Blood-Soaked Morning In Iraq

(CBS/AP)  A Wednesday morning raid by American soldiers in Baqouba, backed up by aircraft, killed four suspected militants and four civilians, while four other people died in scattered violence around Iraq.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, U.S. forces chasing a militant with alleged links to leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq came under heavy fire from their target building.

Two suspects were killed, and the military then called in airstrikes due to the heavy volume of fire from the building.

After aircraft fired multiple rounds at the building, soldiers moved in and found that two additional suspects and four women civilians had been killed.

Inside the building, troops found weapons and a global positioning system, the military said.

"Coalition forces strive to mitigate risks to civilians while in pursuit of terrorists," the military said. "Terrorists continue to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence."

In other developments:

Iraqi security forces arrested another leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a group accused of numerous attacks on U.S. forces, the General Command of the Armed Forces said Wednesday. The man was arrested Tuesday night in the village of al-Jazira, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, said Brig. Qassim al-Mussawi. The operation follows the arrest of another leader of the group and seven aides early Saturday in the same area. Authorities have not released the insurgents' names, citing security. The Sunni militant group, a mixture of Iraqi nationalists and Islamic extremists, is believed to be responsible for numerous attacks against U.S. forces and a series of kidnappings.

Iraqi and U.S. authorities released 62 prisoners, apparently followers of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as part of the Iraqi prime minister's national reconciliation efforts. The buses ferrying detainees were seen escorted by the U.S. military to a main bus station in central Baghdad. As they got off the bus, the former prisoners chanted slogans in support of al-Sadr, who twice launched revolts against U.S. military occupation in 2004.

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[mjv2944]

Time to cut and run. Those people don't want democracy, never had it and don't care to have it. Stop killing and maiming out young men and women, let the best terroist win, Sunni or Shiite, I could care less. They've fought for thousands of years and they will contine to fight. Nothing will change. Let big oil put together their own army, they seem to have more to lose than anyone. They are violent people in a violent land, you seen what Saddam had to do to control them, its all they understand, VIOLENCE.

[cjjohnson--2008]

The only reason the US is in Iraq is to further the agenda's of the Bush administration.

Iraq had no part in 9/11.

We as Americans are being led around by our noses by people that have only their interests in mind, not our's, not our children's.

And our young people continue to die in Iraq.

Every day.

For what?

When do we say enough is enough?

What will it take for Americans to stop this madness take ownership their country and it's policies?

No politician will. It's up to every one of us.

[kaliska-2009]

It is hard to believe there are people who think Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. The Bush administration does everything to link the two but facts and common sense leave no doubt that, if anything, Saddam was opposed to the terrorists. One thing for certain, if any of the Bush administration is speaking, they are lying. God help us if we have another two years with the Republicans in charge.