Arrowhead Ripper

[Aplomb]

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArti...67405225211303

Al-Qaida's End?

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, June 22, 2007 4:20 PM PT
Iraq War: You've no doubt heard of Paris Hilton, and of Rosie O'Donnell as well. We're pretty sure you know what Barry Bonds is up to. But have you ever heard of Arrowhead Ripper? The likely answer is no.

But if that's the case, it's not your fault. Arrowhead Ripper isn't an athlete, a TV star or a person famous for being famous. It's the code name for a massive U.S.-led assault under way in Iraq's Diyala province — an undertaking that has garnered token media coverage since it began Tuesday.


After getting some initial front-page treatment in major U.S. newspapers, the story was pushed back to page 18 in the Washington Post Thursday and Page 10 in The New York Times on Friday. The Los Angeles Times ran a front pager Thursday, then nothing.


Meanwhile, NPR radio this week highlighted U.S. soldiers' deaths during the assaults, with nary a mention of the bigger context for the soldiers' sacrifices.


The Associated Press' dispatches focused on U.S. casualties: "U.S. military says 15 American troops killed in last 48 hours." CNN ran with: "12 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in 48 hours." The New York Times headline read: "14 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq in 2 Days."


Surprisingly, only Reuters seemed to get what was going on. Its headline said: "U.S. troops set trap for militants near Baghdad."


Never mind that the aforementioned headlines don't seem to agree on the number of deaths. What needs to be said is this is one of the war's largest operations to date, and perhaps the most significant. If successful, it could push al-Qaida out of Iraq. It also might lay the groundwork for an eventual war-ending peace.


This operation also stands out because the U.S.-led assault force has explicitly made it a goal to "eliminate" the enemy — not to let it slip away, then watch as it returns to bring more chaos and terror to Diyala province.


Michael Yon, a blogger who is embedded with the 3/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Diyala, has written extensively at his Web site (michaelyon-online.com) about the battle. He's also taken some dramatic pictures. He's a brave journalist, and his site is worth a visit.


Here, in an e-mail to the highly popular Instapundit Web site, is what Yon had to say about what's going on:


"It's Friday evening 22 June. Operation Arrowhead Ripper continues to unfold. The operation is going very well. This looks like it will become a serious problem for al-Qaida."


That, of course, would be great. But then, if the media don't start covering it seriously, we may never know.


We can be sure, however, that if Arrowhead Ripper is less successful than hoped, we'll be treated to an endless number of "Diyala: What Went Wrong?" retrospectives.


The fight will go on for up to two months, military officials say. It involves 10,000 troops, with "a full complement of attack helicopters, close-air support, Strykers and Bradley fighting vehicles."


Using unusually blunt language, Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek told American Forces Press Service, "The end state is to destroy the al-Qaida influences in this province and eliminate the threat against the people. That is the No. 1, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face task and purpose."


And so far, it's working, with dozens of terrorists killed. It bears watching. But sadly, if the successes pile up, it won't be long until the story's pushed even further back in the nation's newspapers.

[Sean Osborne]

The author of the above makes the correct points... the same points we've been making in this forum regarding MSM coverage (or the distinct lack thereof) being something left of fair and balanced.


Michael Yon's most recent dispatch, "Arrowhead Ripper: Surrender or Die", subtitled "Battle for Baqubah" is one of the most outstanding examples of battlefield journalism I have ever read. The actionable information within the text is tremendous, and involves an aspect I am personally involved with in my job. At a minimum I think Michael Yon deserves a bronze star for all of his untiring his efforts to bring us the unfiltered truth of what is most certainly the end game for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is literally risking his life to do so.


Have a gander at this report by Yon, datelined 22 June 2007:


http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/surrender-or-die.htm

Hooah Michael, big time HOO-AH!

[Sean Osborne]

I also put this version up yesterday afternoon.


http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/node/1071


The End-Game of Operation Iraqi Freedom


By Sean Osborne, Associate Director, Military Affairs

23 June 2007: Hello, America, the time we’ve all been awaiting is finally upon us. The decisive end-game to what we have known since March 2003 as ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ is now in execution mode. I have been predicting that the summer of 2007 would witness decisive, geo-strategic paradigm altering events. This series of summer and fall 2007 winner-take-all military operations in Iraq is leading the way forward. It is one of the most dynamic in modern history, with the greatest potential reward for the people of the Iraqi nation, and ours.


