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We've often heard critics of the war in Iraq assert that we've diverted attention away from the real war on terror, and need to focus attention on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan (as if we aren't engaged against al-Qaeda operatives all over the world). Even Presidential candidates think it's a winning statement, to push forth the belief that Iraq is still a disaster, and that we've only succeeded in "emboldening our enemies" and “We are seeing al-Qaeda stronger now than at any time since 2001.” The other criticism is to dismiss the level of influence of al Qaeda in Iraq,...

Iraqi army forces conducted simultaneous, precision raids on three objectives in southern Baghdad on August 20, capturing two key insurgent leaders as part of the Together Forward security operation in Baghdad. As coalition advisers supported, Iraqi forces captured these two insurgents without incident at a residence in the Al Rasheed district.

BAGHDADI, Iraq (Aug. 17, 2006) -- After 30 recent graduates from the Iraqi police academy came to Baghdadi, Iraq, residents in this Saddam-era military housing complex are expressing interest in joining the police force because they are noticing a decrease in insurgent activity. Marines with the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, or “America’s Battalion”, are combating the insurgency with local police officers – who recently received “much needed” new gear to get the job done – pistols, protective vests, rifles and batons to use while patrolling the city’s streets. Soon they will receive radios and police cars, said Maj....

Iraq's National Security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie has announced the arrest of 20 suspected al-Qaida members across the country in the past few days. Speaking to reporters and police commanders in Baghdad, al-Rubaie first announced that 17 leaders of al-Qaida had been arrested, while one was killed during the round up. It is believed the news of the three last arrests came after he made the statement. Al-Rubaie said the detainees included five top al-Qaida militants arrested in Baghdad. He announced their names and showed photographs identifying the five. He also detailed a new Baghdad security plan that is backed by...

American viewers of network news, and Arabic viewers of al-Jazeera TV, generally regard Operation Iraqi Freedom as a failure for various reasons: Iraqis are too sectarian to form a nation; they reject democracy as an imposition; or the average Iraqi lives a life of fear due to the deterioration of security since Saddam’s fall. The International Republican Institute’s “Survey of Iraqi Public Opinion,” released July 19, 2006, provides a useful reality check to these assumptions. The survey records that Iraqis overwhelmingly reject sectarianism and national division; and that they widely support the government they have elected. Moreover, most Iraqis feel...

The latest results of Rasmussen Reports’ monthly survey on the War on Terror show signs that Americans may be becoming more cautiously optimistic about their country’s performance. The percentage of those who believe that terrorists are winning the war continues to take a downward turn; 26% of this month’s respondents indicated terrorists have the advantage, down from 30% and 35% in the two previous polls, respectively. The number saying the U.S. and its allies are winning moved up to 44% from 40% a month ago. Only once in the past year has a larger percentage been that optimistic. However, during...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 16 — As sectarian violence soars, many Sunni Arab political and religious leaders once staunchly opposed to the American presence here are now saying they need American troops to protect them from the rampages of Shiite militias and Shiite-run government forces. The pleas from the Sunni Arab leaders have been growing in intensity since an eruption of sectarian bloodletting in February, but they have reached a new pitch in recent days as Shiite militiamen have brazenly shot dead groups of Sunni civilians in broad daylight in Baghdad and other mixed areas of central Iraq. The Sunnis also...

July 10, 2006, 5:54 a.m. Do You Know That...?More good news from Iraq. By Bill Crawford We begin this installment with a brief overview of the positive trends seen in Iraq over the last few weeks. The media frenzy over Zarqawi’s death is over now, and the only news being reported out of Iraq these days is car bombs and accusations against our soldiers. But that is not the whole story. On the economic front, Iraqi-oil output is now at its highest level since the liberation: Iraq’s new oil minister offered an optimistic forecast for the country’s oil industry...

TIKRIT, Iraq - While Baghdad erupts in sectarian violence, the general in charge of U.S. forces in northern Iraq believes security has improved enough for soldiers to think about a day when the attacks stop. "Security is at a level where we can begin worrying about economics, about projects," Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner told The Associated Press. "It's true in Mosul. It's true in Tal Afar. And it's true in Tikrit." Turner, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, was referring to northern Iraqi cities that were deeply embroiled in insurgent violence. Although the insurgent threat remains, the area is...

I wrote a story for Michael Yon’s Frontline Forum a week ago about the town I am stationed in right now named Qayyarah. Qayyarah is a model for other Iraqi cities because it was once a haven for terrorists but is now safe enough for anyone to travel around in without fear of terrorists. The main reason for the safety of Qayyarah lies with one man: General Ali. He is a myth-like figure around our base and everyone knows his name. He is a strict military man but is the type of man Iraq needs so desperately right now. I...

