Posted on 04/05/2008 10:32:10 AM PDT by BGHater
Militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are positioning explosives to defend the major routes into Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood in anticipation of a major battle with U.S. and Iraqi government forces, residents said yesterday.
Iraqis also said families in Sadr City and other Shi'ite areas of Baghdad are stocking up on food, fearing new fighting that will leave them unable to get to the markets.
While food prices in most of Baghdad are stable, they have increased in Sadr City and surrounding neighborhoods as people brace for a resumption of fighting that rocked the neighborhood late last month, said Sajad, an Iraqi translator who spoke with several residents in the Shi'ite stronghold on behalf of The Washington Times.
Tomatoes that were 30 cents to 40 cents a kilogram (2.2 pounds) are now $2.50 a kilo, and the price of eggs and cheese have gone up three to five times their normal price, said Sajad.
In a southwest neighborhood of Baghdad, where Shi'ite militiamen have recently been pushed out, neighbors warned Ahmed, the father of three young children in the area, that there could be another rebel Shi'ite uprising as soon as tomorrow — two days before Gen. David H. Petreaus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to report to Congress on progress in the U.S. troop surge.
The warning, Ahmed said, appeared to come from Sadr City, so it would only affect Baghdad. Orders to Shi'ite militia across the country normally are issued from Najaf, a holy city in southern Iraq where Sheik al-Sadr's Mahdi Army is headquartered.
In Washington, U.S. intelligence officials said they had no way of confirming Mahdi Army preparations for the Sadr City battle, but added that it is "entirely possible."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
My intent was not to focus on you but display how the Left want as many Americans as possible like you to focus on failure. You are hardly alone in your thinking when you read this Washington Times article. I just picked you out, scientifically speaking. People believe what they want to believe-so a little Help from the Times confirms their Belief and also those out there that seriously want to hurt you. We have proved to be stronger than that..Al-Sadr has agreed, so ["BLEEP"] the Times and those of the likes of Bill Maher.
Off subject, caught a minute of Maher the other night when a discussion was under-weigh about the media being mostly liberal, which one guest (Bill OReilly's Enemy Krugman who had been attacking FOX on their 30 minute sound bites) could not even visualize the media as Left. Maher stepped in and said radio was Right and networks were but for FOX more Left. For some reason, Maher said, Liberals do not listen to the radio (slight confused laugher), as why would the liberal radio stations have failed!
As the discussion continued with names thrown around, no one mentioned Maher, himself, as being Left in News after the the final straw, mention of the Matthews crowd. Quickly Maher called standing attention to himself ( I could see him thinking just before that and feeling his neglect) and he quickly added: " I am part of the LEFT "NEWS" MEDIA!
ENTERTAINMENT WITH BILL MAHER IS NEWS? (...their silence was golden at that point and I switched networks).
FTD
Purrrrfect!
Maher is too smarmy for me. Self-righteous know-it-all. If you disagree with him, he looks at you like you didn’t get a punchline.
There’s my afternoon. Thanks!
Is there some idiot in the State Dept. still insisting that we should NOT kill Sadr, because he needs to represent “his people”?
(”Well ya know, we don’t want to be accused of installing a puppet government”.......vomit!)
You know, Central Casting couldn’t have come up with a better name than Petraeus, redolent of Roman Centurions, surveying the domains of Babylon and Susa and Persepolis!
Yes, thanks again! I have been wanting to know more about what our guys face in Afghanistan.
Bump and a Ping
Seen this one?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41804
I have it on good authority from a Freeper in theater (Crud, I can’t find the post or even remember his name) that this division is one of the greenest in the Iraqi Army. And yet they are still whomping Sadr’s rabble like nobody’s business.
DJ Elliott had comments on that on one of the Threads....be back in a bit.
I could tell you more than you'll read, see, in the links.
My dear grandson, that lived with me until after high school, is, as we "speak" on his way back to the Korengal - he had a short 18 days respite after 10 months there - and in everything/battle in those stories.
He has 5 more months there before a years break back at base in Italy = well, he'll be stateside for some of that as he has been selected for additional specialized training .
Praying that by the time Battle Co, is sent back to the Korengal for a second 15 monther that things will have calmed down.
On a positive note: He was greatly heartened and surprised that everywhere he went on his leave (He was was in Texas and California with parents, other grandparents and siblings, ) he continually found people at restaurants, stores, hotels, on the street - letting him know how much they appreciated him and his fellow troops.
He even got the royal treatment from other troops on the plane stateside when they saw his insignia: "You're BATTLE COMPANY!" =
And when he got to the airport yesterday morning for the trip back, he was taken out of line by the airlines reps - he asked: "Is there a problem?"
"Yes," they said: "You do not stand in line. Come with us."
And they put him in First Class!
The week before, he and his dad went up to Austin - my grandson is an accomplished guitarist, even played a full set on stage, when he was only 12, with the famous Blues man, Phillip Walker - so he wanted to check out the Blues bands in Austin. He was having such a good time, he suggested to his dad that they stay over night.
The hotel wanted $298 for one night. My grandson said: "Well, it's not that I couldn't pay that, it's that I wouldn't pay that to sleep anywhere for one night." (He had on a BATTLE CO. tee shirt) He asked: "Do you, by chance, have a military rate?"
The results were that they got a top story, $498 room, for $98.
I tear up just thinking what this all meant to him as he feared the worse before he came stateside, what with what they hear in the media.
I like that idea much better. That thug is responsible for the deaths of dozens of our guys. "Negotiating" with him in any way sets a terrible precedent.
Kill him now.
L
Hill Dems petition Bush on Iraq - Democrats Letter to President Bush April 4, 2008
They think Iraq is a loser and the troops should be sent to Afghanistan where the real bad guys are....
yep - but I play the video at least once a day, just to smile =
I don’t know how to begin to respond. Your justified pride shines in every word you wrote.
I am very proud to call your grandson an American, grateful for his service and proud that my country appreciates him as well. I, too, hope and pray that all goes well with him and that he returns to a bright future in the nation that he fought for. And as a blues fan, I hope that includes a continuation of talent and a chance to hear him myself.
As for the media, well, I’m not equating FR to your grandson, but just as he has his battles in the Korengal, we have ours stateside and our surge is (hopefully) just beginning.
Great story that you shared. Thanks a million and a HEARTY Cheers for your grandson!!!!!
Thanks Ernest, you rock!
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