Iraqi Army Taking Care of Their Own

On July 4 as part of an effort to provide much needed medicines for people in the area Iraqi Army Soldiers with the Diyala province deputy governor of health delivered 10 trucks full of medical supplies to Diyala province. Soldiers from the 5th Iraqi Army Division with Dr. Homm, the deputy governor of health for Diyala province, traveled to Baghdad on the morning of July 4 to escort the trucks north:

The supplies are intended for distribution to nine Ministry of Health hospitals throughout the province including Baqouba General Hospital.

Meanwhile, food distribution planning efforts in and around Baqouba continued as a part of Operation Arrowhead Ripper.

The warehouses are full of rice, flour, cooking oil, beans, chai, milk, and soap. Fourteen trucks were also loaded and readied for delivery to the province.

Since the beginning of the operation, Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces have provided approximately 462 metric tons of rice and flour to residents of Baqouba.

As a sign of the improving security situation in Baqouba, the government of Diyala province announced July 5 a relaxation of movement restrictions which had been placed over the city.

The government stated that the city-wide cordon would be lifted for pedestrian traffic between the hours of 5 a.m. and 10 p.m.

When the NYT claims that there is a disconnect between the reality in Iraq and President Bush's objectives and advances on the ground it hopes that most people will believe that the war and its efforts in Iraq are a total failure. That the Iraqis are unable to control their own country, and yet every day we hear of small groups of Iraqi's and Iraqi units that are stepping up to defend their country. The real disconnect between the reality on the ground and what is being reported is occuring on the editors desk.

Operation Arrowhead Ripper began on June 18 as a major push by Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces to rid the capital of Diyala province of the influence of al-Qaida. Since the beginning of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, at least 60 al-Qaida operatives have been killed, 153 have been detained, 50 weapons caches have been discovered, 115 improvised explosive devices have been destroyed and 22 booby-trapped structures have been destroyed.