Military On Yesterday’s Massive Bombing Campaign: “We Fucked Them Up”
Big shit’s going down as I reported here yesterday…
BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of the largest bombing campaigns of the war destroyed extremists’ “defensive belts” south of Baghdad, allowing American soldiers to push into areas where they have not been in years, a top commander said Friday.
The day before, two B1-B bombers and four F-16 fighter jets dropped 48 precision-guided bombs on 47 targets, U.S. Air Force Col. Peter Donnelly, commander of the 18th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Group, told reporters in Baghdad.
The targets consisted mainly of weapons caches and powerful roadside bombs buried deep underground—key defensive elements for al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents, said Donnelly and Army Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
Extremists were believed to have controlled Arab Jabour, a Sunni district lined with citrus groves, but Ferrell said “the predominant number” have now fled to the southwest since his troops’ operations began Jan. 1.
“We’re moving into areas where coalition forces have not been in months or years in some cases,” Ferrell told reporters via a video link, adding that insurgents “had established a deliberate defensive belt to deny our movement in the area.”
Ferrell said the southwest is “where we take this fight to next. It is all about fighting the enemy where the enemy wants to go.”
As U.S. and Iraqi ground forces move through areas to push out insurgents, Ferrell said members of the so-called “Awakening Council” movement—mostly Sunni fighters who switched sides to join in the fight against al-Qaida—will be relied upon to stabilize the region and maintain security.
It was those Sunni fighters, Ferrell said, who largely provided the intelligence that allowed U.S. forces to locate the targets destroyed in Thursday’s bombing.
Despite the massive size of the airstrikes, Donnelly said that to the military’s knowledge, no civilians were killed. That could not immediately be independently confirmed. He added that the targeting of three targets was called off because unmanned surveillance planes showed civilians in those areas.
Donnelly said it wasn’t yet known how many insurgents were killed in the attacks.
But Mustapha Kamil Shibeeb al-Jibouri, leader of Arab Jabour’s Awakening Council, said the airstrikes killed at least 21 al-Qaida militants including a group leader.
“Their bodies are still in the area. They have not been evacuated yet,” he told The Associated Press.
After Thursday’s fierce airstrikes, soldiers discovered two houses used to torture kidnap victims and arrested at least 12 suspected insurgents, according to an Iraqi officer.
The bombing campaign was part of a nationwide operation that the U.S. military began on Tuesday in an effort to rid Iraq of al-Qaida fighters.
Little initial resistance has been reported, though at least nine U.S. soldiers have been killed since the offensive began—the deadliest days for American forces since last fall.
In the farming village of Zambaraniyah, on the outskirts of Arab Jabour about nine miles southeast of the capital, scenes of neglect and devastation were testimony to years of fighting between militants and U.S. and Iraqi troops. Most of the land is torched or left fallow along small roads that were once laced with booby traps and bombs. Fields are strewn with trash and the blackened hulks of cars. Many buildings are pockmarked by gunfire, and most homes are abandoned.
Maj. Alayne Conway, a spokeswoman for troops in central Iraq, said the amount of ordnance dropped in 10 minutes nearly exceeded what had been used in that region in any month since last June.
Conway said the air attack “was one of the largest airstrikes since the onset of the war” in March 2003.
An AP reporter in Zambaraniyah observed that the bombing continued until Thursday evening.
Even before Thursday’s massive attack, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Solomon told a small group of reporters in Zambaraniyah that residents were returning to their homes and that stores and schools were reopening.
(AP)
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The latest “last province of Al Queda”.
Bush with his beanie cap on says it all.
January 11th, 2008 at 5:56 am@ Paul Ron:
“The latest “last province of Al Queda”.
Bush with his beanie cap on says it all.”
Uh…Bush is Jewish? Didn’t know that.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:12 amNo wonder he wants to sell the Israelis out.
By the way the Hillary victory in NH was a scam. That was the frirst thought after seeing the results the next morning.
The obvious discrepency from the exit polls shows that was rigged. The Clintons have stacked the DNC with loyal supportes. No way could they allow her to loose. What was it 2%. Come on folks. Now Hillary all of a sudden is #1 again.
Its like the scene in On The Waterfront.
