« Cancer Benefit Seen for Popular Diabetes Drug | Main | No Shame In The MSM: 'The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed' »
September 12, 2005
U.S., Iraqi forces rout insurgents in Tal Afar: A Model Of Future Offensives?
Topics: IraqSyria had a more than $3 billion role in funneling money and weapons to Saddam Hussein during the period of the scandal-plagued U.N. Oil-for-Food program, and it's been suggested in congressional hearings that it wouldn't be irrational to conclude that those funds ended up being filtered to those people who are financing the bloody insurgency that is going on in Iraq today. That role played by Syria during Sadaam's reign appears to be continuing, so much so that as Baghdad kept a border crossing into Syria closed about 60 miles west of Tal Afar, Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi issued a warning:
(...) "The Syrians have to stop sending destruction to Iraq. We know the terrorists have no other gateway into Iraq but Syria." Meanwhile, Iraqi and Coalition forces are on the offense in Tal Afar and intend on it being a model as well as a harbinger of things to come: As Baghdad kept a border crossing into Syria closed about 60 miles west of Tal Afar, Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi issued a warning: ''The Syrians have to stop sending destruction to Iraq. We know the terrorists have no other gateway into Iraq but Syria.''(...) With the city swept clear of extremists for the second time in a year, Iraqi and U.S. military leaders vowed to redouble efforts to crush insurgents operating all along the Syrian frontier and in the Euphrates River valley.
(...) ''Tal Afar is just one piece of an overarching operation. We are not going to tolerate a safe haven anywhere in Iraq,'' said Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, deputy chief of staff for coalition forces in Iraq.
(...) The United States and Iraq routinely charge that Syria's government does little to stop the flow of Arab fighters across the border. Syrian leaders contend they are doing all they can.As to the harbinger of a tide of change for the insurgent's haven along the Syrian border, Al-Dulaimi said the offensive in Tal Afar would be a model as his forces soon thrust farther west toward the Syrian border and south into the Euphrates valley.
''We are warning those who have given shelter to terrorists that they must stop, kick them out or else we will cut off their hands, heads and tongues as we did in Tal Afar,'' al-Dulaimi added, apparently using figurative language.Sounds as though the Iraqis are begining to take a real "offense" at both Syria's role in supporting the insurgency in Iraq, as well as Iraqi sympathizers and supporters of the insurgency.
Syria has long sought to fight allegations it aids the Iraq insurgency, with a mixture of bravado and denial, to which President Bush has responded by warning Syria and Iran -- also accused of supporting the insurgency -- that "meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq is not in their interest."
Posted by Richard at September 12, 2005 12:07 PM
Articles Related to Iraq:
