Posted on 09/11/2005 3:34:42 PM PDT by Gucho
Al-Qaida In Iraq Leader Calls Followers To 'Final Battle'
UPDATED: 7:05 pm PDT - September 11, 2005
TAL AFAR, Iraq -- An audiotape posted on the Internet urges insurgent fighters in Iraq to prepare for a "final" battle.
The recording is attributed to the al-Qaida leader in Iraq,
Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi claims insurgents have inflicted casualties on allied troops in the Tal Afar battle.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have reported killing about 150 rebels.
The voice on the tape claims allied forces have used poison gas during the fighting. That's something the Americans have consistently denied.
The voice is similar to previous recordings attributed to the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi. The tape was posted on an Islamic Web site often used as a clearinghouse for militant statements.
The Associated Press.
http://www.turnto23.com/news/4959125/detail.html
They aren't doing too well in their Final Battle!
(AP) -- Mike Brown says he has resigned as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Breaking.....MSM)
Iraqi troops report dozens of insurgent deaths
September 12, 2005 - 11:46 AM
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq Violence has flared again in the ancient Iraqi city of Tal Afar, a stronghold of insurgents.
Iraqi forces late today trapped insurgents in basement hideouts. The military says 40 of the militants were killed in fierce fighting.
Most other insurgents had already fled the city since an offensive backed by U-S forces began on Saturday.
It's not just the military battle that continues. The propaganda war rages as well. Iraqi insurgents, in an Internet statement, offer a 200-thousand-dollar bounty for the deaths of top Iraqi leaders.
In recent days, militants have threatened twice to launch chemical weapons against Baghdad. State T-V reports that the country's prime minister had ignored a similar threat when he flew to the front to congatulate his army.
So they were gonna try am ambush, HA!
Power is back according to ABC7!
Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:20 PM BST
By Nameer Nouredeen
TAL AFAR, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces launched a new offensive against insurgents in the town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border on Monday, and Washington said its patience with Damascus was running out over guerrilla infiltrations.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari defied a $100,000 (54,000 pounds) bounty placed on his head by a militant Islamic group to visit the area, while commanders said about 200 insurgents had been killed since the joint Iraqi-U.S. operation began on Saturday.
The offensive in the northern town has dismayed some members of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, from which the insurgency draws support, and occurs a month before a referendum on a draft constitution which is already dividing the country.
"Our patience is running out with Syria," the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, told a news briefing at the U.S. State Department in Washington.
"It simply must close the (guerrilla) training camps. It should not allow youngsters misguided by al Qaeda, from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, from North Africa, to fly into Damascus international airport," he said.
Asked what the conseqences would be for Syria if it did not act, Khalilzad said: "I would not like to elaborate ... I think they should understand what I mean."
No immediate comment was available from Syrian officials on Khalilzad's comments.
HUNDREDS OF INSURGENTS
Iraq's Third Army Brigade said it had killed 40 insurgents in Tal Afar on Monday, bringing the guerrilla death toll since Saturday to around 200.
An estimated 350-500 insurgents were in the town when Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. troops, began the offensive.
The brigade said 21 "terrorist emirs", or senior insurgent leaders, had been captured.
"We also seized a cache of heavy weaponry, including mortars, artillery, explosives, TNT, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades," the brigade's media officer said.
Abdelaziz Jasim, the defence ministry official in charge of operations in Tal Afar, said his forces were nearly in control of western areas of the town.
"Overall 157 terrorists have been killed and 291 arrested since the beginning of the operations," Jasim told a news briefing in Baghdad before the new offensive in Tal Afar.
The Iraqi army lost its first soldier in the Tal Afar fighting on Monday, he said, adding six civilians had also died.
A senior Iraqi officer in Tal Afar, who gave his name only as Colonel Khalaf, said: "Under our plan, by Thursday the city should be clear and safe."
The United States and Iraq say Tal Afar is a staging post for foreign fighters and military equipment from Syria on their way to cities across central Iraq.
On Sunday, Iraq closed part of its border with Syria.
SUNNI ARABS RESENTFUL
The Kurdish- and Shi'ite Muslim-led Iraqi government, supported by the United States, is battling to stamp out the insurgency by Sunni Arabs.
The Sunnis, making up some 20 percent of the population, dominated Iraqi politics for decades, both under ousted leader Saddam Hussein and before, and resent their loss of influence since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Their grievances may come to a head after the referendum on the draft constitution on October 15. They fear the constitution will institutionalise their marginalised status by giving greater autonomy to southern Shi'ites, comparable to that already enjoyed by northern Kurds.
Salih Al-Mutlaq, spokesman of the National Dialogue Council, a largely Sunni political grouping, on Monday deplored the use of force in Tal Afar.
"Our vision for resolving such problems is by using political solutions, not military ones," he said. "We demand an immediate cease-fire and end to operations to allow a political solution to this problem and to enable aid convoys to get in."
The government has made much of the fact that for the first time since the U.S. invasion the Iraqi army is playing the lead role in the fighting, while U.S. troops play a support role.
President Jalal Talabani said in Washington on Sunday Iraq had enough troops to take over front-line duties from the United States.
"It's our duty to sacrifice for our people and for our country," Talabani said in comments that could ease pressure on President George W. Bush, who is facing increasing calls to withdraw U.S. troops.
© Reuters 2005
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