Al Qaeda Has No Sanctuary in Iraq, General Says

[Raptor 597]

Jul 20, 2007
BY Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service, July 20, 2007) - Al Qaeda no longer has sanctuary in any major region of Iraq, only a month after the surge of operations began there, a top commander in the region said yesterday.

This comes after coalition forces recently secured the city of Baqubah, the capital city of the former insurgent-stronghold Diyala province, said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq.

"With Baqubah's liberation, I can think of no major population center in Iraq that is an al Qaeda safe haven today," the general said, speaking to Pentagon reporters via satellite from Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Odierno attributed the surge's successes to three factors: forces denying sanctuary to insurgents; Iraqi security forces growing in size and capabilities; and a recent wave of tribal leaders agreeing to side with coalition forces to drive al Qaeda and other rogue insurgent groups out.

"The Iraqi people are clearly rejecting the Taliban-like mentality that offers no hope to Iraqis or their families," Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

More than half of Baghdad is now under the control of coalition or Iraqi security forces, he said.

"The key difference of our ongoing operations is that we are not giving up any of the hard-fought gains," Lt. Gen. Odierno said. "We are staying until the Iraqi security forces have the ability to control that battle space. We are working extremely hard with the government of Iraq to establish locally recruited police as well as coordinating with the Iraqi army to ensure long-term stability."

Lt. Gen. Odierno said Iraqis are gaining confidence in their own forces and the success of the surge. This has caused many tribes, who once fought against the coalition, to switch sides to help drive out al Qaeda. Lt. Gen. Odierno said commanders on the ground have been able to make cease-fire agreements with tribes and even mainstream some of them into local security forces.

"Our engagement efforts with groups who were once adversaries are about getting them to point their weapons at al Qaeda and other extremists," the commander said. "We are ready and willing to engage with key leaders of any groups opposing al Qaeda in Iraq or other extremist groups that want to work in cooperation with the coalition, Iraqi security forces, but most importantly with the government of Iraq."

Violence has sharply declined in many regions because of the agreements with local tribes, Lt. Gen. Odierno said. He noted that Ramadi, "once the al Qaeda capital of Iraq," averages less than one attack daily, down from 30 daily only six months ago.

Lt. Gen. Odierno cited similar successes in Abu Ghraib, Taji, and the Baghdad neighborhood of Amiriyah.

Tips on insurgents, weapons caches and emplaced bombs are now coming in record numbers, he said. To date, nearly 600 weapons caches, 1,300 improvised explosive devices, 25 car bombs and eight bomb-making factories have been found and destroyed.

More than 175 "high-value" suspects were killed or captured, along with a handful of top terrorist leaders in the country. Lt. Gen. Odierno said they are taking out insurgents so quickly that al Qaeda is having trouble keeping up with replacements, because those left in the network are unwilling or uneducated.

The increase in operations is seasoning Iraqi security forces, improving their skills and demonstrating their willingness to fight, he said.

"They have greatly improved their tactical proficiency and have placed more effective command-and-control structures in place," Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

Special operations forces are operating alongside coalition forces. And in Mosul, Tal Afar and Kirkuk, the Iraqi security forces are in charge and executing independent operations with only coalition force oversight. Seven of Iraq's 18 provinces are responsible for their own security, and commanders hope to bring eight more to that level by the end of the year, Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

In addition, despite taking casualties at three times the rate of coalition forces, Iraqi recruiting continues to be strong, and manning of the units continues to increase, Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

In the national police, about 75 percent of the leaders have been replaced since last year, and Iraqis have been arresting their own who demonstrate sectarian division.

"Professionalism, discipline and esprit de corps continue to improve. Their ability to conduct independent operations increases and continues to be done across the country," Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

Meanwhile, formerly displaced Iraqis are now returning home more confident in their safety, he said.

"Hundreds of extremists are no longer available to terrorize the innocent people, and thousands of Iraqis are better off today than they were just a month ago," Lt. Gen. Odierno said.

Article

****

It's looking alot better in Iraq than people are realizing. General Petraeus is making the surge plan work with the plus up manpower and the Joint Security Station plan. He's getting more boots on the ground and fobbits out of the FOB. I'm still deploying hopefully this bullshit will stabilize. Hooah.

