http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050908/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

TAL AFAR,Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi forces have encircled the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, and Iraqi authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of 200 suspected insurgents there — most of them foreign fighters.

The Iraqi military said 150 of those arrested Wednesday in this town near the Syrian border were Arabs from Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan.

The joint forces have reported heavy battles on the outskirts of the city and several deadly bombings that have mainly killed civilians. Iraqi authorities reported most of the civilian population had fled the city, which is 260 miles north of Baghdad and about 35 miles from the Syrian border.

"Our forces arrested 150 non-Iraqi Arabs yesterday in addition to 50 Iraqi terrorists with fake documents as they were trying to flee the city with the (civilian) families," said Iraqi army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed


Right on.

The Iraqi military said 150 of those arrested Wednesday in this town near the Syrian border were Arabs from Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan. This comes as no surprise.

I wonder if they are under Iraqi control and if their treatment is better/worse then the treatment Americans provide?

What's wierd about this war is that it doesn't even really feel like a war at all....it feels more like....I don't know, half-spontaneous mob/half-organized crime syndicate vs. the police. I'm tempted to say it resembles something more along the lines of a pre-independent Ireland with regards to the UK, but Ireland didn't have a mass movement of Catholics arriving from Spain or Italy to blow up the Oranges.

It's a pretty unusual conflict.

We keep on arresting/killing insurgents and they keep on coming and killing Iraqis.