Security Forces Launch Baghdad Crackdown (Operation Lightening)

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

<snip>

The first of more than 40,000 soldiers and police deployed to Baghdad's streets early Sunday for Operation Lightning, erecting scores of checkpoints on the southern and northern outskirts of the city.

Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, searched hundreds of vehicles in a bid to curb a raging insurgency that has killed more than 700 people since Iraq's new Shiite-led government was announced April 28, according to an AP count.

"We set up these checkpoints in order to arrest all those insurgents trying to destroy this country and we will hit them with an iron fist," said Iraqi army Sgt. Ali al-Khazali while manning a highway checkpoint in southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood.

Iraqi soldiers and police raided several houses, described as "terrorist dens" in Dora, arresting several suspects, according to army Capt. Ihssan Abdel-Hamza.

[Bob3]

1. Now Even Still More Usual Suspects!

You'd think Baghdad at least was secure no? What the heck is going on over there?

[pinniped]

2. It's probably the other way around.

--Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops--

-->

--U.S. troops, backed by Iraqi security forces--

This guy was obviously reading from a script someone handed to him.

--"We set up these checkpoints in order to arrest all those insurgents trying to destroy this country and we will hit them with an iron fist," said Iraqi army Sgt. Ali al-Khazali while manning a highway checkpoint in southern Baghdad's Dora neighborhood.--

[symbolman]

3. Okay, let me get this straight

Last week they sent 100,000 troops to destroy "insurgents" in some area of Iraq, now they have 40,000 in Bagdad.

Given that I believe there to be 140,000 troops in Iraq then WHO IS WATCHING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY?

So they set up checkpoints and also go after some town elsewhere, meanwhile the "insurgents" (they maybe Iraqi Patriots for all we know, if we got invaded I'd be doing the same thing to the occupiers) leave those cities, slip off into the hills and dales and as soon as the troops have "cleaned up an area" and leave, then the "insurgents" roll right back into town.

There's a name for this in the military, called a Clusterf*ck..

No one has EVER beat a foe who uses guerilla tactics. We are not there to WIN, for some reason we are there to keep the cauldron bubbling all over the middle east - everything I see Bushco do is designed to create acrimony and stir people up.

That's how endless war works, that's how the War Machine for Profit they've created gets fed.

When will the american people wake up.

[neweurope]

5. Applause. "We are not there to WIN,

some reason we are there to keep the cauldron bubbling all over the middle east." Exactly. In some thread some days ago some US official in Baghdad was reported to have said that things "go exactly as planned". I believe so. I also believe that Sunnis and Shias will be slaying each other soon - when the US has killed enough of them saying it was the Sunnis resp. Shias... And they have almost killed enough like we read in that other thread. That mess in Iraq is INTENTIONAL.

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[TahitiNut]

16. Yep. The western strategy in the Middle East has always been ...

... destabilization and autocratic regime-building. Divide and conquer, divide and conquer ... it's been the approach of autocrats and colonialists forever. Fomenting division is most easily accomplished by choosing a 'ruling class' and establishing a Vichy government that exploits ethnic divisions. Even in drawing national boundaries in the Middle East, ethnic homogeneity was eschewed in favor of factionalized strife.

[bowens43]

4. Isn't Freedom wonderful ??

Please, tell me how these people are better off now then they were under Saddam's control.

[Atlas Mugged]

6. "Lightening"????

Was that spelling intentional?

[leftchick]

7. my oopsie

pre-coffee spelling error. Sadly it is too late to edit and my spelling error is in the subject line. I feel like a 'moran'.

:blush:

[Atlas Mugged]

8. LOL!

Seriously, the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I saw that!

[leftchick]

9. OT but...

I love your handle. Very clever!

:)

[saigon68]

10. I can relate. Its 0 dark 30 here and it only gets better when the

CAFFEINE KICKS IN!!!!!

[rodeodance]

11. just what is the number of people in prison over there? I know

i have heard the prisons are overcrowded.

[saigon68]

13. Just Like the U.S.

Lock them up.

We'll have to ask Chuck Graner

How many are "pissing themselves"

[TahitiNut]

14. Over 10,000 in US-run prisons in Iraq, most without "due process."

Pinochet would eat his heart out.