[K. A. Pital]

Isn't Al-Quaeda a smaller fraction of insurgency, and the total insurgency far bigger than just AQ, incorporating many insurgent groups?

[MKSheppard]

AQ, if we go by the ratio that they appear in MultiNationalForce-Iraq press releases, is about 30-35% of total insurgent attacks in Iraq; and makes up nearly 90+% of suicide attacks in country.

[K. A. Pital]

So technically you managed to tame the dumbest third of the insurgents. Given IEDs/roadside bombs cause the heaviest losses, I dunno what's the use of it.

[Stravo]

More than half of Baghdad is now under the control of coalition or Iraqi security forces, he said.

4 years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost, 3500 dead American troops and tens of thousands wounded and we now control half of the capital. Wow. Go Surge.

[Raptor 597]

So technically you managed to tame the dumbest third of the insurgents. Given IEDs/roadside bombs cause the heaviest losses, I dunno what's the use of it.

AQI is far from the dumbest third of the insurgency, I gurantee you of that. Their suicide attacks are a very effective for from so thats what they use. Their is also in Iraq the Mahdi Army, Al Answar the best IED makers, and numerous other groups in the South. We're about to withdraw 3-5 brigades from the north which is now completely stabilize and use the plus up strength to slush out the rest of AQI and Al Answar. Eventually we may well face off with the Madhi Army and simply clear Sadr City. The Iraq war is finally looking up, we're fixing the mistakes OIFs I & II.

[Chardok]

With the casualty rates of innocent civilians, american Troops, etc. Seems like Al Queada are the only ones in Iraq with a semblance of sanctuary.

[Raptor 597]

More than half of Baghdad is now under the control of coalition or Iraqi security forces, he said.

4 years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost, 3500 dead American troops and tens of thousands wounded and we now control half of the capital. Wow. Go Surge.

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

[Chardok]

More than half of Baghdad is now under the control of coalition or Iraqi security forces, he said.

4 years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost, 3500 dead American troops and tens of thousands wounded and we now control half of the capital. Wow. Go Surge.

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

Which will disintegrate from those hotbeds and simply set up new hotbeds. This insurgency is like Herpes. You can't get rid of it simply by popping the largest of the blisters.

[Stravo]

More than half of Baghdad is now under the control of coalition or Iraqi security forces, he said.

4 years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost, 3500 dead American troops and tens of thousands wounded and we now control half of the capital. Wow. Go Surge.

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

I pray you are being sarcastic otherwise I have to ask the inevitable question - what color is the sky in your world?

[Raptor 597]

4 years later, hundreds of billions of dollars in cost, 3500 dead American troops and tens of thousands wounded and we now control half of the capital. Wow. Go Surge.

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

I pray you are being sarcastic otherwise I have to ask the inevitable question - what color is the sky in your world?

I'm not at all, I'm a just a joe, not an pie in the sky officer, I've thought on this for a long time. Alot of our success hinges on pulling out of the North and not withdrawing but redeploying and using our forces to clear other areas of the country. But with nearly an entire divsion reinforcing Baghdad we can begin clearing larger areas of the city, success will be gradual and measured but it is possible and plausible.

[Stravo]

I'm not at all, I'm a just a joe, not an pie in the sky officer, I've thought on this for a long time. Alot of our success hinges on pulling out of the North and not withdrawing but redeploying and using our forces to clear other areas of the country. But with nearly an entire divsion reinforcing Baghdad we can begin clearing larger areas of the city, success will be gradual and measured but it is possible and plausible.

I'm curious as to what the situation looks like there on the ground because the horror stories we see on the news shows bombings and violence still going on a large scale and just yesterday in Congressional hearings the diplomatic attache to Iraq described the prevalent word in Baghdad being "fear"

If indeed the rest of the city is being held by the Mahdi army and their ilk its still does not bode well for the city as they are nothing more than death squads to enforce the will of one man who has a religious agenda that does not include the other sects and until recently had the backing of the president there.

It's a volatile situation and its been a long time since I ever felt anything remotely resembling optimism about this mess. The gradual and measured success you speak of may have been fine if they started this after the invasion but I think people here don't have the patience to stomach it so late in the game I fear.

