posted on June 4, 2005 07:15:52 PM new
Marines Find Weapons, Huge Bunker in Iraq By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
47 minutes ago
Hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops searched fields and farms Saturday for insurgents and their hideouts in an area south of Baghdad known for attacks, and the Marines said they discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.
The joint U.S.-Iraqi force operating in Latifiyah to the south was backed by American air power and said it had rounded up at least 108 Iraqis, mainly Sunnis, suspected of involvement in the brutal insurgent campaign to topple the Shiite-led government.
To the west of the capital, the 2nd Marine division said its forces had discovered 50 weapons and ammunitions caches over the past four days in restive Anbar province. The military said the find included a recently used "insurgent lair" in a massive underground bunker complex that included air-conditioned living quarters and high tech military equipment, including night vision goggles.
That bunker was found cut from a rock quarry in Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. The Marines said the facility was 170 yards wide and 275 yards long.
In its rooms were "four fully furnished living spaces, a kitchen with fresh food, two shower facilities and a working air conditioner. Other rooms within the complex were filled with weapons and ammunition," the announcement said.
The weapons included "numerous types of machine guns, ordnance, including mortars, rockets and artillery rounds, black uniforms, ski masks, compasses, log books, night vision goggles, and fully charged cell phones."
In Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi and American forces launched a raid as part of Operation Lightning, a week-old assault aimed at rooting out insurgents conducting raids on the capital and sapping militant strength nationwide. While Iraqi forces were in the forefront of Saturday's sweep though the semi-rural region, it was clear the U.S. military was still the driving force.
About two hours into the operation, for example, American forces voiced concern that an area covered in tall grass had not been searched. An Iraqi commander said he was reluctant to send his troops into the field for fear of an insurgent attack.
"This is a dangerous area. We need helicopters and the American army," Iraqi Brig. Gen. Najim al-Ekabi said.
The American soldiers, who had spent months training Iraqi soldiers, tried to persuade al-Ekabi to send his troops, saying it was likely that weapons were hidden in the fields and alongside an irrigation canal.
Army Capt. Jason Blindauer of the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division told al-Ekabi the force had orders to search the area. "No one is going to do it better than your group," Blindauer said.
Al-Ekabi asked for a private meeting with the Americans and departed shortly afterward in a large convoy, ostensibly to conduct the search.
Maj. Ronny Echelberger later went into the area with American forces and searched a few homes, saying was not been sure the Iraqi search had been sufficiently thorough.
The Iraqi army's reliance on U.S. troops was evident in other ways. Echelberger had to show an Iraqi brigade commander his location on a map shortly before Iraqi troops launched the operation, and a few minutes later Iraqi soldiers fired hundreds of rounds when they mistakenly thought they saw an insurgent.
"These guys are doing baptism by fire. It takes time," Blindauer said.
Operation Lightning is being watched closely as a bellwether of when Iraqis can take control of their own security, a key to the U.S. exit strategy more than two years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr has said at least 700 suspected insurgents have been rounded up in the sweep, which has also killed at least 28 militants. U.S. Lt. Col. Michael Infanti said at least 221 people had been detained since last Wednesday by forces carrying out a sweep of Baghdad's southern districts. It was unclear if that number was in addition to the 700 given by Jabr.
Also Saturday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police checkpoint on a main road connecting northern Mosul with the nearby city of Tal Afar, killing two officers and wounding four. Four others were hurt in a roadside bombing as they went to help their fallen colleagues, Mosul police Lt. Zaid Ahmed Shakir said.
An Iraqi believed to be a terror leader in the north was captured by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad. He was identified as Mullah Mahdi and was caught along with his brother, three other Iraqis and a non-Iraqi Arab, Iraqi army Maj. Gen. Khalil Ahmed al-Obeidi said.
Mahdi was affiliated with the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, one of Iraq's most feared terror groups, and had links to the Syrian intelligence service, al-Obeidi said without elaborating. Iraqi and U.S. officials have accused Syria of facilitating the insurgency by allowing foreign fighters to cross its borders, but Damascus denies the allegation.
