Violence In Iraq Falls To Lowest Level In 4 Years
Stick THAT in your pipe & smoke it Hussein and the rest of you flipping DemocRATS….
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in more than four years, figures released by the U.S. military showed on Saturday, but officials said progress was still fragile and reversible.
Iraqi security officials said an offensive against al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul, which the U.S. military says is the Sunni Islamist group’s last major urban stronghold, had wiped out most of the insurgent network.
Washington’s envoy to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, declared that al Qaeda had never been closer to defeat. The United States says the group is the biggest threat to peace in Iraq and has blamed it for most of Iraq’s deadliest suicide bombings.
“You are not going to hear me say that al Qaeda is defeated, but they’ve never been closer to defeat than they are now,” Crocker told reporters during a visit to the Shi’ite holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala in southern Iraq.
The U.S. military released slides showing that incidents of violence, including roadside bombs, shootings and mortar and rocket attacks, had fallen to their lowest level since the week of March 26, 2004.
The drop follows a surge in violence that threatened to unravel the security gains made over the past year. A government offensive against Shi’ite militias in the southern city of Basra in March sparked widespread violence in other towns and cities.
The figures are good news for U.S. President George W. Bush, who sent 30,000 extra troops to Iraq last year to halt a slide toward sectarian civil war and has rejected calls by Democrats for 155,000 troops to be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Bush has argued that this would hand victory to al Qaeda, a position shared by Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The two Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have campaigned for troops to be brought home.
SADRISTS ISSUE WARNING
According to one of the unclassified slides made available to Reuters, the number of incidents in the week ending May 23 was around 300, down from a high of nearly 1,600 in mid-June 2007.
“For security reasons we cannot give out exact figures, so this is a ballpark figure,” U.S. military spokesman Major John Hall explained.
He attributed the fall in violence to the growth in the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces and their increased involvement in counter-insurgency operations, the formation of largely Sunni Arab neighborhood patrol units, and a ceasefire declared by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
“There has been significant but uneven security progress in Iraq. The levels of violence and civilian deaths have been reduced substantially,” he said, adding that the progress was “fragile and reversible”.
“Al Qaeda in Iraq and a number of other extremist elements have been dealt serious blows,” he said.
The group, which has defied previous predictions of its demise, sought haven in Iraq’s northern provinces after being pushed out of western Anbar province and Baghdad last year.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi-led operations in Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, had destroyed “most of the insurgents’ network”.
“We have arrested most of the wanted men and the operations are continuing. The are no longer big challenges in Mosul. There will always be sleeper cells, but that is not important because we will be able to deal with those cells,” he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched the offensive against al Qaeda in Mosul as part of a wider plan to stamp his government’s authority over areas where armed groups hold sway.
Iraqi troops now patrol Basra after reaching a truce with Mehdi Army fighters loyal to Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Tens of thousands of troops moved unopposed this week into Sadr City, Sadr’s Baghdad bastion, under a separate truce that ended nearly seven weeks of fighting with U.S. and Iraqi forces.
The fragile truces in Basra and Baghdad were tested on Friday when Iraqi security forces fired into the air to disperse worshippers loyal to Sadr who had gathered for the Friday Muslim prayers in an open square. At least six people were wounded.
At about the same time, police raided Baghdad’s Amil district, arresting about 400 people, many of whom had gathered at Sadr’s office, which doubles as a mosque, for Friday prayers.
“This aggression on our Friday prayers is a new escalation which could have grave consequences for the future,” Salah al- Ubaidi, spokesman for Sadr, said on Saturday.
A bomb attached to a minibus killed three tribal chiefs on Saturday after they left a conference at the headquarters of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, a small Sunni political party. Police said four other people were wounded in the attack.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
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It’s simple: Round up or kill all the terrorists, whether they be AQ, Baathist, JAM or Al Quds. Destroy them by any means. Let the Iraqis do the interrogations their way…and this shit will come to a screeching halt.Put the fear of God in the terrorists and they will get the message.
The big diff between Saddam and Maliki is that haj feared Saddam. When haj fears Maliki or his successor, then the insurgency in Iraq will be over. And then we can turn our attention to a matter that Sunnis would like us to deal with: Iran.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pmI fear that a very small amount of people with hear about this. when the enemy in this country owns the media that is the outcome.
I say this is great news and Obama will have a hard time sweeping this under the rug for too long
May 24th, 2008 at 10:31 pmWell, well well…. If I were a journalist what would I do now? Continue to hang around the Al-Hamra hotel by the pool side banging each other, getting drunk and smoking hash while my Iraqi reporters went out to find a story that is harder and harder to find? I think not. Time to pack up and find another place that the evil American Empire is bestowing death and destruction upon innocent civilians. Might try Afghanistan - the opium is very good as I am sure all your friends have told you and you can get it for next to nothing. After all it helps clear the mind in order to be able to write about how bad America is and how America is the sole evil in the world today. Quick, find some flowers to put in the gun barrels at Arlington during the Memorial Day ceremony. If we could get that satan Bush to just pull the troops out of all the countries we have “destroyed” the world would love us and we could all get along and sing Kumbaya.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:36 amBREAK BREAK BREAK
After five years in Iraq, I say FUCK YOU! That prick Nothing But Crap (NBC) Jim Meceda almost cost me my life several years ago. Richard Engle has never met a mirror he didn’t like, etc. I have been up and down this country - driving - in and out of Sadar City and Ramadi as recently as last week and I have bad news for you pricks: The country is stabalizing in spite of your best efforts to make sure that does not happen by spoon feeding the American public your anti-American rhetoric. I can go anywhere in this country now without a security detail; can you? What you have done with your bullshit stories of supposed atrocities by the military is treasonus - after all more people died in Uncle Ted’s car than at Abu Ghraib you fucks. You embed a reporter within the Mahdi Militia to cover their suffering at the hands of the “cruel” Iraqi military who does not “fight fair.”; after all, why would you give a fuck about the Iraqi military doing its ever expanding part in slowing the violence and stabalizing the country?
