More news you don’t hear from the MSM about the good things going on in Iraq:
Iraqi soldiers in Ash Sharqat, Iraq, captured a facilitator of terrorist activity in that area. Soldiers from the 4th Iraqi Army Division, assisted by coalition advisers, conducted a precision raid and captured this facilitator, whose alleged involvement in fraud, local corruption and embezzlement provides support to terrorist operations in the area, U.S. officials said. He also is believed to be responsible for improvised explosive device attacks against coalition forces, including one attack that killed a U.S. soldier.
In another operation, Iraqi security forces, captured an insurgent weapons dealer in southeastern Baghdad. As coalition advisers looked on, a special Iraqi police unit conducted a precision operation in the Rasheed district and captured this individual, who is believed to transport weapons and supply them to insurgents in Baghdad. One insurgent was killed during the operation.
No Iraqi forces, coalition forces or civilians were injured in either operation.
The Baghdad operation was part of Operation Together Forward. Iraqi security and coalition forces are witnessing positive results of their efforts to quell the threat of terrorist death squads, improvised explosive devices, kidnappings and murders in and around Baghdad. Since the operation began July 9, combined forces have killed 97 and detained 501 terrorists associated with death squads and seized more than 59 weapons and munitions caches in the process.
A combined force of more than 30,000 security personnel have completed more than 49,564 combat patrols in response to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s directive to immediately secure the Baghdad area. While security operations aimed at ending violence are still ongoing, Iraqi and coalition leaders have set the stage for permanent changes in Iraq’s capital city by planning civil operations that will coincide with security operations.
Operation Together Forward has fused Iraqi army, Iraqi police and coalition security operations, economic incentives, civic action projects and the control of illegal weapons to bring stability and opportunity back to Baghdad, U.S. military officials said.
Elsewhere, soldiers from 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, rescued three kidnapped Iraqi policemen Aug. 16 during a small-arms engagement with terrorists in a rural area outside of Babil province. The freed Iraqi policemen reported being kidnapped from another checkpoint only minutes away from where the gunfight took place.
The Iraqi soldiers discovered the kidnap victims after they were attacked by small-arms fire from four vehicles passing by their checkpoint. They returned fire, capturing two of the vehicles. Soldiers examined the vehicles and found three police officers in the trunks, along with an AK-47 assault rifle and a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher. The kidnap victims indicated that two more officers were being held in the vehicles that fled.
In other news, more than 950 new Iraqi recruits will begin a 10-week basic police officer training course Aug. 21. The new recruits are the result of one of Multinational Force West’s most successful recruiting efforts this year, officials said.
Of course this doesn’t deserve to be on the news right? Capturing over 500 terrorists and killing almost 100 of them while the training of Iraqi soldiers and police is a huge success isn’t big news.
A terrorist blowing himself up, now that is big news.
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There are two reasons that the war in Iraq is not going to end any time soon.
1. The Iraqis don’t want it to end. They know that if they “stand up” and the US soldiers leave, the money from the US pouring into that country will eventually stop. They don’t want their sugar daddy to leave. They will milk this for every penny they can.
2. Military contractors, including Halliburton, don’t want it to end. They are making a lot of money on this war. Stop the war and the money stops.
The only way that the war is going to end is for the US to give the Iraqis a deadline for departure. Once they realize that the sugar daddy is moving out then you will see them standing up real fast. We can not be expected to baby-sit the Iraqis forever while they have a civil war.
We have been in Iraq almost as long as we fought World War II. It’s time to give a deadline and leave.