Free Republic

An Iraqi vender works on setting displays of fresh vegetables on Haifa Street in central Baghdad, May 15. The area had been a hot-bed of violence and extremist activity, but is now returning to a peaceful normality of day-to-day living. U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl. CAMP LIBERTY — The surge of Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces into Baghdad neighborhoods is aimed at improving the security situation in the Iraqi capital. Yet, there are other programs benefiting by having more boots on the ground during Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon. “The surge has assisted civil military operations by putting more...

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2007 – While the “surge” in U.S. and Iraqi troops is continuing in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq, progress is being made in quelling violence there, a top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday. Baghdad is the center of gravity for the fight, and six coalition brigades with 24 battalions are in Baghdad, Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said during a teleconference with Pentagon reporters. In the belts of villages around Baghdad -- from which extremists often launch attacks -- there are six brigades with 20 battalions. Another U.S. brigade...

Pungent smoke floats through the chandeliers of the tribal chief's reception room. At his home in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province and a onetime Iraqi insurgent stronghold, Sheik Shakir is enjoying after-dinner cigars with his guest of honor, battalion commander Lt. Col. Craig Kozeniesky of the 2/5 Marines. Around the room, Marines and Iraqi tribesmen and police are sitting together, swapping jokes and stories. Some of these Iraqis were probably shooting at Americans less than a year ago. Now they and the Marines are fighting side by side against Al-Qaeda. "We are not just friends but also brothers," the sheik...

Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous government will take charge of security in its mountainous northern region this week in a transfer of command from the US-led coalition, officials said. At a ceremony Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil the commanders of the peshmerga - former anti-Baghdad guerrillas and now staunch US allies - will be handed responsibility for three northern provinces.

BAGHDAD — Capt. James Peay was starting to feel like a third wheel. Peay, a battery commander with the 82nd Airborne Division from Nashville, Tenn., was accompanying Iraqi police chief Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullah on a combined engagement patrol through the east Baghdad neighborhood of Suleikh. Whenever they stopped to speak with people on the street, Ahmed did most of the talking. Peay stood off to the side, listening as his interpreter translated. His comments were mostly limited to hellos, goodbyes, and thank-yous. This was Ahmed’s show, and Peay was more than happy to give him the spotlight. It’s not...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2007 – U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in Iraq are making a tangible difference on the ground, but cannot quickly undo 25 years of systemic neglect of the country’s infrastructure, the officer in charge of the rebuilding program said yesterday. “Our plan when we came in in 2003 was just to jumpstart the construction of the Iraqi infrastructure,” said Army Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division. However, a historic failure to maintain the country’s physical plant under Saddam Hussein impeded rebuilding efforts from their outset, Walsh said. Prior to...

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi security forces have made great improvements to the security situation in Iraq’s Anbar province, opening the door for political developments and partnerships, a top U.S. general in the region said today. “Now is the time, with the improvement in security in the province, to expand our contact to grow closer with the central government in Baghdad and with the provincial government in the province, to grow closer to the municipalities throughout the province, and we’re doing that on a regular basis by visiting the municipalities,” Army Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy...

PARUNS, Afghanistan, May 21, 2007 — Travel far enough into Afghanistan and you’ll find independent-minded people, confident in their attitudes and behaviors. Tribesmen here brandish rocket propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles unlike the unarmed Afghans in the more urban areas. The Korengal Outpost in the border Province of Kunar, has been a contentious region between these independent-minded people and Coalition forces and therefore serves as part of Afghanistan’s front lines against enemy insurgents. The elder tribesmen from the Korengal Valley met for peace talks with Coalition leaders and Nuristan Gov. Tamim Nouristani at his compound in the Paruns Valley, May...

BAGHDAD— Senior Iraqi and Coalition officials met to discuss security and reconciliation between local tribes at Contingency Operating Base-Speicher in Tikrit Wednesday. The meeting gave the leaders a chance to talk about living conditions of the Iraqi people, challenges that lay ahead and how the issues were going to be addressed.“Everyone has an important [role] to speak and negotiate their problems the provinces face, share opinions and [gain] a good understanding of the issues,” said Abdul-Rahman Mustafa, provincial governor of Kirkuk. This meeting is the latest in a recent trend by Iraqi officials to stem the violence through diplomatic...

CHICAGO, May 18, 2007 – By September, military officials will have a pretty good feel for whether the “military part” of the president’s surge strategy is working, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace said here today. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks in Chicago May 18 with an armed forces group that is part of the University of Chicago School of Business Alumni. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Pace spoke to about 1,000 students and alumni at the 55th...

