Gates Checks In On Troop Surge's Progress
On Defense Secretary Robert Gates' fourth trip to Iraq in just six months, he got his first look at a joint security station. It is an example of one of the linchpins of the surge strategy – smaller outposts where U.S. and Iraqi forces work as a team within Iraqi communities.
Escorted by General David Petraeus, Gates toured one such outpost southeast of Baghdad, reports CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras who is traveling with the Secretary.
Thirty-five-year-old Army Maj. Christopher Wendland, the executive officer of the station, explains that the goal is to build security and trust by living among the people.
"We get a lot of tips, we get a lot of phone calls," said Wendland. "That's really what helps us, because we're immersed in the community and because we work so closely with the community and they see us all the time."
Establishing security is a key challenge for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, and the U.S. is growing increasingly frustrated over its inability to stem the bloodshed.
At a Saturday news conference where the U.S. ambassador described progress as "frustratingly slow," Mr. Gates tempered the tone by emphasizing the extent of the challenges.
"These are people who are prepared to give up their lives for a different kind of Iraq than has existed in the past, so is this a difficult process? Yes, because of the history of this country," Gates said.
The big question is what will happen if this latest strategy doesn't show signs of success by September, when the president is to receive a comprehensive report, and if the Iraqi government doesn't meet its benchmarks by the same deadline.
No one traveling with Secretary Gates would answer that question.
In Other Developments:
The Iraqi capital sprung to life Sunday after a four-day curfew to thwart violence after a provocative attack on a Shiite shrine to the north, as a top American general acknowledged that security forces have full control in only 40 percent of the city. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno's assessment came as a U.S.-Iraqi effort to pacify Baghdad entered its fifth month, with 30,000 additional U.S. troops now in place. But the city has so far seen little improvement in overall violence, and a tense political standoff was under way between the U.S.-backed government and Shiite lawmakers who suspended their participation in parliament.
The identification cards of two American soldiers missing since an attack on their unit in May were found in an al Qaeda safe house north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers and weapons, the U.S. military said Saturday. Spc. Alex R. Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty were snatched in a raid on their 10th Mountain Division unit on May 12 near Youssifiyah.
The military said an American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad and an Ohio National Guard pilot was killed when his F-16 fighter crashed shortly after takeoff from Balad Air Base in central Iraq. The two deaths on Friday brought to at least 3,522 the number of American military personnel who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In Iraq's western Anbar province, the remains of 13 members of an Iraqi taekwondo team kidnapped last year were found near the main highway leading to Jordan, police and hospital officials said. The team had been driving to a training camp there in May 2006 when their convoy was interrupted.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. Escorted by General David Petraeus, Gates toured one such outpost southeast of Baghdad, reports CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras who is traveling with the Secretary.
Thirty-five-year-old Army Maj. Christopher Wendland, the executive officer of the station, explains that the goal is to build security and trust by living among the people.
"We get a lot of tips, we get a lot of phone calls," said Wendland. "That's really what helps us, because we're immersed in the community and because we work so closely with the community and they see us all the time."
Establishing security is a key challenge for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, and the U.S. is growing increasingly frustrated over its inability to stem the bloodshed.
At a Saturday news conference where the U.S. ambassador described progress as "frustratingly slow," Mr. Gates tempered the tone by emphasizing the extent of the challenges.
"These are people who are prepared to give up their lives for a different kind of Iraq than has existed in the past, so is this a difficult process? Yes, because of the history of this country," Gates said.
The big question is what will happen if this latest strategy doesn't show signs of success by September, when the president is to receive a comprehensive report, and if the Iraqi government doesn't meet its benchmarks by the same deadline.
No one traveling with Secretary Gates would answer that question.
In Other Developments:
The identification cards of two American soldiers missing since an attack on their unit in May were found in an al Qaeda safe house north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers and weapons, the U.S. military said Saturday. Spc. Alex R. Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty were snatched in a raid on their 10th Mountain Division unit on May 12 near Youssifiyah.
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Posted by Iceman_1960 at 08:35 AM : Jun 17, 2007
I have been suggesting people go to PBS for years. they have had several documentaries on the various wars for years now. they were one of the first to bring to public light, the war crimminal wolfowitz. how he rushed our nation off to war and fired the generals.
other execellent docs about enron and how they deliberately shut down electricity in california, inorder to raise prices ( sound familiar?? the oil corps doing the same thing today)
go to pbs website, its great also !!!!
. Violence is up in other areas in Iraq. The "Surge" alone includes progress by the government, which theere has been none at all & other problems.
. There is another plan just strarting that looks alot like others tried & failed, give it till September.
Voters are scared off by supporters of the DEMS who ramble on about war criminals, coups ("coops" are hen-houses), hangings, treasonous Jews, so-called liars in politics (who simply have different views about what the facts mean), oil-company conspiracies, "courageous" al Qaida fighters (who mask themselves, hide among civilians and deliberately attack non-combatants) and bloody battles of veterans against their own government. There is no connection at all between such views and 10's of millions of voters.
So many of your posts end with WAKE UP!!!. My advice to you: go back to sleep. Sleep is a powerful remedy for anxiety and mania. You are doing the opponents of the GOP no favor.
And what of the 'blue' States? Those who thought that Kerry carrying out the Bush policies would some how make them alright...Bush's Skull & Bones Lodge brother... who accepted the results of a stolen election with the same alacrity that the Democratic Congress supports the continuation and funding of the war...behind a screen of anti-Bush rhetoric.
Even the 'Red' states are rejecting Bush, the 'Blue' states are deluded enough to think that his Democratic accomplices will change them.
- Posted by Baghdadshere at 08:59
How many times have we heard this????? Can you say BS?????
PBS - Frontline: Endgame - An examination of the reasons for the current situation in Iraq, including failure to plan for an insurgency; the "light footprint" strategy pushed by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; and the 2005 Iraqi election, which the Sunnis boycotted. Included: comments from Gen. Jack Keane (USA Ret.); State Department Counselor Phillip D. Zelikow; and reporters.