History Forum / General / British History / June 2007

More in the same vein.

DSH
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US Launches New Offensive in Iraq

16 June 2007

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer

     BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military, which just days ago completed its
latest troop buildup in Iraq, has launched a large offensive operation in
several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad, the top U.S. commander said
Saturday.

     Gen. David Petraeus said the operation began in the last 24 hours and
will put forces into key areas surrounding Baghdad that, according to
intelligence, al-Qaida is using to base some of its car bomb operations.

Excellent!  Exterminate most -- take a few prisoners for INTERROGATION.  Let
the Iraqis do most of the interrogations of those captured who are not of
particular interest to the Americans -- and don't ask the Iraqis about their
methods. -- DSH

     Petraeus, who met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a morning
breakfast, also said that he doesn't have all the American troops he might
want, but he knows he's got all he's going to get.

     "There's never been a military commander in history who wouldn't like
to have more of something or other—that characterizes all of us here," he
told reporters traveling with Gates. "The fact is frankly that we have all
that our country is going to provide us in terms of combat forces. That is
really it right now."

     He said the buildup of nearly 30,000 additional forces that has just
been completed allowed him to launch the latest assault. The move, he said,
is allowing him to send operations for the first time into "a number of
areas around Baghdad, in particular to go into areas that were sanctuaries
in the past of al-Qaida."

They must not be allowed any sanctuaries. -- DSH

     American and Iraqi forces have absolute control over only 40 percent
of the capital, according to U.S. officials.

     He said: "Our job now, frankly, along with the job of our Iraqi
counterparts ... is to do everything that we can with the additional forces
that we have."

     Underscoring the challenges ahead, Gates arrival Friday night for his
unannounced visit, brought him to a city all but shut down by a security
lockdown. Iraqi leaders imposed a strict curfew this week after a bombing of
an important shrine north of the city.

Reminds me of my time in Saigon. -- DSH

     It is Gates' fourth trip to Iraq since he took over the Defense
Department last December. He was meeting with military and political leaders
to assess progress, and to continue to urge the Iraqi government to move
more quickly toward reconciliation and stabilizing their country.

     Petraeus provided few details of the new offensive, but said he
believes it will help the military make some progress in Iraq, where the war
is in its fifth year and U.S. casualties have surpassed 3,500.

Petraeus SHOULD be providing only a VERY few DETAILS at this point. -- DSH

     Gates and his military leaders are under intense pressure from
Congress and the American public to begin to show real progress in Iraq so
that troop withdrawals can start.

     There are currently about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

     At the same time, Gates and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker expressed
continuing frustration with the lack of political progress by the Iraqis to
meet a number of benchmarks set by the U.S., including oil revenue-sharing
legislation and political reconciliation.

     "We are pressing hard on those," said Crocker. "The Iraqi government
is pressing itself. Progress has been frustratingly slow. We will see where
we are by September."

Indeed. -- DSH

     After a meeting with Gates, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office
said he had told the U.S. defense secretary Iraqi leaders are making
"persistent efforts" and have "a chance" to achieve national political
reconciliation.

     Al-Maliki also pointed out that Iraqi security forces generally headed
off any greater explosion of Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence in Iraq after
last Wednesday's bombing at the holy Shiite shrine of al-Askariya in the
city of Samarra, his office said.

     During his visit, Gates also stopped by the al-Madain Joint Security
Station Saturday morning in southeast Baghdad, traveling under tight
security, and wearing body armor. His helicopter sent up a cloud of dust as
it set down in the rectangular, walled station in the largely Shiite enclave
of Karada, a relatively stable area of the city.

     Gates heard from both Iraqi and U.S. military officials, who talked
about the effort to put as many as 60 of the security outposts in the
Baghdad region. There are about 27 joint security stations, which are
staffed by Iraqi police and army soldiers as well as U.S. troops. And there
are about the same number of smaller combat outposts.

     Col. Jeffrey Bannister, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry
Division which has forces at the station, said the facility was a model for
Baghdad and "has a very good fusion effect amongst the Iraqis."

     He added, however, that his troops have faced a lot of newer armor-
piercing roadside bombs. "We are at the tip of the spear for that," he told
reporters who traveled to the station with Gates.

     Gates thanked the Iraqi forces there for their service and expressed
sympathy for those who have been wounded and killed. "They are serving the
interests of the Iraqi people," Gates said.

     Gates is the third top U.S. official to travel to Baghdad this week to
press the Iraqi government to move more quickly toward political
reconciliation and other vital reforms that many see as critical to putting
a cap on the violence.

     The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Adm. William Fallon carried
that message to the Iraqis last weekend, and John Negroponte, the No. 2
State Department official, reinforced it in a visit midweek.

     Gates also was cautious in his assessment of the progress in the war.
He's to give Congress an update next month, and a full review in September,
of how well the buildup ordered by President Bush has worked.

     "It remains to be seen how much progress will be made over the course
of the next two or three months," Gates said, adding "There are some
positive trends, there are some negative trends."
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Bingo!

A far cry from the line pedaled by the Chicken Little Hysterical Defeatist
Ramblings of Gans and other lesser pogues without the law in these
precincts -- including Horsellman Rarebit....

Singularly devoid of Bush Derangement Syndrome as well.

SHAPE, DESTROY, COOPT, BUILD, HOLD.

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

Yes, it starts biting Bush in the butt. But no biting will deter him
from trying of get the oil. Hang him in The Hague would be the only way
to cure him.

Translation:  The Surge is not working.

Trust Mr. Hines bringing a declaration of lack of results as "encouraging
signs."

As if we had not seen those before.

The hawks war shares are penny stocks and lining up on the chute that will
take them to Enron stock level.

Mr. Hines is just bracing himself.

Mark my words:   When September comes, Mr. Hines will still be saying and
quoting people saying that more time is needed because things are beginning
to jell, almost.  And that we shouldn't give up when things are going well,
well almost.

We've seen it all before.

Mr. Hines was taught to never surrender, but he missed the class after that
when exceptions were cited.   Hence, Mr. Hines will walk into a cannonade, a
fusillade, and ambuscade, or more like it, into a dilluvium of cream pies,
as he does here often, figuratively, and proudly wear on his face more egg
than is is becoming to an officer, without compunction.

He surely has come up a cropper on Iraq --  four and and a half years AND
counting.

His brave act in the face of adversity shows he is as stubborn as Bush, but
little else.

General Petraeus says the surge won't work now, in July or ever.
We are going to be in Iraq for ten years, actually he said it takes
ten years to put down an insurrection. He didn't seem to subtract the
four we have been there. The Soviet operation in Afghanistan took ten
years to fail, are we trying for a record?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,283553,00.html