The raid on al Qaeda in Sherween

CNN:

Civilians helped coalition and Iraqi forces conduct a massive raid on an al Qaeda hideout in the town of Sherween, leaving 20 suspected terrorists dead and 20 more in coalition custody, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The militants were caught off guard when U.S. aircraft dropped eight 2,000-pound bombs and 14 quarter-ton bombs on river crossings and a bridge in the town northeast of Baghdad, said Staff Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem.

Kareem, who commands the Iraqi Security Forces in Diyala province, said the bombings isolated the terrorists who had infiltrated Sherween. The town's residents fought alongside the Iraqi forces during the raid, helping them kill and capture the terrorists, a U.S. military news release said.

"This operation was very important for the people of Sherween because we were able to find a very big hideout for the terrorists," Kareem said of Operation Saber Guardian, which began early Tuesday. "It was a very big surprise for the terrorists and the people that support them."

The raid will have a political impact on Diyala, which the U.S. military says has become a hotbed for al Qaeda terrorists who fled Baghdad after the U.S.-led security crackdown there, said Maj. John Woodward, executive officer of the U.S. troops involved in the operation.

The raid will help "facilitate Sunni resistance fighting in the Muqdadiya area as the people have grown tired of the destruction al Qaeda offers," he said.

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There is more on other successful operations around Iraq including the capture of 22 al Qaeda suspects. It appears that something different is happening with the local forces in connection with the offensive against al Qaeda in the Diyala Province. The participation of the locals in not only locating the terrorist but in fighting them should be a very positive sign. It is too bad the people in Washington are not paying attention to what is really happening in Iraq. Too many are too bent on losing to care.