US Jets Dropping 500 lb bomb In Iraq

U.S. F-16 fighter planes dropped a series of 500 lb (220 kg) bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq overnight as the U.S. military launched a heavy offensive against rebels near the Syrian border. Nine of the powerful bombs were dropped, the U.S. military said, two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim, an insurgent stronghold on the Euphrates river about 20 km (12 miles) east of Iraq's border with Syria.

You know i hate it for the children in Iraq. But i wish they would let our soldiers do what they should do for once. We need to end this civil war and end the attacks, before this war does exactly what the post on the backdoor draft does, creates more division in this country.
We don't need no more times like Korea or Vietnam or heck Afghanistan. But for some reason our troops are held at bay doing police action, yet launch one offensive.
With the troops we have and could pour into Iraq, i honestly think should our government want this over, they could within a matter of days. All it takes is the all out commitment. We did it when Kuwait was taken, well we have 1,700 fallen so far, i think it's time to take care of our own. As i had on one post Let them Finish the Mission and come back home.

[PVVikeFan]

Amen Brother

The United States on Friday blocked the assets of Muhammad Yunis Ahmad, a Syrian-based former member of Saddam Hussein's regime who it said was wanted for funding and coordinating insurgent attacks in Iraq.
It is the latest of several designations by the U.S. Treasury aimed at militant supporters based in Syria. The United States has repeatedly said Syria was not doing enough to crack down on funding and support for Iraqi insurgents, and has imposed sanctions to push Syria to stop the financial flows.
The U.S. Teasury Department said Ahmad was a leader of the reconstituted Ba'ath party and a former regional governor in Iraq.
"Ahmad is first among the U.S. Central Command's list of key insurgent leaders, and the multinational forces in Iraq are offering a reward of $1 million for his capture," the director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control Robert Werner said in a statement.
The United States ordered Ahmad's assets blocked under a presidential executive order that allows the government to freeze assets of individuals or groups it believes are members of the former Iraqi regime or are supporting terrorist organizations.
The Treasury said the United States was also submitting Ahmad's name to the United Nations with the recommendation that he be listed by the 1518 Committee under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483, which requires members states to identify and freeze related assets as well.

[Shoe]

Are we even looking for Osama still? I mean you never hear anything about whats going on over there anymore. Maybe occassionally a tape might surface of Osama but thats about it.

US, Iraq troops launch second offensive.

About 1,000 U.S. Marines and Iraqi troops launched a second offensive Saturday against insurgents in restive Anbar province, this time targeting the marshy shores of a remote lake just north of Baghdad.

Operation Dagger, or Khanjar in Arabic, aims to uncover insurgent training camps and weapons caches in the southern part of the Lake Tharthar area in central Iraq, some 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. The region was the focus of a major campaign in late March that killed 85 insurgents.

"Operation Khanjar is focused on locating hidden weapons caches and denying insurgents sanctuary in the area that is a suspected insurgent and terrorist logistical hub," Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool said from Ramadi, the provincial capital.

The operation began a day after another 1,000 Marines and Iraqi forces, backed by battle tanks, fought their way into Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad in Anbar province. U.S. fighter aircraft dropped bombs and the tanks fired shells at insurgents holed up inside buildings.

The Marines said Saturday that about 50 insurgents had been killed and 100 insurgents had been captured in that campaign, codenamed Operation Spear.

"Marines and Iraqi soldiers continued operations through the night securing key objectives in and around the city while conducting presence patrols in order to hamper the insurgents movement," Pool added.

During their sweep, four Iraqi hostages were found "beaten, handcuffed and chained to a wall in a bunker located in central Karabilah," he said.

On March 23, U.S. and Iraqi forces killed about 85 militants at a suspected training camp along Lake Tharthar. That raid turned up booby-trapped cars, suicide-bomber vests, weapons and training documents. The insurgents included Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghans and Arabs from neighboring countries, officials said.

In early June, Marines sweeping the eastern part of the lake discovered an underground bunker complex in a rock quarry that had recently been used by insurgents and included air-conditioned living quarters and high tech military equipment, including night vision goggles. The military later destroyed the complex and weapons caches.

"The approximate 1,000-man force assigned to Operation Khanjar will search the area for signs of these camps and hidden weapons caches used by insurgents and foreign fighters to launch attacks on Iraqi citizens, soldiers, police and Coalition Forces," Pool said.