WAR: US Launches Major Air Assault in Iraq, page 1

posted on Mar, 16 2006 @ 11:23 AM

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The US military has announced it has launced a major air assault near the Iraqi city of Summatra. The military has stated this air assault is the biggest since the invasion in 2003. 50 aircaft and 1,500 US and Iraqi troops are reportedly involved in the attack.

news.bbc.co.uk
The US military says it has launched a major air offensive against insurgents near the central Iraqi city of Samarra.

More than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and US troops have been deployed in the operation, according to a military statement.

The air assault is the biggest since the 2003 invasion, the military said.

A bomb attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, last month sparked widespread sectarian violence.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

This is just breaking, so there's not much info.

You have to wonder what size of target they're attacking if they need this amount of troops and aircraft.

[edit on 16-3-2006 by kegs]

jsobecky

posted on Mar, 16 2006 @ 01:37 PM

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They are calling it "Operation Swarmer", according to Fox News. It must be important, to use so much firepower. And it's expected to last several days. They want to prevent another Fallujah stronghold from being established.

robertfenix

posted on Mar, 16 2006 @ 01:46 PM

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They need the area cleared to move a forward fire base to North eastern border between Iraq and Iran

So they need to reduce the insurgents ability to wage war in the area

shots

posted on Mar, 16 2006 @ 07:04 PM

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They are calling it "Operation Swarmer", according to Fox News. It must be important, to use so much firepower. And it's expected to last several days. They want to prevent another Fallujah stronghold from being established.

My guess is that it might be because that this is the very same area where they bombed the shrine. No one wants a civil war and it appears they may have like you mentioned have been trying to break up any groups lurking in the area.

kegs

posted on Mar, 16 2006 @ 11:52 PM

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Certainly looks like they've got control of Iraq anyway eh?

Now, about those recent troop deployments to the forgotten Afghanistan...

Frosty

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 01:37 AM

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Mission Accomplished....

.....Redux

Anybody think this is prelude to Iran? How else coulld the US and Israel go about destroyting the various nuclear facilities of Iran? COuld missiles be used, aircraft or are they just planning a full scale invasion? meh

digitalassassin

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 01:53 AM

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A lot of people have said that the shrine was bombed by the Iranians. What if this U.S. Raid was setup to catch Iranian agents working in Iraq. They swarmed the town laying seige to it not allowing anyone or anything to leave.

Ulvetann

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 08:15 AM

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It would really be nice if people started to make sure, that names are spelled correctly, I have recently found so many errors in headlines, it's getting to me! The Iraqi city of Sumatra? C'mon!

grover

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 01:34 PM

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Ya know honestly its a damned if you do and a damned if you don't situation, if we don't go after the insurgents they will become more emboldened (how its beyond me but they will) but if we do, we alienate more people and do their recruiting for them. It seems to me that the Bush administration and the forces there have committed almost every mistake made by occupiers since the dawn of history...its lamost as if they never studied their history. Oh yes thats right bush was a low C student.

ceci2006

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 11:12 PM

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I find it interesting that "Operation Swarmer" occurred on the third anniversary of the second Iraqi war. I also wonder if this action smells like a pre-emptive strike instead of an operation to rid the area of insurgents. However, what seems suspicious to me the most is the fact that this activity around the border of Iran is somehow preparing the public--both US and England--for war against Iran.

Even though Iran is trying to negotiate with the US right now, it seems almost inevitable that Iran might be next, imho.

loam

posted on Mar, 17 2006 @ 11:18 PM

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On Scene: How Operation Swarmer Fizzled

Four Black Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew, three photographers, three print reporters and three Iraqi government officials right into the middle of Operation Swarmer. Iraqi soldiers in newly painted humvees, green and red Iraqi flags stenciled on the tailgates, had just finished searching the farm populated by a half-dozen skinny cows and a woman kneading freshly risen dough and slapping it to the walls of a mud oven.

