No Wonder Libs Are Upset - The Surge Is Working

[Annie]

From someone that has spent a lot of time in Iraq. Lots of links:

http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/06/the_battle_of_baquba.php

The Battle of Baqubah II

The Baqubah region. Click map to view.

Major offensive in al Qaeda's so-called capital of the Islamic State of Iraq

The Diyala Campaign is underway. As part of major offensive operations throughout the belts regions of Baghdad, Iraqi and U.S. forces have launched a large scale operation in the city of Baqubah, the provincial capital of Diyala. Dubbed Operation Arrowhead Ripper, the offensive is massive in scale. This is a division sized operation of "approximately 10,000 Soldiers, with a full complement of attack helicopters, close air support, Strykers and Bradley Fighting Vehicles." Over 30 al Qaeda operatives have been killed since the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division kicked off the operation with a "quick-strike nighttime air assault."

...

The Diyala Campaign has been a long time coming. The 10,000 U.S. troops and supporting Iraqi units won't sit pat in Baqubah, but will reach out to strike at other al Qaeda bases in the troubled province. These areas include Khalis, Muqdadiyah and a host of small towns up and down the Diyala River Valley and along the Iranian border where al Qaeda has established bases, training camps and logistical nodes.

By Bill Roggio on June 19, 2007 9:38 AM

 

[maineman]

I have never doubted the capacity of the US Armed Forces to root out and scatter/destroy the AQ fighters presently in Iraq. I do, however, doubt anyone's capacity to keep more from streaming in, or, more importantly, to keep indigenous sunnis and shiites from turning on one another once AQ's presence and immediate impact is diminished.

 

[maineman]

so.... who are you gonna stick with here, RSR? Petraeus and his comments about the positive effects of putting 20K more "cops" in one area, or the Pentagon's own quarterly assessment of the entire war which says that the violence throughout Iraq has gone up?

 

[red states rule]

so.... who are you gonna stick with here, RSR? Petraeus and his comments about the positive effects of putting 20K more "cops" in one area, or the Pentagon's own quarterly assessment of the entire war which says that the violence throughout Iraq has gone up?

So are you gonna keep pushing for surrender and let the terrorists win?

 

[maineman]

no. are you going to keep avoiding answering any questions?

Simple one: who are you gonna believe in your efforts to make the war in Iraq a winning deal? Petraeus or the Pentagon?

 

[red states rule]

no. are you going to keep avoiding answering any questions?

Simple one: who are you gonna believe in your efforts to make the war in Iraq a winning deal? Petraeus or the Pentagon?

Petraeus was the man who was picked to win the fight

 

[red states rule]

Great article here

In battle for hearts and minds, Iraqi insurgents are doing well
They have coupled terror tactics with a sophisticated use of modern media.
By John Hughes
Provo, Utah - In 2005 Al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, wrote a letter to the then top insurgent leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "[M]ore than half of this battle," he wrote, "is taking place in the battlefield of the media.... [W]e are in a media battle, in a race for the hearts and minds of our umma [people]."

As the struggle in Iraq between the insurgents on the one hand and US military and Iraqi security forces on the other reaches a climactic phase, it is clear that the insurgents, far from being a band of crude guerilla fighters, have taken the Al Qaeda leader's injunction to heart and have coupled the tactics of terror with a sophisticated knowledge and use of modern media.

Their command of the Internet, their use of television, their release and timing of material calculated to be picked up and used by Arab and Western TV outlets and news agencies, indicates a high degree of planning and professionalism.

In the aftermath of the war, fewer US correspondents were embedded with US military units, and the story took a different direction. The focus was on attempts to build a democratic political system and repair an infrastructure both neglected by Hussein and then damaged even more during the fighting. Then came more negative stories of US mistakes and the Pentagon's unpreparedness for the enormity of problems in the postwar occupation. Finally, Iraq lapsed into violence, with car bombings and assassinations and hostage-taking providing a daily litany of horror. The occupying US soldiers began to take ever more casualties as did US and other foreign civilian workers and journalists, whose fatalities soon numbered more than in any other war.

