Posted on 06/23/2005 3:58:44 PM PDT by Wiz
BAGHDAD, June 23 (KUNA) -- The Multi-National Forces Command declared the conclusion of Operation "Spear" on Wednesday which lasted for five days during which it was conducted in and around the area of Karabila near the Syrian borders.
The Multi-National Forces Command said Thursday that the Iraqi security forces and US marines uprooted "terrorist" hideouts, killed 47 insurgents and arrested a "terrorist." It added that during patrols in a village near the Syrian border, the joint forces discovered a house in which four tied hostages were found and saying the house was used by insurgents for torture.
The statement quoted the hostages saying that house also contained a workshop in the basement for bomb making.
Another three workshops were also discovered in western Karabila that contain 17 booby-trapped vehicles, including a car packed with explosives that was destroyed in site by marine tanks.
(Excerpt) Read more at kuna.net.kw ...
Iraq news ping!
Wonder who the terrorist was..
47 dead insurgents won't cut the mustard. A PC war is not a winnable war.
That was on the last day zarf. They got hundreds dead and hundreds captured over the entire course of the operation.
"That was on the last day zarf. They got hundreds dead and hundreds captured over the entire course of the operation."
And about an hour ago, while putting up with world news, on tube got an announcment that a high value terrorist leader had been captured in Al Qaum. Don't know his name yet.
They're really making some serious progress. People are turning these guys in left and right. Some of them are following them home and then reporting where they live.
all I can say is - they better hurry. and while they are at it, the iraqis should stage some pro-US military parades or celebrations, because public support here at home is eroding (and please, don't tell me its all just the biased pollsters) with the daily news of bombing after bombing.
The media is pulling what they pulled on the Vietnam war and people are buying into because they are ignorant of what is happening over there.
I love President Bush, but his administration is seriously falling down on the PR for this war.
until the US monthly KIA figures start going down, I don't think perception is going to change. I agree with you about the PR stuff, but its hardly a secret that the media was going to behave this way - its totally predictable.
many of us have been saying the same thing - bomb Syria, show some bold steps to demonstrate we want to finish this thing off. right now, its a stalemate.
"They're really making some serious progress. People are turning these guys in left and right. Some of them are following them home and then reporting where they live."
This is what we are being told even by a few embeded reporters at this point. Once they see with thier own eyes, such as one embeded with the Marines participating the just concluded operation Spear, instead of sitting around in airconditioned apartments at the Rihayd hotel in Baghdad, we tend to get more accurate reporting.
But lets face it. This is no picnic. The whole region of Al Anbar has long been seen as very resistive, and most are of the Sunni sect, very independent. But as they see with their own eyes, and feel the knife at their throats they are starting to see just what this insurgency realy represents. During the early stages of operation Spear a few of our Marines where reported to have told a reporter that they watched as the local tribe lobed mortars and shot at the foreign terrorist who where trying to take over their town.
I am sure we shall hear more of this type thing in the months to come.
We aren't fighting many Iraqis. We're fighting mostly Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis, Yemenis etc. We are fighting people from Madrid (they just killed one of the Madrid bombers the other day in Iraq), and Paris, and England. We are pulling these nutcases from every country and killing them. Just imagine how many of these guys would have been blowing themselves up on the streets of New York if they weren't being drawn to Iraq.
It's a war for God's sake! The sacrifice is horrible, but the alternative is unimaginable.
The new Iraqi government will make some kind of deal with them to allow a certain amount of smuggling and certain types. Just enough to keep the tribes happy and they'll go after the terrorists (just now with us). That's fine by me.
Some of the tribes have figured out that we're doing a lot of good in Iraq, those will be the ones who will eventually join process. Still, the bad guys will be pretty much left alone and they in turn will leave the government and us alone.
"all I can say is - they better hurry"
And do what kind sir?
"Until Syria is cleansed of the scum the situation along with public support will only continue to deteriorate."
Should we start a full seperate ground/air war, with the need of course to literally destroy the total Syrian air defense grid and communications grids first. Then destroy their air force. Then with full air superiority bring in a division or more of fresh troops, select the mix you prefere, and invade Syria, destroy their total army, and then at that point ask Basher Assad once again to do a better job on his side of the border to divert, and arrest foreign terrorist trying to make it accross the 400 mile rugged borders where most of his and our guys cannot fully cover due to the geography and lack of road grids?
I would like to hear your solution as how we should proceed.
Thanks.
