Iraq, US forces capture more than 600 Sadr fighters

BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 600 fighters loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and 16 of their leaders have been captured by security forces in a crackdown on the cleric's militia, the US military said.

"There are currently over 600 illegal Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) militia in detention awaiting prosecution from the government of Iraq," a military statement said.

It said Iraqi and US forces had also detained "16 high-level JAM militiamen and killed one JAM commander" in a series of operations.

The military added that five of the high-level individuals detained are from Sadr City, Baghdad's impoverished Shiite bastion loyal to Sadr.

Combined Iraqi and US forces have carried out 52 operations in the past 45 days focused on the JAM, or Mahdi Army, and 42 operations targeting Sunni extremists, the statement said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070123/wl_afp/iraqshiitesadrarrest_070123074557

the headline should probably read captured another 200 as it's already been reported they had 400 in custody

I wonder if this will get a mention.

Didn't he just announce this last week? F*cking liar.

even less per proclaimed op.

"Can't anyone here play this game?" (C Stengel)

so that would mean atleast to me 200 the last week or so. The headline is misleading as we don't know if all 600 rounded up are even in Sadr's army.

so they can "train" with their buds in the "police"

That's about 14 'fighters' per day.

And just who are those 'fighters', anyway?

:bounce: The surge is progressing wonderfully!

:sarcasm:

One American-ignored truckload at a time.

Forces. Al Sadr may unleash the 60,000 on US Troops if this continues.

game called, Iraq, the Sequel that shrub coulda played with. The WMD would of course have to be supplied separately.

on a daily basis now. It's called propaganda. Those of us old enough remember it from the VietNam days. It's the sort of "hey, look over here boys and girls - don't pay any attention to our dead and dismembered soldiers - lookey what we did to the bad guys" propaganda that reeks of desperation by a country that is getting their asses handed to them by the "insurgents". The gold ole' U S of A couldn't possibly be losing this war now could they?

It's well known by a simple google search that for some time 'Iraqi troops' has nine times out of ten followed 'U.S. troops' in most headline reporting out of Iraq.

As part of the escalation effort, one of the 'essential' goals of this plan is to increase the maximum number of Iraqi military forces securing their own day to day security operations.

In comes the media, lock stock and two smoking barrels, right on cue, to prop up the headlines by swapping the two in a clear attempt to direct the reader's attention. It plays to the weakness of the citizen who cannot be bothered with major details, and generally reads print media in the way that they've been spoonfed audio and television reporting, in extremely small portions, remembering what he or she reads first, with the rest becoming minor details.

This is very precise and very deliberate.

It's a shame that it's become so obvious that this is what is happening in media reporting.

at this point

His silence leads me to believe that he's either using us to clean his own house for him, or this is just shadow puppetry of a sort.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/maddezmom/106

and here's one version translated:
http://darkmirror.blogspot.com/2007/01/interview-with-moqtada-al-sadr-by.html

said last night.

Susposdedly he has some he can not control, so he 'tossed' them to the gov.
Makes it look good for both.

This is such a crock.

Even if they do round people up they will be letting them go out the back door.

a few more death squad folks off the street. Hopefully many more of these thugs will be rounded up along with their sad excuse for a leader.

Bu$hco has a bad habit of embellishing.

I'm betting most of them will be released after it's found they have nothing to do with the militia group.

The Iraqi government is heavily populated by supportive Shiite politicians who will pull a few strings and get a lot of these guys released back onto the streets to fight again.