U.S., Iraqi Forces Fight Ramadi Insurgents

[leftchick]

RAMADI, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces fought an hour-long gunbattle with insurgents Saturday in this city west of the Iraqi capital, firing automatic weapons from rooftops at small guerrilla teams maneuvering around them in alleyways and an abandoned fairground.

U.S. commanders said four insurgents were killed and two Iraqi soldiers wounded in the gunfight in eastern Ramadi — one shot through the calf and evacuated by U.S. medics, another with a minor facial wound.

As Iraqi forces swept through houses, troops from the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment entered several residential buildings, climbing to rooftops to secure the rest of the patrol.

With families of men and women huddling in rooms downstairs, U.S. gunners firing light machine guns picked off several gunmen firing at their positions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060422/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_ramadi_fighting

[0007]

1. Why doesn't the media ever report the good things?

Washington Post link

As U.S. and Iraqi troops withdrew from the area on foot, insurgents maneuvered around them. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers provided covering fire as their colleagues ran down roads as bullets whisked overhead and ricocheted off houses.

After the Americans reached a U.S. observation post, a mortar round exploded several hundred yards away, sending a plume of gray smoke up into the air.

Gunfights between U.S. forces and insurgents occur frequently in Ramadi, a city of about 400,000 people about 70 miles west of Baghdad. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a center of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency that includes cities such as Fallujah and Qaim.

[bemildred]

2. Ramadi sounds like a war zone ... nt

[IndianaGreen]

3. How many times have we been to Ramadi?

The insurgents control the country in much the same way Charlie controlled Vietnam. Our troops are largely confined behind secure zones, only venturing out when it is absolutely necessary.

How many more times will our troops return to Ramadi before a President pulls the plug on this wasteful and unnecessary war.