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Iraq
(Iraq) Top Iraqi Shiite Cleric Is Inching Toward a Coalition
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Iraq
Suicide Car Bombing in Baghdad Kills 11
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Iraq
Sistani now supports a non-Shia based coalition government. Task Force 145 captured the military emir of Mosul. Abu Deraa, the Mahdi Army death squad leader, is alive and well. Four senior tribal leaders from Diyala were murdered after attending a conference of the province’s tribes. The Iraqi Army is beginning to take the lead in Samarra.
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Spirit of America at Work in Fallujah
Fallujah children with Spirit of America backpacks. Click image to view. While walking a patrol with the Iraqi Army in Fallujah last week, I ran across a group of young children heading to school. Many of them had backpacks, and all of the backpacks were identical. This immediately made me think of Spirit of America’s school backpack program, so I contacted Jim Hake and Michele Redmond. Michele is confident that these backpacks are indeed part of the Marines “Benefit Day” outreach program in Al Anbar province. The Marines Benefit Day program was conceived by LtCol Jeff Nagel and sought to…
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Iraq
Attacks have been at a two year high over the past 3 months. It should be remembered that Ramadan, coupled with the US election, played a role in the rise in violence. Iraq’s economy is doing surprisingly well. A Sadr aide and IED cell leader was arrested in Kut. An INP battalion commander was relieved of duty, two others were detained for an illegal arrest.
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Iraq
Iraqi TV station plays up US losses
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The Military Transition Teams and the Development Iraqi Army
The MTT Mission; Successes and setbacks with the Iraqi Army The MTT at The ROC. Click image to view. FALLUJAH, IRAQ: While critics of the Iraq Army continue to question the capabilities of the units and soldiers, a real move towards operational independence is occurring within the Iraqi Army. Last year, I embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines (the Teufelhunden) in Husaybah, as well as the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (The Raiders) in the Haditha Triad. The 3/6 was working with the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the Iraqi Army, the most seasoned unit in the Army,…
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Iraq
Saddam says responsible for any Iran gas attacks
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Iraq
Saudis report Shi’ite ‘state’ inside of Iraq
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Iraq
Iraq Qaeda-linked Group Calls for War on Shi’ites
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Iraq
Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped more than two dozen people from Baghdad’s Red Crescent office. Tony Blair visited Iraq and reiterated his support for the Iraqi government. Coalition forces captured ten militants involved in building IEDs.
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The ROC
On patrol with 3 Company, 3-2-1 Iraqi Army in southern Fallujah 3 Company plays soccer at The ROC. Click image to view. FALLUJAH, IRAQ: The mission of the Police and Military Transition Teams here in Fallujah is to assist with the turnover of the city to the Iraqis. This is happening, slowly but surely. In southwestern Fallujah, 3 Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division (3-2-1) owns the battlespace of a majority of the Resafa neighborhood. Resafa was one of the last bastions of al Qaeda during the 2004 assault on the city. 3 Company is based out…
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Iraq
Iraqi police finds two dead bodies in Kirkuk
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Iraq
PM Maliki announced at a two-day conference to end sectarian violence an Iraqi army campaign to recruit former officers. Maliki also said that he hopes for a swift ruling on Saddam’s appeal. Military planners and White House budget analysts have been asked to provide President Bush with options for increasing U.S. forces. An Iraqi court sentenced a Libyan member of al Qaeda in Iraq to death.
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Battling the Insurgency in Fallujah
The Fallujah security situation; a nighttime raid with Charlie Company 1/24 As the the Iraqi Army, Fallujah Police and U.S. military work to secure Fallujah, the war in the shadows continues. Insurgents rarely fight in the open. Their tactics consist of intimidation, drive by shootings, roadside bombs, indirect mortar fire and the increasingly dangerous sniper attacks. The units currently here in Fallujah have yet to encounter a coordinated attack where the enemy maintained contact. On Sunday, insurgents mortared an Entry Control Point just outside the city. One Fallujah Police officer was killed, and three civilians were wounded. The officer’s lieutenant…
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Iraq
Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that it might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in a conflict with the Iraqi Shi’ites if the US leaves Iraq. A number of radical clerics including Safar al-Hawali have called upon the Muslim world to mobilize against Shi’ites in Iraq.
