North Of Baghdad, War Getting Worse

More Attacks, Less Troops In Diyala Province As Military Focuses On Baghdad Crackdown

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick, embedded with U.S. forces in Diyala province. She can be heard frequently on CBS Radio.

---

Dozens of Iraqi humvees, backed by U.S. soldiers and Bradley fighting vehicles, streamed into the village of Buritz, in the second attempt in a week to flush out enemy fighters. The dusty streets were otherwise empty; the residents holed up in their homes.

The Iraqi soldiers went door-to-door, kicking their way in and questioning those inside. A few streets away, other Iraqi soldiers were fighting gun battles. Snipers opened fire on them several times.

The Iraqi soldiers surrounded the house of a suspected bomb-maker. At first hesitant to go inside for fear it was booby-trapped, they eventually stormed in and seized items used to build makeshift weapons. They blew up a car outside the house that they suspected would be used in a vehicle-borne attack.

Buritz is part of Baqouba, an ethnically mixed city 35 miles north of Baghdad. It's one of several villages U.S. and Iraqi troops are in the process of clearing. American commanders believe securing these communities is crucial to the goal of handing over control of the Diyala province to Iraqi security forces in the coming months.

But the operations have grown deadlier, complicated by what may be an influx of Sunni and Shiite fighters flushed out of Baghdad by the stepped-up security operations there.

One U.S. battalion has lost 17 men here since October, accounting for more casualties in four months than an entire U.S. brigade lost the year before.

---

See Cami McCormick's Report In Pictures
Listen To Cami's Report

---

"It's a very complex environment," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jay George, deputy commander, 3rd Brigade. And there are fewer U.S. troops here to operate in it — last year two American brigades were in the area, now there is one.

"It's definitely not a friendly area to either Iraqi Security Forces or Coalition forces," said Army First Lt. Ryan Boeka, leading a foot patrol through Buritz earlier in the week. "A lot of people from the Baath party are in here, and there are some other groups that push in from other areas."

Boeka and the other soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, (which has lost five men since December), have been living with the Iraqis at the Buritz Police Station, which was recently over-run by insurgents and later re-taken by U.S. forces. Half of the building is collapsed from a U.S. missile strike during that effort.

This week, an Iraqi police checkpoint nearby also came under attack, and the police fled. When U.S. forces moved in and secured the area the Iraqis returned, only to flee again when more gunfire was aimed their way.

Iraqi checkpoints have been hit so many times by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, and the roads leading to them lined with IEDs to target Americans coming to their assistance that the U.S. military decided to dismantle many of them.

"They were getting attacked over and over again," said George. "It was just a point of reference for the enemy to go to, so what we decided to do was break down the checkpoints and go on the offensive."

The U.S. has set up a training academy near Baqouba, and Iraqi soldiers and police recently practiced defending a building from attack. But when George visits Iraqi commanders he urges them to "attack, attack" and then repeats the word in Arabic to drive home his message about the need to go after the enemy, rather than waiting for it to come to them.

That is part of what the Buritz operation was all about. The new Iraqi police and Army units are hesitant to leave their bases without U.S. support. But the Americans are insisting they take the lead in operations. U.S. soldiers often stand in the rear, advising the Iraqis on how to treat suspects they detain and how to search houses for weapons.

The Iraqis appear to have more confidence with the Americans behind them, but they are no safer from the IED threat. An Iraqi humvee was ripped apart by one during the most recent clearing operation. Two Iraqi soldiers inside were killed and three others walking behind the vehicle were seriously wounded. At the end of the operation, the Iraqis pulled the damaged humvee — nothing more than a smoking axle — from a canal and towed it away.

Roadside bombs are a major threat in this part of Diyala. Twenty were discovered during one recent weekend.

One U.S. patrol this week spotted men laying out bombs along a roadway the Americans use often. The men left mortars, an artillery shell, and a canister filled with explosives to form a "daisy chain", or a chain reaction of explosions.

It was a coordinated attack. They fired first on a nearby Iraqi checkpoint to distract the Iraqi police and stop civilian traffic from coming through. There were also men blocking the road from the other direction. When the U.S. soldiers spotted the suspects they called in U.S. military helicopters to give chase.

"God, I hope they get them," one of the U.S. soldiers said as he watched the helicopters trail the men.

The suspects vanished into the date palm groves lining the road.

[lars008-2009]

Appeal for Redress

Sign this Appeal.

This site is an Appeal For Redress in support of our mission in Iraq.

An Appeal For Redress is an authorized means for active duty military to submit a grievance to Congress. It can be signed by Active Duty, Reserve, or National Guard military personnel.


It is authorized by DoD Directive 1325.6 and DoD Directive 7050.6.

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is:
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.
If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.

Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.
http://www.appealforcourage.org/

[j-whitman]

Lars,, Your GOP rhetoric comes straight from Nazi War Criminal Reinhard Gehlen to fuel the resentment on the Soviets, he was deleberatly wrong on 90% of the intellegence he gave us.

[lars008-2009]

During WW II, the Japanese were searching for a way to demoralize the American forces that they faced. Their psychological warfare experts came up with a message that they thought would work well.

They gave the script to their famous broadcaster, "Tokyo Rose," and every day she would broadcast this same message packaged in various ways, hoping to have an impact on American GI morale. What was the message?
It had three main points:
1. Your president is lying to you.
2. This war is illegal.
3. You cannot win the war.

Sound familiar? the Democratic Party has picked up the same message and is broadcasting it to civilians domestic and abroad, and to our troops and our enemies. The only difference is that they claim to support our troops before they demoralize them.

Come to think of it, Tokyo Rose used to tell the troops that she was on their side.

I am often struck by how similar the rhetoric from the left is to the rhetoric from our enemies. Consider this transcript of a taped al qaeda message

[cbs_oliver]

News reports from imbedded journalists and others like Cami McCormick seem not to talk about US troops and aircraft actually killing anybody. They secure areas. They search. They arrest. Sometimes they engage in firefights. But they never seem to kill anyone - and certainly not civilians. Ever since we decided that the Iraqis were or perhaps were not engaged in a civil war It seems like it is only the Iraqis who shoot straight and use bombs effectively and actually kill folks - especially civilians. This has got to be wrong.

Cami McCormick, please improve your reporting.

[krotec54]

Sister Riverbend, You may say that the Americans had lost this War. But, What did we Iraqi win? I believe we Iraqi lost so much more.
Please Sister Riverbend, Who lied to us?

[grumpas]

lars008: Grow up and join the rest of us in the real world!!!! Try it you might like it! You are trying to compare apple's with oranges with the WWII analogy! Most of what you are saying has no sound basis of fact to it! A lot of us knew Bush was lying about Iraq before he ever invaded! Everyone else in the know said there were no WMD's in Iraq the weapons inspector's said they could find no evidence! Bush seemed to be the only person who thought there were! Saddam Hussein had no connection to 9/11 most of the hijackers were Saudi's! Iraq was no threat at all to us militarily! The only threat was to Israel but guess what we are not Israel! It was not in our best interest as a nation to invade them! But Bush was beating the drums of war so hard any opposition to his insane plan were drowned out! There were a lot of us around who opposed the war because he was starting it for ALL THE WRONG REASONS! I knew it was going to be this kind of a disaster before he started it! It always is when you deliberately uncork the "religious" gene in the bottle! When you allow religious fundamentalist's to run amok with no restrictions! Saddam Hussein kept this mess in check by terrorizing them! That is literally the only way to deal with religious extremist's! Whether they are Shiite, Sunni or Christian's!

[krotec54]

To my Brave Sister in Iraq, who posts under the name of "Riverbend", that had the answer: I must disagree with you on Who lost more in this war. We lost respect with the world when we lied about our situation with Saddam, We lost our safety when the murderers were release from the prisons. We lost our pride when our military took off their uniform and hid behind the skirts of our mothers. We lost our wealth and history when we allowed our brothers to loot our banks and our museums. We lost our future when we allowed the gangsters and our militia head to power as Iraq%u2019s first democratic government and now they are killing us with their death Squads. We lost our security when we cannot trust our police. We lost when we lost control of our courts. We lost when we demanded respect and received none. America may have lost more that 3000 troops, but, How many of our Iraqi citizen did we really lose? 30,000 or 300,000? Will there be peace when the Americans leave? Will Iran and Syria help us rebuild or will our militia be fight a new occupying force and not being able to sell our oil? Will we, in 10 or 20 yrs later be calling on the West to assist us with our economy and trade like the country of Vietnam? We lost the chance to become a country and the chance to abolish this cursive religion of Peace called Islam. And yes sister, I married an American, converted to Christianity, changed my name and moved to a Western country.

[frankly6]

Lars, since you%u2019re into quizzes, here%u2019s one: Which of these actions accomplished more towards wining the war on terrorism? Attacking Iraq under fraudulently falsified pretences or raising billions of dollars and sending US military support to Indonesia after the tsunami? Holding teenage boys and 80 year-old men indefinitely in GITMO and encouraging the abusive behavior of Abu Graib or sending humanitarian aid and US military helicopters and medics to Pakistan after the earthquake? Which of these actions validate everything the terrorists espouse? Which actions undermine and contradict everything they decry? Which fills their coffers with gold and lines up suicidal volunteers? Which gives hope to the populace and vanquishes terrorists%u2019 sanctuary? Which acts create and nurture those terrorists groups you most want us to see and fear?
The war on terror will not be won through military destruction, but it is certain to be lost if we continue to destroy our reputation in the world as we are now. Any step forward we take with an act of kindness, we give two back to the terrorists with every violent act we justify in the name of war. The terrorists%u2019 greatest victory in Iraq will not be our withdrawal; it was our invasion and continues with our half-baked occupation. The greater ideology will win the war on terror, not the greater body count.
Posted by Meritocrat at 04:15 AM : Feb 24, 2007



So good it deserves a repost.

