Should've done exactly this 5-6 months ago, but I suppose that election considerations got in the way...sigh.
I think the calculation was made that they wanted the IRAQI governing council to make this decision. It is their country, and they have been softening up the area for the last few months trying to convince the regular Iraqis that the fight is not with them, but with the foreign terrorists and the leftover Baathists in their midst.
Not just in our country....Allawi and crew had a lot to do with that.....
It was not only the US elections that qualify as political considerations in the timing of this. Part, also, was that the Iraqi government itself had to be involved and engaged in this in order that they gain the respect and credibility of the populace after it is complete. If the US had done this by ourselves, that would not be accomplished, and in the grand scheme of things, it is far more important that the Iraq gvt have support, than that the US purge this nest...
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In addition, it gave more time for more of the hornets to get into the nest, methinks... I'm happy now with the way this has been engineered... Pray that the operation goes even better than hoped for.