US forces surround Iraq towns in Qaeda operation

[leftchick]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces surrounded and entered two towns near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Thursday in search of suspected al Qaeda militants, the military said on Thursday.

The operation follows a series of insurgent attacks in the area where 31 Iraqi soldiers have been killed by rebels in the past five weeks, said a military statement.

U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped the death of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike in June would deal a major blow to the militant organization.

But a security crackdown on al Qaeda in Baghdad since then has failed to ease violence.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060720/ts_nm/iraq_military_operation_dc




US Marines and Iraqi army soldiers patrol west of Kirkuk, searching for suspected al-Qaeda members. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has warned that sectarian conflict could destroy the country as deadly tit-for-tat attacks continued to plague the capital.(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)

[xchrom]

1. good luck with that.

like i'm sure they are still there.

[KansDem]

4. If they ever were there...

Don't forget that according to Jimmy Carter in his book Our Endangered Values that 70-90 percent of all Iraqi citizens rounded up and tortured were innocent. This statistic is also corroborated by the International Red Cross and US Army intelligence. So we can expect 70-90 percent of these civilians to suffer the same fate.

I'm beginning to suspect that these operations are conceived and designed for maximum P.R. value back here in the States. It's as if since we have lost the war, the military brass look for ways to keep it going in order to satisfy the Bushistas.

"What do we do this week?"
"I dunno...we could attack town xyz"
"Are there any al Qaeda there?"
"Might be...prisoner abc said there might be..."
"Which prisoner was that?'
"The one we torture last week"
"Oh, was he the "informer" identified by the prisoner we tortured the week before?"
"Yeah, that's the one"
"OK, then it's settled. We attack town xyz this week. Prepare a statement and give it to the press..."
"What do we do the next week?"
"Let's just get through this week. We'll worry about next week when that time comes."

[xchrom]

10. you're good! that was very amusing and very apt.

[saigon68]

2. Its Operation WHACK-A-MOLE

lol

http://www.jebikes.com/java/WhackAMole/

[Jacobin]

6. Very apt description

Except in Louisiana, the kids have WHACK-A-GATOR games at the pizza joints.

We are all out of moles down here.

[saigon68]

7. Gators work too

Although their tempers are allegedly much more aggressive than moles

[IndianaGreen]

9. That's a good name for what they are doing in Iraq

Bunch of fools that deluded themselves into thinking that purple fingers and a dead Zarqawi would end the insurgency. They should look at themselves in the mirror if they want to see who is responsible for the insurgency.

[saigon68]

11. This woman can't look in a mirror

It would shatter

[Roland99]

3. "al Qaeda". heh heh

[MrPrax]

5. Heh...

They still put 'Qaeda' in headlines...heh

[leftchick]

8. it really is a pathetic piece of propaganda

isn't it?