Pat Dollard

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Alright, we’ve already had three in’ announcements on this here little site that a big offensive in Diyala was going to start any day, ( God love the Iraqi Army, still a little slow, I hear that was an issue. But hey, they’re at least using their iron sights, I hear- ” to try and ass-rape whatever elements of AQI were left there. And it’s been nasty business in Diyala since al Qaeda got there. That, ultimately, is their greatest mark of distinction, and of the three strongest elements that define their essence: their sheer and unrelenting dispassionate passion for executing the ultimate in horrors upon all who stand in their way, or who simply make for useful props to show in the media, or scare the local neighborhood. Many of you will recall Micheal Yon’s story from here about a kid who was taken from his family, and then returned to them cooked and laying on a wooden board, I think even with an apple stuffed in his mouth. Yes, you win the award for most savage on the planet. But not for most effective fighters and combat units, even if you’ve got some very good ones of those as well. So get out the way you waste of flesh Jihadi cult witches, our Middle East steamroller is far from finished…

“It is a dream for residents of this province to live in peace, away from killings and kidnappings,” Fadhil Hussein, a 48-year-old man, said from central Baqouba.

BAGHDAD- U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a new operation Tuesday aimed at clearing al-Qaida in Iraq from the volatile Diyala province, considered the last major insurgent safe haven near the capital.

New checkpoints went up across the province—one of the hardest areas to control since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003—and authorities banned unofficial traffic as troops searched for insurgents around the provincial capital of Baqouba, according to witnesses. Many residents said they were afraid to leave their houses.

The U.S.-backed Iraqi military is hoping to build on recent security gains from similar offensives against Sunni insurgents in the northern city of Mosul and Shiite militiamen in Baghdad and the southern cities of Basra and Amarah.

The religiously mixed area contains key supply routes to Baghdad and northern cities and has been plagued not only by attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, but also by the kidnappings and killings that have left many of its residents—both Sunni and Shiite—living in fear.

“It is a dream for residents of this province to live in peace, away from killings and kidnappings,” Fadhil Hussein, a 48-year-old man, said from central Baqouba. Khayria Hussein, a 50-year old resident, said her family was praying to “God to make this operation successful.”

But Ahmed Kadim, a 35-year-old businessman in the city, criticized the decision to announce the operation in advance.

“I think this allowed armed groups to flee outside the province,” Kadim said.

The troops were focusing on chasing al-Qaida and other insurgents, who have sought refuge in Diyala to escape earlier crackdowns, said Gen. Ali Ghaidan, the commander of Iraqi ground forces in the province, who announced the start of the operation.

Ghaidan said the operation’s goal is “to clear Diyala from al-Qaida.”

“We have a list of wanted persons that the troops will arrest during the operation,” Ghaidan said.

The province sits to the north of the capital and borders Iran. Baqouba, the provincial capital, was hit by twin suicide bombings that killed at least 28 people on July 15 and has seen a number of suicide attacks carried out by women.

“The goal of the operation is to seek out and destroy criminal elements and terrorist threats in Diyala and eliminate smuggling corridors in the surrounding area,” the U.S. military said in a statement.

The military said it was an Iraqi-led operation, stressing the point as the Iraqi government is seeking to assert more control over military operations.

Similar offensives against Shiite militiamen in Baghdad and southern cities have contributed to a sharp decline in attacks. But violence has been slower to decline in Diyala and elsewhere in northern Iraq despite several military operations in recent years.

Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, who commands U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said Iraqi security forces are better prepared this time.