This end-game troop surge, much maligned by most if not all of our media and many of our leading Democrat congresspersons – many of whom are 2008 presidential candidates - is exactly what those who truly comprehend the stakes have been calling for since the Iraqi people became enfranchised voters. Instead of a final surge of American combat forces into Iraq to secure unconditional victory for the Iraqi people, the American Left were instead desirous to execute an exceedingly stupid “cut and run, defeatist, the war is already lost, get out of Iraq now” method of end game stratagem. These American left-of-center politicians were prepared to sell out the 25 million people of Iraq to certain islamofascist tyranny as we have just seen imposed by the radical islamofascist terrorist takeover in the Gaza Strip. And the yellow-stripe-up-our-backside mainstream media was with them all the way.


The lead-off operation of this Iraqi end-game is known as “Operation Arrowhead Ripper,” and reports from some incredibly brave people embedded with our troops are telling the real story of what is happening. One of these war zone journalists stands out in my humble opinion, and I would urge all readers to follow the link at the bottom to view his latest dispatch. The incomparable Michael Yon has been in Iraq for well over two solid years now. His dispatches are raw, tip of the spear, tell-it-like-it-really-is accurate and exactly what one might expect to read from a former Army Green Beret. Michael Yon's most recent dispatch, "Arrowhead Ripper: Surrender or Die," subtitled "Battle for Baqubah," is one of the most outstanding examples of battlefield journalism I have ever read, and I read Michael Yon's emailed dispatches immediately upon receiving them. There is no better barometer to follow the events in Iraq. If you want to read the whole truth, and nothing but truth cut from whole cloth, here is where you will find always, and forever find it.


http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/surrender-or-die.htm

[Sean Osborne]

Michael Yon's follow-up. Bold mine for emphasis.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/...or-justice.htm


Drilling for Justice
Drilling for Justice

Army officers have been pleased with Michael Gordon’s portrayal of the events in Baqubah.

On 19 June American forces sealed off Baqubah and began attacking targets within the city. The immediate goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to free Baqubah of al Qaeda, by trapping and killing its members, but according to American officers here, public remarks by senior military officials may have flushed many AQI leaders before the attack. Despite this frustrating and significant setback, progress toward the end-state goal of Arrowhead Ripper—turning over Baqubah to Iraqi government control—appears to be working, at least in terms of the removal of the current AQI leadership and its quasi-government. There are conflicting signals about how many of the AQI leadership escaped before Arrowhead Ripper launched. This weekend’s capture of a possible high-value target in Baqubah indicates that not all AQI leaders successfully fled the city before the attack.

Media reports indicating that many top leaders escaped before Arrowhead Ripper began appear to be mostly true. But other information suggests some AQI leaders are trapped just down the road from where I write. In addition to the seven men who were caught trying to escape while dressed as women, there is information that some AQI leaders remain trapped in a constricting cordon.


Senior Officer in the Iraqi 5th Division during meeting in Baqubah. The Iraqi Army in Baqubah is far more capable than the police.

For security reasons, the Iraqi Army (IA) was not included in the initial planning of Arrowhead Ripper, yet with each succeeding day the IA has taken a larger role in the unfolding attack. The Fifth Iraqi Army Division is considered an increasingly competent group of fighters, and from the limited scope of 5th IA that I personally witnessed, that judgment seems correct. The 5th is committed to battle. Whereas the Iraqi Army is coming into the fight, and playing increasingly critical roles, the local police force is less impressive.

On the night of the 23 June, for instance, a police checkpoint called in to say they were under heavy small-arms attack. The same checkpoint then called frantically saying they were under RPG attack. The next even more frantic call was about a mortar attack. Yet when a Shadow UAV and Apache helicopters were dispatched, they saw no activity in the immediate area. Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, brought this up to a senior Iraqi officer at a meeting on Sunday the 24th, and the Iraqi officer answered with some disgust that those particular police panic at the sound of two shots, and that each member of that police detail needs two Humvees protecting them in order to feel safe.

