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| Iraq | |
| US Military Reversing Iraq Troop Surge | |
| 2007-11-13 | |
The current total of 20 combat brigades is shrinking to 19 as the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, operating in volatile Diyala province, leaves. The U.S. command in Baghdad announced on Saturday that the brigade had begun heading home to Fort Hood, Texas, and that its battle space will be taken by another brigade already operating in Iraq. Between January and July - on a schedule not yet made public - the force is to shrink further to 15 brigades. The total number of U.S. troops will likely go from 167,000 now to 140,000-145,000 by July, six months before President Bush leaves office and a new commander in chief enters the White House. A key question is whether security will slip once U.S. lines thin and whether Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq and orchestrator of the counterinsurgency strategy, has made enough inroads against insurgents - and instilled enough hope in ordinary Iraqis - to make the gains stick. U.S. commanders assert that it is not just the larger number of U.S. troops that has made a difference but also the way those troops operate - closer to the Iraqi population now rather than from big, isolated U.S. bases. Living among the Iraqis, they say, allows for a building of greater trust. That trust, in turn, prompted more local Iraqis - mostly Sunni Arabs but also Shiites - to join U.S. forces in anti-insurgent alliances, the commanders say. It also has meant more Iraqi help in finding insurgents' arms caches, reducing mortar attacks and in uncovering roadside bombs before they detonate. Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, who just spent 10 days in Iraq assessing the situation for Petraeus, said a key reason for recent security gains is the emergence of the local anti-insurgent alliances - not just in Anbar province where they began early this year but also now in and around Baghdad. A key to sustaining those security gains will be the U.S. military's ability to police those alliances, he said. ``It's happening on a large scale basis throughout much of the country,'' Biddle said in an interview Friday. ``The problem is how do you keep them from either turning sides again or from going to war against each other.'' Also important is whether the Iraqi security forces - Iraqi army and police - are ready to take over from U.S. troops. If they are not, Petraeus' strategy could fail and the whole U.S. enterprise in Iraq could unravel. The issue is not whether the Iraqi army and police have adequate training; it's whether they are willing to use their training to enforce order without perpetuating the sectarian divides. Brig. Gen. Stephen Gledhill, the second-in-command for training Iraqi forces, says he is confident that conditions have improved to the point where the Iraqis are capable of filling any U.S. gaps. ``Our answer is that they not only will be able to - they already are, and will continue to do so as they gain experience, capabilities and capacity, and not only here in Baghdad but all around the country,'' Gledhill said in an e-mail. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 ION, NOSI.org > ARMED FORCES JOURNAL [Nov 2007] -DANGEROUS WATERS:IGNORING OPERATIONAL ART AT SEA MAY DOOM US MARITIME STRATEGY. Can USN-proclaimed GLOBAL SEA CONTROL [DOMINANCE]espec agz MAJOR/GREAT POWERS, be effectively maintained, vv various, simul "short of war", not- worse-than-high intensity conventional/ unconventional? war or afloat opers in and around international LITTORALS + CONTINENTAL PERIPHERIES??? ALso from AFJ > HAMAS HAVEN. Israel's on-going "HAMAS vs. FATAH" prob + Lebanese Terror orgs in indic of the spread of Radical or Islamist Extremism across world regions, with so-called "moderate", pro-democratic, or pro-US-Western Muslim nations-Govts becoming more hard-pressed to drop democratic or libertarain reforms in efforts to preclude the rise of said Extremism. IOW, AMER'S PRO-DEMOCRATIC MUSLIM ALLIES MUST [ironically]DROP DEMOCRACY IN ORDER TO SAVE THEMSELVES FROM RADIC ISLAMIST ANTI-DEMOCRACY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-13 22:39 |
| #4 Our local newspaper has a large article on today's front page about the return of a military police batallion coming home after spending 15 months in Iraq. I hope the men and women who have been there, worked hard, and are now able to come home enjoy time with their families before having to "take the next step", as TW so aptly stated. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-11-13 12:58 |
| #3 What NOLA said. :-) Plus, the troops need a break before the next push, wherever that might be. Welcome home, ladies and gentlemen, with our thanks! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-13 11:41 |
| #2 It hinges on the inclusion of the Sahwah, or Sunni "Awakening" fighters, being included in the ranks of the Iraqi Police. If they are allowed to merge, they may balance each other out and their sectarian issues may force both sides to be on good behavior for fear of being thrown out. I might be a bit idealistic, but sometimes having clashing identities can make both try to proove each other wrong by actually doing their job well. Or maybe they're just sick of being killed and will straighten up and act right to avoid attending more funerals.... |
| Posted by: NOLA 2007-11-13 03:47 |
| #1 Everything I've read says that the Iraqi Police are worthless and are only waiting for the US troops to leave before they start up with their old sectarian ways again. The Iraqi Army has no government to swear allegiance to. The surge was to provide security so that a political solution can be found. But if the politicians prefer their bickering (as seems the case) then it was all for naught. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-11-13 01:08 |