British soldiers killed 15 militants as Iraq descended into new levels of anarchy today
In Nasariyah, 15 Iraqis died as they fought up to 500 Italian troops, of whom 12 were wounded. Militants loyal to al-Sadr seized key bridges across the Euphrates.
Spanish troops clashed with militants in the holy city of Najaf and came under mortar fire near Diwaniyah.
A massive firefight was reported as US forces sealed off Fallujah, seen as the centre of Sunni resistance to the occupation, where four US contractors were killed and mutilated last week. In and around the town at least four US Marines were reported dead.
Three US soldiers died in clashes with al-Sadr supporters in the north of Baghdad, the day after Apache helicopter gunships were called in to attack rioters.
A Ukrainian soldier is also reported to have been killed and six injured.
The Iraqi death toll in two days of violence is thought to be at least 70 and could be much higher. It leaves the American-led administration facing the prospect of cancelling the planned handover of power to Iraqis at the end of June, which would be a bitter personal blow to President Bush and his administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer.
The confrontations came as efforts to keep peace went into meltdown and America said it is planning a massive troop reinforcement.
We're actually sending more troops? Could it be?
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
According to Iraq Coalition Casualties (the preeminent site tracking this on the Web, IMO)- in the first 6 days of April, 23 US troops have been killed- all as a result of hostile action.
Last edited by Vympel on 2004-04-06 11:17am, edited 1 time in total.
The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.
Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.
The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze.
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
Jeezus. I also heard that Iraqi police were abandoning their posts and nickin off with TVs and other valuables, while others went straight to Sadr's militia and offered to fight with them.
Sources: Al-Sadr supporters take over Najaf
Wanted Iraqi cleric said to be at holy shrine
Tuesday, April 6, 2004 Posted: 11:48 AM EDT (1548 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Supporters of maverick Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr controlled government, religious and security buildings in the holy city of Najaf early Tuesday evening, according to a coalition source in southern Iraq.
The source said al-Sadr's followers controlled the governor's office, police stations and the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shia Muslim's holiest shrines
It seems that the "swamp" the Bush and Rumsfield are trying to drain is the entire population of Iraq. "Oops".
On a serious note, I don't know what made them think that democracy in Iraq and freedom were remotely compatible. The only way to keep the place under control is brute force; prohibiting ownership of firearms, searching and seizing at random, and making brutal bloody examples of both militants and those who dissent with the occupying power, namely the US. Long term, the only possible way to get what we want, which is a puppet democracy which shares our values, is to kill/deport all the hostile/fundamentalist clerics and use a combination of brute force and longterm brainwashing/social engineering. To its credit the US and its citizens are too nice to actually DO any of these things... which ultimately means... a quagmire which we will ultimately leave without solving anything (this probably wont happen until the oil runs out or we're guaranteed that it will be priced in dollars).
Devolution is quite as natural as evolution, and may be just as pleasing, or even a good deal more pleasing, to God. If the average man is made in God's image, then a man such as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God, and so God may be jealous of him, and eager to see his superiority perish with his bodily frame.
By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 6, 2004; Page A01
Excerpt:
An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S. government's headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.
Before U.S. reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater Security Consulting, sent in its own helicopters amid an intense firefight to resupply its commandos with ammunition and to ferry out a wounded Marine, the sources said.
The role of Blackwater's commandos in Sunday's fighting in Najaf illuminates the gray zone between their formal role as bodyguards and the realities of operating in an active war zone. Thousands of armed private security contractors are operating in Iraq in a wide variety of missions and exchanging fire with Iraqis every day, according to informal after-action reports from several companies.
Like a fucking parrot the Bush administration officials keep promising these events do nothing to change the government hand off of power on June 30th. I have a sinking feeling Bush is gonna hand over the reigns of power and pull the fuck out of there and let the whole country go to hell and shrug his idiot shoulders at the camera and say "Who'da thunk it."
God this entire mess makes me so fucking sick.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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theski wrote:
An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S. government's headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.
Hmm verrry interesting......
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
If this turns Iraq into a shithole, that will mean that Al Qaedi will easilly become popular there. Very quickly. And then we'll have even more problems.
I'm thinking being in the US isn't a smart idea..
Sì! Abbiamo un' anima! Ma è fatta di tanti piccoli robot.
Well, if they (the Bush admin) say they didn't see this coming, then Bush is a retard. The Sunni and Shia have been chopping at the bit to get a civil war going and the only thing in their way is us.
I'll give it a couple days to see if our guys can stomp out the resistence, and I hope they do, but if not the only recourse I see (pulling out is NOT one) is to start taking out the 'so called leaders' of these elements.
Brutal and not exactly a good PR movment but, well there it is.....
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Knife wrote:Brutal and not exactly a good PR movment but, well there it is.....
If Isreal can take out the leader of Hamas, I guess we can take out al Sadr.
And the world hardly gave them a standing ovation. But, like I said, if coventional tactics of stamping out the resistence does not work then what is left other than eliminating the source?
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
HemlockGrey wrote:So what would the repercussions be for a complete lockdown and Russian-style persecution of insurgents?
Tough to tell on the domestic front. Naturally, we'd be reamed by every sensible nation on the planet, and I imagine that the UN wouldn't be too happy.
The public seems to be losing patience with the Iraq situation, and daily news of US troops dying with savage displays of anti-Americanism (like stringing up an American contractor on a bridge after parading a burning body through the streets) don't exactly help the situation any. I imagine that Bush will continue harping about the wonderful freedom we've brought the Iraqis, but that's only going to hold out for so long.
Frankly, if things keep going like they are, June 30 seems to be a lose-lose situation. If we pull out, we leave the country in a state of chaos. If we stay, Bush breaks his promise and keeps throwing tax-payer money into that sand-pit. Frankly, I don't think he'll actually do it. He's not going to pull out without being absolutely certain the new government is America's friend and will stay that way. He's probably got a lot of long-term debts with his oil buddies that he has to make sure he can pay off, and that's not going to happen unless the situation in Iraq radically reverses in the next 3 months.
Damien Sorresso
"Ever see what them computa bitchez do to numbas? It ain't natural. Numbas ain't supposed to be code, they supposed to quantify shit."
- The Onion
A USMC base in Ramadi was attacked by over 70+ former regime
forces who used small arms, mortars and RPG's.
At least eleven Marines dead. The death toll may go higher as some
of the wounded are in critical condition.
People were being pulled from headquarters staff to fight at the
walls.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
A USMC base in Ramadi was attacked by over 70+ former regime
forces who used small arms, mortars and RPG's.
Former regime? I thought the Ba'athist resistance had pretty much shrunk with Saddam's capture, guess not.
BoTM / JL / MM / HAB / VRWC / Horseman
I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
Israel Radio reports that many civilians have been killed due to the terrorists hiding behind civilians, and the fact the US targetted the terrorists.
The anchor ironically states, "Where have we heard this before?"
(in reference to Israeli tactics against terrorists which take the accidental toll of civilians.)
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
