The daily battles in Sadr City are anything but random. Most take place on al-Quds Street, a broad thoroughfare of single- and double-story buildings where troops are building a 3-mile-long concrete barrier to keep militants from infiltrating the southern Tharwa and Jamilla neighborhoods.
The southern locations in Sadr City allow militants to fire 107 mm and 120 mm rockets into the Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the location of U.S. military and diplomatic headquarters.
"This is a mission that has to get done, to stop these thugs from firing their rockets and stuff," said 1st Sgt. Conrad Gonzales, of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment.
Luckily for us and the mission, the Shia thugs are much less adept at fighting us than they are at lobbing explosives at civilians:
According to company statistics, 118 Shi'ite extremist gunmen have been confirmed as killed in battles between April 19 and Friday along the barrier route.
Two U.S. soldiers have been wounded: one shot in the side, another hit in the chest by a piece of shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.
But none in this company killed. This shows the impressive kill ratio we have compiled in our fights with the militias going back to 2004 and restarted in earnest this year.
And in addition to the Sadrists and other assorted Shia thugs being upset with this mission, Iran too is uhappy:
Iran said Monday it would not hold a new round of talks with the U.S. on security in Iraq until American forces end their current assault against Shiite militias.
The increased casualties we've endured in April are not a sign that the surge against al Qaeda failed. It is a sign that we are going after the Sadrists and their Iranian backers who may represent the last main threat to victory.
Don't get your panties in a twist as we exploit success to go after other threats to our victory. That would be like prematurely declaring mission accomplished after defeating one foe. And nobody agrees with that, right?