[MKSheppard]

I'm curious as to what the situation looks like there on the ground because the horror stories we see on the news shows bombings and violence still going on a large scale

It's called "if it bleeds, it leads"; and "we won't bother to do fact checking or leave our cushy air conditioned bomb proof hotels in the green zone, and will rely entirely on stringers of questionable trust."

IOW; it's like Vietnam again with the Press Corps; sitting in airconditioned Saigon bars, dragging themselves out to the daily briefing by Westmoreland or Abrams, then typing up something from a stringer and sending it back across the wire.

Granted, there were a few good reporters in Nam, but too many sat around in Saigon instead of getting out of that area.

[Stravo]

C'mon Shep, we can't just say this is exageration about the news and ignoring the positives. When you have bombings that kill 50 -60 people in a city on daily or weekly basis you can't possibly believe that things are going well or under control. Would we feel that a city in the US similarly sized as Baghdad would put up with the death tolls we're seeing on a weekly basis? The president would have been lynched by now.

When you have US Corporations raping the US taxpayer (Halliburton alone for @1 billion dollars) and the government turning a blind eye you can't say "But where are the positives?" When Iraqis are fleeing the country in droves that speaks to the state of how the Iraqis themselves see the state of their nation and the conflict.

This isn't about good news stories not coming out of Iraq it's about the good stuff completely and utterly overshadowed by the negatives. Don't you think if the Administration could really trot out some supremely positive things out of this fiasco they would in a heartbeat? They've already lowered expectations from the Surge and we're still 2 months out from the final report in Sept. FoxNews coverage of the war has dropped significantly because even the mouthpiece of the Administration can no longer find much positive to focus on.

[xerex]

With Baqubah's liberation, I can think of no major population center in Iraq that is an al Qaeda safe haven today," the general said, speaking to Pentagon reporters via satellite from Iraq.

yeahhhhhhhhhhhh

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070720/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Insurgents killed three British troops and two American soldiers in separate attacks in southern and central Iraq, coalition officials said Friday.

Several British soldiers also were wounded in the Thursday mortar attack on their base at the airport in the southern city of Basra, the British military said. The two Americans were killed in separate attacks Thursday in the Baghdad area, the U.S. said.

In Friday's violence, four people were killed and three wounded when clashes broke out in the Shiite village of Ajemi near Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, the provincial police said. They said it appeared the village had come under attack by Sunni extremists.

[Jadeite]

It is odd, but it does seem like we're definitely making a lot of progress right now. The Sunnis form the core of the insurgency and a lot of them are switching sides. The best asset of an insurgency is a population to draw recruits from, and when that population turns hostile, insurgent groups are doomed because they no longer have the capacity to replace losses or places to hide.

It's just too bad this couldn't have begun years ago.

Which will disintegrate from those hotbeds and simply set up new hotbeds. This insurgency is like Herpes. You can't get rid of it simply by popping the largest of the blisters.

Not necessarily. That tactic only works if they have a safe haven to flee to in the first place, and that is increasingly becoming less and less possible. Large cities are preferable for them because there's plenty of ambush points, hiding spots, and they can blend in with the large population. However, as large population centers are secured and they are driven out.

We're finally winning this. Not because we've won over the population out of our own merits, but because the population is beginning to hate insurgent forces even more. We've simply become the lesser of two evils to them.

[MKSheppard]

C'mon Shep, we can't just say this is exageration about the news and ignoring the positives.

You mean like how AP runs a story about 20 headless bodies, in Salman Pak; and when someone asks the Iraqis and MNF-I, it turns out that nobody can even find the 20 headless bodies; which you know, should be quite conspicious in Salman Pak.

Meanwhile; Michael Yon is on site with US and Iraqi troops when they uncovered a mass grave outside an Iraqi village, one that was created by Al Quaeda insurgents; who did all kinds of nasties; Yon offers up his photography, his writing all for free; and even includes the grid square where to find the bodies; but in the end; only one AP reporter shows up; and the story is well, dead.

[xerex]

C'mon Shep, we can't just say this is exageration about the news and ignoring the positives.

You mean like how AP runs a story about 20 headless bodies, in Salman Pak; and when someone asks the Iraqis and MNF-I, it turns out that nobody can even find the 20 headless bodies; which you know, should be quite conspicious in Salman Pak.

