Posted on 07/21/2006 6:03:07 AM PDT by jmc1969
Bombings and shootings soared by 40 percent in the Baghdad area in the past week, the U.S. command said Thursday. An American general said extremists were preparing "an all-out assault" on the capital in a decisive battle for the future of Iraq.
Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric issued his strongest call yet for an end to Shiite-Sunni bloodletting, urging all Iraqis to wake up to the "danger threatening the future of the country" and stand "side-by-side against it."
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief military spokesman, said there had been an average of 34 attacks a day involving U.S. and Iraqi forces in and around the capital since Friday -- up sharply from the daily average of 24 registered between June 14 and July 13.
He said insurgents were streaming into the capital for "an all-out assault against the Baghdad area."
"Clearly the death squad elements, the terrorist elements, know that Baghdad is a must-win for them," he said. "Whoever wins the Baghdad area, whoever is able to bring peace and security to that area, is going to set the conditions to stabilize this country."
"Baghdad is a must-win not only for the prime minister, but for Al-Qaida in Iraq," Caldwell said. "Without Baghdad's centralized access to power brokers, Baghdad's large, diverse population, its financial resources, the terrorist elements will lose here in this country."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
This ought to be good.
He said insurgents were streaming into the capital for "an all-out assault against the Baghdad area."
Seems like a pretty risky move.
If they know insurgents are streaming in, can't they be stopped before the all-out attack?
More insurgents "streaming" into Baghdad? Well, OK then. Let's kill'em quickly!
God bless our troops.
Lock n' load time.
TET offensive 1968?
Hey maybe Iran is trying to distract the world from the mess they started with Israel which they started to distract the world from their nuclear program. Pop the corn.
its all a matter of timing: they are waiting for the order from their superiors in Iran, which needs to coordinate this with the Iran/Syria/Hizbullah nuclear attack on Israel and perhaps the simultaneous invasion of S Korea by their N Korean allies...
Insurgents everywhere are in "panic mode". They are losing.
surround the city...blockade..then sort them out and shoot.
Don't forget, you don't need to capture them anymore...cause ClubGitmo is a no no.
Let'm come... kill'm all.
So why is the US not bombing Iran and Syria who are behind these attacks?
Perhaps Bush thinks that if "Hezbullah would stp doing this s*it" there wouldn't be a problem?
My my, I just hope he insn't this naive.
Stream away!
Having just about all the insurgents streaming into Baghdad is kind of like luring all the rats out into the open at the city dump. Plink at them and pick them off as they scamper to their goal of safety, then keep them holed up until they are starved down and have to come back outside.
After all, we have the UAVs with infra-red scanners, and they don't. So night is no longer the cover for them it once was.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief military spokesman, said there had been an average of 34 attacks a day involving U.S. and Iraqi forces in and around the capital since Friday -- up sharply from the daily average of 24 registered between June 14 and July 13.
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