No date for clearing al Qaeda from Mosul - US

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, March 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday it did not know when it would clear al Qaeda fighters from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Sunni Islamist group's last urban stronghold in Iraq.

Tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces are carrying out offensives against al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised in January there would be a "decisive push" against its fighters in Mosul.

"Mosul is the centre of al Qaeda terrorist activities today," U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith told a news conference.

"I suspect we will make all sufficient efforts towards achieving our goals as rapidly as possible and the security of Mosul is certainly one of those goals. But the precise time in the future that will occur will be difficult to predict."

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02406610.htm

[Hydra]

1. More reports of the bogeyman

Color me surprised.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Code:

We are waiting for more troops to turn the city into a pile of ruble and create a prison. All for the good of the population.