12 US Troops Killed at Ramadi; Over 24 Wounded; 3 Killed at Kadhimiyah
US troops died at the hands of Sunni Arab guerrillas at Ramadi on Tuesday, but also at the hands of radical Shiites in Kadhimiya, a suburb of Baghdad that is the site of the tomb of the 7th Imam. A two-front struggle against radical Sunnis and Shiites has arrived.
Reuters reports that Sunni guerrillas killed 12 Marines and wounded two dozen on Tuesday near Ramadi in the rebellious Anbar province. The attackers at Ramadi were, by the way, certainly Sunnis. According to some press reports, some Coalition officials have tried to say that they were Muqtada al-Sadr’s Army of the Mahdi, but this is disinformation aimed at whipping up public support for the ill-considered US frontal attack on Muqtada and his movement. Although Iraqi nationalism is strong enough to explain the appearance of pro-Muqtada posters in Anbar province on Tuesday, there is zero probability that Shiite militias are operating freely there or that the ragtag Army of the Mahdi could take out 12 seasoned Marines! This was the work of Sunni ex-Baath army units.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that fighting in Fallujah killed 36 civilians Monday-Tuesday, including 25 who perished when a US missile hit a house.