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<title>'Operation Forward Together': Deeper Into the Quagmire - by Dahr Jamail</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 color="#990000" face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#990000;font-weight:bold'>'Operation
Forward Together': Deeper Into the Quagmire <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:2.7pt'><font size=2 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'>by
<a href="http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/">Dahr Jamail</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>O</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>n Tuesday, June 13, while Mr. Bush spent a brave five hours in
the "green zone" of <st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City> with
puppet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, at least 36 people were killed across
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>
amid a wave of bombings. Eighteen of those died in a spasm of bombings in the
oil city of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Kirkuk</st1:City></st1:place>
in the Kurdish north.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>The minute word hit the streets in Baghdad of Bush's
visit, over 2,000 supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets
in protest. The protesters chanted "<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place> is for the Iraqis," and
Sadr aide Hazem al-Araji publicly condemned the peek-a-boo visit of the man
he referred to as "the leader of the occupation."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Day One</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>T</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>he very next day, not coincidentally, Maliki instituted the
biggest security crackdown in the capital city since the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> invaded <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>, dubbed "Operation
Forward Together." An estimated 75,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers clogged
the already seriously congested streets of Baghdad, using tanks and armored
vehicles to man checkpoints, impose a more strict curfew in liberated Baghdad
(9 p.m.-6 a.m., as opposed to the more generous 11 p.m.-6 a.m.), and attempt
to impose a weapons ban.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>Just after "The Operation" began, a car bomb
detonated, killing one person while wounding five others. Major General Mahdi
al-Gharrawi, who commands "public order forces" under the deadly
umbrella of the controversial Interior Ministry, made a statement for which
George Orwell would have been proud: "<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place> is divided according to
geographical area, and we know the al-Qaeda leaders in each area," he
told reporters. "We are expecting clashes will erupt in the
predominantly Sunni areas." So Sunnis in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>, according to Gharrawi, are
tied to al-Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>Lest we forget, the Iraqi "army" ran a similar
draconian security crackdown in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>
in May 2005 called Operation Lightning. That one, too, was tens of thousands
of Iraqi "police" and "soldiers" backed by American
troops and air support. Civilians across <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place> complained about the mass
detentions, random violence, and torture meted out by the death squads during
that "operation." And we see how well that operation managed to
improve security in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>
over the last year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>So here we go again – only this time with even
more troops, raiding even more homes, manning more checkpoints, and of course
more death squads operating – with backup support from American
soldiers and, of course, their air strikes.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>Iraq's puppet prime minister, in an effort to soothe the
fear in the hearts of Baghdad's residents who are concerned about more
detentions, random violence, and "torture by electric drill," which
the U.S.-backed Shia death squads prefer with their victims, told reporters
of the operation, "The raids during this plan will be very tough …
because there will be no mercy towards those who show no mercy to our
people."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>The same day Operation Forward Together began and the
day after Bush bid farewell to <st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City>, Bush
dismissed calls for a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
withdrawal as "election-year" politics. Refusing to give a
timetable for withdrawal or some kind of benchmark with which to measure
success that may allow troops to be brought home, Bush said simply,
"It's bad policy," at a news conference in the Rose Garden. He
thought it would "endanger our country" to pull out of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>
before we "accomplish the mission." Of his visit to <st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City>, Bush said, "I sense something different
happening in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>While pounding his fist on the podium set up for him at
the press conference, Bush proudly repeated his mantra of propaganda:
"If the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States
of America</st1:country-region></st1:place> leaves before this Iraqi
government can defend itself and sustain itself and govern itself, it will be
a major blow in the war on terror."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Day Two</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>T</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>hursday morning the Pentagon announced <a
href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13337155/">the death of the 2,500th U.S.
soldier in Iraq</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>Meanwhile, back in liberated <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>, also on that same day, I received
an e-mail from a very close friend of mine. It is a sobering glimpse into
Operation Forward Together and what Bush alluded to when he said, "I
sense something different happening in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Habibi, we are divided in three
houses today. I am at our home in Adhamiya. My wife and two youngest boys are
at her sister's house in Bab Al-Moudam because it's safer for them. It's a
mixed Sunni and Shia area, so there are no detentions. Our daughter is with
her husband in their home, and my oldest son is at his house with his wife
and baby, although he is not in a safe area. There is often fighting there,
but not too many detentions. </span></font></i><font size=4 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Today Adhamiya is totally under
occupation since early morning. None of the shops are open, the soldiers are
holding up all cars and searching them, and home raids are happening. The
city is a city of ghosts. This situation is the same in all the Sunni areas.
