Sazar
11-06-04, 02:51 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/06/iraq.main/index.html
Insurgents stepped up their attacks in the restive Iraqi city of Samarra on Saturday as U.S. Marines prepared for an all-out assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja.
A health official in Tikrit said at least 34 people were killed and dozens were wounded in the violence in Samarra, a Sunni city that had been a center of support for Saddam Hussein. Tikrit is the capital of Salah ad Din province, where Samarra is located.
The 34 people were killed in a series of incidents that included car bombings and mortar attacks.
U.S. and Iraqi forces reported they had quelled the insurgency in Samarra in an offensive last month, but continued to fight pockets of resistance there nonetheless.
Last month's Samarra offensive was characterized as an example of the urban-like warfare expected in the larger-planned assault on Falluja.
Like Falluja, Samarra has been a tough challenge for U.S. and Iraqi forces, who have had to square off regularly against tenacious militants there. Both towns are in the troubled Sunni Triangle: Falluja is 30 miles (48 km) west of Baghdad and Samarra, 60 miles (96 km) north.
Other incidents of violence continued across Iraq -- in the cities of Mosul, Ramadi, Kufa, Baghdad and the province of Babil -- and included ambushes, shootings and bombings.
Amid the daily violence, the U.S. military has conducted artillery and air attacks on Falluja.
there is a nice article in newsweek from last week, outlining the challenges facing whoever would have been president (article obviously released pre-election) including the numbers of people trained and the training of the personell...
the numbers in service in the police force reached a peak of 90k between march and may... since then though, the numbers have fallen dramatically...
between june and july the total number almost dropped to 1/3rd of the peak...
the positive news is the numbers are rising again and will continue now the elections are over in america... per the article in october there were around 40k police out and about...
the other problem outlined in the article was the infiltration and collusion between the iraqi troops and commanders and the insurgents...
samarra was supposed to have been cleansed... if this sort of fighting continues we are going to have to step up the efforts to meet the stated goals of trained troops... the numbers are woefully short of the stated goals and the monies allocated to both have barely been spent where required...
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the fact that the insurgents are attacking again in samarra at the time that the offensive is launching in fallujah shows signs of the extent of the network of the terrorists in iraq... and the level of communication between them...
a break here and there in our favor as well as increased iraqi troop numbers will help alleviate the situation but its going to be difficult to hold elections in january given the levels of violence, even within baghdad...
Insurgents stepped up their attacks in the restive Iraqi city of Samarra on Saturday as U.S. Marines prepared for an all-out assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja.
A health official in Tikrit said at least 34 people were killed and dozens were wounded in the violence in Samarra, a Sunni city that had been a center of support for Saddam Hussein. Tikrit is the capital of Salah ad Din province, where Samarra is located.
The 34 people were killed in a series of incidents that included car bombings and mortar attacks.
U.S. and Iraqi forces reported they had quelled the insurgency in Samarra in an offensive last month, but continued to fight pockets of resistance there nonetheless.
Last month's Samarra offensive was characterized as an example of the urban-like warfare expected in the larger-planned assault on Falluja.
Like Falluja, Samarra has been a tough challenge for U.S. and Iraqi forces, who have had to square off regularly against tenacious militants there. Both towns are in the troubled Sunni Triangle: Falluja is 30 miles (48 km) west of Baghdad and Samarra, 60 miles (96 km) north.
Other incidents of violence continued across Iraq -- in the cities of Mosul, Ramadi, Kufa, Baghdad and the province of Babil -- and included ambushes, shootings and bombings.
Amid the daily violence, the U.S. military has conducted artillery and air attacks on Falluja.
there is a nice article in newsweek from last week, outlining the challenges facing whoever would have been president (article obviously released pre-election) including the numbers of people trained and the training of the personell...
the numbers in service in the police force reached a peak of 90k between march and may... since then though, the numbers have fallen dramatically...
between june and july the total number almost dropped to 1/3rd of the peak...
the positive news is the numbers are rising again and will continue now the elections are over in america... per the article in october there were around 40k police out and about...
the other problem outlined in the article was the infiltration and collusion between the iraqi troops and commanders and the insurgents...
samarra was supposed to have been cleansed... if this sort of fighting continues we are going to have to step up the efforts to meet the stated goals of trained troops... the numbers are woefully short of the stated goals and the monies allocated to both have barely been spent where required...
---
the fact that the insurgents are attacking again in samarra at the time that the offensive is launching in fallujah shows signs of the extent of the network of the terrorists in iraq... and the level of communication between them...
a break here and there in our favor as well as increased iraqi troop numbers will help alleviate the situation but its going to be difficult to hold elections in january given the levels of violence, even within baghdad...