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| Iraq |
| An Iraqi city becomes turnaround story |
| 2005-11-01 |
| Despite violence, including a nearby attack Saturday, Baquba sees improvement. By Dan Murphy, The Christian Science Monitor EFL'd & emphasis added. Once again, Mary Baker Eddy's parish paper out-performs the MSM. BAQUBA, IRAQ – Last January, Baquba was symbol of everything going wrong in Iraq - and its neighborhood of Buhritz was a symbol for everything going wrong in Baquba. This city just 50 miles north of Baghdad was crawling with Sunni Arab mortar teams, snipers, and bombmakers. They had made parts of the city their own, killing police when they found them and driving the rest into hiding. Their grip was so strong that only 60 percent of the region's polling places opened for Iraq's first post-Saddam election. In Buhritz, not a vote was cast; some polling sites were torched. But today, US commanders are pointing to Baquba as a symbol of what might go right. Every polling place stayed open all day for the Oct. 15 referendum that approved Iraq's new constitution earlier this month. Violence was light, while voter turnout was high. While Sunnis, Shiites, and ethnic Kurds of the city all have different visions of Iraq's future, and bombs like the one that killed at least 30 civilians Saturday in a town near here are still common, Baquba is a reminder that at least short-term security gains are being made in many Iraqi cities, particularly ones outside volatile Anbar Province. Asked why, Lt. Col. Rob Risberg, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Army's 10th Field Artillery Regiment, scratches his head, then says it hasn't been rocket science. "The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police have really come along - they can handle most of what comes their way now,'' says Colonel Risberg, from DeLeon Springs, Fla. "We're here to back them up, but I think we're seeing the benefits of getting cops on almost every street corner." . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 Always remember that every US soldier that becomes redundant in an area due to good Iraqi policing is freed up to reinforce other areas and perform other missions. This means as the enemy becomes weaker, we become stronger. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-11-01 15:26 |
| #2 I'm w/ ya BOMB!!! |
| Posted by: ARMYGUY 2005-11-01 15:01 |
| #1 And this requires a commitment to sticking with it until the job is finished. No public timetables, no speculation on when numbers can be reduced, no pronouncements or declarations along those lines, etc, etc. Get done what needs to be done, then an orderly departure can be arranged and carried out. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-11-01 14:23 |