The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Something to be thankful for...
Our Marines do not have the luxury of enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with their families. However they have taken the holiday to capture the largest weapons cache yet in Iraq; and they found it in a mosque in Fallujah:
Iraqi forces and U.S. Marines searching a mosque in Fallujah ``discovered the largest weapons cache to date'' in the city, where the coalition has been carrying out an assault on insurgents, the military said.
The stockpile was found yesterday in and around the compound of the Sa'ad Abi Bin Waqas Mosque in the Hey Al-Shorta District, according to a military statement e-mailed from the capital, Baghdad. The building was used by Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Janabi, leader of the city's rebels, to preach ``anti-coalition rhetoric,'' the military said.
The number of weapons recovered in the complex is ``stunning,'' and is ``enough to mount an insurgency across the country,'' the Associated Press cited Marines Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wilson as saying without specify the size of the cache. A chemical-weapons laboratory also was found, Reuters reported, citing Iraqi Security Minister Kassim Daoud.
The interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave the coalition military the authority to begin the assault Nov. 8 to clear insurgents from the city, 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad. The military said al-Qaeda-linked terrorists used Fallujah as base and that about 1,200 gunmen were killed there during the siege.
Bomb Factory
Buildings in the mosque complex, in a residential part of Fallujah, were laden with weaponry that included heavy machine guns, anti-tank mines and rocket-propelled grenades, the military said. A vendor's truck parked outside the mosque contained explosive compounds and may have been used as a mobile bomb-making factory, according to the statement.
``Every weapon that is found is a good thing,'' Mike Dewar, a London-based independent defense analyst who served as colonel in the British military, said in a telephone interview. ``But there are a lot more out there. The insurgents have a limitless supply.''
In al-Janabi's house, soldiers found documents with the names of people who had been kidnapped and interrogated for cooperating with the U.S. and its allies, the military said. Al- Janabi appears to be allied with al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and ordered public floggings and beheadings, the International Herald Tribune said without citing anyone.
``Insurgents have used mosques as safe havens,'' the military said. ``Many mosques in Fallujah lost their protective status as places of religious worship when insurgents fired from minarets of these mosques at Multi-National Forces personnel.''
`Ruled by Thugs'
The assault on Fallujah was justified ``whether arms were found there or not,'' because the city was being ``ruled by thugs,'' Dewar said.
It isn't known whether al-Janabi was in the city during the assault and, if so, whether he survived. The U.S. military said Zarqawi, who was based in Fallujah, escaped before the attack.
Since the Fallujah incursion began, violence has increased across Iraq as insurgents fled from the city to nearby Ramadi, and north to Baqubah, Mosul and Kirkuk. In the south, as many as 5,000 U.S., U.K. and Iraqi soldiers have been raiding rebel positions in the area around Basra, the U.S. military said.
``Of course militants from Fallujah are going to disperse,'' Dewar said, ``We just have to keep fighting them.''
U.S.-led troops must stay in the country until the Iraqi forces are numerous and well-trained enough to cope on their own, a change that may take 10 to 20 years, the analyst said.
The lack of border security is a major obstacle to peace and stability in Iraq, according to Dewar. Arms and foreign fighters are coming into the country from neighboring Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Iran, he said.
In an attempt to tackle these issues, Iraq will hold a meeting on security with its neighbors and Egypt in the Iranian capital, Tehran, by the end of this month. Representatives from Syria, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are expected to attend.
Now that is a reason to be truly thankful.
Iraqi forces and U.S. Marines searching a mosque in Fallujah ``discovered the largest weapons cache to date'' in the city, where the coalition has been carrying out an assault on insurgents, the military said.
The stockpile was found yesterday in and around the compound of the Sa'ad Abi Bin Waqas Mosque in the Hey Al-Shorta District, according to a military statement e-mailed from the capital, Baghdad. The building was used by Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Janabi, leader of the city's rebels, to preach ``anti-coalition rhetoric,'' the military said.
The number of weapons recovered in the complex is ``stunning,'' and is ``enough to mount an insurgency across the country,'' the Associated Press cited Marines Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wilson as saying without specify the size of the cache. A chemical-weapons laboratory also was found, Reuters reported, citing Iraqi Security Minister Kassim Daoud.
The interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave the coalition military the authority to begin the assault Nov. 8 to clear insurgents from the city, 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad. The military said al-Qaeda-linked terrorists used Fallujah as base and that about 1,200 gunmen were killed there during the siege.
Bomb Factory
Buildings in the mosque complex, in a residential part of Fallujah, were laden with weaponry that included heavy machine guns, anti-tank mines and rocket-propelled grenades, the military said. A vendor's truck parked outside the mosque contained explosive compounds and may have been used as a mobile bomb-making factory, according to the statement.
``Every weapon that is found is a good thing,'' Mike Dewar, a London-based independent defense analyst who served as colonel in the British military, said in a telephone interview. ``But there are a lot more out there. The insurgents have a limitless supply.''
In al-Janabi's house, soldiers found documents with the names of people who had been kidnapped and interrogated for cooperating with the U.S. and its allies, the military said. Al- Janabi appears to be allied with al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and ordered public floggings and beheadings, the International Herald Tribune said without citing anyone.
``Insurgents have used mosques as safe havens,'' the military said. ``Many mosques in Fallujah lost their protective status as places of religious worship when insurgents fired from minarets of these mosques at Multi-National Forces personnel.''
`Ruled by Thugs'
The assault on Fallujah was justified ``whether arms were found there or not,'' because the city was being ``ruled by thugs,'' Dewar said.
It isn't known whether al-Janabi was in the city during the assault and, if so, whether he survived. The U.S. military said Zarqawi, who was based in Fallujah, escaped before the attack.
Since the Fallujah incursion began, violence has increased across Iraq as insurgents fled from the city to nearby Ramadi, and north to Baqubah, Mosul and Kirkuk. In the south, as many as 5,000 U.S., U.K. and Iraqi soldiers have been raiding rebel positions in the area around Basra, the U.S. military said.
``Of course militants from Fallujah are going to disperse,'' Dewar said, ``We just have to keep fighting them.''
U.S.-led troops must stay in the country until the Iraqi forces are numerous and well-trained enough to cope on their own, a change that may take 10 to 20 years, the analyst said.
The lack of border security is a major obstacle to peace and stability in Iraq, according to Dewar. Arms and foreign fighters are coming into the country from neighboring Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Iran, he said.
In an attempt to tackle these issues, Iraq will hold a meeting on security with its neighbors and Egypt in the Iranian capital, Tehran, by the end of this month. Representatives from Syria, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are expected to attend.
Now that is a reason to be truly thankful.