BEIJI, Iraq — For more than two years, the attacks came like clockwork. As soon as the military secured and workers repaired the pipelines from Iraq's northern oil fields, just when the valves were about to open, insurgents would strike. But roughly three weeks ago, they suddenly stopped, letting crude oil flow freely from Iraq's vast reserves near Kirkuk. Perhaps insurgents feared reprisals in Salahuddin province, where pipelines from Kirkuk flow to the country's largest refinery in Beiji. Maybe terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death disrupted a chain of command that ordered the attacks, military officials said. Whatever the cause,...

One of the more interesting types of stories exchanged by Iraq veterans is how their embedded reporters get screwed by their editors. The basic problem is that reporters tend to get close to the troops they are embedded with, and the troops form a good sense of what kind of story is being written. But then, when the story appears, it often has no connection with what actually happened, other than the names of the reporter and the soldiers or marines. The troops get curious about how this can be. Reporters have learned to dread inquiring emails from the troops...

"Every conflict reaches a tipping point. More often than not, historians would vouch, that tipping point need not be anywhere near the end of an ongoing war. It could be said, before Okinawa, prior to the bodies at Iwo Jima, before the firebombing of Tokyo, prior to MacArthur's return to the Philippines, and years before Truman's early August atomic decision, Japanese defeat was sowed at Midway. Ditto that in the European theater in the aftermath of D-Day, some eleven months before the fall of the Third Reich: turning points, they were, leaving only the question of how much time, treasure,...

Two American soldiers, missing since an insurgent ambush at the checkpoint they were manning last Friday, were found dead just south of Bhagdad: Their bodies were recovered Tuesday. An Iraqui General confirmed to the Associated Press that the soldiers' bodies showed signs of torture, and that the men appeared to have been killed in a particularly "barbaric" way. This assertion appears to be backed up both by the fact that DNA tests were scheduled to positively identify the remains, and by the claim of responsibility made by the self-titled new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, who posted on an Islamist...

BALAD, Iraq — The U.S. military has begun sending thousands of battered Humvees and other war-torn equipment home as more Iraqi units join the fight against insurgents and American units scheduled for Iraq duty have their orders canceled. In the last four months, the Army has tagged 7,000 Humvees and 17,000 other pieces of equipment to be shipped to the United States to be rebuilt. They then will be distributed among active and reserve units at home, or possibly returned to equip Iraqi security forces. The military said the shipments will result in a reduction in the amount of U.S....

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces detained a senior al-Qaida in Iraq network member and three suspected terrorists during coordinated raids southwest of Baqouba June 19. The terrorist is reportedly a senior al-Qaida cell leader throughout central Iraq , north of Baghdad . He's known to be involved in facilitating foreign terrorists throughout central Iraq , and is suspected of having ties to previous attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces. Coalition forces secured multiple buildings and detained the known terrorist plus three suspected terrorists without incident. Troops found an AK-47 with several magazines of ammunition and destroyed them all on site....

The US military says it has killed the "right-hand man" of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Major General William Caldwell says Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was killed on Friday by US forces in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad. "We do know that Sheikh Mansur was a key leader in Al Qaeda in Iraq with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organisation," General Caldwell said. He describes him as Zarqawi's right-hand man and a liaison between Al Qaeda and tribes in the restive area south of Baghdad. The Mashhadani are a major tribe of Sunni Arabs....

US forces had been on the trail of Mansur al-Mashhadani, identified as the top al-Qaeda religious leader in the country, before he was killed in the Yusufiya area just south of Baghdad, said Major General William Caldwell. Mashhadani was one of the top five al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders and close to its mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was also killed by a US air strike on June 7. "He was a right-hand man to Zarqawi," Gen. Caldwell said. US forces had spotted Mashhadani and two other militants in a car in the Yusufiya area south of Baghdad. His vehicle was...

Americans are now more positive about the way things are going in Iraq than in the past few months, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and President Bush's brief visit to the country. Optimism about the U.S. achieving its goals in Iraq, which sagged in the spring, has rebounded. A 53% majority now says the military effort in Iraq is going at least fairly well, up from 47% in April and an all-time low of 43% in March. The share who believe that the U.S. is making progress in training Iraqi forces, defeating the insurgents, and establishing a democracy...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A key al-Qaida in Iraq leader described as the group's "religious emir" was killed in a U.S. airstrike hours before two American soldiers went missing and in the same area, the military said Tuesday. Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, and two foreign fighters were killed as they tried to flee in a vehicle near the town of Youssifiyah, in the so-called Sunni "Triangle of Death." U.S. coalition forces had been tracking al-Mashhadani for some time, American military spokesman William Caldwell said in announcing his death. He said al-Mashhadani was an Iraqi, 35 to 37...