Blogroll Me! How This Old Brit Sees It ...: US Launches Major Iraq Air Assault ...

16 March 2006

US Launches Major Iraq Air Assault ...

In the middle of putting together a piece for today's blog -- this news breaks.

No doubt this story will be changing by the hour as the day - and days go by. Especially as the spin machine begins lying and changing bad news into good, falsifying figures, facts, etc and the most sensitive stuff slowly disappears for ever down the memory hole.

Therefore I'm merely going to give you the BBC header and link, for now.


Perhaps this thread may grow into a cross between a record/archive of the news as & when it comes in from different sources, contributers, etc - and one of those 'open threads' so many of the big-boy bloggers seem to increasingly use.

Also, those who do pray may want to say some special prayers right now. Others may 'hold in the light'. Whatever -- I'm sure you all have your own ways of wishing ... and wanting ... and hoping ..... and wishing ....... etc.


US launches 'major Iraq assault'


The US military says it has launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, targeting insurgents near the central city of Samarra.

More than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and US troops have been deployed in the operation, a military statement says.

A bomb attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, last month sparked widespread sectarian violence.

There are no independent reports of Thursday's offensive so far.

The US military said the assault, dubbed Operation Swarmer, was intended to "clear a suspected insurgent operating area" north-east of Samarra.

The operation is expected to last several days......

More here at the BBC.





11 Comments:

Blogger Gert said...

This initiative will be popular with the Right, because it can go back to the notion that this is a war. And this kind of offensive, at least, is one the US military can't lose: "our boys from the magnificent flying corps will sort it out"...

Watch Mad George's approval ratings hike just a little...

5:10 pm  
Blogger Richard said...

Gert,

Think Edvard Munch. Think 'The Scream'. That's how I feel right now.

5:27 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jesus! They're mad. Crazy. Evil beyond comprehension. It's to be another Falluja blood bath all over again. God help them. And God forgive those responsible, for mankind NEVER will.

6:12 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WTF do they think the response all over that country will now be? And elsewhere?

It's US troops mainly ~ and other allied soldiers who will bear the brunt of the inevitable (and I dare say "just") reprisals.

6:18 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Richard I agree with all of the above - I am beyond saddened by this latest 'operation' we all know there will be devastating results for the civilian population and more likely nimrod Americans will think we are 'getting the bad guys'! There is no hope for us.

10:13 pm  
Blogger J.UL1R4 said...

This world is f*cked for the benefits of a handful of crackpots and Gert is right, if all else fails make it look like a regular war again. How much has this country suffered and for what ?

At the end of the day the world can't go on like this and something is going to snap.

12:17 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wonder how many have already died since Richard first posted this? And I wonder how many innocents that number includes - be they men, women, children or babes? And I wonder how much they suffered first? And I wonder how many more still are ~ and will continue to do so?

12:40 am  
Blogger St!ff M!ttens said...

I watched Battle of Algiers last night. Spooky how a 40 year old movie relates so closely to what's been happening in Iraq.

BTW, did anyone else see this disgusting display of political opportunism?:

http://tinyurl.com/rbjvw

For those of you unfamiliar with the story behind this photo-op: The young man on Bush's right (whose head is also on a stick in Bush's left hand) is autistic. He was featured recently in a feel-good, human interest news story about how (after having sat on the bench all season) he was sent in to play in his high school basketball teams' final game of the season. He not only performed spectacularly, but I believe he was also instrumental in bringing his team to victory that night. Nice, warm-hearted story, to be sure. But then BushCo's propaganda machine gets hold of it and does their best to paint GW as a down-to-earth, man of the people. Two days later they announce the largest air offensive since the invasion. Do you suppose that the timing of this is coincidental? I don't.

7:29 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Luckily, the operation appears more a propaganda ploy than a combat operation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4817762.stm

8:22 pm  
Blogger Richard said...

Looks like you got it in one, Gert.

Also, the price of oil suddenly shot throught the roof on worries of exacerbated supply problems as a result of a major escalation. Then within a couple of days it's dropped right down again.

Those who knew the inside story have made a massive killing on the markets, within a few days.

War profiteering, market manipulation, insider trading - take your pick[s].

5:04 pm  
Blogger Richard said...

jultra, I'm sure something, somewhere will 'give' eventually.

anon, It looks that way now, eh?

Stiff, with that crew of schemers, nothing is ever coincidental.

8:46 pm  

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