250 TERRORISTS (er… INSURGENTS) KILLED IN IRAQ. No word yet from Jane Fonda as to when memorial service for her comrades will be held
Hattip, Luscianne and commenters.
According to Al-Reuters, here a joint Iraqi-US task force killed 250 terrorists in Najaf:
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed some 250 gunmen from an apocalyptic Muslim cult on Sunday in a battle involving U.S. tanks and aircraft near the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, Iraqi police, army and political sources said.
Two Americans were killed, the U.S. military said, when an attack helicopter went down during the day-long battle in what was one of the strangest incidents of the four-year conflict. Iraqi officials said the helicopter seemed to be shot down.
According to one Iraqi political source, hundreds of fighters, drawn from both Sunni and Shi’ite communities, were still fighting. A Reuters reporter at the scene, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, saw U.S. tanks and heard blasts after dark and an Iraqi officer said F-16 jets were bombing the area.
Details of the day’s fighting, on the eve of the highpoint of the Shi’ite religious calendar, were sketchy and the origins of the fighters unclear. An Iraqi army source said some of the dead wore headbands declaring themselves a “Soldier of Heaven”.
If this is a sign that we are finally taking off the gloves and killing the terrorists by the minute, then I am officially signing on for the “Surge”.
Diplomacy at it’s very best.
UPDATE Via Caleb. More on the Karbala incident :
Four suspects in the weekend attack in Karbala, Iraq — during which five U.S. troops were killed by gunmen disguised in American uniforms — have been arrested, officials said Wednesday.
According to a U.S. military spokesman, U.S. and Iraqi troops arrested the men in a house near where the suspected attackers abandoned several vehicles after the attack.
Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded.
The suspects were caught by Iraqi troops, a special Iraqi police unit from Hillah and U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, officials said.
“The suspects are being held for further questioning,†a news release read.
One of the American soldiers killed in the attack was identified by the Pentagon late Tuesday as Capt. Brian S. Freeman.
Freeman, 31, was assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion out of Whitehall, Ohio. His hometown was listed as Temecula, Calif.
According to family members, he leaves behind a wife and two young children. Freeman deployed to Iraq in May 2006, was home for Christmas and returned to Iraq in January.
According to military sources, the four other soldiers killed in the attack were from Fort Richardson, Alaska.
Though their families have been notified, officials said, the names have not yet been officially released.
I am sure that they are being quietioned In Accordance With the Geneva Convention. Damned Lawyers.
Posted by Republicanpundit
January 28th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Contrast this.
US Forces in mortal combat against Islamofascists in Najaf, Iraq.
while at the same time,
War fake hero, John Kerry in Davos, Switzerland sitting with an Islamofascist ayatolah, and calling the United States an international pariah.
Thanks, John. That’s big of you.
January 28th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Tom C and others reading.
Please see my update to this post.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Good Stuff Inside Iraq
Iraqi and American troops performed beautifully today to defeat a large attack on the city of Najaf: A battle between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and insurgents raged into Monday morning after Iraqi officials said they foiled a plot to attack pilgrims…
January 29th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Find an Iraqi soldier who lost his family to Saddam, that should be easy, and let him question the terrorist. I’ll bet the answers would cause some dhimmi’s to hide for , oh, maybe 10 seconds in case the terrorist named them as their chief source of finances. They’re too stupid to hide longer than that, another dhimmi might out lie them.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Ah it takes me back to vietnam …fake body counts and infant and female insurgents….and still no definition of victory!
January 29th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Old Hippie. Did you just come off a 40 year high?
Your comment sounds like it.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:51 am
…Actually, sounds like you are still on it.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Worn out old Hippie.
Yep,it is now sounding like Viet Nam. Same old liars, the media, Hanoi Jane and Hanoi John.
Yep.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am
The left can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory better than ANYONE! They are NUMERO UNO!!!
January 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
“Same old liars, the media, Hanoi Jane and Hanoi John.”
Yeah, cause Nixon was just SOOOOO honest!
You guys crack me up… you’re as nutty and to the right as cindy sheehan is to the left. Mirror images of each other, each failing to recognize thier own unintentional self-parody.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
#10–ME…
JFK…LBJ…Jimmy Carter & Billy Bob Clinton would have to stand on a Ladder to Kiss Nixon’s ARSS !!…
January 29th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Evil Nixon. We forgot the template!!!
Remember to check with the moonbats before opining!
January 29th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
What the hell does Richard Nixon have to do with this?
Oh, I forgot, the media have convinced the undeducated, like you, that Viet Nam was Nixon’s War.
Is that the best you can do?
January 29th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
MAN I LOVE THIS !!!
Internet…
Time on our side…
We’re Older…
We’re Wiser…
We have $$$…
We are going to KICK HIPPIE ASS !!!
What a Country !!!
They really the ‘Greatful Dead’ !!!
(Uh…That’s a Hippie Joke…you guys all died in 1969…you know…Woodstock and all…ah…It’s probably over your head…your POT HEAD…
January 29th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
There’s 250 more Islamofascist Terrorist Democrat sypathizers who won’t be going home to their families! That’s the way to do it! Orphan their kids! Let them see what America can do. We can keep killing them forever, no matter what the smelly hippies want to do. If we kill enough people, they’ll eventually see they have no choice but to stop hating us. Historically, that’s the only thing that has ever worked. Go white guys! Kill the brown guys! Hooray! I wish the war could last forever.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
#5, 10 and 15 - anyone find anything intelligent thought in any of those posts?
Probably the same lefty tool.
You’re missing the bigger point, lib.
And only libs like you think in asinine terms of “whites killing browns.” I guess to you the Iraqi army is all white. Who’d a thunk it?
Now go on back to Kos or the DUmster and get some new stupid talking points. Or, if you want to have an intelligent conversation, come back and try again.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Big Mo,
At least he’s consistant. He makes his posts in multiples of five!
January 29th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
If we kill enough people, they’ll eventually see they have no choice but to stop hating us. Historically, that’s the only thing that has ever worked.
Comment by an idiot.
Your comment was almost correct. I will correct it for you:
If we kill enough people, they’ll eventually see they have no choice but to call for a cease fire and we will have peace. Historically, that’s the only thing that has ever worked.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Another quote by a twit.
I wish the war could last forever.
Obviously you do not possess a DD Form 214.
Nobody hates war worse than a military person.
I guess there are no black or hispanic or asian guys in our military.
You better tell Jessie, al, and C. Rangel. They claim that our whole military consists of poor black people.
Yeah, you truly are a jerk.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Good point, Jeanette.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
You all seem to have strong convictions that democrats will ensure defeat for us…and that it is entirely predictable as a result of left-wing worldview, etc….
OK…let’s say that’s true… You surely are aware that you are in the minorty of americans regarding that opinion…most want us actually want to leave Iraq (It’s OK, a majority of americans can be wrong, whatever).
I think you are all missing a fundamental point here: You “knew” america wouldn’t tolerate a long war. You “knew” that Dhimmicrats would lose it for you. You “knew” they would eventually have the public on their side.
Isn’t it patently wrong to support a war that, for whatever reason (Bush incompetence or Dhimmicrat weakness), cannot be won?
Frankly, if the right could make a compelling case for why we need to sacrifice more lives that didn’t involve rediculous assertions that “Quaeda’s gonna take over Iraq” (a laughable prediction given the reality on the ground), you might be able to retain the support of the people. But alas, saving Bush from the humiliation of acknowledging defeat isn’t a good enough reason for me.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
The most basic fact to keep in mind about what occurred yesterday is that we don’t know who did what to whom. There are at least three accounts of the identity of the attackers. They may have been Sunnis, but they my well have been disident Shias. In this fight, you can’t tell the players without a program and the people who print the programs are relentless liars, which is to say they are acting as governments always do during wartime. The absence of reliable information is no problem for true believers, of course, since their master narrative allows them to see with their eyes eyes shut.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Let me address ME before I address James Harrison.
I am not afraid that Al Qaeda will take over Iraq per se but I have a caveat to what you stated. If they take over Iraq and don’t have anyone in their way to stop them they can and will wind up in our own backyards. Care to become a converted Muslim so you can be a second class citizen who is their slave and pay taxes for the privilege?
Or would you prefer not to convert and have your head about three feet from your neck? Your choice.
You can choose to believe it or not to believe it but don’t come crying to us or the military when they come to put Burkas on your women folk.
James Harrison,
It doesn’t matter to me if Shias are killing Sunnis or Sunnis are killing Shias as long as they’re not killing Americans, and they can’t kill Americans if they’re dead!
We never know the complete story until the fog of battle is over.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
You all seem to have strong convictions that democrats will ensure defeat for us…and that it is entirely predictable as a result of left-wing worldview, etc….
History is prologue to the future. You were the one who brought up Viet Nam to start with.
OK…let’s say that’s true… You surely are aware that you are in the minorty of americans regarding that opinion…most want us actually want to leave Iraq (It’s OK, a majority of americans can be wrong, whatever).
Which opinion are we in the Minority. The Majority want to win this, then get out. Quit drinking the MSM kookaid.
isn’t it patently wrong to support a war that, for whatever reason (Bush incompetence or Dhimmicrat weakness), cannot be won?
First, to the war. The war was won in three short week. What we are trying to do now is establish peace. Our military is capable of doing that if people like yourself will allow and demand it.
Frankly, if the right could make a compelling case for why we need to sacrifice more lives that didn’t involve rediculous assertions that “Quaeda’s gonna take over Iraq†(a laughable prediction given the reality on the ground), you might be able to retain the support of the people. But alas, saving Bush from the humiliation of acknowledging defeat isn’t a good enough reason for me.
Then what would make this “war” or any war acceptable to you? I would suspect that no war would ever make sense to you. You want to give peace a chance, obviously. To do what, exactly?
January 29th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I’m always amazed that anybody seriously thinks that the U.S. or Europe is going to be taken over by Muslims. The Middle East is in lousy shape, which is precisely why the Jihadists engage in such grandeous talk. They can certainly do serious mischief, but terrorisim is not a strategy of the strong. One has to live in a fantasy world to think that dhimmitude is one horizon. Either that, or there really is something to the idea that cowardice is the secret root of extreme right wing thinking.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
JH. What the hell do you think 9/11 was all about?
January 29th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Jim Harrison,
First, I want to thank you for posting your thoughts and tell you you are welcome to discuss any topic with us.
My husband and I have a good friend who travels to Europe frequently. He does this on a whim. When he decides to go he goes.
He just got back last week and told us the Muslims are taking over England to the point of calling for the death of the Pope and overthrow of the government.
Just this morning while returning from a doctor visit I heard on the radio the younger Muslims in England are more strident in their Muslim beliefs than their parents and want nothing short of an Islamic state there.
This is not exaggeration, my friend. This is fact.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
“Or would you prefer not to convert and have your head about three feet from your neck? Your choice.”
See….there it is again. It’s not my choice. I’m not afraid of option “get my head cut off”, because its just not going to happen in this country. If you really think that outcome is a possibility, you’ve been watching too much 24.
Also, I can’t help but point out the irony in fearing a Muslim takeover from a country that had a secular government before we invaded.
“Then what would make this “war†or any war acceptable to you? ”
What makes a war acceptable:
1. Clear definition of victory + exit strategy.
2. That it can be won, by our side.
3. That it is just or neccesary for survival.
The war in iraq contains none of these features (I don’t care if Saddam had weapons or not…if he actually threatened us with them -he never did - then it would be just or necessary for survival). The war on terror, when not solely a military opertaion, and before Iraq, contained all 3 of the features mentioned above.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
ME
I don’t watch 24 and I never have. I can’t help it if you don’t see the true danger of these people. They want to go back to the glory days of the Caliphate.
Read up on Islam and come back and tell us what you learned.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
ME. Clear exit strategy? I guess that you thought WWII was a mistake, then.
We are still in Europe and Japan.
Tell me, Oh August One, which war(s) did you agree with, using your precepts and conditions?
January 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
“We are still in Europe and Japan.”
You know as well as I that we are not still fighting in Europe or Japan, and that we only have a realtively small number of troops stationed there to maintain stability (immediately after the war) and for our geopolitical advantage (longer term). Our stations in Germany and Japan are part of our spoils of war…not a long-term continuation (or lack of “exit”).
Furthermore, to say thet we didn’t have an exit stategy in WWII is innacurate. We were fighting the established power structures in a traditional war, with victory clearly defined (our enemies must surrender) followed by an exit.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
See….there it is again. It’s not my choice. I’m not afraid of option “get my head cut offâ€, because its just not going to happen in this country.
The three thousand Americans who were murdered on September 11th might want to have some words with you about that, kid. They were executed by Islamists in the exact same way some Christian infidel in Pakistan or Egypt might. Terrorists merely improvised airplanes in lieu of the scimitar, and don’t think they wouldn’t love to do it again, and add you to their tallies.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
ME,
Since the terrorists have allowed no chance at any sort of “traditional war” (which you seem to indicate you would find suitable), would you rather we sit back, take a hundred more blows with our gloves up, and only permit scalpel-strikes in response from airplanes over our enemies? At least, until they’ve amassed a plain and definable army on our borders, so we can “go in” with a clear exit strategy?
That exit strategy, by the way, would still be the same as the exit strategy today: kill them until there aren’t any left to kill. It’s simply more difficult to fight this war than it was to fight nations in the days of traditional engagements. You need to adapt, grow a backbone, and alter your expectations, or surrender right now.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Hey dipstick, just indulge me this one time.
Take the arguments of the left against the WOT since 9/11, and then take the arguments of the right since then. Notice which one changes with the wind, and which has been consistant!
We admit we are not as good at finding WMD and terrorists as you are at finding fault. Our apologies.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
ME - let me ask you something. When did it become a prerequisite for wars to come with an “exit strategy?” I’m being deadly serious here.
I am a student of history (with the degree to prove it) and there has never been talk of such a creature until now–and it’s only come from the American left.
So…why must wars now come with an “exit strategy” when all previous wars in the past always had one requiste for the finish: victory? (e.g., we win, they lose)
January 29th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
By the way, they hate you because you’re an citizen of a free and secular nation with more power than they could ever imagine, posses, or control. They’ve been attacking us for decades, when no one knew who George H.W. Bush was. I honestly don’t give a damn what Europe thinks about us post-Iraq, since they’re at least sane enough to realize they can’t do anything about it but whine and moan. I prefer to concentrate on the people trying to kill us, not a popularity contest of the gloriously ineffectual. In ten years, after Republicans win in 2008 and continue their offensive abroad (the # of Democrats on board is so ridiculous that it’s hardly worth mentioning, save staunch supporers like Lieberman and Miller), Europe may hate us twice as much as they do now. But America will be safe, the battle will be there, and I assure you, when the millions of extremists boil to the surface of the all-knowing EU, they will have so many more problems than we, they will no longer have the time to bitch, excepting their eventual bitching for help from our supposedly myopic, weak coalition.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Muslim minorities are a problem for Europe, but you have to be certificable to think that Sharia Law is going to be imposed on the more numerous and vastly wealthier non-Muslim majority. Indeed, part of the reason that Europe faces a much greater threat from its Muslims than we face from ours is the relative poverty and political impotence of European Muslims. In the U.S. Muslims are actually a rather prosperous group that is overwhelmingly loyal to a system that offers them so many opportunities.
The anti-Muslim rhetoric you encounter these days is reminiscent of the anti-Catholic rhetoric that was still prevalent when I was a kid. I was informed by my Lutheran neighbors that everytime a catholic boy was born, his Dad would bury a rifle and ammunition so that when there got to be enough Catholics–they breed like rabbits, you know–the Pope would give the signal and the Catholics would slaughter the Protestants. And, indeed, one could find then alarming catholic writings that suggested that the papacy lusted after universal power just as one can certainly find Islamic writings about the restoration of the Caliphate. Things is, most of the catholics then and most of the Muslims now, lent only the most notional support to such ideas if they entertained ‘em at all. The important thing is that there is zero prospect of a universal jihad getting anywhere. You do know that, don’t you?
January 29th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
“The important thing is that there is zero prospect of a universal jihad getting anywhere. You do know that, don’t you?”
Talk about a point with no “proof”!
Hey, does this mean, if I say anything as if it is a Universal truth, it magically becomes one?
I have some ideas………..
January 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
James,
Let’s assume, as the newspapers tell us, that 90% of all Muslims are peaceful. That leaves just 100,000,000 who are not. Now who’s certifiable?
They came here in 2001 and killed over 3000 innocents who were just going to their jobs. They came here! They had to have money to do so. I submit to you it is not the poor in France but the rich in Saudi Arabia and any other country who are doing the dirty deed.
Just remember when they come for you and yours you were warned and wanted to believe they wouldn’t possibly do it to you here in our country.
I wouldn’t have thought we had forgotten the lesson of Viet Nam and the story of those war protesters either, but here we are 30 plus years later back to the future.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Jim - “I was informed by my Lutheran neighbors that everytime a catholic boy was born, his Dad would bury a rifle and ammunition so that when there got to be enough Catholics–they breed like rabbits, you know–the Pope would give the signal and the Catholics would slaughter the Protestants.”
I’m Lutheran-Missouri Synod and I’ve never heard of such nonsense.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
James and ME,
While I welcome your discussion I will advise you we are going around in circles now and therefore I will not respond to any further comments by either of you.
Anyone else is welcome to do so.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Big Mo,
You and kimsch are the only two Lutherans I “know” but as a protestant (Baptist) I’ve never heard that either and I have very good Catholic friends. In fact, some of them are family members.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
There is a difference between pulling off a terror attack that kills a bunch of people, and establishing sharia law in the US.
The difference is huge. One has happened and will happen again. One will never happen.
Many of you seem to be arguing that because of 9/11, I should fear the Caliphate coming to America.
Um, no. Sorry, I just don’t buy it. And arguing that destroying one of the few secular regimes in the ME was a necessary step in preventing the Caliphate from coming to America is completely askew from reality.
And “kill them until there aren’t any left to kill” isn’t a strategy. It’s a pipe dream. You’ll need a few nukes to pull that one off…and then WE end up being the bad guys.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
So you’re refutation of our argument is: “Sorry, I just don’t buy it.”
Nice!!!!!!
January 29th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
So, We use Nukes. What is the problem with that, we ended a war with Atomic Bombs, or do think that was a mistake, too.
And before you call me prejudiced or other things, understand that the mother of my only grandchild is full Japanese and I love her and her people.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
ME - still waiting: when did the “exit strategy” become necessary for war? (I’m serious about wanting an answer.
Second: Do I think that a Caliphate will come to America if we fail in Iraq? Eventually…yes. Why? Because the jihadists dont just use bombs and AK-47s to spread their hate. They also use the cover of mosques and schools and stealth. What do you think is happening in England right now? The jihadists are proclaiming that they will follow sharia law before they will submit to English law.
Do you think that won’t happen here, with our PC-multicultural society?
They will do their best to set up a Caliphate in America because THAT IS THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL! Make the world Muslim and destroy anyone who gets in their way.
It’s obvious you don’t agree or believe it. But when the first iman or CAIR starts making noise in the media that Muslims shouldn’t have to obey US law because of their religion…
January 29th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Big Mo. It has already happened. Do you remember the court case, which CAIR financed, that said that Muslims did not have to show their full face for Driver’s Liscenses?
January 29th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I don’t know if 10% of the world’s Muslims want to go on a rampage. I expect that a good 20% of the American public would welcome a fascist regime in this country. Thing is, the Muslim world is politically and militarily feeble while we’ve got apocalypic weaponry. Which is why I’d be more afraid of the local brownshirts than of the Muslims if, like you, I were disposed to live in fear. In fact I expect that the power and influence of both the Jihadis and the goofy right will wain once sanity is restored to our political system.
One note: in referring to the bit of Lutheran folklore I heard as a child, I wasn’t intimating that all Lutherans subscribed to so an virulent anti-catholic attitude, though Mr. Soman sure did. The anti-Papism so characteristic of American politics in earlier times (Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion!) had much abated by the 50s. It was very real, however. My point was to liken the cultural paranoia on display on this site with the paranoia of an earlier variety of American nativism.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Fear? We have no fear, here. We know what we would do.
What would you do? Sounds to me like you would eat your panties rather than kill them.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I expect that a good 20% of the American public would welcome a fascist regime in this country.
In fact I expect that the power and influence of both the Jihadis and the goofy right will wain once sanity is restored to our political system.
RP,
You can continue to argue with this buffoon if you wish and let him hurl insults at us and those of us who believe in the safety of our people, or let him rant by himself, thereby depriving him of the oxygen and audience he so desires.
My choice is to ignore him.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
I had already made that decision, Jeanette.
It is not worth the trouble.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Someone should have told Bush and Cheney that you go to war with the country you got not the country you want.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
That is wrong on more than a few levels.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
#52–John Ryan…
Someone did…Twice…
1st in 2000…
And again in 2004…
WE THE PEOPLE “chose” George Bush and Dick Chaney…
We rejected Gore and Kerry because they thought we were a country of wimps or pussies…or Pariah or something ??
And a whole bunch of Radical Rag-Heads bet their lives that Al Gore would be President after ‘Boy Clinton’…
Ha !!! We sure fooled them…
Anyway…great comment, John…