U.S. Launches Attacks in Western Iraq

Yahoo News ^ | 8/5/2005 | Tini Tran

[Coop]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces launched attacks in western Iraq in an operation aimed at disrupting insurgents and foreign fighters in the Euphrates River valley, the U.S. military said Friday.

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The operation, dubbed Quick Strike, began Wednesday with Iraqi soldiers and Marines positioning their units, said a military statement. They focused on an area centered around the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah, and Parwana, about 130 miles northwest of Baghdad.

On Wednesday, 14 Marines and their civilian translator were killed when their vehicle was hit by a massive roadside bomb near Haditha as they were traveling inside a lightly armored vehicle.

On Friday, U.S. and Iraqi troops, including Special Operations forces, moved into the city of Haqlaniyah, the Marine statement said. U.S. jets conducted an airstrike on insurgents hiding in buildings outside of the town.

Residents in the area said U.S. and Iraqi forces had cordoned off Haqlaniyah, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, and began conducting house to house searches. American warplanes were hovering overhead and a number of heavy explosions were heard...

[Coop]

Payback time for the 21 lost Marines.

God speed, Devil Dogs...

[Coop]

Flag

[eastforker]

Good, time to take off the gloves.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

I knew this was comming, good hunting.

I secertly wanted B-52s to go first.

[Coop]

They've never had gloves on. Our forces have been doing this from the start.

[RobFromGa]

I hope that they find some high value targets in addition to killing a whole lot of terrorists.

[OldFriend]

G-DSPEED

[eastforker]

Nope, we coddled them in Faluja in the beginning, got tuff later after casualties. We really need to fight this war without the PC bull$hit. There would be civilian casualties but that also happened in WWII.

[patton]

I SO wish I could go with...

[fatnotlazy]

I pray they are successful and that they all come back safe.

[libs_kma]

I hope if they find even a terrorist round casing in a mosque they level it and move on to check the next one.

[Coop]

They are doing nothing different today than they've done from day one.

[Paloma_55]

Seems to me that we should have about 8 bases around the country with teams up to 1000 each that can react within a few hours in force.

When our troops encounter any kind of "hot spot" these teams would deply in force and overwhelm the area cleaning it out just as these guys are doing now. Air power would be there, UAVs, Apaches, and whatever is needed.

After a few encounters, the bad guys would realize that anytime they gather in groups larger than two, they would be establishing a basis for being snuffed out.

[Wiz]

Operation Quick Strike ping!

[Ros42]

Take it to 'em troops!

[Majic]

Some friendly advice: take no prisoners.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

I hope the gloves stay off...

[snarks_when_bored]

We need to kick the butts of the terrorists so hard that they taste their own sh*t before they die.

[prairiebreeze]

Yep. Good shooting and Godspeed Marines.

[Brilliant]

We always do this right after a wave of terrorist attacks on US troops. I'd like to know why we don't do it all the time. Keep them on the defensive.