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| Iraq |
| In Iraq, Three Wars Engage U.S. |
| 2008-02-05 |
| CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq-- Three separate but related wars are being waged in this country now, and the third one, against Shiite extremists, is the most worrisome, according to the commander and senior staff of the U.S. Army division patrolling Baghdad. The first, against al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group that U.S. officials believe is foreign-led, is going well despite occasional spikes in violence, such as Friday's dual bombings of Baghdad marketplaces. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is "frustrated" but "not defeated," Maj. Gen. Jeffrey W. Hammond, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said in an interview last week. The second fight, against the domestic Sunni insurgency, has become dormant in many places in the past year, as about 80,000 armed men, many of them former insurgents, switched sides and came onto the U.S. payroll with groups that officers here call "Concerned Local Citizens." The third conflict, and perhaps the most vexing for U.S. commanders, is with Shiite extremist militias. More than two-thirds of U.S. casualties are caused by roadside bombs, particularly by high-tech anti-armor devices, planted by those groups. Overall, senior U.S. officers find the state of the wars unexpectedly good, and are allowing themselves to begin speaking optimistically. "A year ago, I didn't see any way it was going to work out to our advantage," said Col. James Rainey, the 4th Infantry Division's director of operations, who is on his third tour of duty in Iraq. The difference now, he said, is "remarkable." A major reason for the change, he said, is the increased effectiveness of the Iraqi army and police, to which the U.S. military refers collectively as Iraqi security forces, or ISF. "The ISF, when I was over here last time, couldn't do anything," Rainey said. Now, he continued, they frequently show tactical competence. That's crucial for future security here, because as U.S. troop numbers drop by about 25,000 between now and midsummer, to roughly 130,000, Iraqi forces will be handed a greater share of the burden. At the same time, the officers are conscious that the fighting here has morphed several times over the past five years, as adversaries have adjusted to changes in U.S. tactics. Some officers worry that various factions, taken aback by how effective U.S. operations proved in the past year after several years of frequent counterproductive effect, are lying low as they try to devise new ways to attack. For example, as measures such as checkpoints outside marketplaces have made car bombs less effective in inflicting mass casualties, said Maj. Jeff Jones, the division's deputy chief of intelligence, al-Qaeda in Iraq has begun to turn more to suicide bombers. Car bombs killed 206 people in the Baghdad area in January last year and 253 in February, according to Jones. The number remained high during the summer, with 186 people dying in such attacks in July. But since then the numbers have come down sharply, with just 13 killed by car bombs in November and 12 in December. Lately, Jones said, al-Qaeda in Iraq has begun to attack local armed groups who are cooperating with U.S. forces. The majority of those groups are Sunni, and the attacks now mean that al-Qaeda in Iraq is "the single largest killer of Sunnis in Iraq," he said. The most challenging part of the war in early 2008 appears to be roadside bombs planted by Shiite extremist groups. The U.S. military calls those organizations "special groups," to distinguish them from other Islamic fighters under the sway of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. officials hope Sadr will give up violence as a political tool altogether, rather than declare a six-month cease-fire, as he did in August. CONTINUED |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #6 THREE? Lest we fergit, 9-11/WOT > WAR FOR OWG/OWG-NWO/SWO = WAR FOR "GLOBALISM" = WAR FOR PRO-US versus ANTI-US SOVEREIGNTY, NATIONALISM, etc. ROLE IN SAID OWG-NWO. More popularly known as WINNING ALL THE BATTLES, BUT LOSING THE WAR - IOW, OOOOOOOPPPPSSSIES - YOUR BAD, and only Only ONLY O-N-L-Y OOOOOONNNNLLLLLYYYYYY, D *** YOU, YOUR BAD. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-02-05 16:40 |
| #5 Bobby, that's ok, some of us watched the Superbowl and missed Sundays Rant. yep, great game eh!! close till the end, the best kind of football! |
| Posted by: RD 2008-02-05 14:21 |
| #4 Agreed, and WaPo acknowledging we've won two of the three was pretty cool, too. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-02-05 11:43 |
| #3 Bobby, that's ok, some of us watched the Superbowl and missed Sundays Rant. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-02-05 10:59 |
| #2 I count 4 wars: The fourth is the war at home with the liberal democrats and the MSM. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-02-05 10:01 |
| #1 Sorry, GBUSMC, but I posted this Sunday, but it was significant for the WaPo. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-02-05 06:52 |