They included brave Iraqi journalists and cameramen working for the Americans at great peril.

Critics in the Bush administration charged that images of chaos and violence were overshadowing stories of a more positive nature: of schools that were being opened, hospitals that were being rebuilt, and Iraqis who were coming forward to be policemen.

Now some US military officers, too, charge that a clever enemy media campaign is gaining traction and that the US is losing the war in information about battlefield operations.

A Marine officer whose credibility I trust cites an operation of success in the Fallujah region earlier this month that was reported as a disaster by US and British media companies. His unit had established a new precinct headquarters for Iraqi police, Army troops, and US Marines to patrol and protect a dedicated area. It was well received by the local populace and almost 200 Iraqis volunteered for police recruitment. Insurgents sought to disrupt it but were routed.

for the complete article:


http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0620/p09s01-cojh.html

 

[maineman]

Petraeus was the man who was picked to win the fight

what do Petraeus's comments about Baghdad and Anbar have to do with the FACT that the Pentagon, itself, has reported that violence ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF IRAQ has INCREASED, AND THAT AMERICAN CASUALTIES HAVE INCREASED??????

 

[red states rule]

what do Petraeus's comments about Baghdad and Anbar have to do with the FACT that the Pentagon, itself, has reported that violence ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF IRAQ has INCREASED, AND THAT AMERICAN CASUALTIES HAVE INCREASED??????

Keep pulling for failure MM - and keep that white flag handy for all your social functions

 

[maineman]

keep running from the facts, RSR.... keep running.

 

[red states rule]

keep running from the facts, RSR.... keep running.

Keep running from the terrorists and tell White Flag harry to keep pushing for surrender - that is what you really want

 

[maineman]

I just want you to tell me why the Pentagon says that the carnage across Iraq is increasing and that American casualties are increasing if the surge is working.

We aren't talking about DU or Moveon or Buzzflash saying that the carnage is increasing, we are talking about the pentagon itself. Can you explain that?

Here is what the Pentagon says:

"Violence has decreased" in Baghdad and in Anbar Province, which have long been the country’s most violent areas, “but has increased in most provinces, particularly in outlying areas around Baghdad and in Nineva and Diyala Provinces.” Attacks have also increased in Basra Province in the south, because of fighting between rival Shiite militants, some of whom fled Baghdad because of the security crackdown", it added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/washington/14military.html

can you explain that??

 

[maineman]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19324875/


if you listen closely, you can hear the strains of "Kumbaya" being sung by a giant bunch of sunnis and shiites while giving one another a big group hug.

 

[red states rule]

WINNING ON OFFENSE
REAL PLAN TO DEFEAT IRAQ FOES

June 21, 2007 -- HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies.

Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited.

Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.

The 10,000-man operation reported in the Baquba area is only one part of a broader effort. In the words of a well-placed officer in Baghdad, "Operations like that are going on around Fallujah, Salman Pak, in Eastern Anbar, the belts around Baghdad, in Arab Jabour, outside of Taji and throughout the Diyala River Valley."

This widespread offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorists is part of a carefully developed, phased plan. The first step as the troop surge proceeded was to establish livable conditions in key neighborhoods of the capital.

That step was vital, but insufficient in itself. Terrorists fled, but they didn't disappear. They just sought refuge elsewhere. And while neighborhood pacification involved aggressive tactical actions, it ultimately put our forces in a defensive posture.

And you can't win solely by playing defense, either in the NFL or in war.


for the complete article

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0621200...ng_on_offense_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm

 

[maineman]

WINNING ON OFFENSE
REAL PLAN TO DEFEAT IRAQ FOES

June 21, 2007 -- HALLELUJAH! For the first time since Baghdad fell, our military in Iraq has a comprehensive, integrated plan to defeat our enemies.

Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited.

Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.

The 10,000-man operation reported in the Baquba area is only one part of a broader effort. In the words of a well-placed officer in Baghdad, "Operations like that are going on around Fallujah, Salman Pak, in Eastern Anbar, the belts around Baghdad, in Arab Jabour, outside of Taji and throughout the Diyala River Valley."