Also on the 24th, while I accompanied LTC Fred Johnson at a downtown meeting regarding humanitarian assistance, local enemy fighters were attacking the Iraqi Army convoys each time they passed by, about 500 yards from the meeting. The sounds of battles sometimes echoed through the police hallways, yet the Iraqi police refused to respond. Two of Johnson’s men went up to the dangerous rooftop, and SSG Matt Hudgeon patiently waited for a shot on a man about 500 yards away who had been attacking IA convoys with RPGs. Hudgeon saw the man fire two rockets, and he kept trying to get crosshairs on the enemy. When he finally got a shot, Matt steadied his breathing, slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger of his M-14. Bam! Matt’s bullet shot the man in the stomach, and the man rolled off the two-story roof, landing in the dust next to his RPG.
Iraqi police were called—they were all around us—to recover the body or at least the weapon, but one hour later when we went to lunch, the body was still on the ground near the RPG. Although we tried to get to the RPG later, we were in a hurry to get to a cache that had just been discovered by the Iraqi Army, and our Navy and Army were on it. An F-16 was about to drop a 500-pound bomb onto a house rigged with explosives 300 yards from us and the cache but the F-16 broke off to refuel. By then, we were heading to another meeting. The body and the RPG were abandoned.
There is much work to do here, especially if the Iraqi Police continue to perform below expectations. The absence of strong local leadership is a large part of the reason AQI was able to move in and set up a shadow government in Baqubah, complete with its own court system, torture house and prison. These three pegs of the AQI justice system have been found here in the past week. The judges who administer Sharia law and issue fatwas are called Muftis. A Mufti is a “high value target” because he would have deep connections in AQI in order to have such a trusted position of power.

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two “smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and smoking cigarettes.

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

One local Mufti who was said to have always worn a hood and sunglasses—and to have somehow disguised his voice—was pointed out to the Iraqi Army this weekend, who promptly captured him. Iraqi officials said today that although they did not previously know that this man was a Mufti, his name had been on their target list. The Mufti is being questioned and his name has not been released.


Colonel Steve Townsend, commander of 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team in Baqubah, takes a break from the streets to conduct a commanders’ meeting.

Although the battle is still unfolding here in Baqubah, Colonel Townsend reports that at least 50 AQI have been killed. Townsend’s subordinate commanders put the number as high as 100. More than 60 suspects are in custody, but Townsend is unsure how many of the suspects are truly AQI versus innocent men who will be released.

American losses include one soldier killed in action, with 21 wounded. One Bradley and one Stryker have been destroyed. The low numbers of friendly casualties have been largely due to the slow, methodical clearing operation where success is not measured against the clock. In meeting after meeting, I have seen Townsend stress to his subordinate commanders the importance of moving deliberately and at their own pace. Given the massive amounts of IEDs that have been found, my guess is that we might have taken dozens more killed by now if the clearing operation had been rushed. Doubtless many American lives have been saved by locals just saying “stop,” and pointing to bombs.

Another part of the success is just plain luck. On Sunday for instance, soldiers entered a home filled with explosives, but somehow escaped without injury. About 15 houses and buildings have been found rigged to explode. The Air Force has helped by dropping bombs on some of the rigged homes, and MLRS missiles have been fired into others. Early on Sunday morning, before embarking on the mission, I was doing a rapid bit of bird photography with an ornithologist named Captain Pike, when an Apache helicopter shot 30mm cannon into a car bomb downtown. We did not see the attack, but a mushroom cloud billowed in the background as I was rushing to photograph a beautiful bee-catcher. (Iraq has fascinating array of birds, and when this war is over, I’m coming back with a long lens and a tripod.)

The fight goes on. Sunday, Colonel Townsend said he was considering bypassing one area where many if not most of the homes appear to be rigged to explode. He doesn’t want to level the whole neighborhood. Al Qaeda has hijacked people’s homes and businesses. To save his own soldiers’ lives, he’ll destroy what needs to be destroyed, but always mindful that most of the citizens of Baqubah did not volunteer to turn their homes into bombs. Townsend’s people have learned, after hard fighting and serious losses throughout Iraq, that the best counter-IED “technology” we have is just getting out of our fighting vehicles and talking with Iraqis. Although I have seen Iraqis do this, most cannot safely shout “stop” and point to IEDs while our soldiers are driving by. Surely we have many intractable enemies here, but the Iraqis have proven countless times that engagement works.

But the enemies who remain here keep on fighting. This weekend, while soldiers continued clearing Baqubah on foot, Townsend’s soldiers returned to an area they had just cleared. The squad leader spotted a vegetable can that had not been there minutes earlier. But it was too late: the vegetable can blew up, the squad went down from the blast, and the enemy started shooting. It was all in a day’s work here. All six of those soldiers are expected to return to duty by today, Monday.

It would be nice to wrap up this dispatch with a neat ending, but accuracy requires this ending be jagged. While typing these last few words, there have been explosions, gunfire, and the sounds of helicopters and jets. The fighting has decreased remarkably over the last few days, but the last pockets have not been cleared, and nobody knows what awaits. So the battle is on and it’s time to get back with the soldiers as they clear Baqubah inch by inch, street by street.

[Aplomb]

Oh, Sean, that was sweet reading.

I'm adding this article, too.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/news....aspx?id=46459

Start of ‘Arrowhead Ripper’ Highlights Iraq Operations
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2007 – The beginning of a new offensive targeting al Qaeda in the Iraqi city of Baqubah highlights recent operations reported by military officials in Iraq.



