From Rooters, Sat Jun 18, 2005 4:44 PM ET. By Peter Graff.
[...]
In Baghdad, General William Webster, the U.S. commander for the capital, and Brigadier General Jaleel Khalaf, commander of the first Iraqi army brigade given charge of its own section of the city, said hundreds of raids on suspects over the past month in a sweep known as Operation Lightning had succeeded in halving the number of car bombings in the capital.Some 1,200 suspects had been detained, they told a news conference. About 50 of those arrested were foreigners.
"It's like hunting birds," said Colonel Steve Davis of the U.S. Marines as he surveyed the ruins of what he said was an insurgent base in Karabila. "You shoot a few, the rest fly away. You shoot a few again, the rest fly away again."
General Khalaf, whose brigade U.S. officers say is a model for the Iraqi army they hope can relieve them, criticized U.S. politicians calling for a timetable for a troop withdrawal.
U.S. firepower would be needed for some time to come, said Khalaf, once a general in Saddam's army. "Those who want a date have no understanding of military issues," he added.
And from CNN's Jane Arraf, onOperation Spear in Karibila.
The joint U.S.-Iraqi Operation Spear continued Saturday as Marines, sailors and Iraqi security forces fought insurgents in Karabila, near the Syrian border. The most intense fighting was concentrated in the center of town, where enemy fighters were holed up in a bunker complex.ARRAF: What I see in front of me is absolutely heartbreaking. It's two of four hostages who are being taken away, rescued. They were rescued this morning. They're Iraqi, and they were found in this complex that Marines first thought was a car-bomb factory. In fact, they did find what they believe was a potential car bomb or suicide car bomb.
But inside this complex, they found something even more sinister -- four Iraqis who were handcuffed, their hands and feet bound with steel cuffs. They're now being taken away for medical treatment, one being borne away on a stretcher.
The man in intense pain that they're trying to get into a vehicle, has been tortured, he says, and has all the marks of being tortured with electricity. His back is crisscrossed with welts. The other man is even ... in worse shape. Their crime was to be part of the border police.
The Marines came in here this morning, rescued them. The battle is still raging around us. I don't know if you can hear the gunfire, but this is a major offensive to get rid of insurgents and foreign fighters in this city near the Syrian border....... Two young men say they don't know why they were seized. They say they didn't hear the voices of their captors, only people whispering in their ear that they were going to be killed.
But we have just watched the two who were most badly treated be carried out of here for medical equipment, one of them on a stretcher, an older man who worked for the border police, along with his colleague. ... the Marines showed us the room where he says he was hung by his feet, his head dipped in water and then tortured with electric shocks repeatedly.
One of the other men, the other border police, was too weak, really, to tell us what had happened. But he obviously was in very, very bad shape.
They were rescued this morning as Marines and Iraqi forces came into this complex, which included an underground bunker, weapons stockpiles and other things, and found them here. Their captors have fled.
I want their captors dead. No prisoners. Death. That is all they deserve. All of them. Die you bastards. (please excuse my language)
Posted by: Rosemary | 06/19/2005 at 11:32 PM