This widespread offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorists is part of a carefully developed, phased plan. The first step as the troop surge proceeded was to establish livable conditions in key neighborhoods of the capital.

That step was vital, but insufficient in itself. Terrorists fled, but they didn't disappear. They just sought refuge elsewhere. And while neighborhood pacification involved aggressive tactical actions, it ultimately put our forces in a defensive posture.

And you can't win solely by playing defense, either in the NFL or in war.


for the complete article

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0621200...ng_on_offense_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm

another rant from the hate democrats crowd.

 

[red states rule]

another rant from the hate democrats crowd.

Truth hurts, eh?

 

[maineman]

Truth hurts, eh?

no truth here...just more rants.

 

[red states rule]

no truth here...just more rants.

After four lost years, we need to have realistic expectations - unless we intend to throw the game for domestic political reasons. Gen. Petraeus is playing a bad hand with greater skill than we had any right to expect. He's making meaningful tactical progress. We don't yet know if that will translate into a strategic turnaround - but, for God's sake, let's give him a chance.

And let's not lose sight of our own national-security priority, which is defeating al Qaeda. Terror International is having a really bad time in Iraq these days: More and more Sunni Arabs are breaking with al Qaeda and its affiliates over their insufferable brutality. The Baquba-area operations involve former enemies now fighting on our side against the foreign terrorists. That's not just good news for Iraq. It's good news for America.

Much could still go wrong. We don't know if those Sunni Arabs will keep faith with us over the longer term - and now the Shias who control the government are bewailing our new local alliances. Sunni Arabs have realized at last that they've got to "cooperate to graduate." Now the Shia are the ones who insist on playing a zero-sum game.

And, of course, we never eliminated Muqtada al-Sadr. For which we're going to be even sorrier than we are now.

Still, there's reason for sober optimism at the moment: We've finally got a coherent approach to defeating our enemies, not just parrying them. It looks like our military leaders have gotten serious at last.

God help us, it almost looks like we want to win.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0621200...ffense_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm?page=2

 

[red states rule]

Turning on al-Qaeda in Baquba

By JOE KLEIN

I helicoptered today into Baquba, the centerpiece of the current U.S. offensive in Iraq, with Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno —and then drove via Stryker brigade into the center of the fight for a briefing. It was midday, and the sun was so hot that both sides in the battle seemed to be taking a siesta. Only a few small explosions could be heard in the distance; there was no small arms fire. Odierno—a supertanker of a man with a shaved head who looks like ancient turtle—met with a group of battalion commanders in the ruins of a medical center that had been blasted, by someone, several years earlier. Situation maps were leaned against a white ceramic tile wall; the officers sat in campaign chairs, hunched in a tight semi-circle; bottles of cold water were passed around.

The news from the battle was good. That was no surprise: in a guerrilla war like Iraq, every engagement that can be described as a "battle" is inevitably won by the superior force, which is part of the frustration. Baquba, the capital of Diyala province just northeast of Baghdad, had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda over the past year—between 400 and 500 al-Qaeda fighters were estimated to be in the city when the U.S. forces attacked on Monday, and now those who remain are surrounded, in a slowly tightening cordon. These sorts of operations have taken place multiple times in multiple cities during this war, to little effect—usually the terrorists slip away, as they did in Falluja in 2004, only to turn up elsewhere. That may well happen again this time. But there is one promising development in Baquba.

A lieutenant colonel named Bruce Antonia told Odierno about preparing to attack the Buhritz neighborhood a few nights earlier when he was approached by local Sunni inusurgents—members, they said, of the 1920 Revolutionary Brigades—who were streaming out of the neighborhood. "They said they'd been fighting al-Qaeda but had run out of ammunition and asked us to supply them. We told them, 'Show us where AQ is and we'll fight them.'" The insurgents did and the neighborhood was cleared.

A second lieutenant colonel named Avanulis Smiley picked up the story from there, "Sir, they've also showed us seven buried IED sites. They gave us specific information—description of the houses, gate color, tree trunks."

for the complete article

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1635614,00.html

 

[maineman]

another day, more cut and paste spam from RSR.....