News From the Surge (Updated)

Detailed news from Iraq is difficult to come by if you are looking in the MSM. Here are a few of the most recent news stories coming out of Iraq, and a few of the military briefings.

Starting with Iraq the Model:

It seems that in Iraq days just refuse to pass silently and they insist on having their own incidents. Today and yesterday are no exception and several significant incidents happened, or still happening, in the fourth corners of the country. Except for Baghdad which remained quiet today.

In the west, particularly in Anbar, the Anbar Awakening Council announced the capture of what appears to be an intelligence treasure. This is what sheik Hameed al-Hayis, a member of the Council told al-Sabah yesterday:

We captured so many of their document and these contain the names of al-Qaeda groups in the province, the letters that were exchanged among those groups, the surveillance reports they were filing to their Emirs about civilian people of Ramadi like clerics and college students as well as details of trials [and executions] to which innocents were subjected.

The al-Qaeda terrorists in Anbar continue their campaign to terrorize the population that is turning against them. This morning another attack with a chlorine gas bomb struck western Ramadi killing and injuring dozens of civilians and policemen.
No wonder al-Qaeda is sending more of their suicide bombers to murder the people of Anbar; a friend of mine who visited the area just two days ago said he saw a crowd of young men near an ISF recruiting center that was "larger than anything else I had seen in Baghdad"

In Diwaniya, the mid-south city to which many Mehdi army militiamen and commanders escaped from the Baghdad operation, Iraqi and US forces are clashing with elements of the Mehdi army. The reports we're getting show that 5 were killed and 15 others were injured in the fighting so far. Al-Arabiya TV reported that the joint force has secured at least two sectors of the city and has also found 2 bomb factories during the ongoing house to house search operations.

It's worth nothing that the situation in the mid-south region provinces has been tense for some time; over the last month or so there have been several minor clashes between the local security forces and the Mehdi army in several places in and around Hilla just north of Diwaniya. . . .

Bill Rogio has a roundup on major operations starting now outside Baghdad.

Outside the Wire has a report with video on a March 26 attack by Al Qaeda in Iraq on Camp Omar, manned by soldiers 1-501 Infantry.

This a story from the 82nd Abn of identifying and taking down terrorist leaders in Adhaminyah.

On video, there are a couple of briefings from Iraq. Both are a bit dry but full of information not only on the surge but also on reconstruction that you will not find elsewhere. The first is a joint briefing with a representative of the Iraqi government.



This is a briefing from April 6 out of the Big Red One


And if you missed it, here was the joint briefing of Sec of Defense Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Pace.