U.S., Iraqi Forces: More Than 60 Insurgents Killed

U.S. and Iraqi forces killed more than 60 insurgent and militia fighters in intense battles over the weekend, with most of the casualties believed to have been Al Qaeda fighters, officials said.

The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, joined a broad swath of Iraqi politicians — both Shiite and Sunni — in criticizing a nonbinding U.S. Senate resolution seen here as a recipe for splitting the country along sectarian and ethnic lines.

U.S. aircraft killed more than 20 Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters who opened fire on an American air patrol northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. command said Sunday.

Read more here:foxnews.com

Infantry company trains Iraqis in Al Ramadi

The goal of the United States presence in Iraq is to get the country up and running and to ensure the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) can effectively defend the country. In Al Ramadi, things have quieted down and the Iraqi Army (IA) has undergone training and is now leading classes with aid from American Soldiers.

Non-commissioned officers (NCO) in Company D, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Infantry), 2nd Infantry Division, took IA NCOs and trained them in areas such as traffic control point operations and squad live fire operations so effectively that IA NCOs now conduct the classes themselves, with 1-9 NCOs there to give aid if needed.

Read more here:mnf-iraq

Al Qaeda in Iraq losing thanks to concerned local citizens

Iraqi citizens are helping Coalition forces hunt down al Qaeda terrorists in a vast rural area south of Baghdad, a military commander said today.

“As the summer went along, we started building the confidence of the people,” Army Lt. Col. Ken Adgie told online journalists and “bloggers” from Patrol Base Murray, which is situated beside the Tigris River in the mostly agricultural region of Arab Jabour.

With its desolate location, rugged terrain, thick palm groves and almost-exclusively Sunni population, the region is a perfect breeding ground for terrorism, Adgie said.

Read more here:mnf-iraq.com

Announcing the “What Neglected Issue Should US Presidential Candidates Address More?” Meme

There are so many issues that are being neglected by the current slate of US Presidential candidates, as well as issues they claim to be addressing that are not being addressed well at all.

What I want participants in this meme to do is write on one or two issues that they think a Democratic or Republican party platform should address. Please keep the posts succinct, unless you have a fairly thorough assessment and solution to a problem. In the latter case, a summary of what you think along with a link to a larger proposal would be wonderful.

Feel free to tag up to 5 others for this meme if you are tagged. Anyone from anywhere can participate, and please do trackback or link back to this post. I want a collection of responses to emerge, and I will definitely create a post linking to as many responses as I can and highlighting the best ones. I hope the trackback feature I’ve enabled will allow this list to grow by itself without me having to create new posts for this meme all the time.

Read more here:inrethinking

Iraq Wants Security Deal With U.S.

Iraq wants the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the 160,000-stong U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq only through the end of 2008, then replace it with a long-term bilateral security agreement, Foreign Ministry officials said Saturday.

Aides to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the mandate extension for the U.S.-led coalition, due to be discussed at the end of this year, would be “the last extension for these forces.”

Iraq would then seek a long-term, bilateral security agreement with the United States like the ones Washington has with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt, he said.

“Iraq needs a new resolution to determine the shape of the relationship between the two countries and how to cooperate with the U.S. forces,” said Labid Abawi, a deputy foreign minister.

Read more here:newsmax.com

‘Syria doesn’t want war with Israel’

Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara said Saturday his country does not want war with Israel “in the distant or near future.”
And everything that had been reported about the alleged IDF raid deep inside Syria on September 6 was wrong and part of a “psychological war” against Damascus intended to lay the groundwork for future attacks, he said.

n his first comments on the alleged incursion, Shara said Israel was trying to restore its damaged image following its “defeat” by Hizbullah during 2006’s Second Lebanon War.

Read more here:jpost.com

Syria talking tough while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in South America looking to sweet talk uranium rich countries who are leftists and anti American like Hugo Chavez.

Seems to me Hizbullah lost the fight even after fighting behind women and children. Hizbullah tactics of mingling with civilians dressed as civilians really looks like a victory.

So Syria can call Lebanon war a victory while continuing to kill off opposition in Lebanon one by one with car bombs and other terror tactics. Syria is walking on thin ice against a very unpopular leader in Israel who will fight and has proven he will do what has to be done even in Iran.

Dems Change Minds on Iraq

By:bottomlineupfront

Iraqis Join VSF to fight Terrorism in Baghdad

By:bottomlineupfront

Coalition operations lead to death of al Qaeda terrorist

By:iraqupdate

On September 25, 2007, a coordinated air strike by a USAF F-16 killed Abu Usama al Tunisi. Al Tunisi was one of the most important leaders within al Qaeda in Iraq and part of the inner circle of advisors to Abu Ayyub al Masri.

Al Tunisi was known as the Emir of Foreign Terrorists in Iraq, responsible for oversight of Foreign Terrorists moving into Iraq and their coupling with terrorist cells to conduct operations.

Like all members of Abu Ayyub al-Masri’s inner circle, al Tunisi (from Tunisia), was a foreigner, not an Iraqi.

Browkaw Spoke of Middle Eastern Threat to America on 9/11/01

By:bottomlineupfront