Days after the U.S. officially ended combat operations and touted Iraq's ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center of Baghdad on Sunday. The fighting killed 12 people and wounded dozens.
It was the first exchange of fire involving U.S. troops in Baghdad since the Aug. 31 deadline for formally ending the combat mission, and it showed that American troops remaining in the country are still being drawn into the fighting.
The attack also made plain the kind of lapses in security that have left Iraqis wary of the U.S. drawdown and distrustful of the ability of Iraqi forces now taking up ultimate responsibility for protecting the country.
Sunday's hour-long assault was the second in as many weeks on the facility, the headquarters for the Iraqi Army's 11th Division, pointing to the failure of Iraqi forces to plug even the most obvious holes in their security.
Two of the four attackers even managed to fight their way inside the compound and were only killed after running out of ammunition and detonating explosives belts they were wearing.
The American troops who joined the fight and provided cover fire for Iraqi soldiers pursuing the attackers were based at the compound to train Iraqi forces, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom. Iraqi forces also requested help from U.S. helicopters, drones and explosives experts, he said. No American troops were hurt, Bloom said.
Under an agreement between the two countries, Iraq can still call on American forces to assist in combat and U.S. troops can defend themselves if attacked.
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11 comments:
It will be a mess in a year.
Obama Lied people died !
So, we're still there, just like after "Mission Accomplished", huh? Y'all act like Bush ever told the truth about why we were there to begin with.
3:35
Right on!!!
Bush was right to go Iraq as proven by all the Democrat votes in Congress to go. Did Congress lie too? Obama who may not even be a citizen can't even be honest about where he came from !
If you think Bush lied then you must also believe the Clintons,Al Gore and John Kerry lied too! They all came to the same conclusion after reading the report. I think it's a real shame that when Bush flew in to congratulate the sailors after their completed mission on a job well done that people criticize them. Oh well the left is always going to hate our service people.
4:42 RIGHT ON !
If the Iraqis are not willing to defend their own country, then why should we?
8:06 Because it's in our best interest to have some sort of stability in the region. If we keep a foot print there it will make it easier to defend ourselves.
9:16- There was stability in Iraq. Bush sure screwed that up!
As a United States Army Officer, I can assure you that no matter what has been proclaimed in the past or present, we are still training, deploying and fighting in Iraq. The Change of the operational name from "Iraqi Freedom" to "New Dawn" means very little. The "combat troops" are still there, they have just been reclassified from Brigade Combat Teams to some sort of advisory or support brigades. They are the very same units and their mission will largely continue unchanged until the Iraqi security forces take full control of their own defensive operations. Please continue to pray for and support our forces in Iraq. We are not out of the woods yet.
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