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WASHINGTON, May 15, 2008 – Iraqi and U.S. forces are making progress while performing counterinsurgency and reconstruction missions across Iraq, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said yesterday. Iraqi and coalition forces continue to make gains in establishing security and enforcing the rule of law in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra over the past week, Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. In Basra, Iraqi forces involved in an operation dubbed “Sawlat al Fursan,” or “Charge of the Knights,” are busily removing illegal weapons, fighting and arresting insurgents and...

McGinnis was no stranger to combat. The Middle East edition of Stars and Stripes for Nov. 30, 2006, has a picture of McGinnis on its cover. His unit had been involved in a fierce firefight on Nov. 5 and had killed 38 attackers. His superiors were quick to recognize the special nature of McGinnis’ actions. He was awarded a posthumous Silver Star, America’s third-highest award for valor in combat, and nominated for the Medal of Honor. Eighteen months later, McGinnis will receive his medal. Speaking anonymously, sources at the Department of Defense have confirmed this with reporters from the Army...

Mahdi Army takes a hit in Baghdad, Basrah By Bill RoggioMay 5, 2008 5:32 PM US Army soldiers from 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division guard construction of a concrete wall running through the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, on Sunday, May 4, 2008. AP Photo. Clashes between the Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi forces continued in Baghdad over the weekend as efforts to complete the security barriers separating the southern portion of Sadr City from the Mahdi Army-controlled north. The US military has moved another battalion of Strykers...

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2008 – An M1A2 Abrams tank crew fired a 120 mm round at two attackers on a rooftop, killing both, during fighting in northeastern Baghdad today, military officials reported. A nearby U.S. patrol had struck a roadside bomb, and two men on a nearby rooftop then engaged the Americans with small-arms fire. No U.S. soldiers were injured in the attack. “When attacked or when we observe an imminent attack, we will respond with appropriate force,” said Army Col. Allen Batschelet, Multinational Division Baghdad and 4th Infantry Division chief of staff. In yesterday’s operations in Iraq: -- U.S....

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed and captured dozens of enemy fighters and terrorists during operatrions conducted throughout Iraq over the past three days. Coalition forces captured two suspected Iranian-trained insurgents early this morning in the Rashid district in Baghdad. Intelligence information led coalition forces to the location of an individual suspected of smuggling Iranian weapons. He is also suspected of providing information to other insurgent leaders that led to rocket attacks against coalition and Iraqi forces. The terrorist surrendered without incident. Coalition forces conducted a follow-on mission to capture another suspect. There, they detained an...

Part of the public campaign to close Guantanamo involves the claim that it houses many innocent people who were swept up from the battlefields where the U.S. military is operating. Now Reuters is reporting that someone released from Guantanamo has died in a suicide attack in Iraq. Abdullah Saleh al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti national, reportedly killed himself in an attack in Mosul. He had been held in Guantanamo until his 2005 release and repatriation. Fortunately, we have not recently suffered the spectacle of prominent Americans traveling to enemy territory to announce their hope that they will succeed in defeating the United...

ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN - U.S. pilots flying missions over Iraq come to the region expecting a host of challenges, including swirling sandstorms and urban battlefields filled with a mix of enemies and civilians. But Naval aviators flying off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman said one of the newest difficulties has been the least expected: navigating increasingly crowded airspace in a region that has experienced the world's fastest airline growth in recent years. The mix of U.S. combat aircraft and civilian planes from booming Gulf airlines illustrates the growing divide in the Middle East between countries...

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq, May 2, 2008 – An Air Force Reserve pilot deployed here broke his own world record for hours spent flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone today. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, prepares to don his helmet at Balad Air Base, Iraq, before flying a combat mission May 2, 2008. Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone. Brill is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior...

An email from an Australian father, “I am an Australian and my son is serving in the Australian army in Iraq. As far as we are concerned there is no place on God’s earth better than Australia and there are no people better than Australians, that was until the past week or so. “My son and I just ended a long phone conversation and here are some of his comments: ”Before I came over to Iraq I thought the Australian army were pretty hot stuff -- was I ever wrong! “The Yanks (I hope you don’t mind me using that...

