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RAMADI, Iraq, July 17, 2007 – This Anbar province city was once held up as a symbol of U.S. failure in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq controlled Ramadi. It was enemy territory, and American servicemembers called it the Wild West of Iraq. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, walks through Ramadi, Iraq, as he is briefed by Maj. Gen. Walter Gaskin, commander of Multinational Force West, July 17, 2007. Pace decided to visit the streets of Ramadi after a dust storm grounded his scheduled departure flight. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  (Click...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2007 – Troops on the ground in Iraq are not as much tired of the war as they are of those who are not in the fight saying that no progress has been made, a top commander in the region said today. The troops there see progress every day, said British Army Lt. Gen. Graeme Lamb, deputy commander of Multinational Force Iraq and senior British representative in Iraq, speaking to Pentagon reporters via satellite. “They see the water going to people who didn't have it before. They see electricity coming on line. They see stability to the...

BAGHDAD, July 16, 2007 – It is vital for military leaders to give concise assessments of the situation in Iraq and to avoid “groupthink,” the phenomena where groups fixate on one solution to the exclusion of all others, the top U.S. military leader said here today. Marine Gen. Peter Pace is visiting Iraq as part of the U.S. military assessment of the surge strategy. The assessment of the strategy is due to Congress by Sept. 15. Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him that he would meet with Multinational Force Iraq Commander Army...

Curious after looking at still graphics of where we are in Iraq via Gateway Pundit, I thought surely MNF-I would have something more compelling addressing the progress we have made. All I found was this all too quick animated GIF with the dates hard to view at bottom leaving no time to contemplate, or sense the accomplishment. I didn't find it compelling. While I wrote MNF-I for the raw images to work with on my own, I discovered I could grab them up and produce a still shot, as well as a YouTube video demonstrating consistent, if sometimes slow progress...

RAMADI, Iraq: Sunni merchants watched warily from behind neat stacks of fruit and vegetables as Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno walked with a platoon of bodyguards through the Qatana bazaar here one recent afternoon. At last, one leathery-faced trader glanced furtively up and down the narrow, refuse-strewn street to check who might be listening, then broke the silence. "America good! Al Qaeda bad!" he said in halting English, flashing a thumb's-up in the direction of the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq.

The clamour is growing in America and Britain for troops to be brought home. Violence grips large parts of the country. But elsewhere the green shoots of recovery are showing through the rubble The cycle of murder and vengeance grinds quickly in Iraq. Last week, in the western city of Tal Afar, it was all over in 10 minutes. No one saw how Jamil Salem Jamil, aged 19, arrived. If he was driven to his target, then the car stayed out of sight. A slim Sunni youth, with a thick crop of black hair above his elongated features, he walked...

Nailing down a clear picture of the war in Iraq is a work in progress in Washington, D.C. Making it harder is the national media, which is misrepresenting what is happening at boot level, softening the face of the enemy. If the public cannot get a true view of the brutality and horror the enemy is capable of, then how can it be expected to reasonably assess our involvement? Continues... =============================================================== Hurry -- time is running out to lose in Iraq! It seems the only thing liberals love more than car bombs in Baghdad is . . . hmmm, there's...

Metrics have their drawbacks, but we need to keep politicians honest in this debate. In conventional warfare, it is fairly obvious if a war is being won. Movement of the front lines, industrial production of war material and logistical sustainability of forces in the field provide fairly clear standards by which to assess trends. But counterinsurgency and stabilization operations like the ones in Iraq are much more complex. How do we measure progress in such a situation? The administration has just done so on an interim basis. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will be asked to do so...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Ongoing anti-insurgent operations conducted in and around Baghdad and to the south of Iraq’s capital city are achieving continued success, a senior U.S. military officer said today during a teleconference with retired military analysts. Maj. Gen. Rich Lynch, commander of Multinational Division Center and U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said he is optimistic that the surge will reduce violence in Baghdad while seriously disrupting insurgent operations in Iraq. “Eventually, I believe you’ll see (an) improved security situation inside of Baghdad” due to the surge operations, he said. “But, it’s not going to happen overnight.” Seeing...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Now at full strength, the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is showing “definitive progress” and the number of forces serving in Iraq’s Multinational Division North could be halved by summer 2009, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon said today. A reduction of U.S. forces under the general’s command could begin as early as January 2008, he told Pentagon reporters via videoconference. Mixon, commander of both Multinational Division North and the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division, is responsible for six Iraqi provinces in northern Iraq, including the city of Baqubah -- site of the ongoing...

