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The residents of a small Iraqi village have killed five insurgents who had attacked them for voting in last weekend's national elections. Several other insurgents were also wounded. The insurgents raided the village of al-Mudhiryah south of Baghdad after warning its inhabitants not to vote in the election. The villagers fought back, killing five of the insurgents and wounding eight others. The insurgents' cars were then set alight. Al-Mudhiryah's tribal sheikh says his people are sick of being threatened by Islamic extremists.

"Wellington once observed that "nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." Nothing about it is nice; but better them than us."   -- T.C. WretchardAs many of Freepers know, there's a very significant battle going on in Fallujah right now. Want a one-stop shop that will help you keep track of media reports so you know what's going on as things develop, and link you to some of the smartest background analysis around so you understand the why and how, as well as the what? OK, you got it. One power-packed briefing, in depth...

WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN IRAQ? The U.S. presidential election will likely be won or lost over the war and its aftermath. If the United States fails in Iraq--if it is driven out by violence, and the country descends into internecine strife--then former ambassador (and current Kerry adviser) Richard Holbrooke may well be right: Iraq will be "a mess worse than Vietnam." It's a good bet that few people in the administration, as in the country at large, think the counterinsurgency is going well. It is quite striking to listen to President Bush's speeches about Iraq--about its centrality to the...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

FOR the past month they have been the rude young pretenders, a rag-tag slum army ruffling the quiet dignity of Iraq’s holiest city. For every day that the United States army fails to act on its threat to crush them, the Shiite militiamen of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have grown in confidence in their stronghold in Najaf. Now, however, a shadowy resistance movement within might be about to succeed where the 2,500 US marines outside the city have failed. In a deadly expression of feelings that until now were kept quiet, a group representing local residents is said to...

Issaki, Iraq -- The crew-cut U.S. Army captain sat on the salon floor with elders of Iraq's outlaw Jassat tribe. The American fingered his own prayer beads, as the Iraqis did theirs. But the officer lost patience waiting for the tribe to turn over one of several members wanted for killing U.S. troops and local truckers. "There's no negotiation. They're going to turn him in or I'm going to destroy their whole tribe," Capt. Karl Pfuetze, 36, shouted to a translator, his voice rising in pitch and exasperation before the assembled crowd. "I'm going to put 50 people from Jassat...

ABU HISHMA, Iraq, Dec. 6 — As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in. The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli...