Posted on 09/17/2008 7:55:09 PM PDT by DJ Elliott
But the way ahead is becoming clearer, with a road map provided by men such as Col. Dominic Caraccilo, a brigade commander in the 101st Airborne whose men patrol a patch south of Baghdad that used to be called the Triangle of Death. The soldiers now laughingly refer to it as the "Triangle of Love." A year ago, there were as many as 50 attacks every week; now there are just a few. Caraccilo is overseeing a drawdown of U.S. forces; his brigade of about 4,000 soldiers is shipping out, to be replaced by a task force of fewer than 1,000. This force will not conduct counterinsurgency operations, but will support the newly created 17th Division of the Iraqi army. Its commander, Maj. Gen. Ali Jassim Mohammed Hassen al-Frejee, faces his own challenges: He's short of helmets and body armor, and he'd sure like to have some heavy artillery of his own rather than having to rely on ours. Still, as Caraccilo says, Ali's forces are "good enough for the enemy they have to face."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Love Triangle: Read it and weep! DU & KOS spies and lurkers!
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