Baghdad Crackdown Begins

A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad says the city's new security crackdown has started and the operation will continue to grow as more forces arrive...

U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad the operation to end the city's worsening sectarian violence is underway. "The implementation of the prime minister's plan has already begun and will be fully implemented at a later date," he said. The plan calls for units of American and Iraqi forces to patrol Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and to drive out the city's powerful sectarian militias. The operation is the key part of President Bush's so-called "troop surge" aimed at reversing Iraq's slide into sectarian war.

+ Long-Awaited Security Operation in Iraq Under Way
+ US Military changes tactics as 6th helicopter shot down



(eCanadaNow) - A Sea Knight helicopter crashed on Wednesday in a stronghold held by insurgents northwest of Baghdad killing all seven people on board. This is the fifth helicopter that the military has lost in just over two weeks in Iraq.

A senior U.S. defense official stated that the helicopter did not appear to have been hit by any hostile fire but an Iraqi air force officer stated that it was downed by an anti-aircraft missile. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni group claimed responsibility for the crash of the helicopter. The twin-rotor CH-46 went down 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. A force is on site already and the investigation is ongoing. It went down while conducting routine operations.


Camp New Jersey, Kuwait (March 21, 2003) - Major General David H. Petraeus (right), commanding general, 101st Airborne Division, (Air Assault) looks on as Lieutenant General William S. Wallace, V Corps commanding general speaks to soldiers.