Checkpoints are all over <st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City>, the highways
between <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>
and the other cities are all closed and nobody can go on them. The airports
are closed, and no flights are coming in or out of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>.</span></font></i><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"We cannot leave the country
until the beginning of next month. By the way, three of my son's friends were
killed by explosions two days ago while they were having fruits in the
market. He came home crying because of that. The situation is very bad. The
son of Abdul Sattar Al Kubaisy, who is in the Ministry of Interior, has been
kidnapped from inside the Ministry. He was found in one of the trash cans
outside the Ministry of Interior building … so even the offices of the
government are no longer safe!!!</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"God is with us insh'allah [God
willing]."</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Day Three</span></font></b><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>O</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>n Friday, a hospital source in Fallujah reported that eight
Iraqis, some of whom were women and children from the same family, were
killed and six wounded when <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
warplanes bombed a home in the northeastern Ibrahim Bin Ali district of the
city.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>That same day, a story titled "<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061502180_pf.html">Shi'ite
Militias Control Prisons, Officials Say</a>," was released by the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Washington Post</span></i> Foreign Service.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>The story reads, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Iraq's prison system is overrun
with Shi'ite Muslim militiamen who have freed fellow militia members
convicted of major crimes and executed Sunni Arab inmates, the country's
deputy justice minister said in an interview this week.</span></font></i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"'We cannot control the prisons.
It's as simple as that,' said the deputy minister, Pusho Ibrahim Ali Daza
Yei, an ethnic Kurd. 'Our jails are infiltrated by the militias from top to
bottom, from <st1:City w:st="on">Basra</st1:City> to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>.'"</span></font></i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>The story continued, <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"In an interview this week, Deputy
Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie, the top Sunni Arab in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s new government, showed
photographs taken from one recent inspection of an Interior Ministry
detention center. An inmate in one of the photos held out his misshapen, limp
hands for the camera. The man's hands had been broken in a beating, Zobaie
said. Other inmates showed massive, dark bruises on their skin; one bore a
large, open infected sore.</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Inmates in another photo
clustered around chains hung from the middle of one of the crowded cells. The
chains were used to hoist prisoners by their bound hands, Zobaie said. The
practice, noted frequently in inspection reports of Interior Ministry
detention centers, often results in the dislocation of prisoners' shoulders.</span></font></i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Ninety percent of the men crowded
into Interior Ministry detention centers are Sunni Arabs, Zobaie said."</span></font></i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'>On the previous Saturday,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"[A] group of parliament members
paid a surprise visit to a detention facility run by the Interior Ministry in
Baqubah, north of Baghdad. 'We have found terrible violations of the law,'
said Muhammed al-Dayni, a Sunni parliament member who said as many as 120
detainees were packed into a 35-by-20-foot cell. 'They told us that they've
been raped,' Dayni said. 'Their families were called in and tortured to force
the detainees to testify against other people.'</span></font></i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"'The detention facilities of the
ministries of Defense and Interior are places for the most brutal human
rights abuse,' he added."</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black
face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"Despite broad <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> efforts to encourage the
Iraqi government to improve conditions in prisons, the problem of militia
control could prove particularly intractable. Shi'ite militias such as the
Badr Organization and the Mahdi Army, loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, are
backed by dozens of members of parliament whose political parties run the
armed groups.</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>"'You can't even talk to the
militias, because they are the government,' Yei said. 'They have ministers on
their side.'"</span></font></i><font size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Day Four</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>S</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>aturday evening, two <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
soldiers were detained by resistance fighters just south of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>. With a Bush administration that
openly advocates the use of torture and props up a Shia prime minister in
Iraq who says things like "<a
href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060614-124233-6956r.htm">there
will be no mercy</a>" when referencing his new "security
operation," their fate is indeed a dark one.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><a
href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO726183.htm">At least 40
people were killed</a> and over 80 wounded amid a rash of bomb and mortar
attacks, most of which took place in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>.
The deadliest attack occurred at an Iraqi police checkpoint, while another
car bomb targeting the Iraqi army and police killed another 11 people.
Meanwhile, 15 others were wounded at a joint Iraqi army and police
checkpoint, also in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Day Five</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>G</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>unmen <a
href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060618/wl_mideast_afp/iraq">kidnapped 10
bakery workers</a> from a predominantly Shia neighborhood in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>. Ten
bullet-riddled bodies of men who had apparently been tortured were also found
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City></st1:place>. A
<a
href="http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564754445544850009">mortar
round hit al-Sadiq University</a> on <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address
w:st="on">Palestine Street</st1:address></st1:Street> in the capital city
– five students and one teacher were wounded. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> military continued to search
in vain for its two missing soldiers. Residents continued to stream out of
the capital city of al-Anbar province, Ramadi, due to the threat of an
all-out <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
assault on the city. Thousands of the refugees are wandering around the
province with nowhere to go.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=5 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Coming Days, Weeks, Months, Years?</span></font></b><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=7 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:36.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-weight:bold'>W</span></font></b><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>ith Operation Forward Together off to a dazzling beginning, how
long will the occupation be allowed to continue? Each passing day only brings
the people of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> and
soldiers serving in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
military deeper into the quagmire that the brutal, despicable, tortured
occupation has become.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=4 color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:
Georgia;color:black;font-style:italic'>This piece originally appeared at <a
href="http://truthout.org/">Truthout.org</a>.</span></font></i><font size=4
color=black face=Georgia><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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