Free Republic

MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 6, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the broad perspectives he’s received in Iraq over the last two days have convinced him Iraq is on the right track and that Iraqi leaders understand they need to move more quickly to keep up with security gains. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates greets local leaders in Mosul, Iraq, during a trip to Iraq's third-largest city, Dec. 5, 2007. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates today wrapped up a whirlwind visit to Iraq, where he met with Iraqi government...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6, 2007 – Violence in Iraq has dropped significantly in recent months, but it’s still too soon to declare the home stretch in U.S. operations here, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said today. Army Gen David H. Petraeus cited significant security progress during a roundtable with reporters at the Multinational Task Force headquarters at Camp Victory. Following the roundtable discussion, the general spent an hour with visiting Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Weekly attacks in recent weeks are roughly 60 percent of the levels they were in June, Petraeus said. High-profile attacks are down 60 percent from...

December 5, 2007 08:04 PM EST Vice President Cheney warned in an interview Wednesday that a premature withdrawal from Iraq would invite “further attacks” against the United States and said he has been surprised by the weakness of the Democratic Congress. Most striking were his virtually taunting remarks of two men he described as friends from his own days in the House: Democratic Reps. John Dingell (Mich.) and John P. Murtha (Pa.). In a 40-minute interview with Politico, he scoffed at the idea of two men who spent years accruing power showing so much deference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...

In his speech released yesterday Abou Omar Al Baghdadi the supposed leader of the Islamic State in Iraq which is Al Qaeda in Iraq said that only two hundered Mohajeroon are left in Iraq. Mohajeroon which means immigrants in Arabic are the foreign terrorists who came to fight in Iraq. This is yet the most stunning admission by Al Qaeda in Iraq that they are totally destroyed and from the tens of thousands of foreign terrorists they had, almost all of them are killed and captured and only two hundreds are left. This is the quote translation of what Al...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 4, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today reaffirmed U.S. support for Afghanistan and said he continues to press coalition partners to live up to their commitments here. Gates praised progress in the Afghan National Army and its operations with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to take on the Taliban and other extremists. He said he arrived in Afghanistan concerned about the increase in violence over the past two years, but came to understand during his meetings here today that more violence is occurring because Afghan and ISAF forces are conducting more aggressive operations in...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 4, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited Afghanistan’s Khowst province today to see firsthand “a model of concerted counterinsurgency effort, the synergy that comes from an integration of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ powers.” Speaking here today with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his presidential palace during a joint news conference, Gates shared impressions of his visit earlier in the day to Khowst province, where he met with U.S. and provincial leaders there to learn about the region’s dramatic turnaround. Khowst was “a region that for many years, decades even, had been a hotbed of lawlessness and...

"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."

KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Hundreds of community members and several civic leaders attended two ribbon-cutting ceremonies Nov. 27 in Kohistan II, recognizing the completion of months of work and cooperation between the Bagram Provincial Reconstruction Team and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Kapisa Gov. Kwaia Kholam and Army Capt. Jordan Berry, Bagram PRT Kapisa Civil Affairs team leader, presided over the ceremonies officially opening the Dihat Dasht Girls School and the Jamalagha Basic Health Clinic. According to Berry, the Dihat Dasht Girls School is an eight-classroom facility that will accommodate approximately 160 students. The $150,000 facility includes four faculty offices,...

Murtha finds military progress in trip to Iraq Warns that Iraqis must do more for their own security Thursday, November 29, 2007 By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy. "I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2007 – Iraqi security forces have taken “huge steps forward” in growing and moving toward independent operations, a senior commander in Iraq said today. And they’ve made this progress despite fighting a war on their own soil and working through an immature bureaucracy, said British Army Brigadier S. M. Gledhill, deputy commanding general for the Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq. The command is charged with helping the Iraqis to organize, man and equip their force and to develop the ministries of Defense and Interior. “Fundamentally, Iraqis are now taking ownership of the battle space themselves. I think...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2007 – Important progress the military is making in the war on terror would be derailed if Congress doesn’t pass a supplemental war spending bill “in short order,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the Killeen, Texas, Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates addresses members of the Chamber of Commerce during a dinner reception for the Fort Hood community in Killeen, Texas, Nov. 26, 2007. Photo by Cherie A. Thurlby   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Congress has passed supplemental measures, but each includes timetables for the withdrawal of American troops from...