Understand your statements. Have been verbatim saying the same things in other threads. Sadly so much is not made clear and in an orderly manner for our members and the public at large to understand in full regarding the reasons for invading Iraq, and how the SASO has to be conducted, and how long it may take within the framework, a freely democratic permenant government is in place by next mid year or so.
I know it is hard for a lot of folks to keep the faith. Especially when one gets no nut senators hammering away at the military and DoD and senate arm service committee meetings made public etc.. It should be clear that many of these senators have no business even sitting on such a committe. Any negative is super magnified by the L/MSM. Facts are often twisted. And the fact always remains who is conducting this war and assessing how things are going? The senate? The L/MSM? Or is it supposed to be the POTUS and DoD? It pisses me off royally in what I sometimes read at this site, and how I see these mostly self serving jerks continue to beat on the POTUS and DoD. But lordy be if you say you are going to shut one of their home bases down! Ooooh! Boy! Then it is a different story! AAAAAH. Then they jump into real action. Scream that our national security and the WOT is grossly being affected if their home town base is shut down. Wake up folks.
Syria has claimed repeatedly that the bad guys aren't there and that they can't police such a vast border area. How can they protest our helping them restore order to their frontier?
"Senior Defense Dept. officials have stated that we know exactly where the staging points and safe houses are inside Syria. With cruise missiles the problem could be significantly rectified in 90 minutes without the loss of a single GI.
Syria has claimed repeatedly that the bad guys aren't there and that they can't police such a vast border area. How can they protest our helping them restore order to their frontier?"
Quite fair response. I realize what could be done with launching tomahawks on designated targets. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem is with people who appear not to have a grasp as to the difficulties we face in how we use our forces as not to appear as bullies, occupiers etc., make it rather difficult to just start mashing up surrondidng Iraqi neigbors. If we do it in Syria, then by default we should do it in Iran. Iran is the second offender as far as allowing their national sponsored goons to enter as well as letting other elements use their borders, which quite frankly I have not found list of their consistency if they actually exist.
On your second paragraph. A very interesting way of posing a solution to the problem. heh heh. I can't fault your view point on this one. In fact now that you mention it. I perhaps way plagerize your question for use elswhere and try to remember who introduced it in the first place.
I will say this. As you probably know, when Collin was still in as DoS, he approached Assad more then once on official visits to crack down on the border problem as well as rounding up all the known Iraqi Saddamist Baathist that where working in Syria. Izzat el Douri and his goons etc..
Basher was given a timetable to round them up, and deliver them to the coalition forces. He did not do his part. It is possible they scattered once this info was perhaps stupidly taken to press. After Condi took over, she has repeated much of what Collin had asked for, given un-offical ultimatems etc.. Assad continues to say his forces are not capable of finding all terrorist that might enter his country. I believe to an extent this may simply be factual. No country could do this. Many crossing the border can appear to be geniune visitors. How does one pick them out if they carry no weapons etc.? I think we have to put ourselves in his shoes. Lastly, not to be to verbose. He does now have over 7000 troops detailed for border patrols. And they have for some time been building sand berms on their side where it makes sense to do it, have tried to plug up things like creek beds with concrete an wire in some wadi that tranverse the border, and other supposed air patrols.
A recent article posted here decribes some of the things Syria has been in the process of doing. But one thing that appears to be rather clear is Syria is only doing it because of continued pressure.
Perhaps what you suggest may come to pass. One thing for sure is that Bashar Assad realizes his days are numbered. He has battled for a number of years all types of dissent by various groups in his country. All Syrians are not against the USA. Just as all Iranians are not. In both these countries there are growing numbers of peope that say the hell with Islamic rule, they are tired of it's heavy yoke, they want to become westernized. So Natural Law, it is remotely possible that the POTOS and his think tanks are holding out hope, once Iraq elects a full government for all the people, the UN supports it, commerce starts to bud, etc., that the hope is the Syrian and Iranian tyrants will fall from power. As for how many terrorist are actually crossing the Syrian border per month. Who knows. It may not be anywhere as many as some of us may conjure up in our minds. We do have it on authority of a Marine full bird Colonel (Davies who is in charge of the 4 BNs between Al Asad and H3 ..where my nephew is at), that there are continued signs of foreign terroist now leaving the country when the can get the chance. This has been based on recent results of interrogations they conduct on these guys. It was featured in one of the articles I posted or someone else did about a week ago. So perhaps there are reasons we continue to hold off from laying into the Syrians for reasons unknown to most of us.
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