Informant38

Propaganda 101




Big Push:

Separately, U.S. troops raided a mosque in Baghdad and captured three suspected insurgents hiding inside. The detainees included a man believed to be responsible for distributing weapons to build bombs for attacks on American and Iraqi forces, the military said.
U.S. rules of engagement allow troops to enter mosques only in rare cases.
"We do not enter mosques for the sole purposes of disrupting insurgent activities or conducting a show of force. Mosque entries occur only as a last resort," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman.
U.S. soldiers "respect the sanctity and holiness of all places of worship," he said
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U.S. forces extend Baghdad push to militia haven:

...stronghold of the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr

Dean Yates and Claudia Parsons/Reuters/Yahoo
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Several terrorists killed, U.S. says
Al-Sadr condemns joint security plan:

[1.] Several al Qaeda in Iraq insurgents who had focused on U.S. helicopters were killed in an air strike north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said ...A second strike killed members of another al Qaeda cell that has orchestrated car bombings.
[2.] Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers on patrol in central Baghdad were killed by a roadside bomb, the military said.
[3.] Just days before U.S. and Iraqi troops are expected to establish a permanent presence in Baghdad's Sadr City, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stepped up his rhetoric against the plan

Sudarsan Raghavan/Washington Post/SFGate
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US forces open push into Sadr City:

...stronghold of the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr

Dean Yates and Claudia Parsons/Reuters/Yahoo
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Maliki warns insurgents of wider crackdown/
Iraq's Maliki offers olive branch to insurgents:

Speaking at a conference aimed at speeding up reconciliation among Iraq's warring factions, Maliki said political consensus could be achieved only if Iraq was stable.

"We present in our hand a green olive branch, and in the other hand we present the law ...
Operation Imposing Law started in Baghdad, it will cover every inch of Iraq," Maliki said.

Maliki has been pleased with the early results of the security crackdown

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An operation involving US-led forces is under way
U.S. forces enter Sadr City
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers entered
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers entered the Shiite
Hundreds of US soldiers entered the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City today
Hundreds of American and Iraqi soldiers patrolled
More than 1000 US and Iraqi troops met no resistance on Sunday

Though no shots were fired, emotions still ran high in the neighborhood today.-
Video shows killing of 18 Iraqi officers:

An al-Qa'ida-affiliated group said it killed 18 kidnapped Iraqi government security forces yesterday[Saturday] in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shia-dominated police, posting an online video of the officers being shot in the back of their heads while kneeling in a field.
The authenticity of the three-minute video, posted on a website previously used by the Islamic State of Iraq, could not be immediately verified.
The group also said it had killed 14 policemen, whose bodies were found at the weekend in the northeast province of Diyala, in retaliation for the alleged rape. Some of the victims were decapitated.
The Sunni Muslim atrocity came before hundreds of US troops last night entered the Shia stronghold of Sadr City, in the first major push into the area since an American-led security sweep began last month around Baghdad.
Soldiers conducted house-to-house searches, but met no resistance in a district firmly in the hands of the Madhi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

AP/Shanghai Daily
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Sadr disavows a planned U.S.-Iraqi crackdown:

When the security plan launched Feb. 13, Sadr agreed to cooperate by reeling in his militia, and evidence of that was clear Saturday on the streets of Sadr City. Regular traffic police were at intersections and directed lines at gas stations, instead of the fearsome masked Al Mahdi gunmen who used to roam the streets and peer into cars. City workers were even planting some public gardens.
But on Saturday, Sadr said in his statement, "There are no negotiations with the occupation forces, not before and not later."
His whereabouts remain unclear.
Sadr has not been seen publicly for weeks. His office says he is in Iraq, but U.S. officials have said he went to Iran to avoid the security crackdown.

Tina Susman and Raheem Salman/LATimes