[Karenina]

12. Your "typo" was

an inspiration from a muse! ;-)

[Jacobin]

15. All Hail Emporer Bush*

When Baghdad is all cleaned up and shiney and filled with only American Loving Iraqis, then truly Mission Will Be Accomplished.

Come on American Patriots. Let's cheer the boyz on as they get rid of the last 'handful'(tm) of dead enders, Baathists and....uhm, what did Rumfilled call them again?

Soon, Iraq will be wonderful and the liberal media won't have anything bad to say about our Wonderful Leader anymore

Then I will be raptured away

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. 17 Killed as security effort begins

raqi security forces launched a high-profile crackdown targeting terrorists in Baghdad as insurgents hit back with suicide bombings and ambushes that killed at least 17 people.

Earlier, a British soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Iraq, while a US Marine died in a bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.

The latest bomb attacks came as the military announced the end of a massive four-day offensive in western Iraq.

Operation Lightning was launched as a direct challenge to the bloody wave of militant attacks that have killed more than 700 people since the April 28 announcement of Iraq's new Shiite-led government.

But despite the heavier-than-normal Iraqi police and army presence throughout the capital and on its southern and northern outskirts, insurgents kept up their steady pace of violence.

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200nationalnews/tm_objectid=15570299&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=17-killed-as-security-effort-begins-name_page.html

[dArKeR]

18. Look at this pic of "Iraqi Soldiers"? Looks like Americans, Blackwater

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050529/481/bag11305291255&g=events/iraq/082701iraqplane;_ylt=AtWPcACrqvKdYDutm.ZJX5MUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AvPZnWwpN1TKkCHUZGHyWACs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[ElectroPrincess]

19. Either that PIC is overexposed (which it is NOT) OR

That looks like mighty *pale skin* on the Iraqi in the background. Perhaps wearing those hoods are giving those NATIVES anemia? :P

[dArKeR]

54. Look at the body language and body positions of these two "?" people.

It's exactly the "look" of American Special Forces/Blackwater Security (I don't think there is any difference now in the aWol/Rumsfeld military.) I've seen this gun position, exactly, a hundred time before in the mainstream press.

Some things are so obviously false as reported and we can tell by the pics. This one is a questionable but very suspicious leaning towards the false side.

[DrDebug]

20. Already made a posting about that Japanese guy earlier

He was a 'former' French Foreign Legion guy and a big part of the new spending would go to 'hired security'. Are these Iraqis or are these mercenaries ?

Chomsky made a statement about it as well. The best way to win the war is to start using a citizen's army ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1507237&mesg_id=1509098 )

[dArKeR]

53. Thanks for the further info!

[bullimiami]

22. wtf is with the hoods?

iraqis my a$$.

[bemildred]

21. Nice gun he has there. nt

[leftchick]

23. Powerful explosions rock western Baghdad as offensive launched

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-05/29/content_3018042.htm


BAGHDAD, May 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Powerful blasts and fierce gunfire were heard in western part of Baghdad on Sunday, as Iraqi security forces launched its biggest offensive against insurgents, witnesses said.

"Iraqi soldiers and police backed by US aircraft stormed Baghdad's western districts of Amiryah, Khadra and Ghazaliyah Sunday afternoon, and fierce battles erupted between the two sides," Muwafaq Hassan, a resident in Khadra said.

Several columns of black smoke could be seen rising over the area.

"People are panic and hide in their homes, as many called their family members outside the area not to approach the battle zone until the clashes over," Hassan said.

<snip>

"When the Wolf Brigade entered Ghazaliyah, insurgents ambushed them almost everywhere. Sometimes they (security forces) ran away and sometimes fierce clashes broke out," Abu Sabah, a resident in the area told Xinhua.

[bemildred]

24. Security forces launch massive Baghdad crackdown

Soon to be followed by "Operation Spanky" and "Operation Alfalfa".

But despite the heavier-than-normal Iraqi police and army presence throughout the capital and on its southern and northern outskirts, insurgents kept up their steady pace of violence.

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the heavily fortified Iraqi Oil Ministry earlier today killing two security guards, said ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.

---

Before dawn, insurgents attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, killing nine soldiers and injuring one, said Dr Dawood Al Taaei of nearby Mahmoudiya hospital.

Gunmen also killed two police sergeants employed by the Iraqi Cabinet in a drive-by shooting in Dora, said police Captain Firas Qaiti.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/05/29/story204752.html

[MADem]

25. Gee, is freedom on the march????

When will the American people have ENOUGH of this shit?

[bemildred]

26. 500 netted as Iraqi troops counter-attack

Nice round number there. Pulled out of someone's ass maybe?

"Search operations and raids have allowed us to arrest 500 people and find arms caches in several houses," government spokesman Leith Kubba said as Operation Lightning was unleashed in the baking heat of the violence-weary city.

---

Flak-jacketed soldiers and police, some masked to avoid reprisals, carried out detailed vehicle searches, focusing on white Volkswagen Passat sedans known locally as "Brazilians" following a tip that some were packed with explosives.

The high profile and tough talk was quickly tempered however by two suicide bombings that killed nine soldiers and two civilians.

Baghdad has become the scene of many such bombings and Iraqi forces must prove the massive operation involving 40,000 soldiers and police can halt insurgent attacks in the capital.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=42787

[leftchick]

30. aren't all of the numbers pulled from someone's ass?

you can practically smell the propaganda.

[Karenina]

34. For WHAT, again?

:freak:

[bemildred]

27. Fierce explosion rips through Iraqi capital Baghdad

This is the fourth explosion in Iraq today, where two booby-trapped cars blew up earlier, one in Al-Madaen area south Baghdad and the other in Touzkhormatu in the northern Tamim province and a third bomb exploded near a minibus transporting civilians on Al-Atheem road northern Baghdad.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=737713

[wtmusic]

28. Finally...getting tough with the insurgents

this will fix everything :puke:

[NJCher]

29. what a Memorial Day treat

It makes me sick to think of our people over there, fighting in this hellish environment. And as bad if not worse are the people's homes and lives who have been and are being destroyed. All because of the arrogance and cunning ruthlessness of buscho and the insatiable greed for oil.


Cher

[bemildred]

31. Nine Iraqi soldiers killed in Baghdad security sweep

Another great picture of an "iraqi soldier" here too:

http://www.bakutoday.net/afps/english/shared/int/p050529153202.rcalaik9_0_visu2.html

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi forces threw a security net over Baghdad in an attempt to seize the initiative from insurgents who quickly killed nine troops taking part in the operation in a bombing.

---

"Nine soldiers were killed and three others wounded when a suicide bomber ploughed his car bomb into an army roadblock between Yusufiyah and Mahmudiyah," a defence ministry official said.

The checkpoint just south of Baghdad had been set up as part of Operation Lightning, the official added.

http://www.bakutoday.net/afps/english/shared/int/050529153202.rcalaik9.html

[Roland99]

32. "Run away! Run away!"

Sounds like Brave Sir Robin is leading the pack.

[tlcandie]

33. How much longer can the Iraq people live with all this death?

It seems to me that with all the people they are killing or going to kill with hangings and what not or put into torture prisons that soon, very soon, there will be no REAL Iraqi people left except the dead, maimed or mentally ill.

In fact, it seems to me what with all the pre-bombing since the 90s and now all this killing with special ops groups, etc., that the real intention isn't to bring peace, but to wipe the place clean of any brown skinned people.

:cry:

[maddezmom]

35. Iraqi Forces Target Insurgents; 21 Dead

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_050529153329

[unhappycamper]

36. Aljazeera.Net: Attacks pierce Baghdad security net

Attacks pierce Baghdad security net
Sunday 29 May 2005, 20:55 Makka Time, 17:55 GMT

Thousands of Iraqi forces have thrown a security net over Baghdad to snare anti-US fighters, but armed groups quickly struck back with a string of car bombings.

Four car bombs in and around the capital killed 16 people on Sunday, most of them security personnel, in a swift response to Iraq's widest homegrown clampdown since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than two years ago.

Nine soldiers taking part in Operation Lightning died in a car bombing at their roadblock just south of the capital, while two policemen were killed when a car bomber targeted their patrol in southwestern Baghdad.

In western Baghdad, a car bomb targeting police commandos killed three people and wounded 20, an Interior Ministry source said, adding that police then fought a firefight with men in the area.

MORE

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C2E3360E-CE92-437E-96CA-113E2C3FC57F.htm

[leftchick]

37. wow! I just might send this to Leslie Blitzer at the Cartoon News

Did anyone else catch his "behind the lines" special today? That was one major propaganda piece. Goebbels would have been proud!
:puke:

[unhappycamper]

38. Missed it - were we winning?

[leftchick]

41. I could only stomach a few minutes

But the USofA is most definately WINNING!!! And the OIL is Flowing!!
And our soldiers are dying For Our freedoms! And The Iraqi Security Forces are The Bomb!

