Insurgents mount bold attack in Baghdad (7 hour battle)

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO722227.htm

Insurgents mount bold attack in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, April 17 (Reuters) - About 50 insurgents mounted a brazen attack on Iraqi forces in Baghdad on Monday, prompting U.S. troops to provide support in a battle that lasted seven hours, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The guerrillas attacked Iraqi forces in the mostly Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya in northern Baghdad overnight. Five rebels were killed and one member of the Iraqi forces was wounded. There were no U.S. casualties, said the spokesman.

"It was quite a battle. It lasted seven hours," he said.

...

The withdrawal of U.S. troops depends on the performance of Iraq's security forces, who are struggling to curb insurgent suicide bombings, shootings and assassinations as well as a rise in sectarian violence.

[aquart]

1. 50 of them against how many of us?

And it took us 7 hours?

[Journeyman]

4. Reminds me of the Bob Hope routine in "Fancy Pants". . .

"Three Against a Thousand."

[NYC]

7. I will never forget that.

Very funny.

[0007]

15. Wow! Reminds me of that big gun fight in the movie with Jack Nicholson

"Goin' South" - A comedy.

[hootinholler]

25. That is a great flick.

Never got the box office it deserved.

-Hoot

[0007]

28. One of my all time favorites along with Blazing Saddles

[skooooo]

2. the last throes

definitely

:eyes:

[Rex]

3. It lasted 7 hours and only 5 people were killed; all 'bad guys'?

What a crock of shit.

[neverforget]

5. That is some mighty bad shooting!

[Rex]

10. Ain't it? That is beyond 'stormtroopers shooting at Solo' bad shooting!

I mean...7 HOURS.

[hootinholler]

26. That's even beyond uber-swat team shooting at

Mr and Mrs Smith bad shooting. Oh, yeah they had vests.

:rofl:

-Ted

[Zhade]

21. It could be...OR...and this is just a thought, not a fact...

...could it be that our guys are not aiming at them as much as they used to?

I recall studies from Viet Nam wherein a lot of soldiers, usually minorites, aimed AWAY from 'the enemy'.

Could this be happening? Or am I way off base?

[ECH1969]

9. You think they are paying the other soldiers

and the families of the dead to keep quiet?

[Rex]

12. If it was a fight only between Iraqis, then maybe the info is shaky.

I just don't know anymore. Maybe they are tired of killing each other.

[Teaser]

11. Probably true.

That's a great kill ratio for an insurgent group. 5 of their dead, for 1 dead in our proxy force.

If it's urban warfare, it's just people running building to building spraying gunfire when they move. Not a lot of chance to aim in that situation.

[alfredo]

13. That's what I am thinking. Baghdad Bob has returned.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Aaaaaaaachoobullshit

Five O'Clock Follies.

Laughable.

[Oversea Visitor]

8. Bad Bad month

They going on offensive hmmmm

[rodeodance]

14. i do not know what to believe anymore about the fighting.

[Javaman]

16. Naaa, no civil war here, move along...

Shades of things to come.

"we" as in the U.S. army had to come to the Iraqi forces aid.

Hmmmmm, so let me get this straight, the u.s. forces will leave iraq when the iraqi soldiers can protect themselves.

Ponder that one, huh?

we are never leaving.

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. USA don't "leave" - just ask Japan and Germany

.
.
.

and over another 100 countries

(sigh)

