American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold

[NVMojo]

and Bush wants Europe to move beyond Iraq??

21 February 2005


American and Iraqi government forces have surrounded the city of Ramadi in preparation for an expected full-scale attack on the city, which has in effect slipped into the hands of insurgents.

The operation, with US Marines forming the main attack force, comes less than three months after the massive and controversial assault on Fallujah and follows a pledge by Washington to pacify the remaining rebel strongholds.

The people of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad and adjacent to Fallujah, have been placed under a curfew during the operation, codenamed River Blitz. According to the US military, the operation is at the orders of the Iraqi interim authority and follows suicide bombings and other attacks on Shia Muslims marking the festival of Ashura. At least 50 people were killed in two days. The US and the Iraqi interim government have blamed the blasts on the Sunni resistance and in particular the group led by the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

more...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=613165

[bluestateguy]

1. I wish the troops well

but I cannot buy into the lie that they are fighting for our freedom. They are not.

[keopeli]

2. The news is that the city of Ramadi has been surrounded.

This is from reporters on the ground in Baghdad.

Operation River Blitz was launched earlier and addressed in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1251865">Marines Launch Bid to Secure Ramadi - DU LBN Thread

[bluestateguy]

6. Casualties are going to spike in the next week or two

The troop rotation is almost done and this will cost dozens of troops their lives.

I hope the Halliburton Board of Directors sleeps well tonight.

[Monkie]

16. Iraqi Resistance claims its over American captured on saturday by them

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Sunday 20 February 2005

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice
Ar-Ramadi.

"Fighting erupts after US besieges ar-Ramadi, threatens population with “harsh reprisals” if Resistance does not return captured American prisoner.

US occupation forces encircled and totally sealed off the city of ar-Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad, at 5am Sunday morning local time. preventing all persons from entering or leaving. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in ar-Ramadi reported that the move closed the roads to Hit to the west, al-Fallujah to the east, al-Madinah as-Siyahiyah to the south, and to the north they closed access to the International Highway that runs to Samarra’.

The Americans dropped leaflets from helicopters into the beleaguered city threatening residents with “harsh reprisals” if an American soldier who was taken prisoner by the Resistance on Saturday is not returned. In a dispatch posted at 11:55am Sunday Mecca time, the correspondent reported that the US forces still had the city surrounded and sealed off, but that no clashes had taken place at that time"

http://www.freearabvoice.org/Iraq/Report/report202.htm

[PsN2Wind]

3. Oh Yeah!! Sure!!!

Now the Iraqi government commands the US Marine Corps.

[bluestateguy]

5. YOU MEAN U.S. TROOPS ARE UNDER FOREIGN COMMAND?

Ooooh! I seem to remember this crowd was just apeshit over that idea ten years ago, and that was for a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. This is a war.

[Massacure]

4. How does Ramadi compare to what Fallujah was like?

[keopeli]

7. We're about to find out...

[NVMojo]

8. the truth on Fallujah is probably not finished coming out ....yet...

[hatrack]

9. Yes, and after we level THIS city, Iraq will become a beacon of democracy

Or maybe one or two more cities after that, tops. But really, Beacons of Democracy, coming soon to a rubble-heap near you!

[NYC]

10. Picture from Fallujah.

From: http://www.stopusa.be/home/ near the bottom of the page.

[0007]

15. This is as bad as Saddam Hussien taking out the Kurds.

A General said that Fallujah will be the turning point for Democracy in Iraq.

We are insane and we wonder why the world hates us.

[diamond14]

17. another Fallujah PHOTO...the place is demolished...CRUSHED

this is what the U.S. military spins as a 'shop' re-opened in Fallujah.....



Sunday, February 06, 2005

FALLUJAH, IRAQ
Fallujah is Fine. Go back to sleep

A lone boy reopens his "shop" amid the ruins on February 6, 2005 as returnees begin to rebuild their city. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

[NYC]

19. I knew Fallujah was demolished when they shot cats and dogs.

Terrible picture you posted. I can't imagine having NYC turned into such rubble. What a nightmare for those people. There are no words to describe what has been done to them.

[necso]

11. We may be able,

after the fact, to tell how big a deal this was (is) by the body count -- if they tell us the truth (the odds of this are probably near zero). Until that time, I am "buying" nothing. -- I have increasingly seen the overseas "press" filled with bullshit, propaganda and disinformation (our own "press" is almost completely useless). Some of this is probably deliberate (I imagine that considerable pressure is being applied) -- but in some cases I think that the overseas "press" is just being duped.

Something seems to be going on with Ramadi -- but what it will amount to is anybody's guess. Another Fallujah comes to mind, but I won't even venture a guess. (I do seem to remember a "plan" to go after one "insurgent stronghold" after the other -- but history, consistency and reality mean nothing to the neocons. And it is entirely possible that this is the "hand" that the "magician" wants us to look at.)

And killing more Sunnis to help establish a Shia (and Iran-friendly) state seems rather stupid to me. (Although this would be less of a consideration, if there were other plans for the future of Iran.)

However, it does sound like the Kurds may be using their leverage to push for independence, or at least autonomy: "The people of Iraq do not want to be separate," -- but who knows.

[xchrom]

12. amazing -- this is how we spread democracy?

stupid.

[Disturbed]

13. The Iranian Govt. is smiling.

The U.S. is doing their job for them; wiping out the Sunnis.

If Israel attacks Iran and the U.S. helps out, Syria may jump in. If the Iranians bomb the U.S. bases in Iraq and 800K Iranian and Syrian troops swoop into Iraq will the Shi'ites sit back and do nothing?

[LynnTheDem]

14. Time to Fallujah Ramadi

Then back to Mosul. And Baghdad. Then it'll be Basra and another Shia uprising. And repeat.

[bpilgrim]

18. POLL: how many months will it take them to destroy this city?

how long did it take japan to 'pacify' nanking?



Japanese aircraft bombed south Shanghai Station Aug.28,1937.
About 200 people in the waiting room were dead or wounded by the bombing. A crying baby was left alone after the bombing. - Life Oct. 4, 1937

peace