Republican John McCain says President Bush should not be held responsible for the much-criticized "mission accomplished" banner five years ago, but he should be blamed for bungling the early months of the Iraq war. Thursday was the fifth anniversary of Bush's dramatic landing on an aircraft carrier where the banner hung. The certain GOP presidential nominee said he thought the banner was a mistake at the time.

Yesterday, April 30, the State Department released its annual report on terrorism, popularly known as "Country Reports on Terrorism." This report revealed information about Iran's state sponsorship of terror which has not been given wide coverage in the media: • Iran is very active in training and arming insurgents in Iraq and Hezbollah has been one of the chief instruments through which Iran has done so. In fact, Hezbollah has trained insurgents both inside and outside Iraq and US forces captured a high level Hezbollah officer during 2007 (something that most people have long since forgotten). This debunks the theory...

At Camp Victory, Counting Blessings — and Days by John McChesney Morning Edition, April 30, 2008 · On their last tour in Iraq, the soldiers of the Arkansas National Guard's 39th Combat Brigade Team saw heavy combat on a street in Baghdad known as "Purple Heart Boulevard." Now, in a short turnaround from that 2004-05 deployment, the Guardsmen are back. "You probably won't find anybody out there that was, you know, thrilled about the prospect of coming back. But there was very little in the way of soldiers ... being overly concerned about coming back," says Col. Kendall Penn, commander...

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 11 suspected terrorists, detained three others, and seized weapons caches in Iraq over the past three days, military officials said. During operations this morning in the Iraqi capital: -- Enemy fighters using small-arms fire attacked soldiers from 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, around 9 a.m. Troops fired a round from their main tank gun, killing one attacker. The soldiers fired another round minutes later at some men attempting to use an improvised rocket launcher. The round killed two of the would-be attackers and destroyed their weapon. -- Multinational Division Baghdad...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — The battlefield of today is much different than in wars past with an enemy who prefers to cower in hiding and use his weapon of choice, the improvised explosive device; a diabolical tool of destruction, ominously waiting road-side to mangle unsuspecting Coalition vehicles. Combating this ever popular threat are the brave men conducting route clearance throughout Iraq such as the Marines of Reaper platoon, Company A, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 1. The Reapers deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in October of last year for a seven month tour supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom with Regimental...

HABBANIYAH, Iraq — The war has changed. No longer are Marines kicking in doors and battling insurgents with continuous gunfire. Instead, they are walking through the war-torn streets of Iraq, the same streets that just a few short years ago were the sights of horrendous warfare, where Marines are now continuously greeted by hoards of children, with their parents or guardians watching, smiling from a distance. Now, with the future of their children at stake, the Iraqi people are taking their own ‘stand’ against al-Qaeda, giving the Marines tips on the locations of weapons, explosives caches or ‘bad guys,’ when...

Heavy fighting broke out between Coalition and Mahdi Army forces in Sadr City as US troops killed 28 Mahdi Army fighters after being ambushed during a patrol. Seven more Mahdi Army fighters were killed during strikes yesterday. The 28 Mahdi Army fighters were killed during a four-hour battle in southern Sadr City after a US soldier was wounded by gunfire and US forces began to evacuate the soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover, the chief Public Affairs Officer for Multinational Division Baghdad said. “The fire came from the portion of Sadr City we are not in – the northern neighborhoods –...

Carolyn NJ State Coordinator Gathering of Eagles ent me the following message, " If you have not yet seen this ad from the Democratic Party, it shows two American soldiers being blown-up in iraq. My heart goes out to all of those families that have lost loved ones in Iraq, and I cannot imagine the anguish that this ad must be causing them. We MUST express our outrage to the Democratic Party - this ad is so hurtful to our military families and it should not be tolerated in the American political arena. If you have not seen the ad...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq, April 28, 2008 – After months of intensive training at Fort Benning, Ga., and a rotation to the National Training Center, in Fort Irwin, Calif., the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team deployed here in March 2007, prepared to accomplish their mission. Army Capt. Josh Beard, from Opelika, Ala., the civil-military operations officer for 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery, greets a worker who helped set up a well and filtration system at a girls school in Narhwan, Iraq. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team established relationships with citizens through community projects and...

