For our troops. For the innocents in Iraq.

Omar of Iraq the Model at Pajamas Media reports on Operation Baghdad.

Allah’s tracking.

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Bombings and mortar attacks killed dozens across Baghdad on Monday as Iraqi troops set up new checkpoints and an Iraqi general took command – indications that the much-awaited operation to restore peace to the capital is gearing up nearly a month after it was announced.

With little sign of an end to the carnage, many Iraqis have complained that the security drive has been too slow in starting, allowing extremists free rein to launch attacks that have killed nearly 1,000 people in the past week.

Monday’s death toll supported their frustration. At least 74 people were killed or found dead across the country – all but seven of them in Baghdad.

U.S. commanders have moved methodically to plan the operation and assemble the force, eager to avoid the mistakes that hindered two failed crackdowns last year.

U.S. military officials said Monday that they consider the operation to have been under way ever since President Bush signed the order last month to start moving troops to Iraq. U.S. officers offered assurances that once it gets rolling, Iraqis will see a difference.

“It’s going to be much more than this city has ever seen, and it’s going to be a rolling surge,” Col. Douglass Heckman, the senior adviser to the 9th Iraqi Army Division, said of the operation.

News from MNF-I:

Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers uncovered more than 1,100 81mm high-explosive mortar rounds at a cache near the main highway, Route Tampa, leading into the Iraqi capital Saturday.

Troops from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Troop B, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment “Wolverines,” 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), made the discovery during Operation Wolverine Alesia near Yusufiyah, Iraq, just 10 miles southwest of the capital.

Acting on a tip from a local resident, the troops conducted an intentional search of the area which resulted in the largest cache find in 2nd “Commando” Brigade’s history. In all, 1,129 mortar rounds were uncovered.

The cache, which was buried in the dirt, was larger than expected. As the Soldiers continued to unearth more mortar rounds, it became evident that this was a major find.

“These mortars rounds are in the configuration to use as improvised explosive devises,” said Lt. Col. Mark Suich, the 1-89th’s commander and native of Redding, Pa. “The mortar rounds in this state cannot be used for indirect fire; they are fabricated and stored to be used against the coalition and sectarian enemies as IEDs.”

Suich said the seizure of so many munitions can only hurt terrorist operations.

“We put a significant reduction in the enemy’s ability to emplace IEDs in this area today,” Suich said. “We are pretty sure that these are affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq.”

The area around Yusufiyah has long been identified as an al-Qaeda and former regime safe haven where attacks against Baghdad and Coalition and Iraqi security forces originated.

“This is what we refer to as a weapons supermarket-type cache,” said Maj. Mark Aitken, the 1-89th executive officer. “The terrorists place a large cache of weapons in one place to draw from. They then pre-position what they draw in many other smaller caches around the countryside.”

During the operation four individuals were detained by the Iraqi Army for suspicious activity in the vicinity of the cache.

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