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FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — A group of Iraqi citizens in al Arafia, near Jisr Diyala, are taking steps to secure their own homes and neighborhoods. Tips from the group helped lead Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment to a weapons cache on Aug. 15 in an area outside Al Arfia. Soldiers from Company D discovered seven 107 mm rockets and 10 anti-tank mines. They also detained two individuals for questioning. The Concerned Citizens is a group of local residents who have begun a reconciliation campaign with various extremist groups, according to 1st Lt. Mark Mendes, of Westchester, N.Y.,...

Max Boot has an in-depth essay dissecting the various exit strategies proposed by critics of administration policy and of the current "surge." * * * The current build-up of American forces in Iraq—universally known as the “surge”—was unveiled by President Bush on January 10. The earliest units shipped out in the middle of February, and the full complement of roughly 160,000 troops arrived only in June. Yet, by then, a vociferous chorus of voices back home—consisting mainly of Democrats but also of a growing number of middle-of-the-road Republicans—was already pronouncing the entire operation a failure and demanding a “change of...

August 17, 2007, 6:00 a.m. SurgingIt’s getting harder to deny that General Petraeus is making progress. By Clifford D. May “The only thing this surge will accomplish is a surge of more death and destruction.” That was the prediction of blogger and antiwar activist Arianna Huffington back in December of last year — one month before the Senate unanimously confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as commander in Iraq. "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything.” That was the judgment of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in April — two months before the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2007 – Iraqi forces are contributing to stabilizing their country even as they continue to train and improve, a senior U.S. officer involved in training and equipping Iraqi forces said today. “Even though the Iraqi army and our Army (are) in contact with the enemy here, they continue to train and equip while engaged in the fight. Although fighting continues, so does training at the same time,” Army Col. Al Dochnal, director of current operations for the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team, told online journalists and “bloggers” via teleconference from Baghdad. “The Iraqi army continues to fight...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2007 – The clock is ticking for American troop presence in Iraq, and if more time is needed, it will require more progress in the region, the commander of coalition troops there said today. "If the Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi people, the Iraqi political leaders can demonstrate that there should be hope for them making the most of the opportunity, that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are fighting to provide them, indeed there could be time put on the clock, kept on the clock to enable this endeavor to go forward,” Army Gen. David H....

BAGHDAD — A military official discussed current events in Iraq at the Combined Press InformationCenter Wednesday. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, gave a situational update for the Iraq theatre. Bergner opened the press conference by discussing Tuesdays attack on the Nineveh province. “The Coalition is assisting the Iraqi Army and provincial authorities in providing humanitarian assistance, and will work closely with government authorities to bring these terrorists to justice,” Bergner said. Bergner also discussed the loss of the governor and the chief of police in Diwaniya. They were returning from a funeral when their convoy...

The only thing this surge will accomplish is a surge of more death and destruction.” That was the prediction of blogger and anti-war activist Arianna Huffington back in December of last year -- one month before the Senate unanimously confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as commander in Iraq. "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything.” That was the judgment of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in April -- two months before the reinforcements General Petraeus needed to fully implement his new “surge” strategy had arrived in Iraq. In mid-June, just as troop strength...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2007 – Recent surge operations and a continued commitment to ownership by the Iraqi government are contributing to increased economic progress in Iraq, a senior officer responsible for economic development there said yesterday. During a conference call with online journalists and “bloggers,” Army Col. Tracy O. Smith, chief of the Economic Development Branch of Multinational Force Iraq, provided an operational update on economic progress being made in Iraq’s provinces. He explained that the recent surge of forces and operations has improved the ability of coalition forces to conduct non-traditional military operations in a number of areas simultaneously,...

You know that things are going better in Iraq when even the Democrats begin to acknowledge it. One senator said U.S. troops are routing out al-Qaida in parts of Iraq. Another insisted President Bush's plan to increase troops has caused tactical momentum. One even went so far on Wednesday as to say the argument could be made that U.S. troops are winning. These are not Bush-backing GOP die-hards, but Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Bob Casey and Jack Reed. Even Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, said progress was being made by soldiers. The suggestions by them...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2007 – Operation Phantom Strike, a joint operation launched this week by coalition and Iraqi forces, is using the information and intelligence gained through operations this summer to more effectively target insurgents throughout Iraq, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today. Since the surge of operations began in June, coalition and Iraqi forces have advanced considerably, cleared key Iraqi neighborhoods, and formed relationships with citizens in those neighborhoods, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters in Baghdad. Phantom Strike will build on those successes and continue to target terrorists who kill innocent Iraqi citizens and try to...

