U.S. Trying To Get It Right In Iraq

As Fifth Year Of War Begins, Officials Insist This Security Plan Will Work

(AP)  The Iraq war enters year five with U.S. troops working to secure towns and neighborhoods, build up Iraqi's own police and army, and cultivate Iraqi community leaders to shore up grass-roots support for a post-Saddam Hussein government.

That sounds a lot like what the Americans say they have been trying to do almost since troops crossed the border in the spring of 2003. Repeated efforts have come up short.

This time, however, U.S. officials insist they're going to do it right.

Many officers and senior noncommissioned officers are now in their third tour and say they've learned from experience. That includes the overall commander, Gen. David Petraeus. He has revamped the counterinsurgency strategy, designed to win back not only the turf but public support.

Although never acknowledged publicly, the strategy switch also includes a clear sign that the old U.S. plan to hand over security to Iraqi forces quickly — a mission Petraeus spearheaded two years ago — has failed. U.S. troops are no longer taking a back seat. They're back behind the wheel — for as long as Congress and the U.S. public will let them.

What remains unclear is how long it will take under the new strategy to achieve results — and whether the 21,500 additional combat troops being sent to Iraq will be enough to get the job done.

U.S. officers say they have about six to nine months to show results in the fight against Sunni insurgents, al Qaeda extremists, Shiite militias and sectarian death squads — and this may be their last chance. Opposition to the war within the United States could make it politically untenable to continue the mission in the run-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Much of the new strategy looks like the old — armed sweeps through contested areas to kill and capture as many extremists as possible, then install an Iraqi security force to make sure the gunmen don't come back.

This time, however, the Americans plan to stay on after the fighting, maintaining a residual force in the communities to work with Iraqi soldiers and police. As security improves, U.S. and Iraqi civilian authorities will try to restore public services, open banks and revive local economies.

Already, U.S. troops are setting up security posts inside Baghdad neighborhoods once racked by Shiite-Sunni fighting. To the west, the military is recruiting Sunni clans to try to challenge al Qaeda and other extremist groups for the loyalty of Sunnis in Anbar province.

Implementing the new strategy requires fine-tuning because the character of the war varies with the territory. In Baghdad and surrounding areas, the focus is on calming the Shiite-Sunni sectarian power struggle, in which civilians are the main target.

To the west, where few Shiites live, the fight is between Sunni insurgents and the U.S.-Iraqi force, which now includes Sunni clans that back the government. In the north, the struggle between Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen adds another dimension.

For the Americans, the focus is on protecting civilians — and not treating every Iraqi as a potential bomber or sniper. That means no more kicking in doors during routine house searches, no more rousting a terrified family out of bed for a midnight search.

Past American efforts have been described by a British officer, Brig. Gen. Nigel Aylwin-Foster, as suffering from "cultural insensitivity" bordering on "institutional racism."

Instead, troops are encouraged to ask permission to enter homes — as long as nobody is shooting from inside — and to hold their fire unless they are sure of their target.

[bm6005]

Mistake 1, killing only the extremists. Make em bleed. Real hard. Cut a path of destruction from the war book of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Mistake 2, letting the press and the public know what is going on.
Posted by Musty2U

Oh yea, this would work real well. You think they hate us now? If you do something like this we'll be at war for thousands of years. Of course you don't care it's only business as usual! Speking of which I recently bought a dress shirt. Got it home and it's made in Viet Nam. That sure honors the 58,000+ doesn't it, Morons!!! Oh well you know business, the first to want a war and the second to open up the new markets, Doh?!

[feelfree1]

If ROBERT H. REID, the author of this article, were to experience having a group of heavily armed invaders bomb his neighborhood, detain him for a while without cause or due process, maybe torture him a bit, I wonder how long he would give the brutal invaders to "Get it Right", as he puts it?

What if his 14 year old daughter was gang-raped, executed, and her corpse burned by these depraved criminal invaders, such as we have witnessed in the town of Mahmoudiya, Iraq?

I wonder how many "Do-Overs" that this author might suggest under these kinds of circumstances?

Whose blood and treasure is this author prepared to sacrifice, in order to ensure that the U.S. will "Get It Right In Iraq"?

What makes this author think that we might hope for a favorable result from an illegal, fraud/greed-based war of aggression against a sovereign nation?

[musty2u]

Mistake 1, killing only the extremists. Make em bleed. Real hard. Cut a path of destruction from the war book of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Mistake 2, letting the press and the public know what is going on.

[scott4261]

This war was a colossal error in judgment. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden couldn't have conspired to attack the U.S. because they hated each other. Saddam was secular and Osama is a religious extremist. This war was not worth one drop of American blood. And the very occupation by the U.S. has created a vacuum for terrorist activity where there was none before.

And for what? For the benefit of Exxon/Mobile, Halliburton, KBR and the rest of the oil industry war profiteers?

There is no "getting it right." It has been wrong from the start.

[randalds]

"U.S. Trying To Get It Right In Iraq
As Fifth Year Of War Begins, Officials Insist This Security Plan Will Work"

The war is lost and it was lost the day we attacked. We never had a moral right to start this war and even if we'd had one Bush did a sh*itty job of conducting it. We never sent in enough troops and tried to fight this on the cheap. The chance for any kind of a "victory" in Iraq is long long long past. Rumsfeld allowed it turn into a civil war and now everyone there wants us out almost as badly as they want to kill each other.

This is not a war and never was one. It's a war crime. It's a bungled attempted armed robbery put on by a gang of idiot thieves known as the neocons. A hold up by a gang of buffoons. The gang who couldn't shoot straight. It would make a comical movie, if it weren't so tragically real.

[johnshaft4]

Oh please...This 'war' will suddenly end once Hallibrton successfuly flees the country to Dubai and absconds with the $2.7 Billion in overcharges that they looted from us. This 'war' is about maximizing kickbacks to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, etc. from war profiteers/criminals like Blackwater USA, Parsons, etc. The longer this 'war' dragged on, the more cash is stuffed into the pockets of the Bush adminisrtation con artists derived from the blood of our troops.