On Sunday, a representative of Australia's top Islamic cleric said the cleric had met with Douglas Wood, an Australian being held hostage by Iraqi militants.
Sheik Taj El Din al-Hilaly is in Baghdad seeking the release of 63-year-old Wood, a California-based Australian engineer who was abducted in late April. The group that kidnapped him released a DVD on May 1 showing him pleading for Australia to withdraw it 1,400 troops from Iraq.
The Australian government has refused.
Ikebal Patel, from Australia's Federation of Islamic Councils, told television's Seven Network he had spoken to Al-Hilaly in Iraq on Thursday.
"He said to me: `I've seen him eye to eye,' those were the words he used, eye to eye, it was Douglas," Patel said.
He said Al-Hilaly reported that Wood had received the heart medication he needed and was holding up well.
posted on June 4, 2005 08:26:17 PM new
Thanks for posting that, Libra. Good going, U.S. Marines. Not that I favor one group of soldiers over the other
That is some HUGE, underground bunker. Won't ever convince me that there aren't others just like it. And once things settle down...they may just find the bio/chem weapons in one of them too.
I guess maybe with the heat there....these underground facilities are more common than I realized. And we've found several of these caches of weapons since we've invaded.
Saddam may not have had enough willing soldiers to fight...but he sure had a large enough amount ammunition for war. This is a good find....more guns out of the wrong hands, hopefully.
posted on June 5, 2005 08:54:13 AM new
I am sure the Marines would find a huge bunker and lost of guns underneath the White House as well.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
----------------------------------
President George Bush: "Over time the truth will come out."
President George Bush: "Our people are going to find out the truth, and the truth will say that this intelligence was good intelligence. There's no doubt in my mind."
Bush was right. The truth did come out and the facts are he misled Congress and the American people about the reasons we should go to war in Iraq.
posted on June 5, 2005 10:28:29 AM new
I'll cheer Linda. I think finding stashes of weapons is probably the biggest moral booster these guys get after seeing people being blown up all the time, day after day.
posted on June 5, 2005 12:10:30 PM new
KD - For me, personally, if I saw more on the left EVER giving praise to our troops for ANY of their many successful missions, I might not have formed the opinion of them that I have.
[that they only give lip-service to supporting our troops, but really don't because they don't support their mission(s).]
posted on June 5, 2005 12:25:59 PM new
Linda, maybe I've missed things, but I haven't heard anyone here talk badly about the soldiers, except for twice when there was that bomb marked "faggots", and the Abu Ghraib thing. You keep thinking that by not supporting the reasons Bush sent the soldiers to war means the left doesn't support the troops, which isn't true.
posted on June 5, 2005 01:11:55 PM new
Linda_K, You know very well 99% of the American people are all for and support our troops. The "LEFT" knows very well about supporting our troops don't forget the "LEFT" have a lot of our kids over there. You said "the "LEFT" only gives lip service to our troops because they don't support their mission". Try telling that to a Democrat PARENT OR WIFE who's kid was killed or wounded in Iraq.
HEY STUPID, ITS NOT THE TROOPS THAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS HAVE A PROBLEM WITH. ITS THEIR COMMANDER AND CHIEF GEO BUSH. THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS BELIEVE GEO BUSH IS DOING A POOR JOB AS COMMANDER AND CHIEF OF OUR TROOPS.
THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS ALSO BELIEVE GEO BUSH LIED TO THEM TO START A WAR HE SHOULD NOT HAVE STARTED.
ONCE AGAIN LINDA_K YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THE LEFT IN AMERICA DO NOT SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted on June 5, 2005 01:21:19 PM new
It's unreasonable to think that non-support of Bush policy translates to non-support of the troops. what an illogical thought process.
posted on June 5, 2005 01:28:47 PM new
Yes, and how many times must we say it before before "someone" will agree with that logical thought.
The problem is, they can't think logically as each one of us has proven over and over again.
