TIKRIT, Iraq, Feb. 24, 2007
Gen: Iraqi Handover May Be Delayed
U.S. Commander In Diyala "Not Optimistic" That Control Of Region Can Be Achieved By Year's End
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Plans call for all provinces to be transferred to Iraqi security control by Dec. 31. But increased attacks by Sunni insurgents could delay the transfer of Diyala province, which lies just northeast of Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon told The Associated Press.
Mixon is the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, which includes Diyala.
"The potential is there" to hand over provinces "except in Diyala, where the future remains in question," Mixon said. "I'm not optimistic" about Diyala "given the current situation."
A new security crackdown in Baghdad has encouraged mostly Sunni extremists to flee the capital for surrounding provinces, especially Diyala, Mixon said.
That influx has caused a spike in violence in the province, known as "Little Iraq" because of its near-equal mix of Sunni and Shiite Arabs as well as Kurds — the country's three major groups.
"We're working our way into the Baghdad security plan, and we won't be into the thick of it until late spring or summer. I expect more violence in Diyala through then," Mixon said.
As reported yesterday by CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick, U.S. commanders believe securing communities in Diyala is crucial to the goal of handing over control of the province to Iraqi security forces.
But the operations have grown deadlier, complicated by what may be an influx of Sunni and Shiite fighters flushed out of Baghdad by the stepped-up security operations there. One U.S. battalion has lost 17 men here since October, accounting for more casualties in four months than an entire U.S. brigade lost the year before.See Cami McCormick's Report In Pictures
Listen To Cami's Report
Direct fire attacks on U.S. soldiers are up 70 percent in Diyala since last summer, according to Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade.
Mixon blamed the violence on a robust Sunni insurgency fueled by former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, rather than on foreign fighters or the Sunni-Shiite conflict that has enveloped Baghdad.
Less than two percent of the nearly 3,000 people detained across northern Iraq in the past six months were foreigners, Mixon said.
"Make no mistake, this is a homegrown Sunni insurgency," he said.
Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Diyala last year.
Sunni militants were flooding into Diyala to avoid the so-called "surge" of U.S. forces in the capital, but also as part of a larger strategy, Mixon said.
"Sunnis understand they need to control areas around Baghdad if they eventually want to control Baghdad," he said. "We're seeing insurgents shifting elements from Anbar and Baghdad, to ensure they retain control of Diyala," he said.
With about 20,000 additional American troops heading to Baghdad, Mixon said he had "only one little brigade covering all of Diyala."
A brigade is the smallest self-sufficient unit in the U.S. Army, and typically consists of between 1,500 and 3,500 soldiers.
The Diyala province covers more than 6,800 square miles.
Mixon said he would like to deploy more U.S. soldiers to small patrol bases in Iraqi communities, rather than on large forward operating bases across northern Iraq. But he said he was unable to do so because of troop numbers.
"I don't have the combat power to put everyone on small patrol bases like we do in Baghdad," Mixon said.
On Friday, a top Pentagon envoy, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, assured U.S. and Iraqi military officials in Diyala that help was on the way.
"Our new strategy is (for U.S. forces) to bring the violence down so Iraqi forces can deal with it," said Keane, who was visiting Iraq on a fact-finding mission by Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. forces here.
"We're going to work hard on this in Baghdad, and then add more forces outside Baghdad as well," he said.
Three of Iraq's provinces — Najaf, Muthanna and Dhi Qar — were transferred to Iraqi control last year. All are heavily Shiite.
Sunni extremists claim Diyala's capital, Baqouba, as the seat of an Islamic state in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike nearby last June.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 29 CommentsThey gave the script to their famous broadcaster, "Tokyo Rose," and every day she would broadcast this same message packaged in various ways, hoping to have an impact on American GI morale. What was the message?
It had three main points:
1. Your president is lying to you.
2. This war is illegal.
3. You cannot win the war.
Sound familiar? the Democratic Party has picked up the same message and is broadcasting it to civilians domestic and abroad, and to our troops and our enemies. The only difference is that they claim to support our troops before they demoralize them.
Come to think of it, Tokyo Rose used to tell the troops that she was on their side.
I am often struck by how similar the rhetoric from the left is to the rhetoric from our enemies. Consider this transcript of a taped al qaeda message:
http://memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=802
I think a gallon of room temperatured crude oil for each Bush/Cheney/neocons is in order.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1434540.ece
Posted by rharrin1 at 07:52 PM : Feb 24, 2007
Yeah, right. The course that's led to four years of nothing but more dead American warriors. By all means, let's have more of the same.....
Posted by j-whitman at 03:00 PM : Feb 24, 2007
He has nothing to fight with. What'd you expect? He and lieberman can only say that they hate muslims and everyone who isn't a neocon is a traitor. That's the extent of their bullets....
When the oil runs out, Bu$hCo will hand over the country...
The only chance is the Congress. My earnest prayer and hope is that the Republican Senators/Representatives that are running in 2008 wake up to the fact that if they want to get reelected, they will have to work to end the Iraq war within the next 18 months by whatever means it takes. Whoever does not will be very vulnerable in 2008. Their Democratic opponents will beat them like a government mule with this issue. The Democrats will not have to address illegal immigration, the deficit, trade, etc. All they need is the Iraq war issue. The electorate spoke in 2006 and we will again in 2008.
Posted by j-whitman at 02:08 PM : Feb 24, 2007
I had to laugh at Bush and Cheney desperately trying to characterize the British pull out as anything but.
They claim it's not a pull out, but a sign of success.
If it's not a pull out, why didn't the British re-deploy to hot areas in Iraq instead of re-deploying to London?
They think everyone is as dumb as a box of dirt, obviously.
Posted by j-whitman at 02:11 PM : Feb 24, 2007
yeah, j. I think they are having server problems. I've been having a problem since yeaterday afternoon.
Posted by j-whitman at 01:44 PM : Feb 24, 2007
Knowing it and admitting it are two different things, j. As long as they have people like pwrslm, lieberman, and lars drinking the Kool-Aid, they'll keep up their denial act.
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