Your pork loving, poster child for term limits, Senator Byrd makes a specticle of himself on the Senate floor weeping for Uncle Ted the other day. Did Byrd weep for Mary Jo? You and the rest of your kind need to find an island somewhere to hide sooner than later my friends as the tide is turning against you - fast. Most of you in the print media will be out of jobs soon as your newspapers are going bankrupt due to lack of readership. Ever wonder why? As the Diceman loves to say: “GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!”
OUT
Fantastic picture!!!
May 25th, 2008 at 5:38 amBA:
Sounds like you were describing the tard from CNN: Michel Freaking Ware…an admitted lush. I’ve yet to see a report from him where he did not look smashed out of his gord.
Ah yes, the fine American (not his case) LLMSM reporters are clueless and high. LOL
As if we didn’t already know that??? Dollard Nation doesn’t buy that carnival-barking LL BS sales pitch that they throw every night on TV.
Must be that willing suspension of disbelief that the Broom lady was talking about a few months back? Or is it the Hairy Weed imitation of Walter Geez Conkrite?
Hmmmm. And a rather subdued hearing the other day on the hill. Hilda was real uptight…Gee, I wonder why? LOL
And the formally Magic One? That dude is so lost, even his dog couldn’t find him.
Eat your words idiotic media and treasonous Dhimi Congress.
Finally a salute to our esteemed media tards. Present… middle finger… At ease…. LOL
May 25th, 2008 at 7:39 am“I fear that a very small amount of people with hear about this. when the enemy in this country owns the media that is the outcome.”
Thats where we come in - I emailed the story to my local media, posted it on the forums I visit, sent it to Rush, Glenn Beck, and Drudge and then you just send it to EVERY email contact you have - dont pick and choose your email contacts fearing to piss friends off - just send it - we owe to those men and women serving. Dont let pride and fear of friends getting pissed keep ya from sending it. Heck the one forum I visit I made the heading “600+ Iraqi’s killed in suicide bombing / Happy Memorial Day” - of course they’re gonna click that one.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:26 amVictory!
May 25th, 2008 at 12:03 pmPetraeus :mrgreen::beer:
Our Troops :mrgreen::beer:
MSM
Demonrats
I love this news and the assholes Can’t Take That Away From Me.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:47 pm(That was the first time I tried that.)
Petreaus -
May 25th, 2008 at 6:52 pmOur Troops-
MSM-
Demonrats-
Words fail me. The House has voted to make this kind of reporting (good news on Iraq) illegal
No shit: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=296435267440160
May 25th, 2008 at 7:10 pmReuters is incredible! The raw effort required to try and make great things sound rotten is incredible.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:12 pmSUPPORT OUR HEROES!!!!!!!
Sgt Jermaine Nelson’s next court date is Thursday 29 May 2008 in Los
Angeles. Sgt Nelson is a decorated combat veteran who was jailed over Memorial Day
weekend for refusing to testify against a fellow Marine - a friend who
saved his life multiple times. His Fifth Amendment rights were refused by the Judge
in a federal civilian court.
MUSTER: 1000 HRS 29 MAY 2008
LOCATION: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT; 312 N. SPRING STREET, LOS ANGELES,
CA 90012-4793; JUDGE PERCY ANDERSON DEPT 15
SPECIAL ORDERS: PHOTO ID REQUIRED TO GET INTO FEDERAL COURT COMPLEX
Get the word out to the military, reserve, retired, and veteran communities
so that as many as possible can show up in support.
If you cannot attend than write or call to signal your support of this
decorated combat veteran who is being coerced to turn on a fellow Marine.
Hon. Percy Anderson
Courtroom No.: 15
312 N Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90012-4701
213-894-1795 ( if there is no answer leave a message)
May 26th, 2008 at 6:19 amHave you guys checked out
May 26th, 2008 at 7:06 amhttp://www.longwarjournal.org.
Great site.
Heya boys, been a while. Hows life been treating you all?
Damn it Kurt and Dan, as much as we all want to you can’t kill everyone in Iraq, then there would be no hearts and minds would to win would there?
Great news, continues to reinforce my mixed feelings for Sadr. It seems that we have been whittling down his strength more and more without a hugely direct confrontation. Too direct a confrontation would have too many civilian casualties and would hurt our statistics, which sadly matter a lot for how much longer the public lets us fight this war.
Anywho, hope Sadr keeps losing ground and the death tolls keep going down.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm