BAGHDAD, Feb. 7, 2007

Baghdad Security Crackdown Begins

Meanwhile, 7 Killed After U.S. Military Helicopter Shot Down Near Capital

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    • An Iraqi Army soldier looks away as his colleague searches a motorist at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad, Feb. 7, 2007.

      An Iraqi Army soldier looks away as his colleague searches a motorist at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad, Feb. 7, 2007.  (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

    • An Iraqi Army soldier searches a driver at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad on Feb. 7, 2007.

      An Iraqi Army soldier searches a driver at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad on Feb. 7, 2007.  (AP)

    • In this image made from video broadcast by AP Television News, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, smoke and flame rise from the crash site of a U.S. military CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter which went down about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.

      In this image made from video broadcast by AP Television News, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, smoke and flame rise from the crash site of a U.S. military CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter which went down about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.  (AP /APTN)

    • This file photo shows a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in flight.

      This file photo shows a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in flight.  (AP)

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(CBS/AP)  Baghdad's streets were electric with tension Wednesday as U.S. officials confirmed the new security operation was under way. U.S. armor rushed through streets and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections.

New coils of barbed-wire and blast barriers marked checkpoints that caused traffic bottlenecks. U.S. Apache helicopters were in the air over parts of the city where they hadn't been seen before. Gunfire still rang out across the city and some residents said they doubted life would get better.

"Nothing will work. It's too late," said Hashem al-Moussawi, a resident of the Sadr City Shiite enclave who was badly wounded in a bombing in December.

Underlining the dangers ahead, a Sea Knight helicopter was shot down Wednesday northwest of Baghdad, killing all seven people on board, the U.S. military said. It's the fifth helicopter to go down in Iraq in just over two weeks.

CBS News has learned that the transport helicopter was shot down during what the military called "routine operations."

But before the U.S. could announce the cause of the crash, a jihadi Web site linked to al Qaeda was already declaring victory, reports chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.

The Web site said, "The Air Defense Division of the Islamic State of Iraq has succeeded in shooting down and completely burning a Chinook helicopter."

"The helicopter was flying and passed over us, then we heard the firing of a missile," said Mohammad al-Janabi, a farmer who was speaking less than half a mile from the wreckage. "The helicopter then turned into a ball of fire. It flew in a circle twice, then it went down."

In other developments:

  • Three Army Reserve officers and a U.S. contractor were indicted Wednesday as part of a bid-rigging scam that steered millions of dollars of Iraq reconstruction projects to a contractor in exchange for cash, luxury cars, jewelry and other pricey goods.

  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a House panel Wednesday that the U.S. should know in a few months if the Iraqi government is making progress toward peace and whether the United States "is going to have to look at other alternatives and consequences."

  • With tears and sobs, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's elder daughter joined hundreds of Baathists in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday to mark the passage of 40 days of mourning his death. Raghad Hussein, accompanied by her son and daughter and several of Saddam's defense lawyers, was greeted with chants of "Revenge for Saddam!" and "Eternity to Saddam!" on arrival at the San'a airport.

  • A judge Wednesday ordered a U.S. soldier to stand trial in absentia for the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Spc. Mario Lozano is indicted for murder and attempted murder in the death of Nicola Calipari, who was shot on March 4, 2005, on his way to the Baghdad airport shortly after securing the release of an Italian journalist who had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital, prosecutor Pietro Saviotti said.

    At checkpoints that seemed to have been thrown up overnight, some of them blocking half the lanes of traffic on wide streets, Iraqi police and army soldiers searched cars at random. Drivers and passengers had to get out and show identity papers.

    Adding to the tension, Iraqi Army and police convoys fired rounds into the air above motorists, warning them to make way for the passing forces. The security troops drove over traffic medians and into incoming traffic.

    In a sign of just how dangerous the security mission will be, a three-vehicle western security company convoy came under fire near Haifa Street, a Sunni insurgent stronghold just north of the Green Zone.

    The security men in the armored cars returned fire and quickly exploded green and white smoke bombs for concealment. Minutes later, they sped away, with the bodyguards in the convoy pelting surrounding autos with water bottles to make them clear the way.

    Continued



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    Add a Comment See all 126 Comments
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 12:06 PM EST
    Terrorism Awareness Project to wake up Americans
    http://www.terrorismawareness.org/
    http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamic-mein-kampf

    fascist nazi islamic muslims
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nazi+muslim
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nazi islam
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fascist islam&btnG=Search
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fascist muslim
    http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=nazi muslim&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
    http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=nazi islam&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
    http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=fascist islam&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
    http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geuqkyKctFlMAArxtXNyoA?p=fascist muslim&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-501&x=wrt
    Reply to this comment
    by exusmcsgt February 8, 2007 11:11 AM EST
    lars008-

    I find nothing at either link that states anything about Nazi Muslims.
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 11:08 AM EST
    fascist nazi islamic muslims
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nazi+muslim

    http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=nazi muslim&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
    Reply to this comment
    by exusmcsgt February 8, 2007 10:53 AM EST
    lars008-

    I'm still waiting for the name of a single Nazi Muslim.
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 10:51 AM EST
    Terrorism Awareness Project to wake up Americans and the World
    http://www.terrorismawareness.org/

    http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamic-mein-kampf
    Reply to this comment
    by exusmcsgt February 8, 2007 10:31 AM EST
    Remember last October when Cheney stated that the ecalating violence in Iraq was due to the insurgents wishing to influence our elections?

