Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
November 8, 2007
Pg. 7
By Jim Michaels, USA Today
With security improving in Iraq, commanders are now considering how to reduce the U.S. presence without losing hard-fought security gains.
"I think there is going to come a day when certainly we will need (fewer) coalition troops in Baghdad," Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, told Reuters news service Wednesday. He said that al-Qaeda no longer has a foothold in any part of the city.
Commanders say troop reductions have to be done so as not to jeopardize recent gains.
If "you do this too quickly … you could place a burden on the Iraqi security forces prior to them being ready to accept it," Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington.
The U.S. military says violence has been reduced because of a new strategy of building outposts in neighborhoods and protecting civilians.
The strategy was backed by an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq this year.
The military says car bombs, sectarian killings, roadside bombs and other acts of violence are declining.
"We own the terrain," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands a division south of the capital, said in a recent interview. Al-Qaeda "doesn't have the sanctuary anymore," he said.
U.S. troops encountered heavy fighting when they first established combat outposts and challenged insurgents in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere.
U.S. combat deaths spiked in April and May before declining in recent months.
"We're not giving that ground back until we have a sustained security presence," Lynch said. "That's just going to take some time."
Commanders say troop reductions need to be done in such a way so that Iraqi security forces will have enough support to maintain order and defeat insurgents.
"Our No. 1 mission when we start to move is to leave in our wake competent, confident Iraqi security forces," said Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy commander of Multi-National Force-West.
Commanders want to avoid a repeat of the early days of the war when some Iraqi forces were given responsibility before they were fully prepared.
Some units collapsed in the face of Shiite and Sunni revolts in 2004.
In other Iraq news:
•Two brothers who were members of an anti al-Qaeda organization in western Iraq have been killed, the leader of the local organization said.
Both deaths were reported by Sheik Mishan Abbas, head of a group in Anbar province that opposes al-Qaeda.
•Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said border authorities recorded 46,030 people returning to Iraq in October and attributed the large number to the "improving security situation."
•The Iraqi Army said 17 bodies were discovered in a mass grave near a school in Hashimiyat, after troops drove al-Qaeda out of regions north and west of the capital.
November 8, 2007
Pg. 7
By Jim Michaels, USA Today
With security improving in Iraq, commanders are now considering how to reduce the U.S. presence without losing hard-fought security gains.
"I think there is going to come a day when certainly we will need (fewer) coalition troops in Baghdad," Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, told Reuters news service Wednesday. He said that al-Qaeda no longer has a foothold in any part of the city.
Commanders say troop reductions have to be done so as not to jeopardize recent gains.
If "you do this too quickly … you could place a burden on the Iraqi security forces prior to them being ready to accept it," Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington.
The U.S. military says violence has been reduced because of a new strategy of building outposts in neighborhoods and protecting civilians.
The strategy was backed by an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq this year.
The military says car bombs, sectarian killings, roadside bombs and other acts of violence are declining.
"We own the terrain," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands a division south of the capital, said in a recent interview. Al-Qaeda "doesn't have the sanctuary anymore," he said.
U.S. troops encountered heavy fighting when they first established combat outposts and challenged insurgents in parts of Baghdad and elsewhere.
U.S. combat deaths spiked in April and May before declining in recent months.
"We're not giving that ground back until we have a sustained security presence," Lynch said. "That's just going to take some time."
Commanders say troop reductions need to be done in such a way so that Iraqi security forces will have enough support to maintain order and defeat insurgents.
"Our No. 1 mission when we start to move is to leave in our wake competent, confident Iraqi security forces," said Marine Brig. Gen. John Allen, deputy commander of Multi-National Force-West.
Commanders want to avoid a repeat of the early days of the war when some Iraqi forces were given responsibility before they were fully prepared.
Some units collapsed in the face of Shiite and Sunni revolts in 2004.
In other Iraq news:
•Two brothers who were members of an anti al-Qaeda organization in western Iraq have been killed, the leader of the local organization said.
Both deaths were reported by Sheik Mishan Abbas, head of a group in Anbar province that opposes al-Qaeda.
•Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said border authorities recorded 46,030 people returning to Iraq in October and attributed the large number to the "improving security situation."
•The Iraqi Army said 17 bodies were discovered in a mass grave near a school in Hashimiyat, after troops drove al-Qaeda out of regions north and west of the capital.