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Embed Update, CSM & Pakistan
A Change of Plans I’ve decided to change the travel plan, and will not visit Ramadi. There are several reasons. I will lose a couple of days transiting to Ramadi, days that can be well spent embedded. Here at the Government Center in Fallujah, the Military Transition Team, the Police Transition Team, and Charlie 1/24 Marines are all in the same compound. I’ve spent some time with the MTT and went on a night raid with Charlie 1/24, and want to interact with these units here in Fallujah. I will provide detailed updates on the missions of the PTT and…
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Spirit of America in Anbar
Originally posted at Spirit of America on December 6. Major Britt Rosenberry, the Army Special Operations Liason officer serving in Fallujah, has just placed an order with Spirit of America for bulk of school supplies. The order consists of several thousand backpacks filled with notepads, books, pens, pencils and other school materials for the children throughout the Al Anbar Province. I met Major Rosenberry at Camp Fallujah and discussed the difficult situation with the schools and how the supplies will help the children throughout Al Anbar Province.
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Iraq
A Cold Wind Blows
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Iraq
For Iraq’s Sunnis, Conflict Closes In
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Iraq
Sectarian violence rages on. President Talabani blasted the report of the Iraq Study Group and denounced its recommendations for his country. U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld visited Iraq on farewell trip to thank US troops.
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al-Zawraa: Muj TV
The Iraqi insurgency has a satellite TV station, called al-Zawraa. Insurgent propaganda, 24/7, believed to be broadcast from Syria. Al-Zawraa muj spokesman. Click image to view. FALLUJAH, iRAQ: The information front in the Long War is perhaps the war’s most vital. And it is one front where the West is perceived as losing. While Coalition forces and Middle Eastern allies face shadowy transnational terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda and its affiliates on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, the battle for hearts and minds is being fought on the Internet, print, cable and satellite television, and other…
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Hearts & Minds
Mortar Attack on the Fallujah Police; the PTT Medics Doc J helps an Iraqi policeman out of the JCC. Click image to view. FALLUJAH, IRAQ: Fallujah continues to remain a dangerous place for the U.S. military, Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police. Insurgents lobbed three 120 millimeter mortars inside the Fallujah Government Center this afternoon. One of the rounds landed on a HESCO barrier – the cloth and mess containers filled with dirt. The other struck pay dirt and hit the wall of a Fallujah Police sleeping quarters.
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Iraq
2 car bombs kill 11 in Iraq
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Iraq
Iraq: Coalition forces seize 5 insurgent leaders
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Iraq
Uneasy Havens Await Those Who Flee Iraq
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Iraq
20 were killed in a raid and air strike in Sunni village northwest of Baghdad. Three freed Iraqi hostages from Christian Peacemaker Teams forgave their captors and pushed for leniecy. The Iraqi Army graduated 500 new troops. Japan extends ASDF Iraq airlift mission until the end of July.
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A Day Inside Fallujah
A small scale attack on the Fallujah Government Center; Fallujah Police form the SMG Fallujah Police truck destroyed by IED on December 7. Click image to view. FALLUJAH, IRAQ: As the American mission in Iraq is increasingly focusing on transitioning security responsibilities to the Iraqi Security Forces, the American Military and Police Transition Teams are becoming the focal points of Iraq policy. At the Iraqi Government Center in the heart of the city of Fallujah, the Police Transition Team (PTT) of the 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines is working to organize the local police and teach them to operate independently. The…
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Iraq
The Iraq Study Group report has been met with praise and criticism. Bush has rejected key plans in the ISG report. In Iraq, 23 people were killed today, and 35 bodies were found by Iraqi police near and in Baghdad. The Iraqi Army and Coalition forces captured three suspected insurgents in Baqubah.
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Fallujah Today, and on Route Mobile
Patroling one of the two main arteries through the Fallujah region The city of Fallujah and its surrounding environs has both a symbolic and strategic importance to the security of Iraq. Fallujah is the city where al Qaeda fought the U.S. forces toe-to-toe and lost. Fallujah is a rallying call to al Qaeda. The city also serves as the gateway to Baghdad, the end of the line of al Qaeda’s Syrian ratlines which are used to run foreign fighters, money and weapons into the capital.