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2007 – Many Marines are concerned that Americans aren’t willing to invest enough time for success in Iraq, the Corps’ top officer said here yesterday. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway makes a point during a May 17 media roundtable at the Pentagon. The general answered reporters’ questions on a broad range of Marine Corps issues and programs. Photo by R.D. Ward  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway told Pentagon reporters that defense officials must do a better job of communicating to the American people the cost of...

WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down. The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush's top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from a war spending bill billions of dollars in domestic spending that the White House had opposed. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq. But no agreement emerged. "To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2007 – The most powerful weapon in Iraq will be proving to the population that the government is capable of providing essential services and security, a U.S. commander in northern Iraq said today in a news conference.  An important task of the government will be competent participation at the provincial level, Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, the commander of Multinational Division North, told Pentagon reporters via videoconference. “That confidence will enhance our security operations and enable us to ultimately defeat the enemy,” he said. Although some of the northern provinces have shown success in working toward...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2007 – Iraq’s infrastructure is slowly improving despite years of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s Baath party and the current “costly insurgency,” a military commander said. “The type of work we have undertaken is hard work. It takes time and constant attention,” Army Col. Deborah Lewis, commander of the Gulf Regional Central District, told Iraqi reporters during a May 5 briefing on reconstruction in Anbar province. The Army Corps of Engineer’s Gulf Region Division is spearheading public works projects to improve Iraq’s water, oil and electricity infrastructure. The division has completed 2,279 projects to construct or renovate...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2007 – Eighty percent of the U.S. military units involved with the surge of troops into Baghdad and western Iraq are now in place, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad yesterday. “Four of the five American reinforcement brigades are now in Iraq,” Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told journalists during a media roundtable. An additional U.S. brigade is slated to arrive by June 1, Caldwell said. Operation Enforcing the Law was launched in mid-February to secure in Baghdad and western Iraq and tamp down violence in those...

Iraqis: Don't Abandon Us Perhaps the debate over whether to persevere in Iraq has become too brittle to accept anyone else's opinion, but the foreign minister of Iraq gives it a game try. In today's Washington Post, Hoshyar Zebari implores Americans and the world not to abandon Iraq to the terrorists and sectarian lunatics. Zebari explains that Iraq has changed profoundly since liberation, and the media paint a distorted picture of his country: Last weekend a traffic jam several miles long snaked out of the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The delay stemmed not from a car bomb closing the...

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2007 – Though they face daily challenges that will continue, U.S. forces remain dedicated to the fight in Iraq and are making steady progress, the deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff said here today. Three of the five additional combat brigades slated for the Baghdad security plan have arrived and are operating with Iraqi security forces, Army Brig. Gen. Perry L. Wiggins told Pentagon reporters in a news conference. “We are seeing early indications of steady progress. It’s not often flashy, but it’s the sort of progress that can make a difference over time,”...

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2007 – The ongoing surge of U.S. and Iraqi security forces into Baghdad and parts of western Iraq is designed to tamp down insurgent violence and provide enough time for the fledgling government to sort out pressing political issues, the senior U.S. diplomat in Iraq said yesterday. “Security buys time,” Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. However, he emphasized, any improvement in security must go hand-in-hand with Iraqi government efforts to bring together disaffected elements of the population, namely the Sunnis and Shiites. Crocker previously served in Baghdad as the first...

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2007 – Progress continues in Iraq despite headline-grabbing enemy attacks, a top U.S. general in Iraq said yesterday. “There’s some areas that we need to work a little bit harder at,” Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott said of the Baghdad surge strategy. He pointed to vehicle-bombs as a primary area of concern. Scott, deputy chief of staff for strategic effects for Multinational Force Iraq, told online journalists in a conference call that while there has been a slight increase in the number of “spectacular” car-bomb attacks around Baghdad, there has also been positive movement as a...

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2007 – Sensational car bomb attacks staged by al Qaeda in Iraq may grab headlines, but coalition and Iraqi forces are making real progress on the ground and steadily achieving significant successes, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq told reporters here today. “The situation is, in short, exceedingly challenging, though … there has been progress in several areas in recent months despite the sensational attacks by al Qaeda, which have, of course, been significant blows to our effort and which cause psychological damage that is typically even greater than their physical damage,” Army Gen. David...