Meanwhile; Michael Yon is on site with US and Iraqi troops when they uncovered a mass grave outside an Iraqi village, one that was created by Al Quaeda insurgents; who did all kinds of nasties; Yon offers up his photography, his writing all for free; and even includes the grid square where to find the bodies; but in the end; only one AP reporter shows up; and the story is well, dead.

so one erroneous report in 3 years makes the entire organization suspect ?

hmmm found any WMD's / mobile bio labs/ AQ links to Saddam ?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

That is the most overly optimistic appraisal of the situation I have ever seen. Care to tell me how you plan to "sweep" across the country when a significant portion of the population support Sadr? What? You plan to declare war on half the country?

[Stravo]

I think a big issue surrounding people understanding this conflict is that people get simplified stories about Iraq. Insurgents = bad guys. But no one realizes that insurgents (much like terrorists) come in many flavors, many of them are sectarian death squads that are warring against each other and not Al-Qaeda black hats.

Much of the violence threatening to tear the country apart is based on religious and racial sectarian voilence ironically kept in check by Sadaam's tyrannical rule.

The govenrment = good guys, hell that piece of shit we call a president compared them to the founding fathers. But no one seems to be talking about how the government is showing preferential treatment to the Shiites and excluding the Sunnis. In the documentary "Iraq in Pieces" residents of baghdad conmplain how they need to get apoproval to get certain jobs and if you are Sunni you're not getting that approval but if you're Shiite you're fine.

This is not a black and white struggle by any means and its not as simple as the guys over there are the bad guys and the guys we're supporting behind us are the good guys.

[Raptor 597]

The other half is controlled by Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army in the slums. We're breaking apart the sectarian violence across the city. Eventually we be able to face off in Sadr City. And once that Baghdad will be secure and the war all but won. After Baghdad our combat teams will be able to sweep across the country and saturate hotbeds of the insurgency.

That is the most overly optimistic appraisal of the situation I have ever seen. Care to tell me how you plan to "sweep" across the country when a significant portion of the population support Sadr? What? You plan to declare war on half the country?

Only half of the population of Baghdad or roughly there about support al Sadr. Most of Iraq is secure at this point, only certain areas of the country are openly contested. The things are now we cannot gain a clear advantage in these areas but with units from the North giving these forces direct support we be able to clear out the insurgency. Simply speaking in most areas where there is armed struggle we simply don't have enough men to search for caches, conduct MOUT operations, assist the people, search for IEDs, escort convoys, and keep the MSRs and ASRs clear.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Only half of the population of Baghdad or roughly there about support al Sadr. Most of Iraq is secure at this point, only certain areas of the country are openly contested. The things are now we cannot gain a clear advantage in these areas but with units from the North giving these forces direct support we be able to clear out the insurgency. Simply speaking in most areas where there is armed struggle we simply don't have enough men to search for caches, conduct MOUT operations, assist the people, search for IEDs, escort convoys, and keep the MSRs and ASRs clear.

And you think the rest of the country will sit docile while you attempt to deal with a well entrench insurgency? Not least, the other Shite leaders are unlikely to sit by to watch the Americans fight their own people.

And there are political repercussions as well. The current Government is paralysed with infiltration etc. Al Sadr holds a lot of sway. Fighting him militarily is likely to collapse the Government instead of holding it together.

[Edi]

We're getting fairly good coverage of Iraqi news when the shit happens there, with reporters on the ground and on the sites and the picture of it ain't pretty. It's a fucking free-for-all there, Sunni vs Shia vs Kurd vs Al-Qaeda and infighting between factions belonging to the same ethnicity and nearly the whole lot of them against the US and the Brits. And mostly the IRaqi government sits with a thumb up its arse, bending in whatever direction is advantageous to whoever has the most to gain at any time.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Iraq War Poetry

we are turning the corner
adapting to win
the insurgency is in its last throes
i believe we will be welcomed as liberators
stay the course
turn the corner
adapt to win

mission accomplished

...

Seriously though, your source for this thread is "Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service." I've got to tell you, I don't lend a lot of credence to what this article has to say. I'm not sure what it is that makes me not trust it. Maybe it's the fact that it's a press release from the Department of Defense, virtually identical to any such press release purporting significant progress which could have been published at any time since 2003--that is to say, it's barely disguised propaganda.

[Raw Shark]

I'm still deploying hopefully this bullshit will stabilize. Hooah.

Good luck with that.