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed 42 members of Iranian-backed “special groups,” detained eight terrorism suspects, and seized weapons in Iraq over the past four days, military officials said. During operations in northeastern Baghdad yesterday: -- Iraqi and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers manning a checkpoint retaliated against a large group that attacked them around 6:35 p.m. with small-arms fire. The U.S. component of the combined force used 120 mm fire from M1A12 Abrams tanks and small-arms fire, killing 22 attackers and forcing the rest to flee. No U.S. or Iraqi soldiers were harmed or killed. --...

The nominee to take over Gen. David H. Petraeus' command of U.S. forces there, Odierno evolved from a conventional warrior to help shape the strategy. WASHINGTON -- When Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno began his second tour of duty in Iraq late in 2006 as the war's No. 2 commander, he was handed a battle plan that he and his staff quickly determined was out of touch with reality -- a set of precise timetables for handing over whole provinces to Iraqi security forces, regardless of their readiness. "This race to victory based on a timeline did not pass...

The president's nomination of generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno to take command of U.S. Central Command and Multinational Force-Iraq, respectively, was obviously the right decision. By experience and temperament and demonstrated success, both men are perfectly suited to these jobs. Given the political climate in Washington, however, their nominations are likely to be attacked with the same tired arguments war critics used to try to drown out reports of progress in Iraq during the recent Petraeus-Crocker hearings. So before the shouting begins again, let us consider in detail one of the most important of these arguments: that no one...

The government of Iran continues to supply weapons and other support to extremists in Iraq, despite repeated promises to the contrary, and is increasingly complicit in the death of U.S. soldiers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday in a stark new assessment of Iranian influence. The chairman, Admiral Michael Mullen, said he was "extremely concerned" about "the increasingly lethal and malign influence" by the government of Iran and the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a special force that aids and encourages Islamic militants around the world. The Quds Forces in Iran were created during the...

The president's nomination of generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno to take command of U.S. Central Command and Multinational Force-Iraq, respectively, was obviously the right decision. By experience and temperament and demonstrated success, both men are perfectly suited to these jobs. Given the political climate in Washington, however, their nominations are likely to be attacked with the same tired arguments war critics used to try to drown out reports of progress in Iraq during the recent Petraeus-Crocker hearings. So before the shouting begins again, let us consider in detail one of the most important of these arguments: that no one...

Baghdad, 23 April (AKI) - Iraq's national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubei has claimed Iran is hosting 100 al-Qaeda leaders and members, some of whom are under house arrest. "In Iran, there are many members of the terrorist organisation, that come from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, North Africa or Yemen," said al-Rubei in an interview with pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat on Wednesday. According to the national security advisor, some al-Qaeda leaders have been jailed in Iran, while others are under house arrest. But al-Rubei claimed those under house arrest still have access to a telephone that enables them to stay in contact...

The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed. Frontline: Our troops in Iraq and AfghanistanYour view: Is now the time to pull British troops out of Iraq?Analysis: Why British troops should stay in IraqSenior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition.   Iraqi soldiers at the Divisional Training Centre outside Basra They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months". Their comments came as...

IRAQI forces backed by British troops and artillery seized the main stronghold of the radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern port city of Basra yesterday. The operation, which also involved RAF and American aircraft, forced the cleric’s Mahdi army militants to cede control of a district where they had fought off an Iraqi onslaught last month. A senior Mahdi source in Basra said British soldiers - believed to be SAS troops directing attacks - had accompanied the Iraqis as they moved into the district of Hayaniya. British officials said only that “liaison teams” were advising Iraqi commanders on...

