Pat Dollard | Young Americans

More details on Pat’s earlier post on al- Maliki riding into battle in Mosul:

BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday to supervise a military offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq, a defense ministry spokesman said.

Al-Maliki’s flight to northern Iraq mirrors a similar trip he took almost two months ago to the southern city of Basra, where government troops fought radical Shiite militias. That fighting spread to the Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad, where a cease-fire to end the fighting was reached on Monday.

“The Iraqi prime minister has arrived in Mosul to supervise the military operations, and its second phase is due to start today,” Mohammed al-Askari, the spokesman of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, told The Associated Press. “The main aim of this operation is to purge and clean Ninevah province of all militants and their weapons and declare it a safe area.”

Mosul is considered the last important urban staging ground for al- Qaida in Iraq after the terror group lost its strongholds in Baghdad and other areas during the U.S. troop buildup last year. Al-Maliki has been promising a crackdown since last January. But no major offensives have been mounted even as al-Qaida in Iraq tried to exert its influence through attacks and intimidation.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said U.S. forces were providing close support to Iraqi troops, who had arrested more than 500 people in Mosul and captured five weapons caches. He said the operation was shifting gears.

“This (new) phase has featured intensified operations by Iraqi security forces,” Bergner said.

Meanwhile, spokesmen for both the U.S. and Iraqi militaries confirmed that a girl strapped with explosives was the cause of a blast that killed an Iraqi captain and wounded four soldiers south of Baghdad on Wednesday. Iraqi Army Lt. Ahmed Ali said the explosives were detonated by remote control as the girl approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah.

In western Iraq, a senior U.S. commander said Wednesday that al-Qaida persists and that a recent increase in attacks shows that the group remains a threat there. A group of al-Qaida fighters recently infiltrated the area, went to the homes of 11 Iraqi police officers and beheaded them and one of their sons, he said.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the commander of U.S. forces in Anbar province, said it appeared the insurgents crossed from the Syrian border, talked their way through a checkpoint and then went around a town grabbing police individually.

“Al-Qaida is not defeated. It’s an ideology,” he said. “Al-Qaida is still operational but on a smaller scale.”

In western Baghdad, a car bomb detonated next to a convoy carrying a lawmaker from the mostly Sunni Islamic Party. But lawmaker, Ayad al- Samarrie, was unhurt, police said. One civilian was killed and 20 others wounded, including four guards, they said.

Sadr City was largely quiet Wednesday as Shiite fighters appeared to respect a cease-fire agreement, though some skirmishes were still being reported. The fighting left five dead and 22 wounded, according to hospital officials.

“The cease-fire is still active and we are still at square one,” said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi, an Iraqi army spokesman. “Nothing has been achieved so far as security forces are still waiting for the Sadrist leaders to prepare the appropriate atmosphere to enable our security forces to enter Sadr City to do their duties.”

A U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb exploded next to his vehicle in northwest Baghdad. Officials were withholding the soldier’s name and unit until the family could be notified.

(AP)