ITEM: About 10,000 soldiers are involved in Arrowhead Ripper, making it one of the largest military operations since the war began more than four years ago. It is focused around the city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The offensive began under cover of darkness "with a quickstrike nighttime air assault," a U.S. military statement said.
...but who speaks for the children of Baqubah, how not to be caught underneath?
ITEM: Helicopters whizzed over Baquba as armoured vehicles pushed through the pockmarked streets in the largest single assault since US forces invaded the western city of Fallujah in November 2004.
"These criminals will know no safe place to hide in Diyala," Brigadier General Mick Bednarek said in a statement released by the US military.
...but who speaks for the children of Baqubah, what safe place for them?
ITEM: An Associated Press reporter in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province to the north and east of Baghdad, reported intense gunbattles in the streets and around the main market district as American and Iraqi forces sought to clear the city of al-Qaida fighters.
...but who speaks for the children of Baqubah, where do they go that the bullets do not?
ITEM: Gen. Abdul-Karim al-Rubaie, an Iraqi military commander in Diyala, told AP security forces had ringed the city and were not letting anyone come or go. He said many al-Qaida fighters had hidden their weapons and were trying to flee the city.
...but who speaks for the children of Baqubah, when there is no where to flee?
ITEM: The head of a Sunni insurgent group that has turned against al-Qaida in Diyala province and is cooperating with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the area said his fighters were participating in the operations and had succeeded in clearing several neighborhoods in eastern and western Baqouba.
...but who speaks for the children of Baqubah, to where do they clear?
ITEM: In what appeared to be the second largest assault, an estimated 2,500 U.S. soldiers were pushing into districts south and southeast of the city where they killed four insurgents and detained more than 60. "In addition, 17 boats were destroyed, significantly disrupting insurgent operations on the Tigris River," the military said.
West of Baghdad U.S. and Iraqi forces were "engaging insurgents and al-Qaeda elements in more rural areas. These operations are helping to interdict the enemy along the belts between Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and the cities of the Western Euphrates River Valley."
...but who speaks for the children southeast and west, what direction is left for them to run?
ITEM: The military has reported using mortars, artillery, helicopters and fighter jets in support of ground forces in Baqouba and elsewhere.
...but who speaks for the children of Iraq, when children's screams cannot be heard above the din?
No one speaks.
No one at all.
=================
This diary by Spread the Word: Iraq-Nam, a daily blog on Iraq.