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The 3rd Squadron of the 89th Cavalry conducts operations across central and northeast Baghdad: from the Tigris River, to downtown, to residential areas in northern Rusafa District, to the edge of conflict areas in Sadr City. The 3-89 Cav’s missions include force protection of Iraqi Police Stations, day and night mounted and dismounted patrols, and raids on suspected Mahdi Army roadside bomb and weapons caches.
Correction: The slideshow initially reported in error that Specialist Jeffrey Nichols was killed by a suicide car bomber. In fact, Nichols was killed by a remotely detonated car bomb.
6 Comments
Great Pictures. Thank you for sharing.
Almost everyday I read Mahdi army soldiers-terrorists getting killed. How many more left to kill?
While the western media usually estimates the Mahdi Army’s strength at around 60,000, I think that probably greatly overstates their real strength. My guess is that while that 60,000 might be willing to get out in the street and march for Sadr while carrying guns and looking like bad-asses, only about 5,000 or so are actually willing to go out and trade bullets with the IA and the US military on his behalf. So, having taken out over 500 in Sadr City alone, I would guess that we’ve put a pretty significant dent in his combat capability.
Looks like the gangsters are removing the IEDs.
As usual they want to go into hiding and resurface another more opportune time. Little do they know that this time the population will point them out to the Iraqi intelligence services and they will have to deal with the police and Shiite awakenings.
tear down each and every portrait of Mookie and his father. Arrest him when he gets back to Iraq on charges of murder and treason.
http://www.aswataliraq.info/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=79333&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1
Eyewitnesses said that gunmen in the last night and today morning city lifted landmines and bombs,
eyewitnesses said that gunmen removed bombs they had planted to prevent Iraqi and U.S. forces from plunging into the city.
which they planted to prevent forces from entering the city.
Other witnesses said that all armed forms disappeared from the city’s streets and neighborhoods, while cam prevailed last night and this morning.
The VOI correspondent noted that normal life started to return to the city and stores seems more active.
Interesting article by Gordon of NYT.
It makes it pretty clear that the women and children hurt in the fire fights are those who allow their property to be used by the gangsters.
If it is the case that the gangsters take over the building by force, then it lays waste to the postcolonial Leftist argument that the gangsters are genuinly popular with the residents. And this article also raises the issue that why are civilians mulling around when the gangsters mount an attack? Are these not one of the 60,000 foot soldiers of Sadr who are providing support to the attackers?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/world/middleeast/15wall.html?pagewanted=1
Nice shot of armored fighting vehicles in pic 9. (More of these, including individual shots of armor would be great.) Interesting damage rendered to structure in pic 14. Specifics of pic 12 are illuminating- good battlefield journalism, Bill.