Lt. General Odierno speaks about Operation Arrowhead Ripper
Tags: Operation Arrowhead Ripper
LTG Odierno, Commander of Multi-National Corps–Iraq, on CNN:
I guess I shouldn’t be terribly surprised that there’s nothing about Operation Arrowhead Ripper on the CNN website. :eyeroll:
A partial transcript is up at Blackfive (he uploaded the video, too).
More about Operation Arrowhead Ripper, from MNF-Iraq:
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Task Force Lightning continued its offensive operation in and around the capital of Diyala province, Iraq, today as part of a powerful crack down on al-Qaida terrorists operating in the area.
U.S. and Iraqi combined forces engaged and killed at least 30 al-Qaida operatives, and discovered four IEDs emplaced in houses, and 10 buried IEDs during the first full day of Operation Arrowhead Ripper.
“These criminals will know no safe place to hide in Diyala,” said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, Deputy Command General for Operations, Task Force Lightning and Multinational Division North. “The people of Diyala are tired of the terror and violence these al-Qaida thugs have brought to their province and are cooperating with us in order to root them out.”
As the Soldiers moved through Baqouba and the surrounding areas, they discovered at least two weapons caches containing assault weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, large and small caliber ammunition and explosives. Ground forces also coordinated a precisions guided munitions strike to destroy a known al-Qaida weapons cache located inside a safe house, and reported a large secondary explosion due to the munitions the terrorists stored inside.
In another incident, Soldiers from Alpha Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment observed and engaged armed individuals emplacing an IED near Zaganiyah village, along the Diyala river valley.
The gunmen returned fire but the Soldiers, using direct and indirect fires, killed both of the armed IED emplacers.
“This operation is just beginning and we will continue to strike al-Qaida no matter where they hide and we won’t rest until the job is done,” said Bednarek.
Approximately 10,000 Soldiers throughout Diyala Province are participating in and supporting Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which was launched by Task Force Lightning to eliminate al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists. Included in this operation are over 1000 Iraqi Army soldiers and a comparable number of Iraqi Police.
Pray for them, OK? If you don’t pray, send good thoughts.
Chris says:
First time commenter, long time reader. I was reading earlier this week (yesterday?) about how no on in the MSM was running this story. I did see it posted on the Fox News website today. At least someone in the MSM is covering our story. They also told about how happy the people living there were, something that get skipped over far too often.
Beth says:
Did they really? I missed that, so it’s good to hear it. Surprising, too, even for Fox News (since they do have to rely on stringers and wire services for a lot, like everyone else does).
I’m off to go look for that now–thanks!
And don’t be a stranger! :)
» Wait a minute, isn’t the REAL war on terror in Afghanistan? » MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy says:
[...] Beth already wrote about this here. [...]
raz0r says:
Good. Two more sent to rot with allah in hell.
TheGayBlackJew says:
Beth, I’ll send them good thoughts. I feel sorry for our troops, more than anything else. It must be really frustrating to be so vulnerable to cheap bombs and not be able to easily discern who the enemy is.
But Arrowhead Ripper? That sounds like some childish mini-torture like an “Indian Burn” or a “Dutch Rub.” IMHO, the whole Iraq Operation should be called “Penis Caught in Zipper.”
Ft. Hard Knox » links for 2007-06-21 says:
[...] Lt. General Odierno speaks about Operation Arrowhead Ripper Probably won’t see this in the MMM. (tags: iraq War, terrorism terrorism, terrorists soldiers) [...]
Beth says:
Thank you.
Don’t. I assure you, they don’t want or deserve pity; the deserve respect for the difficult job they do.