Some people with integrity and backbone CAN admit they made a mistake and graciously apologize....."some" can't.
Like the time linduh said that our troops would not purposely kill one of their own. Very naive statement and a Vietnam vet came in and said it was true and he had seen it.....there are many more similar stories....it is not unheard of.
Did linduh say I'm sorry for what you went through and I was mistaken.
No.
posted on June 5, 2005 01:59:57 PM new
KD - You keep thinking that by not supporting the reasons Bush sent the soldiers to war means the left doesn't support the troops, which isn't true.
Disagreeing with a President AND Congress for taking us to war is one thing, KD. Once soldiers are sent on a mission....bad mouthing their mission is NOT support....no matter how much you lefties/anti-war fols wish to imply it is. The soldiers don't see this a support, nor do most rational American's.
That's like saying jane fonda supported our troops.
Did you miss Mike's post in peepa's "BUS" thread?
Believing terrible things about their actions isn't seen as support either. Always being just a tad too quick to take what Aljazerra says over what our military says...isn't supporting them either.
On each and every 'Good News from Iraq' post I made here....cheerleading their success' the left didn't agree they were accomplishing anything.
That's also not supporting our troops.
Then of course we have all the comments where our Generals have had to DEFEND our troops actions because someone, who would also claim they support our troops.....is accusing them of doing something wrong. That's not supporting our troops.
Using their deaths for support of the anti-war agenda is not supporting them either.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt would be supporting them.
Appreciating the things they have accomplished would be supporting them.
Giving lip service is easy. Being against their mission is NOT support of any kind. And those who think it is...are only fooling themselves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on June 5, 2005 02:14:05 PM new
No surprise to me there, KD. You who do this will never see nor understand the harm you bring to our fighting men and women. But it does harm them...and cause more of them to be killed.
Here's another one who says it much better than I ever could.
---
Friday, May 20, 2005
"If this is how liberals support the troops, then could they please f*cking STOP already?"
An American serviceman serving overseas emails me in the aftermath of the Korangate (or is it Toiletgate?) and the latest scoop by "The New York Times" about the abuse at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan:
No wonder the rest of the world thinks weÂ''re the evil ones. We're the ones telling them we are, over and over again.
How about a story where the Army Major carries a dying Iraqi kid in his arms, visibly distraught at the carnage those bastards lay on little kids every day?
How about a power plant coming on line, or kids going to a new school, or a market with free people shopping, or the 30 attacks that DIDNÂ''T go off because of the other 99% of interrogations that went according to plan?
Nope, it's just those evil, war-mongering, blood-for-oil soldiers, doing what "everybody knows" they do when no one's looking.
With the "news" coming out of Iraq 100% bad, there's no reason to expect anyone who relies on the media for information to have any positive thoughts on the effort there, no matter what their political standing. Even my family back home is starting to think it's a Vietnam-style "quagmire". Al-Qaeda couldn't get better PR service if they paid for it, and the media are providing gladly and free-of-charge!
If this is how liberals support the troops, then could they please f*cking STOP already?
Don't tell those of us in the military you "support the troops", and then spend 110% of your time and print space breaking your necks to paint us all as bloodthirsty criminals because of the acts of a few – all as a thinly-disguised way to grind a political axe with a President with which 90% of the media has a deeply personal beef. It isn't fooling anybody, especially "the troops".
We're perfectly aware
that, to the media, we are expendable pawns in a political chess game, and we resent the hell out the very real damage they do to us every single day. And they wonder why the military votes overwhelmingly Republican as a block? Give me a break!
This is Army Major Mark Bieger:
[picture]
You won't be seeing it too much in the media because I'm sure some new photos of abuse will show up pretty soon.
As Elisabeth Bumiller of "The New York Times" said to Scott McClellan at the White House press conference: "Are you asking them ["Newsweek"] to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you're saying here?"
Not asking; just hoping, once in a while.
!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on June 5, 2005 02:17:08 PM new
Libra63, Our troops are doing an outstanding job in Iraq they are the bravest of the brave.
