Not only is our Military doing it but all across Iraq the Iraqi's are stepping up and taking the fight to al-Qaeda.
Former Sunni insurgents asked the United States to stay away, and then ambushed members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said yesterday.
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The Islamic Army in Iraq sent advance word to Iraqi police requesting that US helicopters keep out of the area because its fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from Al Qaeda, according to the police and a top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim.
Abu Ibrahim said his fighters killed 18 Al Qaeda militants and captured 16 in the fight southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
There are still kinks to be worked out and quite a bit of hard work ahead but this illustrates the across the country efforts of the U.S. Military and the Iraqi people, even former insurgents, to weed out and rid themselves of al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, farther east, in Diyala Province, members of another former insurgent group, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, launched a military-style operation yesterday against Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Iraqi Army said.
About 60 militants were captured and handed over to Iraqi soldiers, an Army officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to media.
Afterward, hundreds of people paraded through Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, witnesses said. Many danced and fired their guns into the air, shouting "Down with Al Qaeda!" and "Diyala is for all Iraqis!"
These days it seems that everyone wants Iraq to succeed and sees that they are.
Only the blind and those that are invested in defeat do not have the integrity to acknowledge what a great job our Military, Coalition forces, Iraqi security and everyday Iraqi citizens are accomplishing.
And at Baghdad's most revered Sunni shrine, the Abu Hanifa mosque, voices blasted from loudspeakers yesterday urging residents to turn against Qaeda: "We are your sons, the sons of the awakening, and we want to end the operations of Al Qaeda."
More good news:
A Baghdad neighborhood returns to life
On Tuesday, women shopped and men drank tea in sidewalk cafes. Occasionally, U.S. soldiers walking the streets were greeted with salaams and smiles.
What is happening here reflects similar trends across Baghdad and parts of Iraq, where civilian and U.S. military casualties have dropped sharply in the past two months. But the speed of the turnaround in places such as Amariyah has taken almost everyone - including U.S. military forces in the area - by surprise.
"The progress that we made is almost unbelievable," said Capt. Brendan Gallagher, 29, of Columbia, Md., who serves with the Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.
Still more good news:
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Just a few months ago, Operation Rogue Thunder began to reclaim the streets of Jamia and Adel, Iraq, from the grip of violence. Today, the streets not only are peaceful, they’re also thriving.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division Military Transition Team; 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment; and their Iraqi counterparts have seen what was once a community gripped by fear come out of hiding and begin living for the first time in a long time.
Every day the news gets better and yet the media reports about Iraq get fewer and fewer.
Make of that what you will.
[Update] Head over to Bottom Line Up Front and watch a very short video that shows clearly, without fanfare that Iraq is about more than violence and good news and bad news stories.
Is it about human beings desiring nothing more than to live and enjoy life in freedom.
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