A glimmer of hope?
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi officials claimed Monday that at least 200 militants were killed in a fierce battle between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and a religious cult allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival, while bombings and mortar attacks targeting Shiites elsewhere killed at least 15 people.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the Iraqi troops killed 200 terrorists, wounded 60 and captured 120 in the operation, lowering previous counts based on what he said were the most recent figures he had received.
Ahmed Deaibil, a spokesman for Najaf province, and Brig. Gen. Fadhil Barwari earlier had put the figure at 300 militants killed and as many as 20 captured, including fighters from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Lebanon." Jan 29, 8:42 AM (ET)
This story might change over the next few days. We'll have to wait and let the dust settle to see what actually happened .. but, it sounds like good news.
CNN said the Iraqi soldiers were drawn from both Sunni and Shia communities .. that they fought on the same side is a very good sign, even though US troops had to take over for them at the end, air power, etc.
At least the Iraqis stayed and fought .. didn't run away like before. Maybe it's sinking in that we won't be there to cover their arses forever.
Who were these guys in the date palm orchard .. who were they allied with? All we know is "previously unknown group called the Army of Heaven." They sure were well-equipped with automatic weapons, sniper rifles and rockets .. even had anti-aircraft missiles.
It's interesting that they were from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Lebanon.
CNN just said it was basically a cult surrounding one man who claimed to be the Mahdi -- an Islamic prophet who disappeared down a well thousands of years ago and is destined to rise again to bring on the apocalypse. Sort of like how Christians believe in the second coming of Jesus.
Anyway, they say the cult leader was killed.
Wouldn't it be stupid for the cult militants to gather together in large groups? More targets closer together and all. Sounds like they said, "ok guys, let's all meet up at this big date farm so we can plan to assassinate Shiite clerics and pilgrims during the Ashura festival. No one will know we are there .. we'll all wear brown uniforms to blend in .. our enemies won't catch on."
It looks like they had planned to murder thousands of pilgrims, because they couldn't just send a few terrorists to do the job .. they needed to coordinate a full scale attack.
Anyway, it's good news when the story is about "US backed Iraqi forces" .. says that the Iraqis were mainly responsible for this put down of our enemies.
I hope this is a major morale boost for Iraqi soldiers .. hopefully another step closer in getting them to take over responsibility for their country, with our troops at most in a support role.
But .. allow me to hold on to a modicum of skepticism though .. this IS the same government who fed us all that BS about Pvt. Jessica Lynch .. how she 'fought to the last bullet' to avoid being captured (which she said later wasn't true) .. and her dramatic rescue by US special forces (which was staged).....
