U.S. Holds 20 Suspected al-Qaida in Iraq

[jimnyc]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An explosion Tuesday on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military had detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.

Meanwhile, a Kurdish guerrilla group that had battled the Turkish army for 15 years said it would it would dissolve itself.

In the southern city of Basra, a blast during the morning rush hour destroyed two cars on a road frequently used by British troops, witnesses said. Soldiers immediately blocked off access to the site, and Iraqi police and hospital officials said a total of six civilians died in the blast.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716

Would anyone care to speak out against the killing of innocent civilians?

 

[Aquarian]

Killing people is wrong, mmmmkay.

 

[dijetlo]

Originally posted by jimnyc
and the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military had detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.

(Pickin' up prisoners and puting 'em in a pen)
What do they do with these guys once we find them? Do they get a trial or do we guantanamo 'em? (Anybody know?) We seem to be developing quite a collection.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An explosion Tuesday on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said,

(Rebels been rebels since I don't know when.)
Bad news about rebels. They don't care who they kill, their tactical goal is instability. The want to make the average Ahmed more afraid of them than he is of us.
That's a major tipping point, btw. If he acheives that goal he will gain the ability to strike anywhere in the country. Even where his views are not supported. They also gain from Iraqis' growing tired of the occupation, the growing bodycount. Their strategic goal is to turn Baghdad into Mogidishu. We see evidence of this strategy having an effect (the recent Red Cross Evac, among other Intl Aid groups). I've also seen reports of police being afraid to go to work since they are a favorite target as well.
We've had some successes to be sure. The water and electricity proved an early turning point in public opinion, more progress along those lines is allways encouraging. We'll see how the Iraqification of the occupation goes. If it is successful, we'll have passed the next major hurdle.
For us, it's good news/bad news on the Basra dustup.
Bad News:The Shiaa holy city is undergoing an internal power struggle, so I don't know that the rebels "missed" the Brits. So far the Shiaa are behind this whole democracy idea (since they are 60+% of the population).
Good News: The grey beards are in favor of playing nice with us since we've promised to give them control ultimately. If they start to think otherwise, (or if a radical faction rises to ascendency) look for the Sunni triangle to become the R&R destination for in-country leave ('cause Basra is gonna get hot). Probably the smartest thing we did so far was to put the Britts in with the Shiaa.

Kurdish guerrilla group that had battled the Turkish army for 15 years said it would it would dissolve itself.

Well that's cool, somebody is going home for Christmas. To bad they are probably Muslems.

 

[obviousman]

The war in Iraq is unique of a lot wars. The enemy forces us to kill a lot of civilians. When they hide behind civillians and fire at us what do you expect us to do. Or they'll strap bombs to little kids and have them walk up to our soldiers and blow them up. They'll also dress as civillian refugees and when our soldiers approach them they'll shoot them. A lot of the "innocent" civilians are killed because of direct tactics from the enemy.

 

[SLClemens]

Originally posted by obviousman
The war in Iraq is unique of a lot wars. The enemy forces us to kill a lot of civilians. When they hide behind civillians and fire at us what do you expect us to do. Or they'll strap bombs to little kids and have them walk up to our soldiers and blow them up. They'll also dress as civillian refugees and when our soldiers approach them they'll shoot them. A lot of the "innocent" civilians are killed because of direct tactics from the enemy.

This is unique? It's exactly what the Viet Cong did. I mean, what would you do if you didn't have armored plating, cruise missiles, aerial reconassaince, encoded radios, etc.

I'm sure that if American troops offered to have duels with angry Iraqis on even terms on the edge of town far away from civilians there'd be a lot of takers.

 

[lilcountriegal]

An explosion Tuesday on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military had detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.

WHAT???!!!?!?!? This has to be LIES! EVERYONE knows there arent any Al-Qaida in Iraq!!!!

 

[dijetlo]

Originally posted by lilcountriegal
WHAT???!!!?!?!? This has to be LIES! EVERYONE knows there arent any Al-Qaida in Iraq!!!!

They were invited there by GWB. "Bring 'em on", remember? They seem to be bringing it.