As Brits Return From Iran, 4 Die In Iraq

Soldiers Killed By Roadside Bomb On Day 15 Troops Arrived Home After 13 Days In Captivity

(CBS/AP) 
Blair has announced that Britain will withdraw about 1,600 troops in the next few months and hopes to make other cuts to its 7,100-strong contingent by late summer.

The U.S. helicopter was the ninth to go down in Iraq this year, raising concern among the military that insurgents are using more sophisticated weapons or have figured out how to use the old arms in new and effective ways.

The U.S. military issued only a brief statement saying the helicopter went down and that the incident was under investigation.

An Iraqi army official said it was a Black Hawk that had gone down after it came under fire about 7:30 a.m. near the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad.

The Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, said U.S. forces had cordoned off the site, which was in a rural area. He said the militants apparently were using anti-aircraft heavy machine guns.

Latifiyah, part of the area known as the Triangle of Death, is a stronghold of the Sunni-based insurgency, reports CBS News' Pete Gow.

The last helicopter incident occurred on March 1, when an OH-58 Kiowa made a hard landing in northern Iraq, leaving its two crew members wounded. A week earlier, ground fire forced down a Black Hawk north of Baghdad. Black Hawks are commonly used by the military for transportation in Iraq to avoid the dangers of roadside bombs and ambushes.

The U.S. military said its five soldiers were killed in three separate attacks in the Baghdad area, where thousands of American forces have taken to the streets with their Iraqi counterparts as part of the operation to quell sectarian violence in the city of 6 million.

A roadside bomb Wednesday killed two soldiers and wounded three others in southern Baghdad, while another blast north of the capital killed two soldiers and wounded one, the military said. The fifth soldier was killed Tuesday by small-arms fire while on patrol in a predominantly Shiite part of eastern Baghdad, the military said.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell has expressed disappointment at the high level of violence in Iraq despite a drop in the overall death toll in Baghdad during the U.S.-Iraqi security sweep, now in its eighth week. The Iraqi government said it was extending the operation to confront spreading violence elsewhere.

In other violence, gunmen ambushed a prison checkpoint southwest of the northern city of, killing 10 policemen, the officials said.

The Iraqi government said Wednesday that it was extending the security crackdown to Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said parts of the city were completely under the control of militants.

In Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, police reported finding the bullet-riddled bodies of 20 men who were abducted at a checkpoint Wednesday, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

[randalds]

All you folks, who want to wage wars on every country with a President who loses them - - - ENLIST DO YOUR DUTY
Posted by j-whitman at 07:41 PM : Apr 05, 2007

They won't. The biggest war cheerleaders are always the biggest gutless yellow-bellied cowards, like Bush and Cheney. It's no surprise that their most blindly devoted followers here are just as gutless, just as yellow-bellied and just as big of cowards as they are.

[norcalruss]

Only Ronald Dumsfeld or John McCain%u2019s BS Express would paint a rosy picture of Iraq now. Its like Forrest Gump would say - stupid is as stupid does. When we elect an intellectual midget like Bush we get a stupid war based on lies that goes on and on with no end in sight. If Congress had any gonads they would impeach Bush and Cheney and try them as war criminals.

[rharrin1]

See in the picture the Iraqi holding the british helmet he is laughing. This is why we need to get the h*ll out of there.

[rharrin1]

Or is this just OK with Congress?
Posted by inventagod at 06:20 PM : Apr 05, 2007

The democrats do not have enough votes to overturn the bush veto next election we can get the rest of the rubber stamps out of Washington.

[rharrin1]

See the surge work.

[j-whitman]

Want to live under FEAR ?? - Put another republican in office.

[iceman_1960]

"Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!"
Posted by mbcsmith at 04:42 PM : Apr 05, 2007

That line worked like a charm in 2004.

It won't work in 2008. That's a promise.

The American people have wised up a lot in the last 3 years. The negative poll numbers for this administration have hardened, unlike those of Reagan and Clinton in their second terms.

It's all over.

"Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!" -- That dog won't hunt anymore. All it can do now is roll over and play dead.

[j-whitman]

All you folks, who want to wage wars on every country with a President who loses them - - - ENLIST DO YOUR DUTY

[randalds]

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday fired two senior members of his movement after they met with the top U.S. military officer in Iraq, a lawmaker close to the anti-American cleric said.

Too bad Bush fire Blinky Pelosi for the SAME thing!
Posted by badaxmofo at 07:31 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Typical right wing idea. Doesn't understand how the electoral process works (not surprising as Bush and most of his blind followers would fail a basic civics test with worlds first negative grade). Let me explain it in words you'll understand. Bush no hire her. Bush no can fire her. People vote for her. Not Bush. So Bush no can fire her.

Simple enough? If not go on down to your learning place tomorrow (you know. The one room building where your pappy drops you on the way to the fields) and ask your School Marm to explain it to you.

[inventagod]

Four more troops killed in Iraq protecting the Bu$h Oil Reserve today, and this does not even make the headlines in brain-dead America.

