Word: petraeus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...thunderous start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala province inaugurates the second phase of Gen. David Petraeus's "surge" strategy. If the first, a massive security crackdown in and around Baghdad, was designed to smoke al-Qaeda and other militant groups out of their foxholes, the new assault is meant to pick them off in open battle. The assault began in and around Baquba, the volatile provincial capital about 31 miles northeast of Baghdad, and involves over 10,000 American soldiers and heavy air cover...
...Will Petraeus' plan work? The ferocity of his fighting force - and of his own resolve - is not in doubt. Nor is there any question that al-Qaeda is at large in Diyala. The province, northeast of Baghdad, has become the main hideout of jihadi fighters driven out from the Iraqi capital and from Anbar province. U.S. forces there have had almost daily encounters with al-Qaeda amid the orange groves that line the Euphrates valley south of Baqouba...
...wrote the book - literally - on modern counterinsurgency tactics, Petraeus knows such operations stand or fall on the quality of the intelligence: you have to know exactly where the enemy is hiding. This is where Petreaus' predecessors have often been found wanting. Poor intel was the main reason the last major military offensive against Sunni militants ended in a huge embarrassment: Operation Swarmer in March 2006 was billed as the biggest air offensive since the end of the war, but netted only a handful of low-value insurgents...
...First, let me say that I really enjoy blogging. It's a brilliant format for keeping readers up to date on the things I care about-and for exchanging information with them. I recently asked Swampland readers with military experience to comment on whether it was General David Petraeus' "duty" to tell the unvarnished truth about Iraq when he testifies on Capitol Hill in September. About a dozen readers responded with links to treatises about "duty" in various military journals. Furthermore, I've found that some great reporting takes place in the blogosphere: Juan Cole's Iraq updates are invaluable...
...Iraq is brutally tough, maybe too far gone, but worth the last shot Bush and Petraeus are now giving it. The Administration should stifle the impulse to compare Iraq to conflicts past. Everyone has analogy fatigue at this point. Just let the general get on with...