From
MSNBC we get the breaking news:
50 aircraft, 1,500 soldiers attack targets north of Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said on Thursday it had launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion of the country.
A military statement said the operation involving more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and U.S. troops as well as 200 tactical vehicles targeted suspected insurgents operating in Salah ad din, located 60 miles north of Baghdad.
How many hearts and minds will this win? An in-depth Knight Ridder from a few days ago casts grave doubts on this strategy:
Osama Jadaan al Dulaimi, a tribal leader in the western town of Karabilah, a town near the Syrian border that was hit with bombs or missiles on at least 17 days between October 2005 and February 2006, said the bombings had created enemies.
"The people of Karabilah hate the foreigners who crossed the border and entered their areas and got into a fight with the Americans," al Dulaimi said. "The residents now also hate the American occupiers who demolished their houses with bombs and killed their families ... and now the people of Karabilah want to join the resistance against the Americans for what they did."
The Knight Ridder article is worth a full read as we await news from Iraq.
Shock. Awe. Death. And the amazing destruction and intimidation of aerial weaponry.