(AEI) On the night of June 18 and the early morning of June 19, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Iraq's Diyala province. Targeted at the city of Baqubah, which the now-deceased al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Masab al-Zarqawi proclaimed his own capital of the "Islamic State of Iraq" in October, the goal of the operation was to trap and destroy the insurgents who have run the city of some 250,000 residents for more than a year.

Representing part of Gen. David Petraeus' plan to pacify the "Baghdad belts" that have served as way stations for terrorism attacks inside the capital, Arrowhead Ripper is a key test of the surge of American troops to Iraq. The operation has also turned out to be an excellent palette for milblogging, both from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, which provided the central striking force of the offensive, and from freelance journalists.

The 3-2 Strykers have cut a distinguished role in the history of milblogging. Colby Buzzell, the author of the blog-to-book My War: Killing Time in Iraq, was with the unit in Mosul three years ago, where his gritty description of a running gunfight with insurgents earned accolades online and a reprimand from his command. Today, the Strykers are keeping up the Colby tradition through a trio of blogs that follow the brigade.

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(The Philadelphia Inquirer) But the Internet furor stirred by the shooting has been unmistakable. The incident quickly became a cause celebre, fanned by a host of conservative and military bloggers across the country as well as national columnist Michelle Malkin, who claimed that Schrieken had been targeted by an antiwar zealot.

"I've watched the blogs," said Willingboro police spokesman Joe Dey. "It picked up fire."

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