Still MORE Evidence

There has been a major battle between Iraqi Government forces and insurgents with heavy casualties among the bad guys. The Washington Post carries the report. It is not all good news again. Two Americans died in the fight when their helicopter went down.

 Iraqi police stormed the Zarqaa area early Sunday morning, but took heavy gunfire from the orchards, where an estimated 350 to 400 fighters were entrenched, according to Col. Majid Rashid of the Iraqi army in Najaf.

The 8th Iraqi Army division along with U.S. helicopters assisted in the operation, said Ahmed Duaibel, spokesman for the Najaf provincial government. In a news conference, Najaf Gov. Asa'ad Abu Gulal said that an American helicopter crashed during the operation and that at least three members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed. There were no initial reports on a death toll of the insurgents.

A special correspondent for The Washington Post in Najaf witnessed a helicopter crash and black smoke billow up from the wreckage.

A spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad declined to comment on the report of a helicopter crash as the operation was still ongoing.

"These are very critical days now, because of the ceremonies of Ashura, and of course there are expectations that terrorist groups and criminals will launch attacks against the pilgrims who are trying to reach the city of Karbala. Of course many of them might need to pass through the city of Najaf to get there," said Haithem Hasani, a media adviser for Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of one of the leading Shiite political factions in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Omar at Iraq the Model has even more good news.

We talked earlier about insurgents and terrorists fleeing Baghdad to Diyala, and today there's another report about a similar migration, from al-Sabah:

Eyewitnesses in some volatile areas said that large numbers of militants have fled to Syria to avoid being trapped in the incoming security operations.
According to those witnesses, residents and shopkeepers are no longer concerned about militants whose existence in public used to bring on clashes that put the lives of civilians in danger.
A shopkeeper in al-Karkh [western Baghdad] said that many of them [militants] packed their stuff and headed to Syria to wait and see what the operations are going to be like.
While experts consider this a failure in protecting the plan's secrecy which might lead to the loss of the surprise factor, they also say it indicates the seriousness and resolve in this plan that is already scaring away the militants. PM Maliki pointed out that seeing them run away is a good thing but he returned and said the security forces would chase them down everywhere after Baghdad is clear.

Even bigger news than that, however:

Immediately after president Bush authorized the US military to capture and kill Iran's agents who are involved in the violence in Iraq, the Iranian Khalq opposition group released a list with the names of 31,000 Iraqis the group said are paid agents for Tehran operating in Iraq, story in the same report linked above.
Jawad Dberan the spokesman of the national council of Iranian resistance, the political wing of Khalq duing a press conference in Germany, accused Tehran of sending weapons and millions of dollars in cash to Iraq every month.
According to Azzaman which quoted from Jawad's statement, that list includes only elements who were directly recruited by the Quds force in Iran. The list is said to provide the Arabic and Farsi names of recruits, their monthly payment in Iranian money along with the code name they use during operations.

Our politicians had better start thinking a bit about where they stand. Because if they back a resolution against American troops – and that is what these non-binding resolutions are, no matter how much lipstick they put on them – and the US forces begin winning, the politicians will be in very, very deep trouble with the electorate. Vote to lose a war or vote to win it. The insurgents are running like hell for the borders and we have weak-kneed politicians thinking about ways to hamstring our troops and their new commander. I take that personally. And I will remember and help others to as well.