rescuers rushed to aid the victims, a second suicide bomber self-detonated. When the dust cleared, at least 35 Iraqi civilians lay dead or dying and 65 were wounded, many gravely.Despite the fact that Sabre Squadron was in the final stages of planning and executing a major operation, we acted. Mobilizing medics, doctors,longchamp sac pliage degriffé, and even cooks, we raced to the scene to care for the wounded and to help the Iraqi Police bring order to a chaotic situation. What al-Qaeda damaged, we worked desperately to mend, evacuating young children to receive the best care we could give.But even as we brought immediate aid to Balad Ruz, we also launched an operation that could bring more long term relief to that city than anything else we do in Iraq. In the largest combined air assault in Iraq’s northern area of operations, Sabre’s Grim Troop took off with one entire Battalion of Iraqi Army soldiers and touched down in a long held al-Qaeda safe haven — the very spot from which al-Qaeda had been launching attacks against the citizens of Balad Ruz. Simultaneously, our Fox Troop conducted a dismounted ground infiltration with an Iraqi Army Battalion while our Howitzer Battery supported with indirect fires. Thus began Operation Sabre Tempest.In the first few hours, the operation (which featured the unusual sight of tankers and cavalry scouts flying into battle) paid immediate dividends. With Iraqi units taking the lead, Sabre Troopers and IA units detained more than 40 insurgents, including individuals suspected of involvement in suicide bombing and other terrorist acts.But rather than strike the insurgents and leave, we stayed. For more than seven weeks now, our Troopers have lived in the villages. We have conducted civil/military assessments in long-neglected towns,solde longchamp pas cher, hired more than 200 Iraqi men to guard their homes and communities, established an Iraqi-police presence, and have built trust and confidence every day,sac longchamp-pas-cher. When we do leave, we will leave behind a functioning government where before there was torture, death, and destruction.All this brings us back full circle to the lack of narrative in news reporting. Googling “Balad Ruz” in Google News leads to reports of the suicide bombing (erroneously reported as occurring during a wedding party), reports of a mortar attack that killed two people, and one small positive story about a few IEDs we found and detonated. That’s it. No narrative. No context. No sense that an entire al-Qaeda safe haven has been restored to Iraqi government control and certainly no sense that there are now American Soldiers and Iraqi Security Forces living, working, and building a community on ground where insurgents freely roamed.I do not, however, want to add just one more rant to the seemingly endless pile of complaints against mainstream-media coverage of the war. Iraq is a difficult place to understand and an extraordinarily dangerous place to cover. Journalists risk their lives every day they are “outside the wire” in Iraqi communities, and I’m in awe of the courage and commitment of many of the Related articles: http://www.n26.net.cn/bbs/forum_posts.asp?TID=0&PID=0#0 http://www.n26.net.cn/bbs/forum_posts.asp?TID=0&PID=0#0 http://www.xquery.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=138563&PID=156006#156006