Family and friends waited in anticipation at Volk Field Saturday to welcome home the troops of the Wisconsin National Guard Troop E, 105th Cavalry.  Roschelle Easterday, wife of Troop 1SG Paul Easterday, can't wait to see her husband, who's been gone almost a year fighting in Iraq. "We're pretty excited to see each other.  It's been a long time and the rest of his family's here as well and we're pretty excited," says Easterday.     Soldiers from the Troop E, 105th Cavalry saw significant action while stationed in Iraq, which made some family members nervious at times.  "If I don't get in touch with...

The house blended into its quiet eastside neighborhood, marked only by a blue star in the window and a small, square sign reading "Welcome Home Tim." Somewhere a vacuum cleaner's rumbling voice broke the sunny afternoon hush. The setting hardly could be more different from the patch of Iraqi desert where Army Specialist Timothy Sazueta stood two weeks ago when an improvised explosive device exploded next to him. "It didn't hit me, initially, that I'd been blown up," said Sazueta, 22, of Lancaster. "I was still standing. You don't go flying" like in the movies. His teammates yelled at Sazueta...

BASRA, Iraq – Operation Saulat al Fursan, or Charge of the Knights, began a new phase of operations April 19.  Phase 3 of the operation focuses on the criminal militia strongholds within the Hyyaniyah district area. Iraqi Army soldiers from the 1st and 14th Infantry Divisions are conducting the deliberate clearance operation.  The operation began at approximately 6 a.m. when British artillery and US aircraft released ordnance against known criminal rocket and mortar sites west of Hyyaniyah.  British and American Military Transition Teams are working alongside Iraqi Army units to provide leaders with advice, access to surveillance and the ability...

US to release 12,000 prisoners in Iraq By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 7:03pm BST 18/04/2008 America plans to halve the number of detainees it is holding in Iraq by releasing more than 12,000 under a scheme designed to promote reconciliation with communities formerly sympathetic to the insurgency. US officers in Iraq told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that more than 50 prisoners per day would gain their freedom through the end of 2008. Over 12,000 prisoners are to be released from Iraqi prisons The vast majority of those in American custody are Sunni Muslims, including a hardcore...

Yorktown Heights, NY – State Assemblyman Greg Ball (R – Carmel) held a press Saturday to announce that his landmark program to create a tuition remission program for veterans had been included in the 2008-09 State Budget. The budget was passed by both houses earlier this week. Effective July 1st, the measure allows combat veterans to attend SUNY graduate and undergraduate institutions at no cost. “This program is very good news for our veterans, especially the young men and women who are, right now, returning from overseas. It is important that we remember that there is a war going on...

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2008 – Iraqi security forces are continuing to lead operations against insurgents in Basra and Baghdad and have made significant progress toward establishing security, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said yesterday. Speaking to reporters in Iraq, Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, detailed recent operations, including those in the southern city of Basra, where Iraqi and coalition forces have been conducting increased operations since March. “In Basra this week, Iraqi security forces continued operations against illegally armed gangs, intimidation and extortion groups, and other criminals,” Driscoll said. “Although there still is much work...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi tanks, with U.S. air support, are "attacking Sadr City," the office of Muqtada al-Sadr said Friday, just hours after the Shiite cleric called for calm in the wake of the assassination of one of his top aides in the southern city of Najaf. Eyewitnesses and media in the heavily Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, home to the cleric's power base in the capital, reported heavy fighting between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. The witnesses said U.S. aircraft had been bombarding the area for hours, and media reported rockets slamming into houses...

BAGHDAD - Gunmen assassinated a top aide of anti-American leader Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday, sharpening a Shiite power struggle that has already triggered fighting between the cleric's followers and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Riyadh al-Nouri, director of al-Sadr's office in Najaf, was gunned down by an unknown number assailants near his home after returning from prayer services, police and Sadrist officials said. Al-Sadr blamed the Americans and their Iraqi allies for the killing but called for calm — presumably to avoid a showdown at a time his Mahdi Army militia is under pressure by Iraqi and U.S.-led forces in Baghdad...

