U.S., Iraqi Troops Battle Dozens of Insurgents (2 US Soldiers Dead)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/iraq_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces battled dozens of insurgents in a remote area east of Baghdad and three soldiers, two American and one Iraqi, were killed in the fighting, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.


The battle erupted on Monday afternoon when two Iraqi army battalions were carrying out a "cordon and search operation" in eastern Diyala province, it said in a statement.


"The mission to search for weapons cache sites in the area uncovered dozens of terrorists and a firefight ensued."


U.S. troops moved in to back the Iraqi forces, and called in air support. The American military said the area was still being searched on Tuesday.

We will prevail!

Our forces dominate!

The enemy is week!

We will ......

:eyes:

I'm not being sarcastic. Why remind the people you're fighting that they are falling behind. The sad thing is it's the soldiers who will have to pay for some idiotic defense analysts premature words.

An Iraqi general who commands a special armoured unit has been kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad, Iraqi police say. Brig Gen Mohammad Jalal Saleh was pulled from his car along with his bodyguards in the west of the city. The kidnapping came after two powerful car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least one civilian and a US soldier.

Gen Saleh commands a 1,600-strong interior ministry unit formed to deal with insurgents and criminal gangs, the French news agency AFP reports. It was one of the first armoured units to be reassembled after the war and the dissolution of the army.

Targets

Different areas of Baghdad were rocked by two car bombs shortly after 0900 (0500 GMT). The first in the southern Doura district targeted a US military convoy. A bomb hidden in a taxi exploded killing a US soldier and wounding four others. At least one injured Iraqi civilian was taken to Yarmouk hospital. The second blast in the western Amariyah district killed a civilian and wounded two others. Reports say it was aimed at an Iraqi army convoy carrying a high-ranking officer who escaped unhurt.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4411335.stm

And "there are no jungles in Iraq" is getting real lame.

1542.... :(

the torture center at camp bucca was having a riot.
the 'nothing to see here, move along' reporting regarding the huge assault on the abu ghraib torture center continued.
assasinations and kidnappings of collaborators continued.

Note this paragraph in the link:
"Recent weeks have seen a number of large-scale engagements between U.S. troops and guerrillas -- an unusual development as insurgents generally favor hit-and-run attacks."

The insurgency that is winding down to a few dead enders and foreign terrorists is staging platoon sized attacks on a regular basis.

The was actual new analysis on NPR (I was shocked too) that suggested that the insurgents were testing US response timing and tactics. Sounds plausible. They aren't stupid, so they know that they cannot win a battle. They can however prepare traps that draw in backup forces with the backup forces (coming in via helicoptors or on ground transport) being the real target with the intent being to kill not 2 or 3 but 20 or 30 soldiers. I wonder what weapons they have for this: SAMs?

Note also that we are seeing a repeat of the vietnamization syndrom. Our Iraqi forces are sent in first and are ineffective and then we send in our own forces. This has the effect of keeping control of the ground situation, but it both pisses of and demoralizes our Iraqi forces.

Have you ever noticed that the rest of the world calls Iraqi's fighting against the US "insurgents" while the rightwing mantra called all of them terrorist??

Example: "The mission to search for weapons cache sites in the area uncovered dozens of terrorists and a firefight ensued."

they did the same back then. Calling them terrorists justifies the slaughter in their minds I suppose. History repeats.

they are separate incidents. This is just Baghdad. I wonder what is happening in Mosul? :(

Sure seems like a shift in activity over there.Thanks for your posts.