In a well-publicized show of force, U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into the
countryside north of the capital in 50 helicopters Thursday looking for
insurgents in what the American military called its "largest air assault" in
nearly three years.
 |
| In
this hand out photo released by U.S. military, U.S.Army Soldiers of
Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
and Iraqi Army Soldiers from 4th Iraqi Army Division exit a CH-47 Chinook
helicopter in support of Operation Swarmer in Samarra, Iraq, Thursday,
March 16, 2006. [AP] |
There was no bombing or firing from the air in the offensive northeast of
Samarra, a town 60 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. All 50
aircraft were helicopters — Black Hawks, Apaches and Chinooks — used to ferry in
and provide cover for the 1,450 Iraqi and U.S. troops.
The military said the assault — Operation Swarmer — aimed to clear "a
suspected insurgent operating area" and would continue over several days.
Residents in the area of the assault reported a heavy U.S. and Iraqi troop
presence and said large explosions could be heard in the distance. American
forces routinely blow up structures they suspect as insurgent safe-houses or
weapons depots. It was not known if they met any resistance, but the military
reported detaining 41 people.
The attack was launched as Iraq's new parliament met briefly for the first
time. Lawmakers took the oath but did no business and adjourned after just 40
minutes, unable to agree on a speaker, let alone a prime minister. The
legislature set no date for it to meet again.
Still, the session marked a small step toward forming a unity government that
the Bush administration hopes will calm the insurgency and enable it to begin
withdrawing U.S. troops.
Operation Swarmer also came as the Bush administration was attempting to show
critics at home and abroad that it is dealing effectively with Iraq's insurgency
and increasingly sectarian violence.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied it was tied to the new campaign
to change war opinion. "This was a decision made by our commanders," he said,
adding that President Bush was briefed but did not specifically authorize the
operation.
The U.S. military forces have been trying to build up the Iraqi army so that
it can play a leading role in fighting the insurgents.
The operation appeared concentrated near four villages — Jillam, Mamlaha,
Banat Hassan and Bukaddou — about 20 miles north of Samarra. The settlements are
near the highway leading from Samarra to the city of Adwar, scene of repeated
insurgent roadblocks and ambushes.
"Gunmen exist in this area, killing and kidnapping policemen, soldiers and
civilians," said Waqas al-Juwanya, a spokesman for provincial government's joint
coordination center in nearby Dowr.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said the operation was the biggest
air assault since April 22, 2003, when the 101st Airborne Division launched an
operation against the northern city of Mosul from Iskandariyah, south of
Baghdad.
Many operations in Iraq since then — in such cities as Fallujah, Ramadi and
Najaf — have included far more troops. But none has involved such a large force
moved in by air. Some 650 U.S. and 800 Iraqi troops were participating Thursday.
The Pentagon said there were no reporters embedded with U.S. troops, and it
released video and a series of photos of preparations for the assault. The
images showed soldiers receiving a preflight briefing from a UH-60 Blackhawk
crew chief, soldiers and aircraft positioned on an airstrip, and helicopters
taking off over a dusty landscape.
But Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the U.S. Central Command, sought to downplay
the uniqueness of the raid.
"I wouldn't characterize this as being anything that's a big departure from
normal or from the need to prosecute a target that we think was lucrative enough
to commit this much force to go get," Abizaid said.
In recent months U.S. forces have routinely used helicopters to insert troops
during operations against insurgent strongholds, especially in the Euphrates
River valley between Baghdad and the Syrian border.
Samarra, the largest city near the operation, was the site of a massive
bombing against a Shiite shrine on Feb. 22 that touched off sectarian bloodshed
that has killed more than 500 and injured hundreds more.
It is a key city in Salahuddin province, a major part of the so-called Sunni
triangle where insurgents have been active since shortly after the U.S.-led
invasion three years ago. Saddam Hussein was captured in the province, not far
from its capital and his hometown, Tikrit.
Presidential security adviser Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samaraei said the operation
was targeting "a bunch of strange criminals who came from outside the country
and among them a bunch of Iraqi criminals who help them."
Iraq's interim foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said the attack was
necessary to prevent insurgents from forming a new stronghold such as they
established in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, until they were flushed out by U.S.
forces at the end of 2004.
"After Fallujah and some of the operations carried out successfully in the
Euphrates and Syrian border, many of the insurgents moved to areas nearer to
Baghdad," Zebari said on CNN.
Hours after the assault began, Iraq's new parliament was sworn in behind the
concrete blast walls of the heavily fortified Green Zone, with political
factions still deadlocked over the next government and vehicles banned from
Baghdad's streets to prevent car bombings.
Adnan Pachachi, the senior politician who administered the oath in the
absence of a parliament speaker, spoke of a country in crisis.
"We have to prove to the world that a civil war is not and will not take
place among our people," Pachachi told lawmakers. "The danger is still looming
and the enemies are ready for us because they do not like to see a united,
strong, stable Iraq."
As he spoke, Pachachi was interrupted from the floor by senior Shiite leader
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who said the remarks were political and inappropriate.
Even the oath was a source of disagreement, with the head of the committee
that drafted the country's new constitution, Humam Hammoudi, protesting that
lawmakers had strayed from the text. After consultations, judicial officials
agreed the wording was acceptable.
Acting Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told reporters after the brief
session, "If politicians work seriously, we can have a government within a
month."