Posted on 03/28/2007 1:46:56 PM PDT by jmc1969
Once Baghdad is declared relatively secure, commanders have a tentative long-term plan to shift more forces to al Anbar province to help Marines and soldiers there uproot al-Qaida from its main base of operation in Iraq, according to a key military planner.
The shift likely would not happen until next year, according to a defense source who was briefed on the plan, and would be needed to finally end the terrorist group's three-year grip on Anbar.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said commanders are counting on making significant gains in the capital by early 2008, when all five U.S. brigades in the U.S. reinforcement plan will have been in place. The last brigade is slated to arrive in May. Two are in place in Baghdad.
Heritage Foundation military analyst James Jay Carafano, a West Point graduate, said more troops will be needed in Anbar, a vast rugged province west of Baghdad.
"We're already seeing people going where the killing is easy," he said of some insurgents leaving Baghdad. "Eventually you're going to have to follow these guys, and Anbar province is a big pipeline for al-Qaida."
Carafano said Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his commanders should refrain from even mild optimistic statements on a troop surge that is not yet two months old.
"I think it is very, very unhelpful because the first bit of bad news and you've got, 'Oh, you lied to us'," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
one surge at a time please
al Anbar Province needs a good cluster bombing.
It might be a good idea if we allow Shiek Sattar to create 8 more ERUs and give them the necessary equipment and arms.
That would keep the forward momentum in Anbar over the next year.
[al Anbar Province needs a good cluster bombing.]
Kind of like killing fire ants. First you level the mound. Then when most of the entire colony comes pouring out, you hit them with poisen. The next day, as the colony starts to starve and prepares to move, litter the area with poisonous food and let them finish themselves off.
I have always thought that as the terrorists become more desparate for combatants that it would be easier for the CIA to get infiltrators into their midst. Then we can kill them from the inside out.
(maybe I am dreaming)
Carafano said Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his commanders should refrain from even mild optimistic statements on a troop surge that is not yet two months old.
The AQ battle strategy is to bomb civilians and so foment sectarian violence in the hope that the USA will lose heart and leave, and to delegitimize the Iraqi government.
Forcing them to operate (bomb civilians) in their own former safe zones is a death sentence for them. More of the tribes will join against them, as has already been happening.
AQ in Iraq is doomed, if the Dems don't doom the USA first.
We'll be out before the next election. But I guess we can just save this offensive for after we're attacked again... and again... and again...
Excellent.....
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