Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
May 5, 2008
Pg. 1
Talabani's wife escapes attack
By Richard Tomkins, The Washington Times
BAGHDAD — U.S. troops continued yesterday to battle Shi'ite extremists along a garbage-strewn stretch of road in Baghdad's Sadr City in an effort to protect the capital's Green Zone and choke off the militant influence of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.
Elsewhere in the capital, Iraq's first lady escaped unharmed yesterday from a bomb attack that struck her motorcade, injuring four bodyguards.
President Jalal Talabani's wife, Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, was headed to the city's central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when her motorcade was hit in the Karrada district, according to the president's office. It was not clear whether she was the target or whether the attack was a random bombing.
The daily battles in Sadr City are anything but random. Most take place on al-Quds Street, a broad thoroughfare of single- and double-story buildings where troops are building a 3-mile-long concrete barrier to keep militants from infiltrating the southern Tharwa and Jamilla neighborhoods.
The southern locations in Sadr City allow militants to fire 107 mm and 120 mm rockets into the Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the location of U.S. military and diplomatic headquarters.
"This is a mission that has to get done, to stop these thugs from firing their rockets and stuff," said 1st Sgt. Conrad Gonzales, of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment.
"Every day we get attacked, every day we're putting in barriers. The mission has to go on. It has to be accomplished and we can't let anyone stop us," said 1st Sgt. Gonzales, whose unit is based at Fort Carson, Colo.
U.S. troops said they killed 18 Shi'ite extremists yesterday in unrelenting street battles in Sadr City, Shula and New Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.
A brief battle Saturday witnessed by a reporter from The Washington Times was typical of clashes occurring since April 19, when a thud marked the emplacement of the first 12,000-pound concrete slab.
It started with several quick rounds of sniper fire from the north and south sides of Route Gold, as U.S. forces call al-Quds.
Troops of Red Squad, 1/68, replied with volleys of rifle and machine gun fire after taking cover behind and alongside construction cranes. So tight was the cover that soldiers were peppered by the hot, spent shell casings of other soldiers' weapons.
Bradley armored vehicles joined the fray with their 25 mm guns. For 20 minutes during twilight, U.S. soldiers and Shi'ite gunmen took aim at each other from distances as close as 30 yards.
The firefight ended as most others do: An "angel above" — a U.S. Apache helicopter — zeroed-in on the main locations of enemy gunmen and let loose with Hellfire rockets.
The dust hardly settled before the soldiers were again guiding the barriers into place, interrupted only by several other incidents during the night.
According to company statistics, 118 Shi'ite extremist gunmen have been confirmed as killed in battles between April 19 and Friday along the barrier route.
Two U.S. soldiers have been wounded: one shot in the side, another hit in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.
Eight improvised explosive devices went off along the route during the same period, while 48 others were detected.
Seventy percent of attacks on soldiers providing security for construction of the wall come from the north side of al-Quds Street.
Sadr City is a large Shi'ite enclave in the northeastern part of the capital and the stronghold of Sheik al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
The cleric, thought to be in Iran, is a political rival of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In August, he ordered his militia to observe a cease-fire with U.S. and Iraqi government forces, but rescinded it in late March after Iraqi army forces moved into the southern port city of Basra to quash criminal activity and violence by various Shi'ite militias, including the Mahdi Army and so-called special groups, elements of Mahdi Army under Iranian influence.
Fighting broke out simultaneously in Sadr City. Extremists fired dozens of 107 mm and 120 mm rockets on the Green Zone from the district's southern area.
Gunmen also overran government checkpoints and outposts in the district. U.S. troops entered the fray on behest of their Iraqi comrades.
U.S. forces, once confined to the outskirts of southern Sadr City, now are present in about a third of Sadr City.
The barrier wall, vehemently denounced by Sheik al-Sadr, would effectively cut off infiltration from side streets and channel traffic through three major checkpoints where Iraqi army forces search vehicles for weapons and munitions, U.S. military officials say.
"We're close to halfway, about 40 to 45 percent," Capt. Todd Looney, commander of 1/68's Charlie Company, said of the wall. "We're working as quickly as we can without sacrificing the safety of our soldiers."
