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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Tawhid thugs take to the streets of Samarra |
| 2004-09-29 |
| Gunmen carrying flags of Iraq's most feared terror group surfaced in force in the central Iraqi city of Samarra on Tuesday for the first time since U.S. troops briefly entered it in a deal with tribal leaders that the Americans had portrayed as a success story in battling the insurgency. Dozens of masked gunmen carrying automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades drove through the main streets of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, in about 20 vehicles. Some carried the black flags of Iraq's most-feared terror organization, Tawhid and Jihad, which is run by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Two of the cars carrying the gunmen were police pickup trucks that appear to have been confiscated by the insurgents. The gunmen stopped some cars and asked passengers to hand over music tapes, giving them tapes with recitations from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in exchange. After a two-hour drive-through, the convoy dispersed around noon and the gunmen could not be seen in the streets. It was not clear why they left. Samarra has been under insurgent control and a virtual ''no-go'' area for U.S. troops since May 30. The Americans returned briefly on Sept. 9 under a peace deal brokered by tribal leaders by which U.S. forces agreed to provide millions of dollars in reconstruction funds in exchange for an end to attacks on American and Iraqi troops. U.S. and Iraqi commanders portrayed the deal as a success story in their attempts to put down the 17-month-old insurgency that aims to drive foreign forces from the country. In recent weeks, however, the city witnessed sporadic clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents. A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb on Sept. 19, near a U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint in the city, killing three people and wounding seven, including four U.S. soldiers. More deadly clashes broke out there Sept. 22. American military commanders have indicated that Samarra, along with Fallujah and the Baghdad slum known as Sadr City may have to be subdued prior to a general election in January. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 If I were in-charge of the military effort in Iraq, I would stage a massive offensive into these "no-go" areas during the debates. The idea would be to teach them to keep their head down durin anythig associated with an election. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-09-29 2:25:01 AM |
| #3 More melodrama from AP. In the view of AP reporters, the mere existence of a guerrilla war is a defeat for US forces. The reality, of course, is that guerrilla wars last a while, mainly because the guerrillas try to avoid fighting in favor of creating mayhem. They try to outlast conventional forces so as to win by not losing. But usually, even with outside funding, they lose - because it's hard to outlast conventional forces. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-09-29 1:14:24 AM |
| #2 I hope our UAVs followed some of them home. Expect a knock on the door and Virginians in the afterlife. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-09-29 12:46:41 AM |
| #1 I hope that they do it again. And it that would not be missed by Coalition. Three words: Target Rich Environment. |
| Posted by: Memesis 2004-09-29 12:43:16 AM |