It's About Freaking Time They Did This!

[Slide On The Ice]

Hopefully they will wipe out the insurgancy and end the daily murders and kidnappings there.
Although I am no fool, no matter what, there will still be insurgants fighting back from everywhere else. Give them a cause, and they will keep on coming.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11857580/?GT1=7850

U.S. launches largest Iraq air assault in 3 years

50 aircraft, 1,500 soldiers attack targets north of Baghdad
U.S. helicopters leave their Iraqi base for the assault Thursday in a province north of Baghdad.

A military statement said the operation involving more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and U.S. troops as well as 200 tactical vehicles targeted suspected insurgents operating in Salahuddin, a province that includes Samarra, a town located 60 miles north of Baghdad.

“Initial reports from the objective area indicate that a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms,” the military said in a statement. IEDs are improvised explosive devices.

The military said the operation began Thursday morning and was likely to continue for several days.

Waqas al-Juwanya, a spokesman for Iraq’s joint coordination center in nearby Dowr, said “unknown gunmen exist in this area, killing and kidnapping policemen, soldiers and civilians.”

The province is a major part of the so-called Sunni triangle where insurgents have been active since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion three years ago. Saddam Hussein was captured in the province, not far from its capital, Tikrit.

Samarra was the site of a bombing attack last month on a Shiite shrine that set off sectarian reprisals and pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Diabolique]

I just saw their Press Secretary get flak for the Administration doing a Press Release on the same day as this operation, citing that Commanders' didn't know about it. real tight ship they're running there!

Still glad to see them finally show some muscle!

[swirlundergrounder]

Problem with this is that more innocent people are going to die as a result of collateral damage. It could dump more fuel into the fire. We'll have to see what happens...