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – “You're probably safer here than you are in New York City,” said Marine First Lieutenant Barry Edwards when I arrived in Fallujah. I raised my eyebrows at him skeptically. “How many people got shot at last night in New York City?” he said. “Probably somebody,” I said. “Yeah, probably somebody did,” he said. “Somewhere.” Nobody was shot last night in Fallujah. No American has been shot anywhere in Fallujah since the 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment rotated into the city two months ago. There have been no rocket or mortar attacks since the summer. Not a single...

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, just back from a Thanksgiving day trip to Iraq, said the recent surge of U.S. troops is so successful, it's history in the making. "I think history will judge the surge as probably the most successful counterinsurgency military operation in history," Mr. Graham said yesterday on "Fox News Sunday." -snip-

News Releases Articles Editorials Reports Books Maps Forums Letters Search Permissions Services Links Contact St John's Church Reopens in Baghdad Posted GMT 11-17-2007 21:9:48 Baghdad -- Neighborhood Christians and Muslims attended a mass to celebrate the reopening of St. John's Church in Baghdad on November 15. The Dome Under the Cross: Local Muslim and Christian leaders had prepared the church for his arrival. A Bishop came to St John's Church in Baghdad today, 15 November, where a crowd of locals welcomed him home. They were joined at the service by soldiers from the 2-12 infantry battalion, many of whom had...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — With al-Qaida’s ability to carry out violent attacks withering in the face of sustained Coalition offensive operations and Concerned Local Citizen activism, the Iraqi people are now looking to return to the livelihoods and ways of life they used to know. Their desires are being met, in part, through the assistance of a U.S.-led initiative that distributes “micro-grants” of up to $10,000 to promising Iraqi businesses that demonstrate growth potential. On Nov. 14, an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 3rd Infantry Division took its first steps at...

KIRKUK, Iraq, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. military officials in northern Iraq say despite continued violence, a citizen neighborhood watch program is beginning to drive al-Qaida out of the region. The citizen patrols, who call the initiative Sahwa, an Arabic term meaning "awakening," recently approached soldiers of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment. Officials say more than 1,000 citizens showed up to be recruited in an effort to drive out terrorists, the U.S. Defense Department reported. "What this program is doing is creating significant problems for the insurgents, because it drives a...

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from November 20, 2007. MAJ. GEN. BOB SCALES (RET), FOX NEWS MILITARY ANALYST: The secret of the surge wasn't the numbers, it was the strategy. . . . NINA EASTON, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: But as generals on the ground will tell you, this is a small window in which you need to make political progress. And I thought what was quite interesting about reading these pieces, documenting how Baghdad is coming back alive, is the extent to which it's still an empty city. There's four million refugees that fled the...

Petraeus on al Qaeda, U.S. Progress in Iraq, Troop Reductions and Relations With Iran Below are edited excerpts of the discussion Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had Tuesday with Wall Street Journal reporter Yochi Dreazen. (See related article.) * * * On Al Qaeda in Iraq: At some point there has to be a sign to the people that security is enabling the beginnings of a better life, which obviously garners their support for the security effort. I do think there has been a pretty substantial recognition among Sunni Arabs, in particular, that al Qaeda Iraq...

Iraqi refugees are returning home in dramatic numbers, concluding that security in Baghdad has been transformed. Thousands have left their refuge in Syria in recent months, according to some estimates. The Iraqi Embassy is organising a secure mass convoy from Damascus to Baghdad on Monday for refugees who want to drive back. Embassy notices went up around the Syrian capital yesterday, offering free bus and train rides home. Saida Zaynab, the Damascus neighbourhoods once dominated by many of the 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, is almost deserted. Apartment prices are plummeting and once-crowded shops and buses are half empty.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2007 – Terrorist-committed violence in Iraq has plummeted since the start of the surge of forces, a senior U.S. officer reported yesterday from Baghdad. “Terrorist attacks are at their lowest level since January 2006,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. The overall number of attacks in Iraq is 55 percent lower than the period before the surge took hold in June, Smith said. Civilian fatalities across Iraq are down by about 60 percent during the same period, Smith said. And civilian deaths in Baghdad...