    This today from the Philadelphia enquirer:

    WASHINGTON - More American troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the last four months - at least 334 through Jan. 31 - than in any comparable stretch since the war began, an Associated Press analysis of casualty records shows.


    Cheney, as usual, was completely off the mark, no pun intended......
    Reply to this comment
    by dallison7 February 8, 2007 10:18 AM EST
    an outside person could even argue that valerie plame outed herself
    Posted by lars008

    Of course you're right! And the fact is, all of those detainees tortured themselves! You know what else, Saddam really hung himself, those videos were fake!!
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 6:36 AM EST
    so many fascist nazi islamic muslims pretending to be american liberals........
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 6:33 AM EST
    radiob

    an outside person could even argue that valerie plame outed herself by sending her husband to africa instead of a cia agent, hmmmmmm maybe it was their partisan politics driving their decisions..... joe wilson has disgraced himself and his wife.....
    Reply to this comment
    by firststate February 8, 2007 6:01 AM EST
    feelfree1
    SOLD!
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 February 8, 2007 4:42 AM EST
    firststate,

    Baker is a huge part of the problem. He will surely roast in hell with the rest of them.

    I would suggest that this is a good starting point:

    www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow

    Please consider adding your support to this effort.

    Good evening.
    Reply to this comment
    by firststate February 8, 2007 4:24 AM EST
    Allergies, the pollen from carrying 363 tons worth of flowers finally overcame the Claritan.

    The ISG is a reasonable starting point. Rational discussion from its points would probably be more effective than "I don't wanna and you can't make me." Baker has know him his entire life, he should have known that the report needed to be illustrated. "My Pet Goat" kept him spellbound.
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 February 8, 2007 4:07 AM EST
    More hearts and minds, I see.

    The Iraqi in the photo must have either ran out of flowers, or stopped dancing.
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 February 8, 2007 4:06 AM EST
    firststate,

    Good points, but I don't give our Resident quite as much credit for our current situation. I think that he does what he is told to do.

    Unfortunately most of our Congress is complicit in many of the worst deeds of the Bush regime. Because of this, I think that they will have a very hard time offering any real alternatives to our present course.

    I hope the Democrats prove me wrong, but I am not holding my breath. I think that we must all demand accountability from our officials, by way of angry torch-bearing mob, if necessary.

    Nighty, night.
    Reply to this comment
    by firststate February 8, 2007 3:40 AM EST
    feelfree1
    You've hit upon the real problem with dumbya's communication monitoring and extraordinary renditions programs. Namely, suspected by whom and upon what basis are they considered suspected terrorists? Is the criteria for suspicion that your trustworthy administration says so? These are some of the very questions the white house didn't want to have to answer and suddenly discover that they could work within the FISA after all. They finally admitted that starting to monitor instantly didn't impose unnecessary delay after all. Congress needs to keep digging anyway. Dumbya and dickey don't have sterling reputations for total honesty and they might be going at their under the table spying on American's some slightly different way. There's an unconfirmed report that dickey accidentally told the truth recently, breaking his record of slightly over 6 years of abstinence.
    Reply to this comment
    by feelfree1 February 8, 2007 3:20 AM EST
    Re: "But before the U.S. could announce the cause of the crash, a jihadi Web site linked to al Qaeda was already declaring victory, reports chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan."

    What web site? Who "linked" this alleged web site to al Qaeda, and what basis did they use for the "link"?

    Ms. Logan is a breathless propaganda tool of the pro-Corporate butchers. One of her primary functions appears to be as a hype agent for the 'alQaeda in Iraq' fables.

    She accomplishes this by revealing what has been "linked" to what, and what is "believed", by mysterious unnamed officials.

    She's embedded, all right.
    Reply to this comment
    by jdweymouth February 8, 2007 2:44 AM EST
    RE: "Stay away from that GOP Slime News,,, You are better off believing in the National Enquirer."

    j-whitman: You call conservatives fascists? What do you call that bit above? Communism? Yeah, maybe...
    Reply to this comment
    by jdweymouth February 8, 2007 2:41 AM EST
    condumism: Not so. As a matter of fact, many
    Nazis hate Bush because he supports Israel.
    Reply to this comment
    by radiob-2009 February 8, 2007 2:10 AM EST
    lars008 The fact of the matter is that no one will ever 100% know who outed Plane, suspicion looms around the white house as the source. Libby will take the fall and America will never know. Just like Liventko accept not as deadly.It truly is "Apathy for the devil and it's at fever pitch"
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 February 8, 2007 2:02 AM EST
    radiob

    righttttttttttttttttttt
    you have a secret under cover wife you love and want to protect and you are going to put pay to put her in who's who with here covert name valerie plame as your wife, not as valerie wilson, wife of joe wilson..... duhhhhhhhhh.....
    Reply to this comment
    See all 126 Comments
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