Word: baghdad
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...charges, which will be announced at the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, California, stem from the bloody incident in Haditha, 60 miles north of Baghdad, on November 19, 2005. After Marine Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas was killed by a powerful insurgent bomb which struck a Marine convoy, his fellow squad members killed 24 Iraqis, including some who local civilians claim were innocents simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Marines initially reported that only 15 Iraqis had died, and that they had been killed by a roadside bomb. Senior Marine officers did not investigate the deadly...
...Earlier this summer, the U.S. launched a sort of internal surge of forces, when it redeployed several thousand troops out of western Iraq back to Baghdad, to try and stabilize the capital. That campaign, as everyone knows, was not successful...
...November, Gen. John Abizaid, the CENTCOM boss, balked at the idea of a troop surge, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee he didn't need more troops to pacify Baghdad. Besides, he added, a surge presented two additional problems: it would discourage rather than encourage the Iraqis to take responsibility for their security. And it would not be sustainable. Abizaid said U.S. forces that have rotated out of Baghdad and back to the U.S. now lack the equipment to increase the "op-tempo," the Pentagon phrase for work rate...
...Baker's team had barely finished its press availabilities before a handful of retired generals, led by retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, began agitating for a surge of upwards of 30,000 troops - more if they could be found - to pour into Baghdad, stabilize the city, and defeat the insurgents...
...Which brings us to yesterday's comments by Powell, who in a previous life was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Powell told CBS News' Face the Nationthat he was "not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work." Powell said he had not yet heard anything like a clear mission for a surged U.S. force. Plus, he added, "I'm not sure any of the commanders have said that yet." Powell was reminding listeners that George W. Bush has always said that he would...