US launches offensive near Syria

[ECH1969]

US and Iraqi forces have launched an offensive along the border with Syria called Operation Steel Curtain involving some 3500 troops, the US military said today.

The goal of the military sweep "is to restore security along the Iraqi-Syrian border and destroy the Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network operating throughout Husaybah, located on the Iraqi-Syrian border," the military said.

The operation involves some 1000 Iraqi army soldiers as well as 2500 Marines, sailors and soldiers.

"Operation Steel Curtain marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi Army forces in combined operations" with US-led forces, the military said.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17148454-5001028,00.html

[bluestateguy]

1. I guess they want to make November a triple digit casualty month

[ECH1969]

3. US troops usually don't die in offensives

They usually die patrolling the roads of Iraq in Rumvees.

[grannylib]

2. High on the PNAC wish list...total war. Bankrupt the country to the point

that all social programs need to be cut; education and health funding need to be cut; public works (fire, police, etc.) need to be cut...the rich can afford to buy all that for themselves, fuck the rest of the country...

It's a dream come true for the neoconmen.

[teryang]

4. there you have it n/t

[enid602]

6. poor

The poor will just have to depend on churches for all social services.

[firefox]

7. 110 million taxpayers borrowed $30 apiece today, children to pay

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 05 Nov 2005 at 06:49:23 AM GMT is:
$ 8 , 0 5 6 , 8 2 9 , 5 8 2 , 7 9 2 . 1 2

The estimated population of the United States is 297,622,085
so each citizen's share of this debt is $27,070.67.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.48 billion per day since September 30, 2005!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

It's official: as of October 18th, the National Debt has risen to over eight trillion dollars. Incidentally, it was back in December 2003, less than two years ago, that the Debt surpassed a "mere" seven trillion dollars.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

[punpirate]

15. Here's another fact sure to get people riled...

... when Jimmy Carter left office, the national debt stood, after the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, at $980 billion.

The reason for this excess is the combined application of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and excessive defense spending. More than half of the total debt can be attributed to the three administrations which advocated or continued those policies: Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.

[CoffeeCat]

10. It's all ready happening...

..when Bush wants billions more for his war--the money comes without any suffering or remarks about "How are we going to pay for this".

However, when Katrina survivors need water or a roof over their heads--suddenly we have to cut to get the money.

It's so utterly revolting.

Why do we have to cut basic services for hurricane victims while BushCo gets a blank, painless check for his debacle in the sand?

This stuff is just maddening.

[Brundle_Fly]

13. Agreed....

it is all written down.

I would watch for the Iraqi's or Americans to claim they were attacked by Syrians inside Iraq, and then they go in....this is a nightmare, Bolton is taking too long.

[WCGreen]

5. Syria is this years Cambodia.....

[CoffeeCat]

8. That's how they'll extend their war....

..to Syria.

They're at the border now. Then, all of a sudden, they'll feel the need to step over the border because the killer-terrorists are a mile into Syria.

Do these jerks ever quit with their sick PNAC plans?

[Skittles]

9. a coworker of mine returned from Iraq in September

he said all the action was on the Syrian border

[radfringe]

19. it's bush*'s exit plan

out of Iraq and into Syria....

[Zhade]

24. They've already done so.

NT!

[wtmusic]

11. Operation Titanium Dogturd

will certainly teach them to stop killing our servicemen and women!!

[MisterP]

12. yay WWIII!

[IndianaGreen]

14. Steel Curtain? Doesn't that sound like Iron Curtain?

"Operation Steel Curtain marks the first large-scale employment of multiple battalion-sized units of Iraqi Army forces in combined operations" with US-led forces, the military said.

Oh, goodie! Let's see them perform. ARVN could run circles around these guys.

[ninkasi]

20. IG, the level of complete ignorance

on the part of the American public is what frustrates me more than anything else. I know the neocons are screwing us...they are pretty transparent regarding that...but why do our fellow Americans seem willing to let all this slide off of them? Why are so many willing to be raped?

Are the two words, "tax cut", so powerful that thousands of our fellow citizens will vote against themselves because they hear that phrase? It's astounding to me, truly. Tax cuts, gay marriage, abortion...all of that seems to take precedence over health care, fair wealth distribution, education, human rights, human dignity...I have simply become unable to understand why people vote the way they do.

I'm sorry, but I feel old, left out of the picture, and unable to understand what's happening. I hate to think that so many of us can be so willfully ignorant, but what else can it be?

[daleo]

25. Either that, or the Pittsburgh Steelers line

I don't know if this expression is still used. Either way, it seems provocative in the extreme for the U.S. military to choose this name for a mission (especially one that involves invading and/or installing a puppet government in a foreign country, rather like Stalin did).

You sometimes wonder if this is historical ignorance or in your face (like Cheney and Scalia's duck hunting trip some time back).

[Selteri]

16. Just heard that news about 40 minutes ago

Gee - Wonder if we'll just accidentally slip past the boarder and invade Syria again on 'accident' like the last time where it was on accident on purpose.

[rodeodance]

17. U.S. Launches Major Offensive in Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Alip9seyoMyDRz2zsM.tKiSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
U.S. Launches Major Offensive in Iraq

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American and Iraqi forces launched a major offensive Saturday near the porous Syrian border aimed at destroying al-Qaida in
Iraq's ability to smuggle in foreign fighters, money and equipment through the region.


The U.S. military also announced that two soldiers were killed by insurgents in other areas of Iraq on Friday.
The offensive in the town of Husaybah of about 2,500 U.S. forces and 1,000 Iraqis — including local forces acting as scouts — will remove insurgents from the western province of Anbar ahead of Iraq's parliamentary election on Dec. 15, the U.S. military said.

In nearby Qaim, a witness said the offensive in Husaybah began about dawn with four loud explosions, apparently caused by U.S. warplanes or helicopters. The witness said telephone service to the town was cut. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety.

[GeorgeGist]

18. yada, yada, yada

In other non-news Bush still sucks.

[cassiepriam]

22. My God, doesn't this mean more innocents killed and maimed?

If there is a God this must stop. It must.

[Divernan]

21. And now for the claims that dead women/kids/elderly were all "insurgents"

The descriptions of "huge explosions" in a town mean that many, many non-combatant cilvilians have been killed. It's so convenient to explode people and then count them as dead insurgents. Imagine the psychological impact on young American servicemen and women, to lob explosive shells into a village, and then go in to count the corpses. I think this either kills their humanity or drives them mad. And most of our citizenry continue in our schizophrenic American world of enjoying our weekends and cheering our favorite football teams and ignoring the fact that our taxdollars and leaders are spreading torture and destruction and death, even as we post here.

[leftchick]

23. It would drive me insane...

Can you imagine trying to live with this horror, day in, day out?

:(



An Iraqi man tends to his sheep while a U.S. military helicopter circles overhead during a U.S. Army raid by the 101st Airborne Division at a nearby house, in a Shiite village near Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 4, 2005. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. Oy Oy Oy-- I guess Iran was too scary after all!

Just like North Korea and China.

That's right, China is a major US market, so no war is likely along that front.

[bionaut111]

27. US attacks Syria

The US government, ie., the neocons, who seem to be representing the ruling elite are intent on conquering the world and creating a new global empire. So I think this will be inevitable...an attack on Syria or Iran.

see US, Iraq forces launch border assault
http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=3343

For a more detailed look at the US policy and probable strategies in the middle east have a look at this story. Its rather long but interesting. Gives some indication of possible disputes of the ruling elite.
Bush-Cheney Heading For Nuclear Rendevous At Desert One by Webster Griffin Tarpley
http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=2282