Word: diyala
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...where 1-15 has trouble maintaining a constant presence. But Block said there was no comparison between Fallujah in 2004 and his current assignment. "This one's a lot quieter," he said. "Our area of operation is much more secure." Sgt. Salgado agrees. On his last deployment, in volatile Diyala province, Salgado said his unit "got hit with IEDs [improvised explosive devices, that is, roadside bombs] on a daily basis." Since returning to Iraq in April the unit has found a couple of roadside bombs before they went off, and suffered no casualties from them. "In [2005] I lost...
...long ago, I was in Diyala province, sitting in the back seat of a Humvee as it rolled down a dirt road on the outskirts of Baqubah. The roadside bomb we triggered went off directly under me. Luckily, it was relatively small, and the armor protected everyone inside from serious injury. But everyone was left in pain. The moment of the blast felt like ice picks plunging in both ears at once. A second later, thick whitish smoke filled the cab, and inhaling it instantly formed a throbbing headache comparable to my most vicious hangovers...
...notable shift in the dynamics of Anbar province, which seemed lost to the insurgency as of late last year, has raised hopes that the same formula may make headway in Iraq's other troubled regions, especially Baghdad and Diyala province. But what's working in Anbar hasn't caught on nearly as much elsewhere and likely won't, at least not without the kind of negative repercussions that loom as a question mark over the Anbar enterprise...
...each province is different in terms of its mix of tribalism and sectarianism. In predominately Shi'ite southern Iraq, tribal authority is weak these days. Militia leaders like Moqtada al-Sadr and religious figures such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani hold sway over sheiks. Diyala province is largely Sunni, like Anbar and Salahuddin, but not nearly as homogenous as those two western areas. And Baghdad, despite ferocious sectarian cleansing campaigns on both sides, remains a stronghold for both camps...
...make sure [al-Qaeda] doesn't come back." One could only wonder about the fate of Sunni insurgents who had turned against the jihadis. Soon they would be facing a new foe, an Iraqi army and local police that have been notoriously awful in Diyala province - riddled with Shi'ite death squads, incompetence and corruption. Petraeus' "all in" bet relies on the police recruits squatting sullenly in Yusufia, indulging his cheerleading - "Are you ready to fight for your country?" Certainly, they were ready to fight for their families, their tribes, their mosques ... but for a Shi'ite Iraq? Probably...