The press, flown in from Baghdad to this agricultural gridiron northeast of Samarra, huddled around the Iraqi officials and U.S. Army commanders who explained that the "largest air assault since 2003" in Iraq using over 50 helicopters to put 1500 Iraqi and U.S. troops on the ground had netted 48 suspected insurgents, 17 of which had already been cleared and released. The area, explained the officials, has long been suspected of being used as a base for insurgents operating in and around Samarra, the city north of Baghdad where the bombing of a sacred shrine recently sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

But contrary to what many many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. ("Air Assault" is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What’s more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commanders.

Now, how ridiculous is that????

We are getting played, folks....

Britguy

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 07:57 AM

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The propaganda machine swings into action again

Faux News coverage also included footage of the Baghdad air assault and the WTC wreckage - see link below.www.propagandamatrix.com...

We have had Sky News on in the office the last couple of days and they were showing the same night time footage as Faux News were in reports about Operation Swarmer, which of course had nothing to do with this operation.

shots

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 09:15 AM

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Originally posted by loam
Now, how ridiculous is that????

We are getting played, folks....

Yeah you are being played alright. Played by the New York Times that is.
You know the one organization that is perhaps one of if not the most outspoken against the current administration that is.

And let us not forget their forged documents during the election by CBS (owned by the times) while we are at it

What they failed to tell you is

Yahoo News

About 80 suspected insurgents overall had been detained as of Saturday, and 17 were released after questioning, said Lt. Col. Edward S. Loomis, a 101st Airborne Division spokesman. He said the search teams turned up 15 weapons caches, containing 352 mortar rounds, 84 rocket-propelled grenades and a "significant amount" of material for making improvised roadside bombs, among other items.

[....]

Loomis said the three Americans' deaths were not directly related to Operation Swarmer. The soldier killed in Samarra was shot while manning an observation post in the riverside town, the command said.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

:shk: :shk: :shk:

Regenmacher

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 09:37 AM

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How US assault grabbed global attention -BBC
The international news agencies immediately rang the urgent bells on the story.

By the middle of Day Two in the ongoing operation, it was clear from both US and Iraqi military sources that the advance had met no resistance.

There were no clashes with insurgents. No casualties were reported.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Makes me wonder what this was about. Sounds more like a training excercise for a future event rather than actually looking for insurgents in Samarra. Suppose they needed an excuse to spend resources on it and see if they could get the media out of their bat caves....or it was really bad intel.

Pentagon hired contractor to advise on collecting information on churches, mosques, other U.S. sites

U.S. in exercise battle with Iran for control of Gulf

[edit on 18-3-2006 by Regenmacher]

dgtempe

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 10:40 AM

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This massive attack was the equivalent of the fake moon landing....

They say the moonlanding was fake. Get it?

Britguy

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 10:55 AM

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Just another dog and pony show and an exercise in controlled "perception management"

Just look at how all the major networks were jumping through hoops and hailing this as the biggest operation since "shock and awe", when in fact it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib photo op

ceci2006

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 02:11 PM

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It doesn't surprise me after reading the links that this is a glorified photo-op. Jeez. How low does the GWB Administration have to go to get attention?

But I still hold by my belief that these are the early steps toward a military confrontation with Iran.

curme

posted on Mar, 18 2006 @ 02:18 PM

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It's the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq show!

Unfortunately though, 'Operation Swarmer' may be canceled due to lack of interest.

jsobecky

posted on Mar, 19 2006 @ 01:57 AM

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Photo-op. Played. GWB staged this.

How about a MSM so eager for headlines that they jumped the gun, as one news anchor admitted they had?

What exactly were you hoping for, blood and gore so that the military could be blamed slaughtering innocents?

shots

posted on Mar, 19 2006 @ 10:47 AM

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Originally posted by jsobecky
How about a MSM so eager for headlines that they jumped the gun, as one news anchor admitted they had?

I too had brought up the mention of the media in the thread I started on the subject.

I pointed out that if this mission was successful, I think we may be seeing less and less of embedded media types because loose lips sink ships and the media has appeared to be leaking a lot of information which is not a good thing.

With that said and the reaction from the media, I would say not only did they jump the gun, they are mad because they were not included so now they are making a big fuss over it.