Jun 19 2007
Rounding Up al-Qaeda In Iraq
The Surge is actually moving quite well. Better than I expected it would (and I’m an optimist!). Building on the success in Anbar where the US allied with local Sunni tribal leaders to establish what is basically an uprising against al-Qaeda and its allies, the US is repeating this model in and around Baghdad. The result has been to basically chase the brave Islamo Fascist warriors into their last large stronghold, Diyala Province. Diyala is southeast of Baghdad and runs up to (or near) the Iranian border. With a strong Shiia community to its south and the Kurds to the North, Diyala is basically cut off with Anbar and Baghdad to its West. This has become a nice little corrall for the US and Iraqis to do some major damage to an encircled al-Qaeda which can only run to one place – Iran. We saw Iraq Kurdish forces taking up positions in the northern areas of Diyala, and we know Iraq has put a lot of their troops into the area, probably south of Diyala.
And now with Diyala somewhat surrounded, the US forces are knifing in with large numbers:
The U.S. military deployed 10,000 soldiers backed by attack helicopters in a big offensive against al Qaeda north of Baghdad on Tuesday as a truck bomber struck in the capital, killing 75 people near a Shi’ite mosque.
The offensive against al Qaeda around the city of Baquba in Diyala province, a stronghold of the Sunni Islamist group, is partly aimed at taking down car bomb networks that cause carnage in Baghdad and other regions of Iraq. It is one of the biggest military operations since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
U.S. and Iraqi forces launched attacks on Baghdad‘s northern and southern flanks to clear out Sunni insurgents, al-Qaida fighters and Shiite militiamen who had fled the capital and Anbar during a four-month-old security operation, military officials said Monday.
“We are going into the areas that have been sanctuaries of al-Qaida and other extremists to take them on and weed them out, to help get the areas clear and to really take on al-Qaida,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the operation. “Those are areas in the belts around Baghdad, some parts in Anbar province and specifically Diyala province.”
By all accounts this is a large effort to rapidly descend on al-Qaeda and take them out before they get much of a chance to disperse. And we have definitely rattled the hornets nests. There are suicide bomb attacks aplenty and I would guess more to come as the dead-enders do what they always do.
But it is important to watch what results. As goes Diyala so goes Iraq (and the Middle East and America and President Bush). Right now it looks pretty good. This is war and we will take casualties and the enemy will fight back. But the enemy cannot weather a mass of well armed and trained troops which probably outnumbers them right. And they are surrounded – unless they head to Iran.
You have to love the thought of these Sunni extremists bailing across the border to the land of Shitte extremists.
Iran thought it was rather fun to fund and organize terror ‘over there’. They could really poke a stick in our eye that way!!!
The problem is, we are pushing the ‘over there’ theater of action into their backyard. Its not as much fun to fund, organize, and supply gangsters next door to you.
And then the image fades to black…
This is a must read for all to complement this post.
Michael Yon is in the thick of things as the actual surge is engaged and he has a brilliant piece of writing that says it all.
Don’t miss this post.
Diyala is northeast of Baghdad.
It begins…
The “surge” that everyone has been talking about failing has actually begun today……
This is the first attack of this kind in some time. I wonder if it was AlQaida or Sadr. I bet it was AQ. The murdering bastards.
I just wanted to say that today, America lost nine of her bravest and best as nine firefighters died.
Remember them, and their families, in your prayers. When others are running out of a fire, they are running in. Doing the jobs the illegals won’t do.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IF20Ak03.html
Or maybe it isn’t working AJ. Let’s see. Asia Times war reporters have been right for four years and you have been wrong.
Any bets who’s right here?
AJStrata, let’s pray for the success of our surge. So glad to read that Patraeus is a realist and will report exactly as he sees it. As long as we have the willpower and courage to win as a majority, we will win.
I trust Michael Yon over this Asia writer.
AJ you may want to check out the news ….there has been a missile strike along the Afghan-Pakistan border a compound was hit…death toll is 32 and climbing…. Abu Laith al-Libi, an al Qaeda field commander, was the target of the attack, sources said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html
The surge has failed!
AJ never admits that his country under Bush and the imperialist
Israel Likudnik/oilicrat coalition of empire-builders set this carnage in motion and has been ineptly incapable of managing it, and ignored
all intelligence warnings on the subject which would necessitated
a protracted delay in invading and many more troops to boot.
Numbers which would have scared off the public from proceeding,quite possiubly.
His constant references to victory over al Qaida I take to serve two reflexive avoidance mechanisms .
One designed to rationalize a “fight them there so we don’t have to fight ’em here,” attitude which conceals even, (but only partly) to him the Bushies having brought foreign jihad to Iraq without the slightest capability of bringing them to heel there.
Two to minimize as much as possible the unanticipated prevailing ethnic/civil war anarchy that Bush also set in motion there , similarly without any capability of stemming it.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html
The surge has failed!
AJ never admits that his country under Bush and the imperialist
Israel Likudnik/oilicrat coalition of empire-builders set this carnage in motion and has been ineptly incapable of managing it, and ignored
all intelligence warnings on the subject which would have necessitated
a protracted delay in invading and many more troops to boot.
Numbers which would have scared off the public from proceeding,quite possiubly.
His constant references to victory over al Qaida I take to serve two reflexive avoidance mechanisms .
One designed to rationalize a “fight them there so we don’t have to fight ’em here,” attitude which conceals even, (but only partly) to him the Bushies having brought foreign jihad to Iraq without the slightest capability of bringing them to heel there.
Two to minimize as much as possible the unanticipated prevailing ethnic/civil war anarchy that Bush also set in motion there , similarly without any capability of stemming it.
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=48533&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1
en masse resignation of Iraqi police due to fear of “Islamic State of Iraq!
New York Times mean nothing. They really, really, really want us to lose this war so they fake the news.
See, I told you when ‘centercannothold’ started commenting that he was the latest incarnation of Ken, Soothie, Believe me now? So he/she/it supporting your position on immigration is kinda meaningless.
Lurker, you’re right about NYT. the only thing you can be sure of if you read it there is that it is there to serve the objective of the NYT, which as you said is to attempt to get Bush to surrender in Iraq.
For Enforcement of Quagmire
Please do not insult me by saying I am with AJ on immigration.
I believe you should emigrate to Iraq, though.