Free Ticket to Baghdad

Free ticket to Baghdad

Nov. 27 - The Iraqi government has launched a campaign to get 1 million Iraqi refugees in Syria to come home. (from MSNBC)

Fallujah Rebuilds, Al Qaeda Refuge No More

Nearly 450 Iraqis are currently working to get Fallujah’s first-ever sewer system operational by next summer. That number is expected to soon grow to a construction force of 700 Iraqis.

Reuters also reports on November 28 -

"FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Falluja, once the heart of Iraq's bloody insurgency, is hoping to trade mortar bombs for bricks and mortar as it seeks to heal its wounds and return to normality.

With a greater number of police officers on the streets, there are signs that the city is on its way to achieving it.

By day, people, cars and minibuses compete on the streets as police try to direct the teeming traffic.

At night, men relax outdoors on plastic chairs, smoking and talking. Driving is still banned, but people ride bicycles and children play street soccer under the glow of recently installed solar-powered street lights.

The city is undertaking public works projects big and small.

In the western part of the city, minaret towers are being erected above a new mosque in place of a building destroyed in an air strike.

There are new hospitals, clinics and schools..."

On the March

Police trainees practice drill and ceremony during training in Adl, Iraq, Nov. 21, 2007.

New Police Stations Open

Mayor Najim of Tal 'Afar, Iraq, speaks during a validation ceremony in Tal 'Afar, Iraq, Nov. 6, 2007. The ceremony celebrated the six Iraqi police stations in the city that are now operating independently of coalition forces.

"Combat" Team Helps Build Baghdad Hospital

Spc. Sheena Griffin, a medic with Company C, 610th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, leads a group of Soldiers through an unfinished hospital in the Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad's West Rashid district, Nov. 24. The 4th IBCT plans to assist the Iraqi government in building a hospital on the site.

"Iraq 'progress' shifts US political sands"

From AFP last week...

"WASHINGTON (AFP) — Hints of US military progress in Iraq are shifting the political ground under Democratic White House candidates, and boosting the spirits of Republicans who have taken a beating over the unpopular war.

Recent monthly declines in US troop deaths, signs that sectarian violence might be ebbing and claims by the Bush administration of grassroots political progress in Iraq, have lent new angles to the furious war debate.

Upbeat commentary on the war is also complicating life for Democrats in Congress, who have repeatedly failed to fracture President George W. Bush's firewall of support among Republicans on the war.

Lawmakers who backed Bush's troop surge strategy are jubilant."

BBC Reports Baghdad Security Improving

"Four Iraqis across Baghdad describe a welcome drop in violence in their city in recent weeks"

Attacking the Enemy South of Baghdad

Reports indicate the next battle for Iraq is in the badlands south of Baghdad - our forces are already advancing on the enemy.

Iraqi Islamic Party: “Al Qaeda is Defeated”

From Michael Yon Online Magazine -

“Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans."

And here's the video one more time - I love this shit, the truth finally comes out!

Playing with Bombs gets Insurgents Killed

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle footage observing individuals placing an IED on a dirt road, which is exploded by an Apache helicopter.

The motto? Playing with bombs gets insurgents killed.

Blasting Al Qaeda in Iraq Hiding Place

The Jewel of Baghdad Reopens

Signs of Victory

In Hand

A young Iraqi boy shakes hands with U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Brian Griggs from 2nd Platoon, Alpha Troop, 3-1 Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, while stopped at a snap joint tactical control checkpoint outside of Patrol Base Assassin, Iraq, Oct. 26, 2007.

Smells Like Victory

Troop Surge, Iraqis’ Anger Puts al Qaeda ‘On the Run’

A combination of unceasing pressure by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and citizens’ anger at al Qaeda in Iraq’s brutal tactics have put the terror group “on the run,” a senior U.S. military officer said today.

“The surge in operations centered in Baghdad and the surrounding belts and up in the Diyala River Valley have driven much of al Qaeda into the rural areas and has caused them to flee northward,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference yesterday.

The recently launched Operation Iron Hammer is designed to prevent fleeing al Qaeda operatives from re-establishing safe havens and networks, Smith said. Three U.S. brigade combat teams and three Iraqi Army divisions are participating in the large-scale offensive, which stretches across four provinces in northern Iraq, he said.

Previous operations resulted in the capture of (35) al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) insurgents in October, Smith reported, noting six of those detainees are senior terrorist leaders.

“The targeting of (AQI) leadership and their networks has contributed to the downward trend in violence we are seeing across Iraq,” the admiral said.

US Forces Slaughter Al Qaeda in Battle

U.S. and Iraqi forces killed an estimated 15 al-Qaeda gunmen during a fierce battle south of Baghdad after the militants launched a major attack on recently formed neighborhood patrols, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Defeated

Other media are reporting victory as well...even the WASHINGTON POST!

"(CBS News) BAGHDAD Many U.S. military commanders in Iraq believe they have dealt a large enough blow to al Qaeda in Iraq to declare victory over the group, according to a report in the Washington Post."

Iraq Surge Great Success

Owned

Enemy combatants launched a mortar attack against Balad Air Base recently and quickly received counter fire.