What the heck will it take for US voters to realize they have been CONNED by the slickest bunch of lying politicians to have ever rolled into Washington?

Or is this just OK with Congress?

[lars008-2009]

Groans, Blair sounds like a sound bite of Bush.

Both these idiots will go down in the history books as the incompetent screwups they are.
Posted by clestes at 05:53 PM : Apr 05, 2007

they will go down in history as taking the fight to the fascist nazi islamic muslims......

just like thomas jefferson did and theodore roosevelt did........

the war that fascist nazi Islamic muslims started and continues on yet today%u2026%u2026

The Truth about Islamic Crusades and Imperialism

Historical facts say that Islam has been imperialistic%u2014and would still like to be, if only for religious reasons. Many Muslim clerics, scholars, and activists, for example, would like to impose Islamic law around the world. Historical facts say that Islam, including Muhammad, launched their own Crusades against Christianity long before the European Crusades.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/11/the_truth_about_islamic_crusad.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/2004/08/the_muslim_crusades.html

[clestes-2009]

Groans, Blair sounds like a sound bite of Bush.

Both these idiots will go down in the history books as the incompetent screwups they are.

[randalds]

The DS stands for Di*k Small. Your overcompensation betrays your inadequacies where it really counts. Please don't respond to any of my comments as your LIB SPEW has become quite tiresome.
Posted by mbcsmith at 05:01 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Why is it that when this right wing loonies like this get angry the always start asking about your di*ck size? Every time without fail the di*ck is the first thing they try to change the subject to. Only thing I can figure is this guy must be another republican Ted Haggard and that it's getting a little claustrophobic in his closet. Come on mbcsmith! Come out of the closet! I have several g*ay friends and they always felt better after they came out and I'm sure you will to. It's really for your own good and mental well being you know.

[mbcsmith]

Like being ruled by a fascist neo-Nazi fat bas***** and his idiotic puppet?

Find a way to re-elect Bush and Cheney!
Posted by RandalDS at 04:54 PM : Apr 05, 2007


The DS stands for Di*k Small. Your overcompensation betrays your inadequacies where it really counts. Please don't respond to any of my comments as your LIB SPEW has become quite tiresome.

[lars008-2009]

Like being ruled by a fascist neo-Nazi fat bas***** and his idiotic puppet?

Find a way to re-elect Bush and Cheney!
Posted by RandalDS at 04:54 PM : Apr 05, 2007

submit to fascist nazi islam..........

FASCIST NAZI ISLAM / PERFECT EXAMPLE OF FASCISM!!!
Fascist nazi islam is intent on killing or enslaving all non muslims......

The most notable characteristic of a fascist country is the separation and persecution or denial of equality to a specific segment of the population based upon superficial qualities or belief systems.
Simply stated, a fascist government always has one class of citizens that is considered superior (good) to another (bad) based upon race, creed or origin. It is possible to be both a republic and a fascist state. The preferred class lives in a republic while the oppressed class lives in a fascist state.
http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/Structure3.htm

[randalds]

Like Iraq ? Vote Republican !
Posted by superdem at 04:38 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!
Posted by mbcsmith at 04:42 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Like being ruled by a fascist neo-Nazi fat bas***** and his idiotic puppet?

Find a way to re-elect Bush and Cheney!

[randalds]

Hey di*ckweed you asked for a source so I told you where I heard it from. If you can't believe the uber-conservative Pat Buchanan then go do your own online research or quit bi*tching. So far all you seem to be doing is being a waste of space and air.
Posted by RandalDS at 04:07 PM : Apr 05, 2007


I asked you for NOTHING a**hole. You just can't seem to keep your f**kng mouth shut anyway! You are a LIAR and a pu**y. Your pri*k size must really make you feel inadequate.
Posted by mbcsmith at 04:31 PM : Apr 05, 2007

LOL! As the Great Bugs Bunny once said: "What a maroon!!" LOL!

[lars008-2009]

is it time to end fascist nazi islam once and for all???

a muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/s
tory.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c5
4b0ad7

But for a Muslim to keep his word to an infidel at the expense of opportunities to expand Islamic power is the Islamic equivalent of a mortal sin.

Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim by demanding that America once again appease the Islamists. Their demand for withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan in the face of Islamist attacks aimed to re-enslave the populations of those countries will get America into a much larger war a lot sooner than the 17 years to took for appeasement to lead to war at the end of the 18th Century.


Ben Franklinb%u20AC%u2122s use of an imaginary Algerian pirate to satirize a pro-slavery Congressman shows his clear understanding of the danger posed by Islamism. Modern day Americans would do well to consider the lessons of the War with Islamism fought by Thomas Jefferson and again by James Madison and this alternate meaning in Franklinb%u20AC%u2122s final words of warning.

[mbcsmith]

Like Iraq ? Vote Republican !
Posted by superdem at 04:38 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!

[mbcsmith]

Like Iraq ? Vote Republican !
Posted by superdem at 04:38 PM : Apr 05, 2007

Want terrorist attacks? Vote LIB!