[musty2u]

No longer newsworthy

[bluestardad]

Proof our politicians are being bought by the Middle East! If you are tired of fighting Proxy wars for them read this and write your elected officials on the links provided.

http://www.aipac.org/forms/
join_aipacClubs.htm

The Elite Minyan group - you mean for a minimum of only $100,000 dollars a year I too can shape world policy? Tell me more!
For years no one would say anything against promoting the Israeli agenda for fear of being labeled an anti-Semitist but now America is learning it is also acceptable to disagree with Israeli promoters like AIPAC members who would gladly sell thousands of American soldier%u2019s lives to promote Israeli interest!Who cares if a country doesn%u2019t recognize Israel%u2019s right to exist? For years America did not recognize Peoples Republic of China%u2019s right to exist either!Get a grip do not be pulled into this NEOCON war talk!DON%u2019T BE A PUNK! GET SOME BALLS; BORROW SOME IF YOU NEED TO! DON%u2019T TALK A GOOD FIGHT GET IN THE FIGHT! Email your senators and representatives and tell them your views! http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_in

formation/senators_cfm.cfm or http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

[meritocrat]

Lars, since you%u2019re into quizzes, here%u2019s one: Which of these actions accomplished more towards wining the war on terrorism? Attacking Iraq under fraudulently falsified pretences or raising billions of dollars and sending US military support to Indonesia after the tsunami? Holding teenage boys and 80 year-old men indefinitely in GITMO and encouraging the abusive behavior of Abu Graib or sending humanitarian aid and US military helicopters and medics to Pakistan after the earthquake? Which of these actions validate everything the terrorists espouse? Which actions undermine and contradict everything they decry? Which fills their coffers with gold and lines up suicidal volunteers? Which gives hope to the populace and vanquishes terrorists%u2019 sanctuary? Which acts create and nurture those terrorists groups you most want us to see and fear?
The war on terror will not be won through military destruction, but it is certain to be lost if we continue to destroy our reputation in the world as we are now. Any step forward we take with an act of kindness, we give two back to the terrorists with every violent act we justify in the name of war. The terrorists%u2019 greatest victory in Iraq will not be our withdrawal; it was our invasion and continues with our half-baked occupation. The greater ideology will win the war on terror, not the greater body count.

[johnshaft4]

Don't worry...The dead enders are on their last throes.

[jms_cheung]

I believe the security situation in Iraq is not going to improve as long as the Sunni-Iraqis are LEFT OUT AS A MINORITY IN THE PARLIAMENT OR THE POLILICE/ARMY FORCES. Existing Security Forces made up of largely Shiites will only aggravate Sunni-Iraqis to fight back ...end result is what's going on now. The only possible solution now is to DISSOLVE the present Parliament...and rule Iraq with a Marshall Plan (similar to one used on Germany after WWII )The US & Nato should be fully in-charge of this so-called Marshall Plan to bring peace to Iraq.
A selected Council of equal number of Sunnis/Shiites/Kurds and other minority groups shall run the country....likewise the Police/Army forces must have EQUAL quotas from both Shiites/ Shiites & Kurds. I believe such a practical Plan would work...and bring UNITY and PEACE to the new Iraq. To continue with so-called DEMOCRACY wil bring only destruction .

[rharrin1]

Lars

I told you to stop milking that bull and I mean it.

[j-whitman]

Radio,, I can send him some California Spinich to go with his peanut butter & tell him it's God food.

[radiob-2009]

Do you think the peanut butter got Lars and his compatriots at the KFC-Taco Bell in NY?

[radiob-2009]

Hedge Funds the kind you can lose a fortune from someones telephone call.
Posted by j-whitman
Yes they are high risk and you have to be extremely careful with them. Like some women that I know.

[radiob-2009]

Lars no one has a problem fighting Al Queda it is the reasons that were given for this war which have over and over again proven to be false.

[j-whitman]

Hedge Funds the kind you can lose a fortune from someones telephone call.

[radiob-2009]

Hedge funds J ,you mean like the kind that were used to topple the economy of Russia, S.America back in the late 90's.Are the Iraqis floating bonds and at what yield and maturity? 30 days at 30% interest like the Russians did?