May 5, 2008
Pg. 1
Talabani's wife escapes attack
By Richard Tomkins, The Washington Times
BAGHDAD — U.S. troops continued yesterday to battle Shi'ite extremists along a garbage-strewn stretch of road in Baghdad's Sadr City in an effort to protect the capital's Green Zone and choke off the militant influence of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.
Elsewhere in the capital, Iraq's first lady escaped unharmed yesterday from a bomb attack that struck her motorcade, injuring four bodyguards.
President Jalal Talabani's wife, Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed, was headed to the city's central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when her motorcade was hit in the Karrada district, according to the president's office. It was not clear whether she was the target or whether the attack was a random bombing.
The daily battles in Sadr City are anything but random. Most take place on al-Quds Street, a broad thoroughfare of single- and double-story buildings where troops are building a 3-mile-long concrete barrier to keep militants from infiltrating the southern Tharwa and Jamilla neighborhoods.
The southern locations in Sadr City allow militants to fire 107 mm and 120 mm rockets into the Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the location of U.S. military and diplomatic headquarters.
"This is a mission that has to get done, to stop these thugs from firing their rockets and stuff," said 1st Sgt. Conrad Gonzales, of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment.
"Every day we get attacked, every day we're putting in barriers. The mission has to go on. It has to be accomplished and we can't let anyone stop us," said 1st Sgt. Gonzales, whose unit is based at Fort Carson, Colo.
U.S. troops said they killed 18 Shi'ite extremists yesterday in unrelenting street battles in Sadr City, Shula and New Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.
A brief battle Saturday witnessed by a reporter from The Washington Times was typical of clashes occurring since April 19, when a thud marked the emplacement of the first 12,000-pound concrete slab.
It started with several quick rounds of sniper fire from the north and south sides of Route Gold, as U.S. forces call al-Quds.
Troops of Red Squad, 1/68, replied with volleys of rifle and machine gun fire after taking cover behind and alongside construction cranes. So tight was the cover that soldiers were peppered by the hot, spent shell casings of other soldiers' weapons.
Bradley armored vehicles joined the fray with their 25 mm guns. For 20 minutes during twilight, U.S. soldiers and Shi'ite gunmen took aim at each other from distances as close as 30 yards.
The firefight ended as most others do: An "angel above" — a U.S. Apache helicopter — zeroed-in on the main locations of enemy gunmen and let loose with Hellfire rockets.
The dust hardly settled before the soldiers were again guiding the barriers into place, interrupted only by several other incidents during the night.
According to company statistics, 118 Shi'ite extremist gunmen have been confirmed as killed in battles between April 19 and Friday along the barrier route.
Two U.S. soldiers have been wounded: one shot in the side, another hit in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.
Eight improvised explosive devices went off along the route during the same period, while 48 others were detected.
Seventy percent of attacks on soldiers providing security for construction of the wall come from the north side of al-Quds Street.
Sadr City is a large Shi'ite enclave in the northeastern part of the capital and the stronghold of Sheik al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
The cleric, thought to be in Iran, is a political rival of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In August, he ordered his militia to observe a cease-fire with U.S. and Iraqi government forces, but rescinded it in late March after Iraqi army forces moved into the southern port city of Basra to quash criminal activity and violence by various Shi'ite militias, including the Mahdi Army and so-called special groups, elements of Mahdi Army under Iranian influence.
Fighting broke out simultaneously in Sadr City. Extremists fired dozens of 107 mm and 120 mm rockets on the Green Zone from the district's southern area.
Gunmen also overran government checkpoints and outposts in the district. U.S. troops entered the fray on behest of their Iraqi comrades.
U.S. forces, once confined to the outskirts of southern Sadr City, now are present in about a third of Sadr City.
The barrier wall, vehemently denounced by Sheik al-Sadr, would effectively cut off infiltration from side streets and channel traffic through three major checkpoints where Iraqi army forces search vehicles for weapons and munitions, U.S. military officials say.
"We're close to halfway, about 40 to 45 percent," Capt. Todd Looney, commander of 1/68's Charlie Company, said of the wall. "We're working as quickly as we can without sacrificing the safety of our soldiers."