Click photo for screen-resolution image
A soldier assigned to Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, pulls security during the clearing of a village in the outskirts of Baqouba, Iraq, June 19, 2007, as part of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Antonieta Rico
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Troops began Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Baqubah today, killing 22 insurgents in a large-scale effort to eliminate al Qaeda members. The 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team launched the offensive with a quick-strike night air assault early this morning. By daylight, attack helicopters and ground forces had engaged and killed the enemy fighters in and around Baqubah.

“The end state is to destroy the al Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people," said Army Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general of operations for the 25th Infantry Division. “That is the No. 1, bottom-line, up-front, in-your-face task and purpose.”

About 10,000 soldiers, with a full complement of attack helicopters, close-air support, Strykers and Bradley fighting vehicles, are taking part in Arrowhead Ripper, which is still in its opening stages. Elements of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team from Fort Hood, Texas, the 2nd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, also are participating in the operation.

“One of the keys as we initiate combat actions and operations here is the newly formed Diyala Operations Center,” Bednarek said. “It serves as an integration center that will coordinate all activities in Diyala (including) the police, the army and coalition forces from Task Force Lightning.

In a separate operation south of Baghdad today, coalition forces raided a series of buildings targeting associates of an al Qaeda emir in the area. As ground forces approached the buildings, a man ran out of the house and rushed toward coalition forces, ignoring the soldiers’ translator's instructions to stop.

Coalition forces, reacting to the perceived hostile threat, shot and killed the man. Inside the building, coalition forces detained a suspected terrorist with alleged ties to the targeted emir, military officials said.

Additionally, coalition forces captured a suspected associate of senior al Qaeda leaders in the Iraqi capital today, and detained three suspects with alleged ties to terrorist leaders. Troops also found a small weapons cache.

In Anbar province, two separate coalition operations today netted six suspected terrorists associated with senior al Qaeda leaders, officials said. Troops nabbed three individuals south of Fallujah for their alleged involvement in planting improvised explosive devices and organizing terrorist groups in the area. Forces detained three suspects with alleged ties to terrorist leaders west of Tarmiyah.

During two operations in Mosul today, coalition forces detained two suspected terrorists in raids targeting individuals involved in a terrorist cell responsible for hijacking and kidnapping operations, and financing terrorist activities.

“Our continued pressure on the leaders and operatives of the al Qaeda network is denying them breathing space in Iraq,” said Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman. “The crumbling network has no place in the future of Iraq.”

Soldiers from the 5th Iraqi Army Division killed four extremist gunmen and detained two others during two engagements in Baqubah yesterday. In a separate engagement nearby, coalition attack helicopters from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade and coalition ground forces identified four extremists operating in a wooded area. Attack helicopters engaged and killed the four extremists.

Coalition forces raided a building in Baghdad yesterday and captured a suspected terrorist linked to a car bomb network. The detainee allegedly obtains supplies and components for the car bomb network.

On June 17, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained six suspects at an alleged IED cell site near Abu Saida. While searching the area, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, detained the men allegedly responsible for recent attacks on civilians, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces in the area, officials said.

In the village of Duraiya the same day, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, detained five suspects and seized a rifle. The unit's mission, according to the battalion’s leaders, was to disrupt key insurgent networks in the battalion's area of operation.

As a part of the Multinational Division Center's Operation Marne Torch, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, soldiers have begun aggressive operations to eliminate insurgent sanctuaries southeast of Baghdad. The battalion has conducted three air assault missions in the last 12 days to eliminate or deter destabilizing influences in the region.

“When the enemy chooses not to engage us, in the areas they consider sanctuaries, it shows us that the enemy fears us. It also shows the local population that we will protect them,” said Army 1st Lt. Josh Powers, assistant operations officer for the regiment, which is assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga.

In other news, troops seized multiple caches June 17 near Tuwaitha as part of a coalition force effort to eliminate insurgent sanctuaries southeast of the Iraqi capital.

Soldiers from Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, who are currently attached to 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, detained four individuals. Two detainees told coalition forces the locations of multiple cache sites, which contained 29 cell phones, three AK-47 assault rifles, body armor and ammunition.

(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)

[Sean Osborne]

Related to this are increasing reports of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps soldiers crossing the Iran-Iraq border to attack Coalition forces in southern Iraq.

Here is a very recent report on this type of activity. Note the absolutely pathetic response from the UK MoD.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070625232254.etwt6z5u&show_article=1

Iran is bound and determined at all costs to bring the entire Middle East into a major conflagration.