Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Los Angeles Times
February 19, 2008 But he laments the lack of an olive branch from Baghdad and won't say what he'll advise on deployment.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
AL ASAD, IRAQ — Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, said Monday he was confident the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq had been defeated here in western Iraq but that he was disappointed the central government in Baghdad had not done more to reconcile with the region and begin providing essential services.
Conway, on a whirlwind tour of sprawling Anbar province, declined to say whether he would recommend to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, that Marine units in the west be returned home any time soon. Conway is to testify before Congress later this week.
As other senior Marine officers have done, Conway said the Marine mission after nearly five years in Iraq could be characterized as "transition" -- preparing Iraqi security forces and the local political and economic systems for the day U.S. involvement in Iraq ends.
Petraeus, after consulting with Conway and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is to provide a recommendation this spring to President Bush about a possible drawdown of U.S. forces. In recent comments, Petraeus has been concerned that a precipitous withdrawal of support could cause the Iraqi forces to disintegrate.
Conway, during a visit here Monday to the headquarters of the Camp Pendleton-based 5th Marine Regiment, said that although he wanted the U.S. to remain in Iraq until the country was stable and self-sustaining, he was concerned that back-to-back deployments were stretching the Marine Corps thin, giving it little or no time to train young enlisted personnel and officers for amphibious assaults, cold-weather warfare and other "core competencies."
The key to keeping insurgents out of Anbar, he said, lies with the Sunni Arab tribal sheiks who initially were either neutral or sided with insurgents but who, starting in late 2006, began to side with U.S. forces. Within months, the insurgents had been driven from several cities they controlled.
"There's a blood feud out there between the tribes and Al Qaeda," Conway said during a chow hall interview. "They [the tribes] have seen the dark side and they don't like it. I don't see Al Qaeda [in Iraq] coming back."
To ensure that Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups don't regain a grip on the province, the Marines continue to search for them on land and from the air. In one sweep, Marines visited several hundred Bedouin camps near the Syrian border. The Marines' recently delivered tilt-rotor aircraft, the Osprey, is being used to reach otherwise inaccessible spots.
Meanwhile, several rockets smashed into the main U.S. military base near the Baghdad airport and nearby neighborhoods Monday, and initial reports said five Iraqi civilians were killed and two American soldiers were injured, according to a U.S. military statement.
The statement said American and Iraqi forces had found the site of the rocket launch and were holding six people for questioning in the attack.
Times staff writer Tina Susman in Baghdad contributed to this report.
February 19, 2008 But he laments the lack of an olive branch from Baghdad and won't say what he'll advise on deployment.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
AL ASAD, IRAQ — Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, said Monday he was confident the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq had been defeated here in western Iraq but that he was disappointed the central government in Baghdad had not done more to reconcile with the region and begin providing essential services.
Conway, on a whirlwind tour of sprawling Anbar province, declined to say whether he would recommend to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, that Marine units in the west be returned home any time soon. Conway is to testify before Congress later this week.
As other senior Marine officers have done, Conway said the Marine mission after nearly five years in Iraq could be characterized as "transition" -- preparing Iraqi security forces and the local political and economic systems for the day U.S. involvement in Iraq ends.
Petraeus, after consulting with Conway and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is to provide a recommendation this spring to President Bush about a possible drawdown of U.S. forces. In recent comments, Petraeus has been concerned that a precipitous withdrawal of support could cause the Iraqi forces to disintegrate.
Conway, during a visit here Monday to the headquarters of the Camp Pendleton-based 5th Marine Regiment, said that although he wanted the U.S. to remain in Iraq until the country was stable and self-sustaining, he was concerned that back-to-back deployments were stretching the Marine Corps thin, giving it little or no time to train young enlisted personnel and officers for amphibious assaults, cold-weather warfare and other "core competencies."
The key to keeping insurgents out of Anbar, he said, lies with the Sunni Arab tribal sheiks who initially were either neutral or sided with insurgents but who, starting in late 2006, began to side with U.S. forces. Within months, the insurgents had been driven from several cities they controlled.
"There's a blood feud out there between the tribes and Al Qaeda," Conway said during a chow hall interview. "They [the tribes] have seen the dark side and they don't like it. I don't see Al Qaeda [in Iraq] coming back."
To ensure that Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups don't regain a grip on the province, the Marines continue to search for them on land and from the air. In one sweep, Marines visited several hundred Bedouin camps near the Syrian border. The Marines' recently delivered tilt-rotor aircraft, the Osprey, is being used to reach otherwise inaccessible spots.
Meanwhile, several rockets smashed into the main U.S. military base near the Baghdad airport and nearby neighborhoods Monday, and initial reports said five Iraqi civilians were killed and two American soldiers were injured, according to a U.S. military statement.
The statement said American and Iraqi forces had found the site of the rocket launch and were holding six people for questioning in the attack.
Times staff writer Tina Susman in Baghdad contributed to this report.