“Remember that night in the Garden Charlie when you came into my dressing room and said kid its not your night.” It was you Charlie is was you Charlie!” Brando to Steiger.
Its not your night Barack!
Thats the way this is gang. Dem OR Repub. You people on this site just can’t admit your country is not what it pretends to be. Very sad.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:23 am1) No one said it was the last province of al qaeda.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:43 am2) It doesn’t matter if this is the “last province of al qaeda” or not. What matters is that al qaeda and its allies cannot be allowed to mount any serious threat against the political process in Iraq. That means chasing them, and killing them wherever they can be found.
3) I am so happy that Ron Paul will never get elected to the Presidency of this country. By the way, didn’t he play in the X-Files?
phuque you ronnie.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:43 am“3) I am so happy that Ron Paul will never get elected to the Presidency of this country. By the way, didn’t he play in the X-Files?”
Yeah I think he was one of the little aliens on the operating tables…he played one of the little guys whose planet didn’t want him either.
Ron Paul…..what a tin foil leaky douche bag.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:05 amExit polls are worthless because people do not want to tell other people, especially strangers, who they just cast their private ballot for. I don’t feel its anyones business who I voted for. Especially in instances where someone may vote for a republican candidate in a heavily democrat district or vice versa. Thats why it’s a private vote. It was created this way on purpose, so that individuals could not be intimidated to vote one way or the other or be harassed for voting for someone that most voters in the district voted against. You’re right though, our country isn’t what we want it to be, but it isn’t the fault of the Clintons or Obamas, its because of people like you who don’t know a damn thing about how this world runs who vote for the likes of the Clintons and Obamas. If we could rid this country of people like you, life would be alot better for all of us who actually care about our country, our past, our traditions, our culture, our faith, our principles, etc. and so on. I just wish people like you would pick up a gun and take it to the streets so I could actually shoot some of you. But you will never do that, because you know how good you have it here. You’re just a timid little sheep and you will always be afraid of those who have teeth, whether they are the sheepdogs who aren’t afraid of the wolves your blind, bleating ass is too stupid to see because you got your mouth full of the grass from the land we provide you with, or the wolves themselves who you would give anything to as long as they let you eat your grass in peace. What you don’t understand though is wolves got to eat too. And they don’t eat grass, they eat sheep. So just keep stuffing your fat little sheep mouth while we protect the land we are kind enough to provide you with.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:11 am@Paul Ron
Or is that moonbat Rhue Paul?
On an asymetrical battlefield there are no last provinces Paul. The enemy is everywhere that they can intimidate the locals and get away with it. Until the locals with US help decide they have had enough of AQ and his haj allies, migration of AQ from one town to the next will continue.
In case you’re fooking blind, it was the locals who provided the intel for this op. As more and more locals join the fight, more and more towns are free of AQ influence.
AQ hasn’t even got past Phase I of guerilla ops…and that’s because of these kinds of ops and the ever-increasing cooperation of the local populace.
So WTF are you talking about?
Got news for you…you anti-semetic schmuck…Bush is not Jewish.
And the only sham in this election is your boy Paul who’s well on his way to political history’s file 13.
Oh did I say fuck you yet? My bad.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:52 am@ paul, ron:
What’s sad is hearing that YOU think our country isn’t what it pretends to be. In all actuality, this country is precisly what you don’t think it is. If you don’t like it here…..leave!
It’s also sad when someone has lost their faith and continously tries to drag everyone down with him. I still have faith in my country……..sorry about your’s!
Oh…….I almost forgot…………FOOK you, you sorry, pathetic POS!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 11th, 2008 at 8:47 amPaulition, that’s your love fest tonight ?
January 11th, 2008 at 9:19 amHey Ron, let the real men handle the matters most important to this country. TO be quite frank, whoever the hell let you in the Rep race were fools. You are by no means a true conservative. You are in lines with most of the nutjobs who call themselves Libertarians. Let’s just say you keep all of us highly entertained by your behavior and actions. My salute to the real heros in our country who clearly see this threat and are standing up to both our enemies, Al-Q and Libs. While you are at it would you mind kissing my ass?
January 11th, 2008 at 10:51 amSad and humble day for the Liberal Gimps, I think they will fly their “Coward” Democratic flag at Half-mast today.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:11 am