Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Clearing the enemy infestation at Tal Afar

NY Times:

Thousands of Iraqi and American troops, backed by airstrikes, swept through the northern city of Tal Afar on Saturday, carrying out house-to-house searches and battling insurgent holdouts in the largest military operation in Iraq in months.

American aircraft pounded targets in Tal Afar as the assault began early Saturday, and an Iraqi-led force of 11,000 soldiers began moving into the city, supported by American tanks and armored vehicles from the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment. Witnesses described military helicopters firing rockets into buildings where vastly outnumbered bands of insurgents were holed up.

For days, American and Iraqi forces have been encircling Tal Afar, skirmishing with the guerrillas who control the city in preparation for a final assault. That push began at 2 a.m. on Saturday when the first Iraqi brigades began moving in, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said.

On Saturday evening, as fighting continued, Iraq's interior minister announced that the border with Syria had been closed in Rabia, near Tal Afar. A curfew was imposed, with all travel in and out of Rabia between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. strictly forbidden.

The dateline on the story is Baghdad, which means that it was probably written in a hotel room far from the action, but he does make it interesting. Robert Worth is a good writer, but the Times should embed him with the units in action so he do a better job of telling what is really going on.