I was reading more about the surge: Gen. Ordierno said "the chaos in Iraq was being driven by small groups of killers,
principally those of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who, by murdering Shiite
civilians in huge car and suicide bomb attacks, were driving ordinary
Iraqis into the arms of Shiite deaths squads and the Mahdi Army."
“We believed that the majority of the Iraqi people wanted to move forward, but you had these small groups that didn’t,” General Odierno said. “So we had to protect the people, and go after these groups.” (NYTimes 9/20/08)
The civilians benefited from an increase of American troops who helped them get rid of the killers.
Yeah, it's still pretty violent by any standards, but it is more peaceful than it was in '06. What's the next surge? OMG! This will help!
Perhaps a surge in public works will create jobs and create a stable infrastructure. Hmm, that would be welcome in the U.S. also. We are two nations deeply wounded by recent events. We both have to heal. We can learn from each other.
b
Oct 28, 2008 Reported Iraqi Security incidents (war news today):
Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad,
five people were killed and 15 wounded in a car bomb attack in the
capital's Al-Jihad neighbourhood, a security official with the defence
ministry said.
#2-#3: Also in the capital,
a police officer said nine people, including four policemen, were
wounded in two separate roadside bombs targeting police convoys.
#2: “An IED ripped through al-Nahda, central Baghdad, leaving four civilians wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.
#3: “On al-Nidal street, also central Baghdad, three civilians were wounded in another IED attack,” the source added.
#4: Around 10:00 a.m. Iraqi police blew up under control an adhesive bomb that was stuck to a sedan near Sina’a Street in east Baghdad.
#5: Around 10:15 a.m. the US military blew up under control a roadside bomb in Fdhiliyah neighborhood in east Baghdad.
Diyala Prv:
#1: Three civilians in a sedan were injured by a roadside bomb in al Naqeeb village south of Baquba city around &:30 a.m.
Hilla:
#1: A body of a policeman was found with gunshot wounds to the head in central Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
Abu Ghrib:
#1: One civilian was killed and nine others were wounded by an explosion on Monday in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Kirkuk:
#1: The driver
of the Iraqi Christian lawmaker Yonadim Kanna was injured seriously
when gunmen shot him while he was leaving a restaurant in Doz area; 62
miles south of Kirkuk city.
#2: Two gunmen were injured
while they were attacking joint checkpoint of Iraqi police and Sahwa
members near Mahoz village west of Kirkuk city on Tuesday morning.
#3: The commander
of the Kurdish security forces known as Asayish Lieutenant Colonel
Shamal Mohammed survived when a roadside bomb detonated targeting his
vehicle in downtown Tuz district north of Kirkuk city around 8:30 a.m.
Ninevah Prv:
Mosul:
#1: Gunmen fired
on a group of eight policemen as they were on their way to work in
Mosul, said a local police officer who declined to give his name. Four
of them were killed and the others were wounded, he said, adding the
attack took place in the city's western Al-Amil neighbourhood.
Unknown gunmen
on Tuesday shot dead four people and wounded four others at a police
recruiting center in the volatile city of Mosul, capital of Nineveh
province, a provincial police source said. The attackers opened
small-arms fire on many recruits when they were lining up outside the
center to join Iraqi police in the Hay al-Amil neighborhood in southern
Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Tal Afar:
#1: Iraqi security forces
found on Tuesday a mass grave containing 20 decomposed bodies in a town
in the northern province of Nineveh, a local police source said. The
forces discovered the site of the mass grave at a deserted house in
central Tal Afar town, some 80 km west of the provincial capital of
Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Kurdistan:
#1: Turkish warplanes
bombed Kurdish separatist targets on Tuesday in northern Iraq with the
backing of artillery fire from Turkey, the military said.
Al Anbar Prv:
Habbaniyah:
#1: Two policemen were killed
and three others were inured when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive
vest detonated near the first checkpoint of Habbaniyah police station
east of Ramadi city around 11:00 a.m.
Afghanistan:
#1: Afghan forces
backed by the U.S.-led Coalition forces killed one suspected militant
and detained seven others during operations targeting the Taliban and
Haqqani networks in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, said a Coalition
statement released here on Tuesday. The combined forces searched a
compound associated with a Haqqani commander suspected of facilitating
the movement of foreign fighters in Sabari district of Khost province,
the statement said. "As the combined force entered the targeted
compound an armed militant attempted to assault the force," it said.
"The force engaged the militant with small-arms fire, killing him." Six
suspected militants were also arrested during the operation, it added.
#2: An explosion
occurred on a road in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, but it was
not clear what caused it and if there were any casualties, a police
source said. The blast happened on a road leading east from the city
close to several bases used by foreign troops who have come under a
series of suicide attacks by Taliban insurgents in the past, he added.
Smoke
from a car engine spread fears of an explosion on a road often targeted
by suicide bombers in the Afghan capital on Tuesday with police saying
there had been a blast. But police officials and Reuters witnesses at
the scene said the thick cloud of smoke had been caused by a car with
engine problems. Crowds gathered round the vehicle thinking there had
been a suicide bomb.
