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| Iraq |
| U.S.-Iraqi forces retake village |
| 2007-07-11 |
| U.S. and Iraqi forces drove out Sunni extremists who had attacked a remote village northeast of Baghdad, a U.S. commander said Wednesday. The militants had fled north from a U.S. offensive in the city of Baqouba, where American forces are fighting to uproot al-Qaida in Iraq fighters and other Sunni insurgents who used the area to attack nearby Baghdad, Lt. Col. Fred Johnson told The Associated Press in Baqouba. The fighters attacked the village of Sherween, 35 miles to the northeast, on Monday, sparking a fierce battle with armed residents trying to defend their homes, according to the deputy governor of Diyala province, Auf Rahim, who received a call from residents Tuesday pleading for help from the Iraqi army. Rahim said he was told by the residents that the fighters had taken over the village in fighting that killed dozens from both sides. A U.S. and Iraqi army force moved into the village Tuesday night and drove out the insurgents in a battle that left at least 19 extremists dead, Johnson said. He did not comment on any casualties among the coalition forces. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #12 Jeez....I'm makin a point and still come out sounding like a but-monkey. Monday mornin' quarterbacking on a Wednesday evening...I shoulda known. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2007-07-11 22:21 |
| #11 There's no way I'd go up against what Verlaine says...and he makes good points. Some bad guys did get away...and almost assuredly they were tipped off. It's the ME way of doing things. But...the folks who tipped em off weren't the ones residing in the next town ready to take up arms. We're squeezing the AQ outta their strongholds. Sooner (rather than later hopefully) more n more will start running into a not-so-welcome committee like we seen today. We don't have all the resources, and eventually it's gonna be an Iraqi show. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2007-07-11 22:19 |
| #10 wxj & Verl 100% dead is nice to think about but I don't think we have the force available to surround a village that size that fast. Killing 20 and capturing 20 out of a force that probably didn't exceed 100, is probably better than the usual result during this op (and far better than last year's ops). |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-07-11 16:48 |
| #9 The press release sasy that we captured a heap of critters, too. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-07-11 16:48 |
| #8 Have to agree with wxjames on this. While it's all good news as far as it goes, unless there are extenuating facts unknown to us, we should be getting almost ALL of these guys, not "driving them out". Of course, LTC Kilcullen will chime in about how it's not important that the enemy is fleeing, since all we're trying to do is change Iraqi society, one town/hood at a time, in a few weeks (OK, a bit unfair, but the point is made), once the enemy has fled. Perhaps we don't have the resources. But if I were in a position to do so, I'd be asking the corps commander why we didn't surround the town, then capture/kill nearly 100% of the enemy. I just wonder if anyone in the military even thinks this way - in terms of actually using our power to achieve decisive results. Yes, Virginia, there ARE decisive results in counter-insurgency situations. 100% of dead enemy no longer fight us, and 100% of Iraqis are more impressed by people being killed than being chased. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-07-11 14:10 |
| #7 Did we let them escape again ? I don't read where we trapped them and got them all in the net. WTF ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-07-11 10:13 |
| #6 But there's a lot more doom and gloom at the full AP article! Did ya'll miss that? |
| Posted by: Nancy and Harry 2007-07-11 10:10 |
| #5 Sherween is thought to have about 5000-10000 people and a mixed shia-sunni demographic. If this mixed ethnic town actually put up a spirited fight against a good sized unit of Al-Q, that's a good sign. Of course that just one town. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-07-11 10:06 |
| #4 Good news to hear the locals fighting AQ. Great news to hear they called for help. Send them to their makers. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-07-11 09:58 |
| #3 Good news indeed 'moose. The locals didn't hesitate to take up arms against the terrorists and also had enough confidence to call in support from the Iraqi Army. This exactly the kind of mindset that we need to see take root. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2007-07-11 09:36 |
| #2 Practically speaking, this is very good news, as it means that there are fewer and fewer places for the bad guyz to go, so that they now have to try and force their way into towns. Any opposition at all from the locals screws them over royally. It is like what happened to the brigands when the seven samurai showed up. They brigands have to take the village, or starve. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-11 08:58 |
| #1 This is the kind of operation we forsee for all 2,436 American troops to remain in Iraq. They will stay on a remote, hidden base of operations until some bad buys actually do some bad things, and the good guys call for secret American back-up. We would provide our permission in a matter of hours, except during sleeping and family-time hours, of course. |
| Posted by: Nancy and Harry 2007-07-11 07:28 |