“The key to turning (Anbar) around was the shift in allegiance by tribal sheiks. But the sheiks turned only after a prolonged offensive by American and Iraqi forces, starting in November, that put al-Qaeda groups on the run.” - The New York Times [NYT], July 8 WASHINGTON - Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq’s territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times’ John Burns calls an “astonishing success,” the tribal sheiks have joined...

"The key to turning [Anbar] around was the shift in allegiance by tribal sheiks. But the sheiks turned only after a prolonged offensive by American and Iraqi forces, starting in November, that put al-Qaeda groups on the run." -- The New York Times, July 8 Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times's John Burns calls an " astonishing success," the tribal sheiks have joined our side...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As President Bush faces GOP pressure to change his war strategy, the White House announced Tuesday that an upcoming progress report will result in "the beginning of a new way" in Iraq. White House spokesman Snow: "Everybody says, 'We want to do it a new way.' We agree. It's now started." Six months after announcing an increase of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops that became known as the "surge," Bush is scheduled to appear at a town meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday where he's expected to push for a "post-surge" phase of the four-year war, senior officials...

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2007 – The Iraqi army is making progress obtaining good leaders and rank-and-file soldiers, as well as developing a more efficient logistics system, a senior U.S. officer serving in Iraq said today. Senior Iraqi officers visiting training bases report that Iraqi recruits display exuberance and a desire to serve the nation of Iraq, rather than just their tribe or ethnic group, Navy Capt. David Pine, chief of staff for the Joint Headquarters Transition Team Iraq, said today during a teleconference with online journalists and “bloggers.” “There is amazing esprit de corps” among Iraqi military recruits,” Pine said,...

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2007 – President Bush today assured U.S troops in Iraq they have his “unwavering support” and that he wants them to return home as soon as conditions there allow it. “As president, my most solemn responsibility is to keep the American people safe,” Bush said at the White House. “So on my orders, good men and women are now fighting the terrorists on the front lines in Iraq.” Speaking to reporters about the newly released Initial Benchmark Assessment Report, Bush said he’s given the troops in Iraq clear objectives. “And as they risk their lives to...

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2007 – Iraqis are showing good progress toward meeting eight of 18 benchmarks set by Congress and mixed progress toward two other benchmarks, President Bush said today as he summarized findings of a new White House report. The Initial Benchmark Assessment Report, released today, offers a preliminary review of security, political and economic progress in Iraq. Congress set a July 15 deadline for the report as part of the emergency war-spending supplemental measure. The final report is due in September. Bush said the September report is expected to be far more telling because it will reflect...

WASHINGTON — A U.S. official said Thursday the Iraq government has been given a satisfactory rating on eight of 18 political and security benchmarks measured in an interim White House report to Congress, a mixed rating on two and an unsatisfactory rating on eight benchmarksofficials emphasize this is an interim report to measure progress in Iraq, and they continue to place emphasis on a report due in September, which will include comments and recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, head of Multinational Forces in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. President Bush is expected to make comments after the...

Just heard Pres. Bush to give a news Conference about the Progress in Iraq at 1030am Today.

More and more members of Congress - including several Republicans heretofore regarded by the White House as key loyalists - are forgetting that, back when they confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as ground commander in Iraq, they gave him until September to report back on the military effort. That deadline is two months down the road, but the wise heads of Capitol Hill - many of them concerned more about election prospects than about a war the West must win - have decided we might as well hand Baghdad to the bombers. It's true that there's plenty of bad news out...

The "surge" is working. Will Washington allow the current progress to continue? In Washington perception is often mistaken for reality. And as Congress prepares for a fresh debate on Iraq, the perception many members have is that the new strategy has already failed. This isn't an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground, as I saw during my visit to Iraq in May. Reports from the field show that remarkable progress is being made. Violence in Baghdad and Anbar Province is down dramatically, grassroots political movements have begun in the Sunni Arab community, and American and Iraqi forces...