Political Junky
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- May 27, 2009
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I kept switching over to it, but I was also watching "Being Human". Poor Colin Powell. The GOP really screwed him over. Course, look at what they did to the country.
Since late December, members of Iraq's al-Qaida branch - known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - have taken over parts of Ramadi, the capital of the largely Sunni western province of Anbar. They also control the center of the nearby city of Fallujah, along with other non-al-Qaida militants who also oppose the Shiite-led government. Iraqi government forces backed by Sunni tribal militias launched an all-out offensive Sunday to seize back control of Ramadi and surrounding areas from the militants. Five government-allied tribesmen were killed in the initial fighting, and 15 tribesmen and government forces were wounded, provincial spokesman Dhari al-Rishawi said.
Civilians gather at the site of a car bomb attack at an outdoor market in Baghdad al-Jadidah district, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 20, 2014. A series of bombings in central Iraq killed dozens of people on Monday, as a government official claimed that al-Qaida-linked fighters have dug in to a city they seized last month and possess enough heavy weapons to storm into the country's capital.
Fierce clashes continued Monday, with government forces and allied tribesmen struggling to advance in the face of tough resistance, according to local police. Al-Rishawi said the al-Qaida militants are especially active at night, and are employing snipers to stop government forces from advancing. Two policemen and a local television cameraman who had been accompanying them were killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy inside Ramadi, police said. An even bigger fight could lie ahead in nearby Fallujah, which like Ramadi was once a major battleground for U.S. forces. "The weapons that were brought inside Fallujah are huge and advanced and frankly enough to occupy Baghdad," Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Asadi said in a speech.
He did not elaborate on the type or quantity of the weapons, but described "fierce battles" there and in Ramadi. Bomb attacks frequently strike Baghdad. But a military assault on the heavily guarded capital, with an estimated 7 million residents, would be far harder to pull off for an al-Qaida guerrilla force than the seizure of much smaller Fallujah. Even so, Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim said this week's assault in Anbar was needed to keep the fighters from trying to storm the capital itself. "Al-Qaida in Iraq has plenty of weapons and fighters," he said, without offering details. "If military action was not taken and if the operation by security forces was delayed for a few weeks, there would have been an assault on Baghdad."
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