General Praises New Operational Freedom in Baghdad

American Forces Press Service ^ | John J. Kruzel

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2007 – The most important component of President Bush’s strategy to stabilize Iraq is an expanded freedom of operations in Baghdad, the chief operations officer for the Joint Staff said here yesterday.

Iraq’s government has renewed its commitment to prevent political constraints from impeding progress in the capital, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute said in an interview.

“The Iraqi government has committed to a no-holds-barred approach to operations inside Baghdad,” Lute said. “(This means) there’s no geographic constraint on military operations, and there’s no political or sectarian group constraint on military operations.”

He noted these things have constrained progress in earlier operations.

Lute described Baghdad as “the center of gravity for Iraq,” and said that progress in the capital represents greater progress in Iraq. “As goes Baghdad, so goes Iraq,” he said, “so that’s really where our focus has been.

“It’s not only the political capital of Iraq, but it’s the center for media in Iraq, it’s the economic center of Iraq, and it’s the religious center of Iraq,” Lute said. “The multiple of dimensions of Iraqi society come to bear on Baghdad proper.”

The new strategy “is an Iraqi plan; it was Iraqi conceived, it’ll be Iraqi led,” Lute said.

In addition to expanded freedom of operations, he said, the new Iraq strategy differs from past strategies in two fundamental ways.

“First, (Iraqis) have established unity of command over the city of Baghdad,” Lute said. “They’ve placed one Iraqi general officer in charge … of both the Ministry of Defense forces and Ministry of Interior.

“This one three-star Iraqi general will be in charge of not only the Iraqi army but (also) the Iraqi police,” he said. “It will be very important to establish that one-man-in-charge approach to the very important problems of Baghdad.”

Another difference Lute described is the “plus-up” of Iraqi soldiers, a component of the new strategy to stabilize Iraq’s capital city and parts of western Iraq.

“They’re committing three additional brigades of their own army to this effort,” Lute said. “The six Iraqi army brigades that are in Baghdad today will be joined by three more.”

The three new strategic components of the Iraqi strategy will give “fresh promise” to security in Baghdad, Lute said.

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

[flynmudd]

LET THE DOGS OUT!

[Txsleuth]

Looks like this General is as happy as you guys are that the ROE have changed!!

[pissant]

Rat, we've been getting serious with the dirtballs for the last month or so. It should only intensify. God Bless our warriors.

[zarf]

Begging the question: What the F**k has been going on in the meantime?

[pissant]

We've been snuffing sunnis while Maliki protected the shia. I think the arrest of Iranians over the last month shows we no longer care what the shia want.

[mystery-ak]

Yes....it's about damn time...let's get er done so our troops can come home...

[hsalaw]

Good. And high time.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

He noted these things have constrained progress in earlier operations.

And exactly why were "these things" allowed to happen in the first place, if we were at all serious about winning in Iraq???

[sgtbono2002]

We need to go through Baghdad like a dose of castor oil. We need to make Saddam look,like a boy scout. Throw out the reporters and clean house.

[FreeReign]

And exactly why were "these things" allowed to happen in the first place, if we were at all serious about winning in Iraq???

We've and the Iraqi's have been killing al-Qaeda and Baathist insurgents. We've been building both the Iraqi military and police force. Also Maliki has been getting his political coalition together.

Apparently the time seems to be right.

Perhaps you think you know better.

[FreeReign]

Begging the question: What the F**k has been going on in the meantime?

Here's one item that was going on in the "meantime".

Brig. Gen. Terry Wolff:In 2006, we made significant strides in force generation and all components of the Iraqi military. The Iraqi security force currently sits at 327,000 trained and equipped policemen and Iraqi military. ...I don’t think you can overstate the importance of the institution of the army as a unifying institution in Iraq, when you have people who come from all over the nation and now put on a common uniform and serve together.

Sounds to me like the General is saying it's important to have a unified Iraqi military army (and police force) so that they can clean up their own fat-boy and Mahdi Army mess.

Link

I'm making an educated guess on this of course. Not too f**king hard to do, right?

[flynmudd]

Political correctness.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Perhaps you think you know better.

Why, actually I do...