Gen. David Petraeus’s report on the state of President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq won’t come out for another month, but with so much riding on its findings, lawmakers on both sides are already spinning its meaning. Lawmakers are trying to anticipate what the top U.S. commander in Iraq will say in the report, gaming out how the other side will spin it, and then trying to figure out how to react to the spin. Led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democrats say they fear that Bush’s handpicked commander in Iraq will paint an unreasonably rosy picture of the...

BAGHDAD (AP) - Wearing a bandanna that hides his face, Omam Abed leads U.S. soldiers on raids in the west Baghdad streets where he grew up—kicking down doors and interrogating neighbors in search of fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq. The 20-year-old is part of a ragtag collection of former Sunni insurgents—some even from the al-Qaida ranks—who have thrown their support behind U.S.-led security forces under pacts of mutual convenience. The Sunni militiamen have grown leery of al-Qaida in Iraq and its ambitions, including self-proclaimed aims of establishing an Islamic state. The Pentagon, in turn, has latched onto its most successful...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2007 – Establishing the necessary components to enable the rule of law to function across Iraq’s society is vital to creating stable institutions and lasting security in that country, a U.S. military lawyer said in Baghdad today. The Iraqi government is making measurable progress toward that goal by providing fair and impartial courts, professional lawyers, judges and police, and modern and humane detention facilities, Army Col. Mark Martins, Multinational Force Iraq’s senior legal official, told reporters at a news conference. “The rule of law is a principle of governance which holds that your fate depends not on...

BAGHDAD — From the markets of Al Doura to the streets of Al Rashid to the neighborhoods of the Karkh District, troops from the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment have found themselves in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Iraqi capital. After more than a year patrolling and surviving the mean streets, the squadron finds itself on the downhill slope toward their home at Fort Lewis, Wash. Although many of the Soldiers are counting down the last remaining days, they still patrol the streets of Karkh. Patterson, N.J., native 2nd Lt. Michael Patti has only been with the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2007 – America and its allies have seen encouraging signs in Afghanistan and Iraq this month, President Bush said today during his weekly radio address to the nation.Bush said he had a good meeting with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai at Camp David earlier this week."He told me that senior officials and tribal leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan are meeting to discuss how to deal with the extremists who are targeting both their countries," Bush said. "And he explained why he's confident that his government will prevail against the Taliban remnants who continue to launch attacks throughout...

Nor is it clear from the evidence the administration has presented whether Iran, which has long-standing ties to several Iraqi Shiite groups, including the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr and the Badr Organization, which is allied with the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, is a major cause of the anti-American and sectarian violence in Iraq or merely one of many. At other times, administration officials have blamed the Sunni Muslim group al Qaida in Iraq (my emphasis) for much of the violence.

Iraq: Democratic senators visiting Iraq have seen for themselves that President Bush's surge strategy is working. But their party has so much invested in losing this war, they're muffling the good news. Interviewed from Iraq, Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, last week admitted that our forces are "making real progress" there. Durbin told CNN, "What we find is that the surge has troops going into areas where for 4 1/2 years we have not seen our military in action." But back in January, delivering the Democratic response to the president's State of the Union address,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2007 – The deputy commander of the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team operating in Iraq said today that he’s feeling “very, very optimistic” about progress over the past several months. Army Brig. Gen. David D. Phillips told civilian defense experts he’s seen big changes since 2004, when he helped stand up the Baghdad Police Academy as commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade. “I’ve seen significant differences in the way the academy is run,” he said via teleconference from Baghdad. There’s a new level of professionalism, and the instruction is no longer provided by U.S. military police,...

Exclusive: Pulitzer Prize Winning NY Times Writer: Pelosi, Reid are Wrong, The Petraeus Surge is Working The EditorsAuthor: The EditorsSource: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.Date: August 9, 2007  John Burns, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, recently commented about fears of a Tet-like offensive by al Qaeda’s fighters and possible attacks by radical Shiia militias prior to the Petraeus report. Radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Burns if there have been warnings about such threats. Pulitzer Prize Winning NY Times Writer: Pelosi, Reid are Wrong The Petraeus Surge is Working  By the Editors Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt recently conducted an extensive interview with...

For three years politicians and pundits have been challenging the President's policy of spreading democracy around the world. Can't be done -- particularly in the Middle East, they tell us. Won’t help to make us safer, they claim. It’s become a mantra of the Left. To support their assertion that democracy has reached inevitable limits they cite problems in Afghanistan with a resurgent Taliban and, of course, “the U.S. failure” in Iraq. Both of these issues were raised repeatedly with President Bush during his press conference on the economy this week. Despite evidence of progress on the ground in Iraq,...