You get the picture. Truly vomitous.

[IndianaGreen]

39. The US tactics are to turn every town and city into a Fallujah rubble

The whole of Iraq is a free-fire zone, and our Faux News indoctrinated troops are convinced they are doing all of this for Jesus!

[ElectroPrincess]

40. Aljazeera: I would NOT advise future broadcasts from roof-tops /eom

[heyphillip]

42. Baghdad attacks

If you listen to the media in this country especially FOX NEWS they tell you the operation among the so called trained Iraqi troops will have no problem with the insurgents in Baghdad. more lying from this media first of all why in hell do they keep calling the people doing the attacks in Iraq insurgents when they are not.they are regular Iraqi citizens and former republican guard troops who want us the hell out of there country.

[unhappycamper]

44. My post in another thread: insurgents?

Maybe a few, but most are Freedom Fighters or Patriots. Their country was invaded. A puppet government was installed. Iraq is being brutalized by the invaders on a daily basis.

[Jacobin]

43. Gee, am I in a time warp?

I coulda sworn we took over Baghdad two years ago!!! I mean, I heard it on the news and everything. I remember a statue being toppled, and all that

[IndianaGreen]

45. Our media played along with the photo-op at Firdos Square

Had we had the same media in 1973 that we do today, there would have never been a Watergate scandal, the story of the break-in at Democratic Headquarters would have ended with the conviction of the burglars. Nixon would have remained President, and no one would have heard of Woodward and Bernstein, or read a book titled "All the President's Men."

The stage-managed events in Baghdad’s Firdos Square: image-making, lies and the "liberation" of Iraq
By Patrick Martin
12 April 2003

Several photographs publicized by an antiwar web site shed light on the way the American media is manipulating images of the war in Iraq to give the false impression that the vast majority of the Iraqi people are joyfully welcoming the invasion and occupation of their country by US and British troops.

These photographs, available on the web site of Information Clearing House show that the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square, given massive publicity in the US and international media April 9-10, was a stage-managed affair.

As transmitted to the world by US television and newspaper reports, the pictures from Firdos Square purported to show a mass of enthusiastic Iraqis hailing the US military and trampling on a gargantuan bronze statue of Saddam Hussein. Hours of television time and pages of newspaper coverage were devoted to these pictures, with accompanying commentary comparing the scene to the bringing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the liberation of Paris in 1944.

The first photograph on the Information Clearing House site is a wide-angle shot encompassing the entire expanse of Firdos Square, rather than the narrowly focused, closely cropped framing used in the mass media. It shows that the “crowd” surrounding the statue of Saddam Hussein is anything but massive, and that the square itself has been surrounded by US Abrams tanks, cutting it off from the rest of the city.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/fird-a12.shtml

[hollowdweller]

50. These attacks are ruining Bush's plan for more global conquests!

[lovuian]

46. Increase troops for the upcoming battle with Syria & Iran

June is just around the corner this is a smokescreen to troop buildup!!!

[daleo]

47. This will just recruit more troops for the resistance.

There is nothing like having a foreign army and its puppet troops "crack down" on the local population to solidify resistance in peoples' minds.

[maddezmom]

48. Insurgents Kill 30 As Iraqis Crack Down

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[warrior1]

49. Why don't they just call it what it is.

Operation Kill Every Living Thing

[heyphillip]

51. Why don't they just call it what it is Shiites killing Sunnis

This is nothing more than Shiites killing Sunnis Muslims. so why doesn't the American news media stop with there insurgency BS and call it what it is.

[Karenina]

52. Cuz THAT IS what's going down.

[Az_lefty]

55. Operation Lightning in Toyota pickups

Is saw a news clip of an Iraqi squad running around Baghdad in a Toyota pickup, it hit a bump and one of the soldiers stumbled out the back end. It didn't look like he was hurt, got up and jumped back in the truck. My wifes sitting there laughing her ass off at these keystone cops.

[glitch]

56. Blitzkrieg, from the German for "lightning war"

I suppose calling it "Operation Blitzkreig" would've been too blatant, but they sure don't stray too far off the unfortunate naming schemes do they?