Casey says results in Iraq won't be fast

Image provided by the US Army - (From right) Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps - Iraq, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., listen as Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force - Iraq, gives an update on the situation in Iraq Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007. Clinton was in Iraq as part of a congressional delegation that also included Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y. (AP Photo/US Army - Sgt. Curt Cashour, MNC-I Public Affairs)

Funny how people seem to forget we are at war with cowards who pose as civilians, hide behind women and children and have no qualms about who they kill and how brutally. There never has been a perfect war fought without mistakes or lives. But if people think we can just leave Iraq and everything's going to be fine they will welcome our country's suicide.

Surprise, surprise! Didn't we hear this in the beginning? So why the personnel change?

General George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, speaks during a news conference in Baghdad January 15, 2007. The first additional American troops who will take part in a major new security plan in Baghdad have arrived in the Iraqi capital, Casey said on Monday. REUTERS/POOL, STR

U.S. chiefs in Iraq say this plan will be different

By Claudia Parsons BAGHDAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Washington's top general and diplomat in Iraq conceded on Monday that past experience might breed doubts about a new U.S.-backed Iraqi security plan for Baghdad but they insisted this time will be different.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, announced the plan a week ago and U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged 21,500 extra troops, most for Baghdad, saying the plan's success will "in large part determine the outcome in Iraq".

But Maliki's eight-month-old government has pledged many times to crack down on militias, including some linked to his Shi'ite political allies, and has so far not done so.

Sunni Arabs are deeply sceptical of whether majority Shi'ites are really willing to take on militias and push through political steps such as reforming a ban on former Baath party members in public life and agreeing an oil revenue sharing deal.

"We have been here before," General George Casey told a news conference. But he said this time there was greater Iraqi "buy-in" as Iraqis had conceived the plan, both on the security and political front, and Iraqis would lead its implementation.

"As with every plan there are no guarantees of success," Casey said. "But ... I believe this plan can work."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that while some might question the Iraqi government's resolve to take the necessary steps to "break the cycle of sectarian violence that's tearing Baghdad apart", he was convinced of the Maliki's determination.

"This is a defining moment, we're in a new phase," he said. "I'm confident the Iraqi leaders understand the gravity of the moment." But he conceded: "The Iraqi people ... certainly have suffered a lot and they have heard positive predictions before."

NO INSTANT FIX

Both Khalilzad and Casey are due to be replaced as part of Bush's reworking of his Iraq strategy following his Republicans' defeat at Congressional elections in November, seen as a slap in the face from U.S. voters for his Iraq war policies.

Casey said the first additional U.S. troops who will take part in the new Baghdad plan had arrived in the Iraqi capital.

He cautioned the Iraqi public not to expect instant results. "It's not going to happen overnight," he said, speaking of a "gradual evolution" over two to three months.

Both men said the troop surge would accelerate plans to hand over security responsibility to Iraqis. "We muscle up in the short term to set the stage for the Iraqis to deal with the situation for themselves in the long term," Khalilzad said.

Asked about reports of frustration among U.S. officials with Iraqi counterparts over the planning of an operation to be led by the Iraqi government with U.S. help, Casey said: "Transitions generate friction. And we are in a period of transition."

But he said U.S. and Iraqi officials were working to ensure a workable command structure that would allow Iraqi control while maintaining security and effectiveness of U.S. troops.

"We are working out understandings at every level to ensure there are no misunderstandings," Casey said.

"This is a plan that is Iraqi-conceived but we have been involved every step of the way," he said. "American forces will remain under American command ... Our forces will not be put at risk because of the command relationship."

Khalilzad said an important part of Bush's strategy was to stop "hostile regional interference", notably by Iran and Syria. "We're going after their networks in Iraq," he said.

U.S. forces are holding five Iranians following a raid on an Iranian government office in Arbil last week -- the second such operation in recent weeks. Casey said there was no disagreement with Iraqi officials that they were "intelligence agents".

Iraq's foreign minister has endorsed Iranian calls for the release of the five men, saying they were operating legally.

From the Fourth Rail:

Iranian Qods Force Agents Detained in Irbil Raid

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US Pressure uncovers further evidence of Iran's involvement with the Iraqi insurgency and al-Qaeda

Qods Force logo. Click image to view.

Thursday's raid on an Iranian liaison office and the subsequent arrest of five Iranians has provided further evidence of the Islamic Republic's interference in Iraqi affairs and involvement with the insurgency. Multinational Forces - Iraq has reported the Iranians are members of Qods Force. "The five detainees are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – Qods Force (IRGC-QF), an organization known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces," noted the Multinational Forces - Iraq press release. The Iranian office Irbil was not a consulate or diplomatic mission, as earlier reported, but a liaison office.

Qods Force [or Jerusalem Force] is a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is responsible for planning and conducting foreign operations, intelligence gathering and terrorist activities. The unit works extensively with Hezbollah. Qods Force regularly uses its diplomatic missions to provide cover for its operatives.

In late December, US forces raided a SCIRI office in Baghdad and detained two member of Qods Force, including "the third-highest-ranking official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' al-Qods Brigade," according to the Washington Post. The New York Sun identified the senior Qods commander as Chizari. Also seized were "weapons lists, documents pertaining to shipments of weapons into Iraq, organizational charts, telephone records and maps, among other sensitive intelligence information... [and] information about importing modern, specially shaped explosive charges into Iraq."

Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Qods Force. Click image to view.

Evidence the Iranians were helping the Sunni insurgency was also uncovered in the Baghdad raid. An intelligence official told the New York Sun that the Baghdad Qods Forces agents were "working with individuals affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah... We found plans for attacks, phone numbers affiliated with Sunni bad guys, a lot of things that filled in the blanks on what these guys are up to." Irbil is in the Kurdish North, where there are no Shia death squads. The only organization fighting the Iraqi government in this region is Ansar al-Islam, the al-Qaeda founded and funded terrorist group.

The raid in Irbil followed an unusually direct warning to Iran and Syria during President Bush's speech on the new Iraq strategy just last Wednesday. "[Security in Iraq] begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq. Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We'll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

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By Bill Roggio on January 14, 2007 1:16 AM |

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BBC Middle East correspondent Ian Pannell in Cairo says that despite harsh criticism in the region of the way Washington has conducted itself, many share the US fear of what failure in Iraq will mean.

He says Egypt echoed concerns in the Arab world about the growing influence of Iran, making a thinly veiled swipe at what it called the interventions of certain people in Iraqi affairs.

Surely US/British/Iraqi military are now at the point they know who to go after and when.
I expect to continue to read a lot of new catches as time goes by. We are going to break up all the interactive networks between Iran and the ones in Iraq and Syria.
And surely that will include high/mid end al Qaeda who have managed to thus far stay alive.

I'll be checking the headlines each day to see the latest catch.

Thanks Ernest. We should expect some lull periods before the *hit hits the fan. Gotta root out a lot of goons that now will hide.