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At Iraq's front line, U.S. puts ex-foes on payroll
Washington Post via Reuters ^
| August 22, 2007
| Peter Graff
Posted on 08/22/2007 10:09:52 AM PDT by jedward
JURF AS-SAKHR, Iraq (Reuters) - Under a tree by a battlefield road in Iraq's "Triangle of Death," Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Balcavage meets his new recruits.
The men are Iraqi Sunni Arabs who are about to join the U.S. military's payroll as a local militia. They want guns.
"I am not giving out guns and ammo," the U.S. commander says. The men listen carefully as the interpreter translates.
"I've been shot at up here enough times to know that there's plenty of guns and ammo. Me personally. Some of you guys have probably taken some pretty good shots at me."
Slowly but deliberately, U.S. forces are enlisting groups of armed men -- many probably former insurgents -- and paying cash, a strategy they say has dramatically reduced violence in some of Iraq's most dangerous areas in just weeks.
It is a rare piece of good news in four years of war, and successes like this are likely to play a prominent part when U.S. commander General David Petraeus makes an eagerly anticipated report to congress in mid-September.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: iraq; iraqsurge
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To: jedward
It is a rare piece of good news reporting in four years of war... There, fixed!
21
posted on
08/22/2007 4:19:28 PM PDT
by
PsyOp
(Truth in itself is rarely sufficient to make men act. - Clauswitz, On War, 1832.)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
For the WP and Reuters to write:
"Slowly but deliberately, U.S. forces are enlisting groups of armed men -- many probably former insurgents -- and paying cash, a strategy they say has dramatically reduced violence in some of Iraq's most dangerous areas in just weeks."
Is obviously indicative that things are moving along very well from the military standpoint, and to a degree the political view. These Sunni had been mostly under Saddamist control in this area. Many ex players in his ranks.
Reid, Biden, along with their many cohorts are going to become quite embarrassed when the L/MSM slowly start to acknowlege there really has been no civil war. And start to leak accurate info as how various criminal groups have worked for money with Saddamist/AQIR etc., and of course on the other side the Sadrist goons, to make things look as distorted as they have been in the news.
If the Izzat Ibrihim al Douri deal turns out to be accurate, the democrates are in a lot of deep doo doo.
22
posted on
08/22/2007 6:47:20 PM PDT
by
Marine_Uncle
(Hunter in 2008)
To: Marine_Uncle
“If the Izzat Ibrihim al Douri deal turns out to be accurate, the democrates are in a lot of deep doo doo.”
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070818/43/6jm2y.html
How to catch a rabbit maybe?
I agree with the military aspect in your comments. Right now it’s the Political (legislation specific) that’s not gaining ground. Hard to gage the signals right now on that one, but there’s plenty of crap holes that the dems will step in yet, regardless of what happens with Maliki (lol)
23
posted on
08/23/2007 1:17:00 AM PDT
by
jedward
To: rineaux
How can we outbribe petrodollars, if not terrodollars?
To: taxcontrol
Did you have to bring up the history of Congress in this story.
To: jedward
Izzat is at the end of his life. He probably is tired of holding up in some crap hole villa in a northern Iraqi town, perhaps actually in Tikrik, or has to stay in Syria under the rug.
He and his cronies realize the Sunni are never going to gain and upper edge. The Saddam era was a unique phenomina, like many dictatorships, where one man usually rules the roost, as apposed to say in Persian where a gaggle of Mullahs share the power positions, and ultimately can stay in power for a long time.
I find it a bit interesting that the IG and Coalition forces , remember we got a lot of SOPS groups working 24/7/365 on tracking him down along with a lot of other still key figures, that Interpool would be able to do much better. But what the heck, if they find him, good for them.
26
posted on
08/23/2007 5:24:34 PM PDT
by
Marine_Uncle
(Hunter in 2008)
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