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2008 – The top U.S. military commander in Iraq presented Congress a comprehensive Iraq progress update in a grueling two days that comprised nearly 20 hours of testimony. "To be candid, we’re trying to get through this week,” said U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. But keeping Washington officials informed and discussing critical issues with Iraqi leaders on a daily basis is standard for Petraeus, who answered wide-ranging questions from reporters today here at the news conference at the Freedom Forum’s Newseum. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq, described the flux...

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained nine suspected terrorists during operations Wednesday and today targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq in central and northern Iraq. Near Taji, Coalition forces conducted two operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq – or AQI – senior leaders. Wednesday, the mission focused on an individual believed to conspire directly with terrorist leaders in the Southern Belt. Coalition forces identified the suspect driving with one other individual.  The terrorists ignored attempts to stop the vehicle and tried to evade capture. Coalition forces engaged the vehicle to stop it, killing the two terrorists inside. The operation this...

Relations between Britain and Iraq suffered “catastrophic failure” after Baghdad bypassed the British military and called in the American “cavalry” to help the recent offensive against Shia militia in Basra, The Times has learnt. About 550 US troops, including some from the 82nd Airborne Division, were sent from Baghdad to Basra to join up with 150 American soldiers already serving with Iraqi forces in the southern city. The Ministry of Defence made much of the fact that British troops, based at Basra airport outside the city, were not requested in the early stages of the operation. British officials claimed that...

In a March 26, 2008 interview with the Qatari daily Al-'Arab, the spokesman for the Iraqi Sunni jihad organization Hamas-Iraq, Ahmad Salah Al-Din, accused Al-Qaeda in Iraq of regarding most Iraqi resistance factions as its main enemy, of subservience to Iran, and of receiving from it weapons, funds, training, and medical care for its wounded. Salah Al-Din added that in the past year Al-Qaeda in Iraq had become considerably weaker and smaller. The following are excerpts from the Al-'Arab article on the interview: Al-Qaeda in Iraq Has Its Own Agenda, Which Transcends the Borders of Iraq "Regarding the reasons for...

The war over Iraq – not to be confused with the conflict actually taking place there – is back in the headlines. This week's report to Congress by America's top two emissaries in Baghdad, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, will provide a backdrop for the momentous decisions to come concerning whether and how to pursue victory in Iraq. Before the politicians and their constituents make such decisions about where we go from here, they should be sure to ground themselves in the facts about how we got to this point. After all, as George Santayana put it, "Those...

Data from the Defense Intelligence Agency indicates that enemy-initiated attacks on U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi civilians peaked in October 2006, the month leading up to the U.S. midterm elections. At the time, Vice President Dick Cheney said the insurgents were "very sensitive to the fact that we've got an election scheduled" and were trying to "break the will of the American people." Democrats, who cast the 2006 midterm election as a referendum on Iraq, ended up taking control of both the House and the Senate. The DIA data shows that between November 2006 and May 2007, attacks...

BAGHDAD — Sharp fighting broke out in the Sadr City district of Baghdad on Sunday as American and Iraqi troops sought to control neighborhoods used by Shiite militias to fire rockets and mortars into the nearby Green Zone.But the operation failed to stop the attacks on the heavily fortified zone, headquarters for Iraq’s central government and the American Embassy here. By day’s end, at least two American soldiers had been killed and 17 wounded in the zone, one of the worst daily tolls for the American military in the most heavily protected part of Baghdad. Altogether, at least three American...

Coalition troops killed five terrorists and captured eight suspects during counterinsurgency operations in Iraq today, military officials reported. -- U.S. forces detained four suspected Iranian-backed “special groups” terrorists and killed another individual during an operation in Baghdad. The deceased terrorist was linked to an explosives and weapons network tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. -- U.S. troops operating in eastern Baghdad killed an insurgent and destroyed a vehicle used in transporting rocket-launching rails. The terrorists were seen to launch four 107 mm rockets toward a coalition forward operating base. The terrorists departed the launch site in a white van,...

