Kurilla lay shot and in surgery in the same operating room with one of the catch-and-release-terrorists he and other soldiers had been warning everyone about
This is good stuff, thanks for sharing. I had not heard of this guy.
I check on Yon's Blog daily and doesn't sugar coat anything. He tells about the positive accomplishments and the negatives. The way the media should do it.
If Michael Yon ever states, "All is lost in Iraq" I will immediately call my U.S. Senators to voice my approval of full withdrawal.
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Great news