The almost empty bunker they found is a very good thing and I hope they blow it into nothing. The Bunker brings back memories of bunkers and tunnels we found in Viet Nam. What brave troops we had in Viet Nam again they were the bravest of the brave.
After America lost 50,000 troops in Viet Nam we pulled out. Now today Viet Nam is trucking right along just like it was we didn't change very much there.
A couple months ago my wife bought a vest with a well known American companies name on it from a well known American department store. Inside the vest she found a tag that said made in Viet Nam.
The majority of the American people are against the Iraq War because of how Bush started it. Plus Americans fear the same thing will happen in Iraq that happened in Viet Nam. They fear nothing will change in Iraq once we pull out. So why all the loss of live when we shouldn't be there in the 1st place.
Its all going to come down that one of these years an American President will brag how we have lifted Iraq up. How America has built up the Iraq army and police to take care of themselves and we will pull out our troops. After thousands of Americans lose their lives we will all see what happens to Iraq then. More and more people are believing Iraq will be like Viet Nam and go back to the way it was.
posted on June 5, 2005 02:20:40 PM new
First, I was right in my last post as proven susequently.
Second, not many of our active troops are reading the RT posts.
Third, just because the war is now a fact does not make it right.
Fourth, the overwhelming majority of reports coming out of Iraq (and actually getting into print) do not portray a rosy picture, quite the contrary, and fixing the problem means dealing with the TRUTH.....not some Pollyanna dream....
Fifth , our troops are dying and being maimed because of LIES. To pretend otherwise is ridiculous. Do we support this? Of course not!
Sixth, it's BECAUSE we care about the troops and their parents, husbands, wives, and children that we want the truth out there.
posted on June 5, 2005 02:26:53 PM new
Sorry Linda_K everybody knows better than what you just posted. Simply put you have nothing to say that will be believed anymore.
posted on June 5, 2005 02:39:47 PM new "Well boo hoo, someones piss landed on a book. What do you think they would do to us. It's not hard to guess, chop off your head. In case you people with the wool pulled over your eye's haven't noticed, Sadam was the modern day Hitler"
We can't accept Mike's comment as representative of most Marines. I believe that most good Marines would agree that we should not judge our behavior by the standards of barbarians.
posted on June 5, 2005 02:44:50 PM new
Boy helen...you're reading comprehension sure is going down hill quickly in the past week. You're reading everything incorrectly.
Mike is NOT a Marine.
But he, like my son speaks for a lot of soldiers on just how they see what the liberal press and liberal thinkers are doing TO THEM. As I said...they don't see it as support.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on June 5, 2005 02:53:21 PM new
So Markie wants a free hand in what he and his comrades do in Iraq....sorry, but they represent us! And they damn well better clean up their act and/or watch that their buddies stay clean.
If they want OUR support then they better give US support !
He says, "We're perfectly aware
that, to the media, we are expendable pawns in a political chess game"
The MEDIA ? How about the lying #*!@ who put them there! What a brainwashed idiot!
He says, "You won't be seeing it too much in the media because I'm sure some new photos of abuse will show up pretty soon."
Poor dumb jerk....does he realize that his commander-in-chief has forbade anyone to photograph the coffins of his dead comrads ?
posted on June 5, 2005 02:58:21 PM new
Yep...there's cf...another rabid troop supporter who HIDES behind HER monitor...blasting the brave American's who put their lives on the line.
Yep....the perfect example of what I've been saying. This is NOT showing support for our troops. Not one tiny, tiny bit.
"Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence." --Ann Coulter
And why the American Voters chose to RE-elect President Bush to four more years. YES!!!
posted on June 5, 2005 03:13:36 PM new
Linda_k, you keep acting like you're the only one on the board that knows a soldier and that you can speak for them all. You have no idea who some of us are, who our families are, who we know or how we support the troops.
posted on June 5, 2005 03:20:21 PM new
Oh you're wrong Kiara, linduh , like god, knows everything...in fact when she's not thinking she's Napolean she thinks she is god
