Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CBS
March 10, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: In Iraq today, a suicide bomber killed five U.S. soldiers. They were on foot patrol in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, a former al Qaeda stronghold, but now controlled by forces working with the U.S.
So was the town just south of Baghdad where terrorists did terrible things before they were chased out. Allen Pizzey is there tonight.
ALLEN PIZZEY: The Iraqi tribal leaders and American soldiers here have gathered for what was billed as, quote, “a celebratory cleansing.” The mud buildings were an al Qaeda in Iraq torture chamber and operational headquarters.
Abu Mohammed says he was chained up here for two weeks and saw 13-year-old children killed. When al Qaeda fled, they left little behind. As inconsequential as this little farming complex may look, in the grand scheme of convincing the local population that security really has returned, it’s a potent symbol.
To make that point, local sheikhs and tribal leaders were given, if not exactly box seats, certainly prime spots for a show arranged just for them. Three thousand pounds of bombs costing more than $100,000 dropped from a B-1 bomber obliterated the building. But the military hopes the payoff will be long term.
The dignitaries seemed impressed, and even before today were co-operating with the Americans. For nearly two years al Qaeda in Iraq held sway here.
YASSIN AL-HAMDAN [School Principal]
Unintelligible)...people getting killed every day.
PIZZEY: Roadside bombs, the dreaded IEDs, were everywhere. No road was safe. The battle to regain control was a hard and bloody slog. It was one of the few places where al Qaeda fought back.
LT. COL. MARK SOLOMON [USA, 3rd Infantry Division]: We came here six weeks ago, we took the ground from al Qaeda. And now the children are back in school, the businesses are open, the Sons of Iraq and the Iraqi Army are guarding the roads and are guarding the area, keeping it secure for the population.
PIZZEY: In case al Qaeda wants to come back – a not so subtle reminder of the welcome that awaits them. Allen Pizzey, CBS News, Zambraniyah.
March 10, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: In Iraq today, a suicide bomber killed five U.S. soldiers. They were on foot patrol in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, a former al Qaeda stronghold, but now controlled by forces working with the U.S.
So was the town just south of Baghdad where terrorists did terrible things before they were chased out. Allen Pizzey is there tonight.
ALLEN PIZZEY: The Iraqi tribal leaders and American soldiers here have gathered for what was billed as, quote, “a celebratory cleansing.” The mud buildings were an al Qaeda in Iraq torture chamber and operational headquarters.
Abu Mohammed says he was chained up here for two weeks and saw 13-year-old children killed. When al Qaeda fled, they left little behind. As inconsequential as this little farming complex may look, in the grand scheme of convincing the local population that security really has returned, it’s a potent symbol.
To make that point, local sheikhs and tribal leaders were given, if not exactly box seats, certainly prime spots for a show arranged just for them. Three thousand pounds of bombs costing more than $100,000 dropped from a B-1 bomber obliterated the building. But the military hopes the payoff will be long term.
The dignitaries seemed impressed, and even before today were co-operating with the Americans. For nearly two years al Qaeda in Iraq held sway here.
YASSIN AL-HAMDAN [School Principal]
Unintelligible)...people getting killed every day.PIZZEY: Roadside bombs, the dreaded IEDs, were everywhere. No road was safe. The battle to regain control was a hard and bloody slog. It was one of the few places where al Qaeda fought back.
LT. COL. MARK SOLOMON [USA, 3rd Infantry Division]: We came here six weeks ago, we took the ground from al Qaeda. And now the children are back in school, the businesses are open, the Sons of Iraq and the Iraqi Army are guarding the roads and are guarding the area, keeping it secure for the population.
PIZZEY: In case al Qaeda wants to come back – a not so subtle reminder of the welcome that awaits them. Allen Pizzey, CBS News, Zambraniyah.