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Iraq Forum

'Operation Swarmer' Air Assault Launched in Iraq

http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/03/16/imageBAG13003161651.jpg

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Coalition forces launched the largest air assault in Iraq since U.S. forces invaded that country in 2003, the U.S. military confirmed Thursday.

The assault was launched in the southern Salah Ad Din province to clear a suspected insurgent operating area southeast of Samarra.

The operation, which began Thursday morning, is expected to continue for several days ahead of the Shiite Muslim holiday. U.S. military commanders say the operation was largely carried out by Iraqi forces based on tips from other Iraqis.

Coalition forces have dubbed the assault "Operation Swarmer," which is an operation consisting of about 1,500 soldiers in all, including the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade, 4th Division, the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

The assault is a combination of air and ground operations involving more than 200 tactical vehicles and more than 50 aircraft also participated in the operation.

According to the Coalition Press Information Center, initial reports indicate that a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms. Troops also captured several people, according to CPIC.

……


Led by the 101st AB DIV. (screaming eagles), the military finally got the upper hand on the bottom-feeding main media, as this was a surprise to them—and as a result to the jihadists as well!

One can catch glimpses of the best-trained military doing its work on MSNBC.

Do the news reports show shattered bodies and mangled flesh ? Loud guns ? Big guns, (any guns actually, guns rule ! ) When i watch that sort of stuff it kind of excites me and makes me wish i were a soldiar, ive seen the movies, these people are the best example of humans on the planet, war rocks !

Here's to the operation being a success and everyone returning home safe

-HECK!

Can't change how we got there, bottom line is our boys are there and I support them and hope they kick some ass and get the job done.

-HECK!

I think we should start more wars, it's like having a new exciting film on |TV every night.

I hope this operation is a success, the sobering part about it is that it's a political move, it has nothing to do with operational strategy in Iraq. The third-year anniversary of the Iraq War is coming up, the poll numbers are down, and news of that milestone will send support for the war much deeper. What better way to boost your numbers by getting the "biggest operation since March 2003" on the news? This reads just like child pornography announcement by Gonzalez.

Surely it's about entertainment, not politics ?

ICB - I wish more people would share your lucid analysis of global politics. By the way - I am myself a "liberal independant leaning towards the Greens".

Wag the dog brother.

-HECK!

Yes, poor disenfranchised young rebels shaking their fists at the establishment. It's all fun.

Bang that drum.

-HECK!

Ah, dusted off that ol' chestnut did ya? Fantastic. The well must be running dry.

-HECK!

So, how'bout that 101st, huh? Did you spy their cool new uniform pattern, with the screamin' eagle emblem on the helmet?

Stars & Stripes would suffice, methinks.

-HECK!

Why don't you just admit what is clearly evident.
You love war.
You absolutely love it.
Argueing the issues with you is a fruitless venture because no matter of your nations misadventures, no matter of the actual virtue of them or lack thereof, you will always support your nations wars, regardless of the reasons for them or the enemy of choice, simply because you enjoy war.
Take USA1 who thinks I, as an Irishman, should be proud of "my british soldiers", and you can see where the ignorance of the real issues comes from. A greater ignorance of world affairs and culture. Both of you are bonded by militarianism and your passion for it, even as it flies in the face of the very things you pertain to uphold, like freedom, liberty, justice and the dozen other words warped beyond their actual meanings by your administration and their PR machine.
I would invite both of you to travel to Vietnam with me someday to talk to people there, to see what your militarianism provided these people. I would invite you to travel to the middle east with me one day to discuss freedom and justice with Iraqis and Palestinians, to walk the land your nations policy impacts upon. Every supporter of war should follow in the footsteps not of your nations troops, but of the people who bore witness to them in their land. To listen to what these people have to say, as I have.
Only then will you truly understand war, at this moment you only understand the fight.

Why don't you just admit what is clearly evident.
You love war.
You absolutely love it.
Argueing the issues with you is a fruitless venture because no matter of your nations misadventures, no matter of the actual virtue of them or lack thereof, you will always support your nations wars, regardless of the reasons for them or the enemy of choice, simply because you enjoy war.
Take USA1 who thinks I, as an Irishman, should be proud of "my british soldiers", and you can see where the ignorance of the real issues comes from. A greater ignorance of world affairs and culture. Both of you are bonded by militarianism and your passion for it, even as it flies in the face of the very things you pertain to uphold, like freedom, liberty, justice and the dozen other words warped beyond their actual meanings by your administration and their PR machine.
I would invite both of you to travel to Vietnam with me someday to talk to people there, to see what your militarianism provided these people. I would invite you to travel to the middle east with me one day to discuss freedom and justice with Iraqis and Palestinians, to walk the land your nations policy impacts upon. Every supporter of war should follow in the footsteps not of your nations troops, but of the people who bore witness to them in their land. To listen to what these people have to say, as I have.
Only then will you truly understand war, at this moment you only understand the fight.

Is this just too difficult to reply to?

One thing I've always wondered, throughout these dangerous missions where violence, death and destruction is staring each and every person present in the face at every moment of the day, until they get the hell out of there...

...When do they get a chance to take all these pictures?

http://www.foxnews.com/images/196392/20_2_031606_iraq.jpg

These photographer folk are the bravest of the lot. Especially that pic above with all soldiers flat on their bellies... the photo was taken from a position slightly advanced than the soldiers, which means the photographer was ahead of them. The first into battle!!!

God Bless These Brave Souls.

Its all part of the education into pro-war popular american thought. An unfortunate aspect of it is of course the complete inability to debate the issue at all. You right, if he or USA1 attempted to make concise logical arguements for the war, and back them up when challenged, it would only be a matter of time before the contradictatory mess of it would be all too clear to avoid.
Not one pro-war poster on this site has decided to take up the challenge of posting point by point the complete arguement for the Iraq war.
Look at the history of American military adventure, look at the weapons sold, look to whom they were sold, look to the allies of the day and ask what the priorities were behind them. Its so glaringly obvious at this stage, if anything it becomes more so as each day passes.

This "anti-americanism" accusation is sort of veto power brandished by those who are short of arguments. It is a very significant fact that categorizations like this are a typical behaviour in dictatorships - look at China where dissent is paid with years of imprisonment since it is "crime against the state" or to sum it up what could be labeled "anti-chinaism" from an official point of view there.
The US is not a dictature nor are American people willing to live in a dictature for most of them, I assume. However, when I read the accusations and bashing by some people on this board I am really wondering about what it could become. The Bush admin and some of his lovers are dangers to freedom and constitutional rights.

Another thing I'll add is, we saw the exact same thing with the Liberty Tower plot. The plot was foiled many years ago and they didn't have a big announcement for it until they were catching heat for the illegal wiretapping program. You make such political moves to help your numbers and put yourself in a better position.

The Liberty Tower announcement was to maintain their agenda on illegal wiretaps; the child pornography announcement is to turn public opinion against Google; and now Operation: Swarmer is supposed to take away attention from the three-year milestone and the lack of progress on the security front in Iraq. Pair that with the bungled reconstruction, the widespread corruption of war profiteers, and the majority of troops wanting to be out within the year, you need something to get back some support.

No, it's not conspiracy, it's no leap in logic. If I wanted to be a conspiracy theorist I would have said they started Operation: Swarmer to take attention off the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam (they occured on the same day). That's when I'd be reaching.

The problem here USA1 is that you'll ignore all the death and destruction for whatever happens in the future. Iraq will stabilize, a new government will emerge (not like they really needed a new government, getting rid of the Ba'ath party's hold on power was enough). As a country that was not controlled by religious leaders, it's assured that the country will eventually stabilize. But when you have thousands upon thousands of people dying for your goal, what's positive about that? When you create a new crop and era of terrorism, what's positive about that? No matter what happens in Iraq, when it stabilizes, it won't be because of George W. Bush, it will be because someone else will have to move in to clean up his mess.

And if I hear this "he get the ball rolling" crap, I think I'll go crazy. Creating a situation where thousands of people dying is not getting the ball rolling. Why don't you kill 30,000+ of your own citizens before you make statements like that? Pardon the reference, but this is the equivalent of touting the Tuskegee experiment or the human experimentation on Jews during the Holocaust because we learned so much from the atrocities (well they didn't learn anything in Tuskegee, that was just malicious).

Chaos is not endless and I'm afraid people like you will hoist George W. Bush regardless of the body count.

About 80 suspected insurgents overall had been detained as of Saturday, and 17 were released after questioning, said Lt. Col. Edward S. Loomis, a 101st Airborne Division spokesman. He said the search teams turned up 15 weapons caches containing 352 mortar rounds, 84 rocket-propelled grenades and a "significant amount" of material for making improvised roadside bombs, among other items.

Thousands of people marched through London today in memory of the start of the war 3 years ago.

Children born at the start of the invasion will be old enough to attend nursery soon. They say we learn more in the first few years than at any other time in our lives.

They took bagdad, and declaired that mission "accomplished". I don't recall them ever saying the "war" was over. I do remember Bush saying many times leading up to war that it would require a long time, many sacrafices, and a lot of money and detication.

I was under the impression that's what the supporters of the war (such as myself at the time) understood.

I didn't expect the war to be any easier than it's been, but I did expect more to be accomplished. Maybe I'm just growing impatient. I still believe the war can turn out the way Bush envisioned, and that it could benefit the world, and the middle east.

Sure am seeing a lot of pessemism and rhetoric lately.

I'd really like to see open-minds from both political camps come together and figure out a way to communicate the progress being made, and the goals for the next couple of years. I think we're all frustrated because we feel as though we're in a fog right now.

You know, for all those sequestered Iraqi's with purple fingers, it makes you forget about the tens of thousands of them that have died. Man, what a grand Crusade this is.

-HECK!

Yeah, so long as we're giving individual graves I think we're golden.

-HECK!

All those people with purple fingers is a ploy by the administration to make it seem like they actually voted. When in fact there is a civil war going on and nobody actually voted,

Just something to think about. If you adopt an older child, the goverment will sometimes pay you like a foster parent for x number of years.

President Bush marked the third anniversary of the military invasion of Iraq by expressing confidence in Iraqis to form a unity government and thanking the U.S. military for its service.

Nonetheless, the top commander of multinational forces in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey, said he expects the U.S. to remain there for at least the next few years.

The progress comes slowly, amidst threats of reprisals and a continuing security challenge.

…

Interesting how when one weeds out the spin and rhetoric, what is left are the relevant facts.

What facts are you referring to, exactly?

-HECK!

Marking the three year anniversary of the beginning of the liberation of Iraq, the president gave the example of Tal Afar, a city that had been besieged by Al Qaeda after Saddam Hussein was removed from power.

Speaking to the City Club of Cleveland, Bush described how many of Tal Afar's residents had lost hope when the insurgents, having been cleaned out once by coalition forces, returned two months later. After their return, the Iraqi government and coalition decided to adopt a new approach called "clear, hold and build."

"This new approach was made possible because of the significant gains made in training large numbers of highly capable Iraqi security forces. Under this new approach, Iraqi and coalition forces would clear a city of the terrorists, leave well-trained Iraqi units behind to hold the city, and work with local leaders to build the economic and political infrastructure Iraqis need to live in freedom," Bush said.

Since that time, residents of Tal Afar, the largest city in Nineveh province, has become one of the brightest examples of a place where democracy is taking hold. As a result of the integrated process, U.S. forces have been able to move on, Bush said.

"Iraqi forces patrolling the cities are effective, because they know the people, they know the language and they know the culture. And by turning control of these cities over to capable Iraqi troops and police, we give Iraqis confidence that they can determine their own destiny, and that frees up coalition forces to hunt high-value targets like Zarqawi," Bush said, referring to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

But even while progress is taking hold, images in the American press continue to highlight the violence and a national unity government has not yet been formed more than three months after the election there.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush acknowledges that not everything has gone perfectly, but that adjustments have been made.

"This remains a difficult and tense period in Iraq," McClellan said. "Oftentimes the progress that is being made doesn't get as much attention as the dramatic and horrific images of violence that people see on their TV screens. And the president believes it's important to continue to put things in the broader context."

I wonder what definition of progress Bush is alluding too. Any thoughts on what 'progress' is being made in Iraq? What the goal is? Anything? Anyone?

-HECK!

And once again the question goes unanswered, only straw men quips and banter. That is all too clear.

-HECK!

Well, since this mystery poster wasn't me, any chance of answering that question or are you still grandstanding?

-HECK!

Agreed, H@ts, funny to read "Desert Hawk" comments about what "someone" posted one year ago ... I may consider digging in a one "Curley Joe" posts dated one year ago in this Iraq forum. No doubt that we would find very interesting comments about this war.

Not surprised

-HECK!

A political forum holds very few surprises.

And even less politics.

-HECK!

Ooh, you do catch on quickly.

Yup.

Sometimes you catch the turkey, sometimes the turkey catches you.

http://www.boomspeed.com/heck/gwbush1.jpg

Lunch is served.

-HECK!

Just going back to what dubbs daid about Tal Afar now what has happend is good for the residents of the city but it is not all as rosy as the President would have you believe. You see first off the Iraqi forces are doing a good job but the problem is this the population of Tal Afar is around 250,000 but what happens when they have to police Baghdad all alone which has a pop of 5 - 6 million people and as we knoe Baghdad is alos more violent. It is not howevere the population statistics that have me worried for the people of Tal Afar the fact is that these troops cannot possibly stay in that city forever and when they do go what do you think might happen? the terroirsts will come back and there may be a resurgance of the violence between the Sunnis and Shiites. If that happens your back to square one.

Serving you lunch is my hobby, Hot Pocket w/Ham & Truth. Eat up.

-HECK!

Great, what's for dinner? I'll call my wife and tell her not to bother cooking tonight.

Nothin' you're cooking, sport.

-HECK!

Well, OK, then, Mr. V.

As long as we are talking about the best trained army on the face of the earth I wonder what the American members on this board think about the accusations that US Marines carried out revenge attacks in Haditha and are now being accused of homicde?

U.S., Iraqi Forces Capture 50 Insurgents in Gunbattle.


Wednesday, March 22, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces responded to an insurgent attack on a police station Wednesday, fighting a two-hour gunbattle that ended with the capture and detention of 50 of the gunmen.

http://www.fantasfilm.com/image/x-captain-america-cc1.jpg

Wow, Captain Frickin' America. Looks like you and Dubya both believe in fairy tales.

so you enjoy war ha?? have a look here (not for the faint heart)
http://www.iraqirabita.org/english/...=article&id=596

No thanks. Seen it all before. I posted some myself in the war photos thread.

do you enjoy what you see?

I enjoy this in particular: http://www.zippyvideos.com/25625831...uietcommercial/

well he dose and he said it so whats your problem??

Hits the innocent people sitting in the car and the American soldiers laugh about it and dont even stop to check if victims are injured.......How long will this hateness go on?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ptmx-6WBIA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kFM6fL1XsI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp5JQUCBpQk&search=iraq

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r0vu5PseZeI

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FnqIyMDvWSs

http://www.zippyvideos.com/25625831...uietcommercial/

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