'Take back Baghdad' surge begins

[Bhaisahab]

'Take back Baghdad' surge begins
By Damien McElroy and Alex Massie in Washington

American and Iraqi military commanders launched the first stage of the new security strategy in Baghdad today, hours after President George W Bush won a temporary victory in the Senate against opposition to his "surge" of 21,500 soldiers.

Hours after a joint command centre was inaugurated in the Iraqi capital to direct operations ahead of the crackdown, opponents of Mr Bush failed to advance a resolution in the Senate repudiating his plan.

<SNIP>

The operation splits the city into nine districts, each of which will have a detachment of 600 US troops to support thousands of Iraqi soldiers. Two Iraqi generals will oversee operations on either side of the Tigris. An American adviser to the Iraqi army, Col Doug Heckman, said: "It's going to be an operation unlike anything this city has seen."

A series of bomb and mortar attacks in Baghdad left 26 people dead and 105 injured yesterday.

COMPLETE ARTICLE AT http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/06/wiraq06.xml

[niceypoo]

1. How many civilians in the capital will die from this idiotic policy?

How many other Iraqi cities will become embroiled as the fighting merely moves elsewhere?

[junior college]

2. Lovely. :sarcasm: n/t

[spag68]

3. Think you fools

say we have 69000, thats 1000 69s OK, WE DON'T SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE'! We wear army regs. They wear anything they want. There are 4-5 MILLION of them ,and they have more guns, Do you think that plan could work , even in New York? This will turn into our tanks and planes killing any one the Shiites tell us to,cause they can't. IDIOTS ALL OF THEM. The only thing we should be risking are UAVs, Please make them smarter if their god is looking out for them Please.

[xchrom]

4. welcome to the surge, baby! get your surge ON!

man, this is going to be so nuts.

[youngdem]

5. Take it back and give it to to whom, exactly?

What a clusterfuck.

[gasperc]

6. back to the stone ages?

not meant to be a joke

[gratuitous]

7. Victory following victory for Bush!

Aren't you Defeatocrats sorry now? You all opposed Bush, the Wise and Powerful, and you couldn't get off a symbolic vote, and now the Decider has launched his surge to take back Baghdad. Oh, it will be so glorious to watch as Bush the Great shows you all that he's ever so much smarter than all of you.

(From the other room) Harriet, are you on my computer again? You know I don't like you using my handle!

[xultar]

8. I believe the delay was cause by lack of snappy & catchy operation names.

[antiimperialist]

9. 74 dead in Iraq; all but seven in Baghdad. Take back who?

details.

No military operation with a fancy name will result in success. This is an illegal, unjust invasion that has pissed off the people of Iraq.

[Doctor_J]

10. Maybe Smirk should screen "Shock and Awe II - Take Back Baghdad"

You know when there's a Rambo II or a Missing In Action II, the Americans always kick ass.

[TexasLawyer]

11. Our soldiers are soldiers--

not policemen, not occupiers, not babysitters for a civil war.

This needs to stop NOW.

[superconnected]

12. uh, the soldiers should be recalled until the gov can at least

provide them with the names of who they are at war with.

Who currently controls Bagdad after 4 years of war and hundreds of billions....who do they have to take it back from?