Counties that they have BASES in are listed below

1. Afghanistan
2. American Samoa
3. Antigua
4. Aruba
5. Australia
6. Austria
7. Bahama Islands
8. Bahrain
9. Belgium
10. Bosnia
11. Bulgaria
12. Canada
13. Colombia
14. Cuba
15. Curaçao
16. Denmark
17. Ecuador
18. El Salvador
19. France
20. Germany
21. Greece
22. Greenland
23. Guam
24. Honduras
25. Hong Kong
26. Iceland
27. Indian Ocean
(Diego Garcia)
28. Indonesia
29. Italy
30. Japan
31. Johnston Atoll
32. Korea
33. Kosovo
34. Kuwait
35. Kwajalein Atoll
36. Kyrgyzstan
37. Luxembourg
38. Netherlands
39. New Zealand
40. Norway
41. Oman
42. Pakistan
43. Peru
44. Portugal
45. Puerto Rico
46. Qatar
47. Saudi Arabia
48. Singapore
49. Spain
50. St. Helena
51. Tajikistan
52. Turkey
53. United Arab
Republic (Egypt)
54. United Kingdom
55. United States
56. Uzbekistan
57. Venezuela
58. Virgin Islands
59. Wake Island

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0302map1.pdf

Another source puts the number much higher, without specifics though

Johnson says the Pentagon's calculation that it owns or rents 702 bases in about 130 countries -- over and above the 6,000 bases in the United States -- is a gross underestimate because it fails to include installations in such places as Kosovo and Bosnia, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, and secret installations in Israel, Australia and England, among others.

"As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize -- or do not want to recognize -- that the United States dominates the world through its military power," Johnson wrote in a recent book, "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic."

/snip/

Meanwhile, about 75,000 soldiers are still in Germany; 47,000 in Japan, where the United States maintains 73 bases; 37,000 in South Korea; 13,000 in Italy; and 12,000 in England -- all left from the Cold War. The military also maintains major air and submarine bases in Guam and Diego Garcia.

According to the Pentagon's Manpower Report, before Sept. 11, 2001, there were 255,000 U.S. military personnel in 153 countries. According to GlobalSecurity.org, that number was closer to 350,000 as of early February. Johnson calculates that if civilians and dependents are added in, the number is 531,000. What worries some experts is that other important global trends, especially the growing economic competitiveness of Asia, are passing the United States by. For instance, China has surpassed Japan to become the world's third-largest trading power, and soon it will overtake Germany to capture the No. 2 position, behind the United States, Bergsten said.

MORE

almost makes one think they are trying to take over the world

(sigh again)

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. Pentagon knows that the minute the US leaves, the "government"

will be toppled.

[JNelson6563]

19. Longest "last throes" know to man

*sigh*

[Igel]

20. Interesting contrast in that last line.

"...insurgent suicide bombings, shootings and assassinations as well as a rise in sectarian violence."

Presumably the "insurgent suicide bombings, shootings and assassinations" are only political, in a country where the politics and the religions are rather intertwined, while everybody else's violence is merely sectarian.

I don't think I buy the author's presupposition.

[Rose Siding]

22. They have to justify the announced "reinvasion"

Bet the news -especially that released through US military spokesmen- looks worse most we've heard for a while.

[ConcernedCanuk]

23. The "cakewalk" 3 years later - Iraq is worse off than under Saddam

.
.
.

But in another reality - it IS "Mission Accomplished"

The USA has major forces in the Middle East -

And I believe that was their real goal

Slaughtering 10's of thousands of Iraqis was just "collateral damage" to them

The USA seems to have NO value for human life in their desire for global conquest.

Even their own citizens

Think Katrina

(sigh)

[xchrom]

24. is it a civil war yet?

[steve2470]

27. Why doesn't the media report the school that got built ? /sarcasm off

I swear, these people who believe Hannity et al. are either delusional, sociopaths, and/or too stupid to realize that we have already lost. Oh yes, I forgot ignorant.

[gulliver]

29. Translation

Iraqi security forces were told to go in and shoot some "guerillas" to show how Iraq security forces are "standing up." The U.S. military gave the Iraqi forces the location of the guerillas and promised back-up. The Iraqi forces then charged into the neighborhood and shot five brazen guerillas standing on the street corner looking suspicious. One of the Iraqi security forces bayonetted a Coke machine and suffered an electric shock. A spokesman for the Iraqi security forces was ready to speak to any news people who might have happened to be there.

In other news, Anthrax lab trailers with Iraqi plates were seen crossing the border into Syria. The drivers were said to be Iranian.