January 08, 2008
ICYMI: War In Iraq *Still On*
Hey everybody, we're still at war in Iraq! (And Afghanistan.) We know, it's easy to forget when every newspaper and news channel is focused on New Hampshire.
The Gate is going to let Granite State voters do their thing -- you know, democracy -- and will update with the results tonight when they are confirmed. In the meantime, here are some developments from Iraq that you will have missed if you're as glued to the TV as we are.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun a significant air and land raid in insurgent-infested Diyala River Valley. About 4,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are involved in the effort, which launched overnight, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Pentagon's new counterinsurgency strategy has successfully brought violence down, but commanders still face an uphill battle in their bid to scrub out/neutralize al-Qaida in Iraq. Part of the reason why is that militant fighters in Iraq are by now well-versed in dissipating into the general population when these U.S.-led missions begin.
According to the LAT account, "there were reports that the 50 to 60 senior insurgent leaders holed up northwest of Muqdadiya had fled."
The fleeing insurgents apparently left a grisly greeting for the U.S.-Iraqi forces: the severed head of a person the killers called a U.S. collaborator in a message written on the victim's forehead.
The Pentagon announced today that one suspected terrorist leader had been captured and three suspected insurgents were detained. Operation Phantom Phoenix will extend to the rest of the country, U.S. commanders said.
Back in Washington, President Bush teleconferenced with leaders of the 24 provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) embedded in troubled neighborhoods across Iraq. In a brief press conference afterward, Bush praised PRT leaders for their work aiding district councils and public works departments, establishing micro-grant programs for small businesses, advising courts and, in Najaf, building a new airport to facilitate pilgrimages to that holy Shiite city.
"As they live and work among the Iraqi people, they see the progress that is taking place firsthand," Bush said, noting that violent attacks are on the downswing. "The enemy remains capable of horrific violence. But we're not going to allow them to regain the strongholds that they've lost."
Turning his attention away from the assembled reporters and to the men and women leading the PRTs, Bush continued, "I want to thank you for making 2007, and particularly the end of 2007, incredibly successful beyond anybody's expectations. We believe in 2008 we'll see continued progress."
For American service members, the success of the surge strategy came at the cost of 901 lives last year -- the highest annual death count for U.S. troops since the war began. The first U.S. soldier to be killed in Iraq this year was Maj. Andrew Olmsted, a 38-year-old Colorado Springs native who'd been blogging about his war experiences in the Rocky Mountain News. The News reports that Olmsted was killed by a sniper in Sadiyah on Thursday, just as he was trying to coax three suspected insurgents into surrendering.
His final post, which he instructed a friend to publish in the event of his death, went up Jan. 4 on his personal blog, AndrewOlmsted.com.
"This is an entry I would have preferred not to have published, but there are limits to what we can control in life, and apparently I have passed one of those limits," Olmsted wrote. "I do ask (not that I'm in a position to enforce this) that no one try to use my death to further their political purposes. I went to Iraq and did what I did for my reasons, not yours. My life isn't a chit to be used to bludgeon people to silence on either side."
Olmsted's final post for the News went up Dec. 26. Read his News blog here.
The situation in Iraq remains tenuous, as the big logjam among warring tribal factions remains the status quo. In this morning's edition, the Washington Post reported on the mutual suspicions between anti-insurgency Sunni leaders and the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. One spark could ignite the delicate, relative peace in Iraq, thrusting U.S. forces back to where they were in 2006.
Though they might not be shouting it from the hills, American officials are well aware of how quickly the gains in Iraq could be undone. A new survey [PDF] conducted by the American Foreign Service Association shows that nearly seven in 10 of the 4,300 State Department officers queried oppose being drafted into service in Iraq. The State Department has had serious trouble recruiting volunteers for duty there.
Forty-eight percent of the State staffers said they'd be unwilling to go to Iraq out of disagreement with the Bush administration's policies there. The State Department and the Pentagon have butted heads on the war since its inception. However, nearly seven in 10 said that extra pay and benefits could entice them to volunteer for Iraq service, compared with 59 percent who said they'd do so out of a sense of patriotism or duty. Respondents were allowed to select more than once from a list of five options. (Hat tip: IraqSlogger)
Iran will be among the topics President Bush discusses with regional leaders as he heads to the Middle East today. The White House and Tehran batted threats at each other more vigorously than ever last year, and a tense incident in the Strait of Hormuz will also top Bush's agenda.
"We viewed it as a provocative act," Bush said after taking questions from reporters. "It's a dangerous situation.... The message to the Iranians is they shouldn't have done what they did."
Concern about Iran's aid to insurgents in Iraq has partly fueled new war planning in Washington. Iraq's and Iran's neighbors are deeply concerned that a U.S. military strike in Iran will inflame the region. But Bush won't be there to talk war so much as peace.
Bush's main mission in this trip, his first to the region as president, is to secure cooperation on the two-state Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. "What has to happen in order for there to be a peaceful settlement of a longstanding dispute is there needs to be an outline of a state that is clearly defined," Bush said. "At some point in time, the Palestinians who agree that Israel ought to exist and that the state ought to live side by side with Israel in peace must have something to be for."
Posted at 5:09 PM
Posted to:
Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Middle East, Military, Palestinians, President Bush, Terrorism, WH 2008
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