Sadr City being reshaped

If you’re only reading the traditional media, the only thing you know about the war in Iraq today is that “US GIs suffer worst week of ’08” and that “Iraq fires 1300 police and soldiers in south“. The Gateway Pundit posts this screen cap;

But, Bill Roggio reports at The Long War Journal that Iraqi troops and US troops are reshaping Sadr City;

The Mahdi Army began seeding the streets of Sadr City with roadside bombs just days after Sadr declared the unilateral ceasefire. “Outlaw groups have planted roadside bombs and other explosives in most of the streets of Sadr City,” the Baghdad Operational Command reported.

The Mahdi Army has attacked US and Iraqi patrols on a daily basis. The Sadrists are also advertising the results of these operations. “Witnesses and al-Sadr’s office said loudspeaker announcements broadcast from mosques offered updates about Mahdi Army attacks on US military vehicles,” CNN reported, indicating the truce called by Sadr at the end of February and again at the end of March is all but dead.

US and Iraqi forces have begun to shape the battlefield in Sadr City by cordoning off the main entry and exit points, building new check posts, instituting a vehicle ban, conducting a series patrols and humanitarian missions, carrying out targeted raids against Mahdi Army and Special Groups leaders, and providing a blanket of aerial coverage from unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters from US Army air weapons teams.

The Mahdi Army has responded violently to the efforts to establish a presence inside Sadr City.

Without Bill Roggio, we might get the impression that it’s 2006 all over again from the traditional media – that our troops are back in the Green Zone while the Iraq government is in disarray.

Category: Media, Terror War