U.S. Begins Bombing, Rocketing, And Gatling Gunning The Shit Out Of Basra
What started small-time yesterday has, well, blown up…
Times Online:
“We did not expect the fight to be this intense!”
US warplanes bombed Shia militiamen in Basra last night and helicopter gunships fired rockets in militia-controlled areas of Baghdad, as Iraqi government forces proved incapable of dislodging die-hard rebels on their own.
Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister who has staked his reputation on crushing rogue militias, appeared to be wavering in his resolve, extending a deadline for fighters to give up and offering cash as an incentive to surrender their weapons.
British and US officials denied Iraqi news reports and statements by Basra residents that US Marine snipers had taken up positions in the southern port city, for five years under British military control. They admitted, however, that US troops were patrolling in Sadr City, the huge Shia slum in Baghdad that is controlled by the Mahdi Army militia of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr.
The British Embassy in Baghdad said the army was ready to send in troops to back up the Iraqi army should it need combat support. “These operations are going to take time,” an embassy statement said. “Britain fully supports the government of Iraq in this important task. British coalition forces, in their overwatch role, stand ready to support Iraqi security forces operationally, as and when the government of Iraq requests this.”
Major Tom Holloway said that US warplanes twice bombed militiamen in Basra overnight. “It was on identified rocket teams in the city and there was a concentration of militia troops which was bombed,” he said.
Street-fighting had calmed slightly after three days of heavy clashes, as the government imposed a three-day total curfew in Iraq, although sporadic fighting sputtered on and militiamen were still lobbing mortars at Iraqi army positions in Basra.
The Mahdi Army was engaged in heavy fighting with police in the southwestern city of Nasariyah. The coalition has a huge logistics base outside the city that controls the convoy route from Kuwait to Baghdad, the road that provides most supplies for coalition forces in the capital.
A day after Mr al-Maliki had sworn to fight powerful Shia militias “to the end” he appeared to soften his tough stance and offered them until April 8 to surrender heavy and medium weapons. He also offered cash to those who comply, a tactic the American military used in 2004 when they failed to crush the Mahdi Army in fighting in Sadr City. The fighters handed in mostly old weapons, took the cash and rearmed for a brutal resurgence in early 2006, when full-scale sectarian warfare broke out in Baghdad.
A Mahdi Army spokesman in Sadr City said: “We are still fighting. Nobody handed in their weapons, we will never do that for cash.”
In Basra, locals said that Mahdi Army fighters were building bunkers and planting roadside bombs inside the slum areas they controlled, a sign that they were bracing themselves for a renewed government assault.
Iraqi television showed footage of Mahdi Army fighters shooting at government troops from armoured Humvee patrol vehicles they had captured from the Iraqi army and painted white, spray-painting Mahdi Army logos on it. Other government armoured vehicles were shown as smouldering wrecks.
The Iraqi security forces have also been beset by desertions, from police units acknowledged to be militia-infiltrated and from some army outfits believed to be better insulated against their influence.
“We did not expect the fight to be this intense,” said an officer from a special police unit drafted into Basra from Baghdad, recalling being pinned down by Mahdi Army mortar fire, where 4 men from his unit were killed and 15 wounded. “Some of the men told me that they did not want to go back to the fight until they have better support and more protection,” said the officer.
Basra residents reported that militiamen had attacked the house of a senior army officer from Basra, shooting his bodyguards. The officer was not home at the time. Gunmen kidnapped a senior government security spokesman from his Baghdad home the day before, killing three policemen guarding him then burning his house. And a senior police commander in Basra was bombarded with complaints from Iraqi soldiers that policemen loyal to the militia had opened fire on them, and that their families in Baghdad had received threatening text messages on their telephones.
But Major-General Ali Zaidan, the commander of Iraqi ground forces in Basra, said his troops had killed 120 “enemy” fighters and wounded about 450 since the start of the anti-militia campaign.
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Burn em’ out.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:23 amGodspeed warriors!
Iranians? Mahdi? Shiite? For now let God sort them out.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:24 amAnxiously awaiting the LiveLeak vids…
March 28th, 2008 at 8:32 amFuck ‘em up, send a message to the Iraniacs!
March 28th, 2008 at 8:38 amKeep bombing until their eyes, ears and noses are bleeding in their ‘bunkers’.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:45 amDon’t worry Britain.
We’ll shoulder the burden….again…..
March 28th, 2008 at 8:50 am[[The Mahdi Army was engaged in heavy fighting with police in the southwestern city of Nasariyah.]]
But, but the AP reported that Nasariyah had allready “fallen to” Sadr (see the other post on patdollard.com). Not telling lies are they?
March 28th, 2008 at 9:14 amThis is so frustrating. Iranian Madhi army components, coming into Iraq from Iran, and still, nothing is being done to stop it.
Tehran needs to be turned into a glass parking lot.
And the Iraqi army needs to grow a pair and start standing up for their country.
IMO, Iraqis couldn’t care less what government they have. That’s why they aren’t motivated enough to stand and fight, so we have to do it all
Oh, and kudos to the brits for their lack of motivation too…..Be sure to stop fighting at noon, for high tea.:roll:
March 28th, 2008 at 9:34 amModern day Gatling Gun, ya baby! Now that’s what I am talking about.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:52 amRun you freaking Islamic cockroaches. Run and try to hide. Mr. Gatling is searching for and seeking you out. He’ll find you mo fo. And off to paradise to visit your 72 year-old-virgin.
Bye, bye!
time for a few MOAB’S ,I think.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:38 pmsplat goes the Shiite..
“The Iraqi security forces have also been beset by desertions, from police units acknowledged to be militia-infiltrated and from some army outfits believed to be better insulated against their influence.”
We all knew this was going to happen. Better to know who they are now and weed them out rather than later in the middle of a major regional conflict.
The question is not if there was or would be defections BUT how many and is who held strong able to consolidate close ranks and recover?
Whether Maliki will defeat Sadr or not is not really a question, he still has not played his two trumps US/Britain.
I love how the media who once screamed how useless the IA was since they could barley assist the US but now still scream and give them no credit for the fact they are carrying the fight with limited US support.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:32 pmNow playing before the world’s stage; “THE RELIGION OF PEACE”
March 28th, 2008 at 1:42 pmIn the immortal words of Cardinal Richelieu…
Slaughter the dogs. The Lord will recognize his own!
March 28th, 2008 at 4:02 pmTime to cast out the Sardr and Badr slugs and their Iraniac bretheren. Find em, fix em, kill em. And if possible, put that mookie scumbag out of his misery.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm100-1 that Sardr and Badr are safe and secure in Iran. That’s how those allah child molesting bastards work.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pmForget about Tehran, just use some nukes and turn Iran into a seaway that can connect the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Yeah…that oughta do it. Would be damn cool to have a nice wide seaway there. That’d give Russia the warm-water port they’ve been wanting for centuries. Maybe we can get Russia into the bargain. “You want a warm water port in exchange for some military support?” They’d buy it in a heart-beat.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:43 pmGet some! Don’t stop until they’re completely defeated…preferably all dead!
March 28th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Yeah baby! Go get some! 
March 28th, 2008 at 10:05 pm