Less than two weeks after Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched Operation Knights' Assault to clear the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backer militias in Basrah, the Iraqi government is moving to ban Muqtada al Sadr's political movement from participating in the election if it fails to disband the militia. Facing near-unanimous opposition, Sadr said he would seek guidance from senior Shia clerics in Najaf and Qom and disband the Mahdi Army if told to do so, according to one aide. But another Sadr aide denied this. The pressure on Sadr and his Mahdi Army started on Sunday after Maliki announced...

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military says the largest cache of armour-piercing roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators has been found south of Baghdad. A statement says Iraqi troops acting on a tip Wednesday found more than 1,000 bomb components in a six-ton truck in a garage in the town of Qassim. American commanders allege that the EFPs come from Iran. Tehran denies the allegations. The military says the cache included more than 1,360 kilograms of explosives, multiple 107 mm rockets and stands along with other munitions. Sunday's statement says the cache has been moved to the nearby city of...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2008 – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 22 suspects during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern parts of Iraq today, according to coalition press releases. A close associate of a senior al Qaeda leader who attacked Sons of Iraq groups in Anbar province was the target of an operation in Baghdad. Upon moving into the target building, coalition forces encountered a man with a weapon. Perceiving hostile intent, they engaged and killed him. Eight suspected terrorists were detained during the operation. Also in Baghdad, coalition forces conducted a precision operation capturing an alleged...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – A local tip led Iraqi Security Forces to the largest explosively-formed penetrator cache found to date in Multi-National Division – Center’s area of operation, April 2. The munitions were discovered in a 6-ton truck in a garage in al Qasim, Iraq. The cache contained more than 1000 EFP components, more than 3000 pounds of explosives and multiple 107 mm rockets and stands. The cache also included more than 200 C-4 demolition charges, more than 10,000 feet of detonation cord, more than 2,000 projectile boosters, 10 devices used to detonate improvised explosive devices, 250 PKC...

Fighting between the Coalition and Madhi Army fighters broke out today as operations against the Mahdi Army and the Special Groups continue despite Prime Minister Maliki's call for a halt in operations. Early reports indicate between nine and 20 Iraqis were killed during clashes in Sadr City at the 55 intersection and Falah Street. Abdellatif Rayan, a media adviser to Multinational Forces Iraq said a US Army helicopter killed nine "criminals" in Sadr City. "We do have reports of an air weapons team engagement, a US helicopter, where nine criminals were killed at around 8:00 AM," Rayan told Voices of...

'Shining' In Iraq Posted GMT 4-6-2008 2:13:28 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, expecting the worst -- which for her means any good news out of Iraq -- has pre-warned Petraeus not to "put a shine" on events there. "I hope we don't hear any glorification of what happened in Basra," Pelosi said Thursday, in reference to U.S. and Iraqi troops' recent successes there in rolling back extremist Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militias. "Glorification?" Heaven forfend we should glorify "what happened in Basra." Our troops fought bravely, performing superbly the job assigned them by their own government -- including you, Madam Speaker....

In northern Iraq, Sunni Arab terrorists have changed their tactics recently, moving about in the open much more frequently. This has made them vulnerable to attack by helicopter gunships. As a result, in the last two weeks of March, U.S. AH-64 helicopter gunships made 25 attacks on these armed groups, killing at least 25 and wounding many more. When attacked, the terrorists will scatter, aborting any operations they were in the midst of. The enemy had earlier learned that, to move around, they had to do so without carrying weapons and in small groups. But this made carrying out attacks...

An explosive ordnance disposal team conducts a controlled detonation on munitions recovered by Soldiers of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and 5th Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th IA Division, April 2, in Kutimiyah, Iraq. Photo by Sgt. Luis Delgadillo, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB KALSU — In the early morning of April 2, Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers with 5th Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th IA Division, questioned a suspected insurgent who said he knew the location of buried weapons. "For the past couple of weeks the IA had...