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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Al-Qaeda suspects may have been freed in the Fallujah attack |
| 2004-02-15 |
| The attackers then headed to the nearby police station and freed 75 prisoners there, killing the guards and shooting open the cell doors, police Lt. Col. Jalal Sabri said. Witnesses said the ill-equipped compound defenders were clearly overwhelmed and outnumbered as insurgents moved with ease during the attacks. Some police were even unarmed at the time. "Their weapons were more powerful than our Kalashnikovs," police officer Earazan Abu Issa, who was outside the police station, told Reuters. Lt. Col. Sabri said the dead attackers were non-Iraqis and that two carried Lebanese passports. He also said the released detainees were criminals -- most arrested for murder or theft. "I suspect they were Arabs or Syrians or belonged to al Qaeda. They want to create instability and chaos," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 And they should start by grilling those policemen who were off duty - or were on and survived the attack. It certainly seems like an inside job. The additional fact that they were rescuing foreign asshats is significant - this fact outrages the Iraqi more than it does the CA. Tons of good will were lost in this raid, IMHO. As Dr Steve sez, this has to stop. I believe, no surprise for old-timers, that the Sunni Triangle must be crushed - nothing else has worked and it's long past time to apply what we know will work with Arabs: unrelenting overwhelming unsympathetic blunt force. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-15 5:08:30 PM |
| #5 You guys are missing the most damned all important question here. Where the bloody hell are they getting their intel from? They knew when Abizaid's convoy was coming through and tried to hit it. They knew where the comrades where being jailed and hit it and at a time when there wasn't much US backup. Where the heck are they getting their intel from? I think its time to go a raiding into Fajullah and show them what we mean when we use an M1 as a door breaker. |
| Posted by: Valentine 2004-2-15 3:02:14 PM |
| #4 Gitmo has its uses. |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2004-2-15 11:33:34 AM |
| #3 My question is: Where did the bad guys run to? How hard would it be to track them down? There's no place to hide. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-2-15 11:20:15 AM |
| #2 We cannot tolerate a situation where Al Quaida suspects are jailed in the Sunni triangle and guarded by Arabs. At the VERY LEAST they should have been moved to Shia Iraq or preferably to Kurdistan. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-2-15 2:36:40 AM |
| #1 Dammit, this has to be fixed. We cannot tolerate a situation in which the police and the jailers can't defend themselves. Train more police, give them better training, supervise them better, provide them (carefully) with some heavier weapons, and -- very importantly -- start training an Iraqi-manned, Iraqi-led "rapid reaction force" that can get to these incidents quickly. Have that RRF supervised by our Marines or Army guys and train them rigorously. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-2-15 12:23:51 AM |