Iraq - Hunt for the Bomb Factories

Nice to see Time reporting on US success in Iraq for a change. Maybe the bloggers are getting to them.

The car bombs that go off in Baghdad are manufactured in the relative quiet of an arc of Sunni tribal lands around the capital. That is the true heartland of the resistance, where it draws on massive weapons depots secreted in river valleys and deserts. The nationalist fighters who control the area supply Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi's networks with the ammo they use for their deadly operations, according to U.S. military intelligence. Even as more attacks took place last week in the run-up to the election--including mortar rounds on the U.S. embassy that killed two Americans--the Iraqi government announced the capture of several key al-Zarqawi lieutenants, including an alleged "bomber-in-chief." U.S.-led forces arrested other significant insurgent leaders, the result of a monthlong sweep beyond Iraq's big cities. On a recent mission, TIME Baghdad bureau chief MICHAEL WARE saw the strategy at work:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------