Tribes help U.S. against al-Qaeda According to USA Today.
BAGHDAD — More than 10 Iraqi tribes in the Baghdad area have reached agreements with U.S. and Iraqi forces for the first time to oppose al-Qaeda, raising the U.S. military's hopes that a trend started in western Iraq is spreading here.
Some of the groups, which have members who fought alongside al-Qaeda in the past, have been providing useful intelligence to U.S. forces about their former allies, according to the U.S. military.
"They know where they live and who they are," said Lt. Col. Rick Welch, a staff officer who works with tribes in the capital area. "They know how they operate." Some tribes are also taking up arms against al-Qaeda allies.
About 100 tribes live in greater Baghdad. Many of these clans are groups of relatives who share the same name and have thousands of members.
U.S. commanders have reached similar deals in Sunni-dominated Anbar province in western Iraq. Attacks there have dropped by 60% in the last year, according to the U.S. military. Tribes in Diyala province north of Baghdad are also negotiating with U.S. forces, which have launched a major offensive in the region.
The Fourth Rail takes a look at the largest offensive operation in Iraq since 2003.
Multinational Forces Iraq and the Iraqi Security Forces have now launched operations on all fronts simultaneously against al Qaeda. The three major theaters of the belts, plus Baghdad, are seeing massive operations, and Special Forces continues to hunt al Qaeda's operatives nationwide. Sadr and his Iranian backed Mahdi Army have been put on notice, with force to back it up. The enemy will have little space to operate, and al Qaeda's attempts to move operations to Salahadin or the north toward Mosul will expose the network. The pressure must be maintained over a significant period of time in order to sufficiently degrade al Qaeda's operational abilities nationwide, and provide the Iraqi government with the time and space needed to resolve the political issues.
DEFINITELY READ THE WHOLE THING.
U.S. Seeks to Block Exits for Iraq Insurgents according to NYT.
Taking the fight to insurgents from Al Qaeda did not so much destroy them in Anbar Province as dislodge them, prompting the fighters to build up their strength elsewhere, including Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province.
So the planners of this latest operation are attempting to plug the holes that have allowed the insurgents to escape in the past. The goal is not merely to reclaim western Baquba from insurgent control, but to capture or kill the estimated 300 fighters to 500 fighters who are believed to be based in that part of the city.
In the first hours of the American military assault, after midnight early Monday, helicopters flew two teams of American troops and a platoon of Iraqi scouts so they could block the southern escape routes from the city. Stryker armored vehicles moved along the western outskirts of Baquba and then down a main north-south route that cuts through the center of the city.
By the time dawn broke on Tuesday, the insurgent sanctuary in western Baquba had been cordoned off. Then, the American forces established footholds on the periphery of the section and slowly pressed in. “Rather than let the problem export to some other place and then have to fight them again, my goal is to isolate this thing and cordon it off,” said Col. Steve Townsend, the commander of the Third Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Second Infantry Division.
Amy Proctor shows us paratroopers rescuing Iraqi Orphans in Iraq, in a MUST READ PIECE.
A little teaser:
Let’s get real: the United States isn’t responsible for this tragedy. For those who must blame someone, blame Saddam, al-Qaeda and insurgents. They are the ones creating this inhospitable state. The brutal truth is that this and far worse existed in Iraq before the 2003 invasion. From 1998-2003 alone, the Human Rights Watch reported that 400,000 Iraqi children under the age of five years old died of malnutrition preventable disease under Saddam Hussein, who hoarded the U.N.’ s Oil for Food money, lining his palaces in gold while his people starved. That’s almost ½ a million in 5 years.
Then, as always, we get the news releases from Centcom, the ones that our media completely ignores.
IRAQI AND COALITION FORCES BATTLE ROGUE ELEMENTS:
BAGHDAD - In an attempt to rescue severely injured Iraqi police forces, Iraqi Security Forces battled extremists,killed more than three, and detained 45 in An-Nasiriyah, Southern Iraq ,June 18 and 19.
With Coalition Forces present as advisers, Iraqi Security Forces rushed to a neighborhood in An-Nasiriyah to recover wounded personnel from an earlier fire-fight. As they arrived to the police check point, Iraqi and Coalition Forces received enemy-fire from multiple directions.
With well-aimed fire, Iraqi forces killed more than three insurgents, one of whom is a suspected highly ranked rogue JAM commander.
Throughout the operation, extremists fired on Iraqi and Coalition Forces from a rooftop across the street. Coalition Forces called for an air-strike at that location and suppressed the extremists.
You can visit Centcom yourself if you are interested in the truth instead of the lies and bias you get from our media.
Hillary Clinton gets booed, again, at the Take America Back conference, shown here and here.
Sorry, you will have to go read those pieces yourself because Hillary isn't worth the space in my opinion.
ISRAEL RELATED:
A couple days ago, Debbie from Right Truth told us that Israel might attack in the Gaza against Hamas.
The US The report says that Israel is preparing to strike at Hamas in Gaza IF rocket attacks and/or suicide bombings resume. It looks like there may be another Summer War, but not with Lebanon this time. If the report is true, which I have no doubt it is, perhaps Israel thinks by leaking this information, Hamas will feel threatened and behave themselves. Nice try Israel, but stay locked and loaded, just in case the threat isn't enough.
According to Y.Net, Israel just did.
Shortly after Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets at southern Israel, the Israeli sir force struck two launchers in northern Gaza. The launchers were spotted east of the town of Beit Hanoun and destroyed completely; no injuries were reported.
The two rockets that were fired at Israel landed in open fields; no injuries or damage were reported. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
The number of rockets fired from Gaza has dropped significantly in the recent period. The last Qassam landed Monday on a factory near Sderot, and caused considerable damage to the place.
In the meantime,hundreds of Gazans are trying to flee from Hamas rule and trying to get into Israel for protection.
The U.S. is finally condemning the United Nations Human Rights Council late Tuesday for its seriously flawed "institution building" package that singled out Israel for special scrutiny as part of a reform package.
In 2-4 weeks Hamas won't even be able to feed those they claim to represent.
Haaretz is reporting that Olmert and Abbas have agreed to meet in the coming week.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet next week on a date and at a location yet to be decided, the Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday.
Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo told Palestinian radio earlier Wednesday that a foreign leader, possibly from an Arab state, would attend the meeting. He also declined to mention a venue.
The two leaders were set to meet two weeks ago, before the eruption of violence in Gaza, but that meeting was cancelled at the Palestinians' request.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad on Wednesday that the establishment of the new emergency government means more chance of "progress on various issues... as well as advance[ment of] the political process," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
Abbas disbanded the Hamas-Fatah government last week after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip following days of violent clashes between the two Palestinian factions.
He then appointed Fayad to head an emergency government, which has won pledges of financial support from major Western powers who had imposed a crippling economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas came to power in March 2006.
USA Todays says: Abbas calls Hamas 'murderous' as Israel attacks.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas harshly criticized the Islamic Hamas on Wednesday for taking over Gaza last week, saying its members were "murderous terrorists" who tried to assassinate him recently.
In an uncharacteristically fiery televised speech, Abbas said Hamas replaced the "national project" with "its project of darkness," attacking the symbols of government in Gaza, including the house of the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
"There is no dialogue with those murderous terrorists," Abbas said, accusing them of attempting a coup. It was Abbas' toughest speech since he fired the Hamas-led Cabinet and replaced it with his own team of Fatah supporters and experts over the weekend.
"Our main goal is to prevent sedition from spreading to the West Bank, ... to prevent violations by any party, and to deal (with everyone) equally, based on law," he said.
LEBANON/SYRIA:
Syria closes border with Lebanon simply quoting "safety reasons".
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian authorities on Wednesday closed a border crossing with northeastern Lebanon without giving a reason, Lebanese security officials said.
The closure of the Qaa-Jousseh crossing left only one land border crossing between the two countries open — the main Beirut-Damascus link at Masnaa in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Syrian authorities closed two other crossing with northern Lebanon after the May 20 outbreak of fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared where Lebanon troops are battling Fatah Islam militants.
At the time, the Syrians said the two crossings were closed for safety reasons.
Since the Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005 under international pressure, Syria has used the flow of goods and people across the border as a pressure tactic against Lebanon, Lebanese opponents of Damascus have said.
More about the Middle East News can be found at yahoo/Middle East.
Tracked back by:
U.S. sanctions on Iranian organizations from Right Truth...
America on the Offensive from shyspeak.net....
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