Al-Anbar Ready for Handover (aka, this war is lost)
(Story and quotes originally found on RN) Our military has not only survived warfare over the years, but somehow, by some incredible work of divine favor and miraculous works, it has survived America’s politicians. Way to go troops! Keep up the incredible work!
General: Anbar ready for Handover By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer Thu Jan 10, 6:53 PM ET WASHINGTON - Iraq’s western province of Anbar, hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency for the first four years of the war, will be returned to Iraqi control in March, a senior U.S. general said Thursday.
“It’s interesting. We have had, this week, the colonel in charge of Anbar Province say that it’s a civil war; it’s been lost.” Majority Leader Harry Reid September 13, 2006
In a telephone interview from Iraq, Marine Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, commander of the roughly 35,000 Marine and Army forces in Anbar, said levels of violence have dropped so significantly — coupled with the growth and development of Iraqi security forces in the province — that Anbar is ready to be handed back to the Iraqis. Thus far, nine of 18 Iraqi provinces have reverted to Iraqi control, most recently the southern province of Basra in December. The process has gone substantially slower than the Bush administration once hoped, mainly because of obstacles to developing sufficient Iraqi police and army forces. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he expects the process to continue.
“We haven’t been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically — and that’s where wars are won and lost.” Rep. John Murtha Washington Post September 11, 2006
Gates also said he was encouraged by security gains achieved in Anbar and Baghdad in the year since President Bush ordered an extra 30,000 U.S. troops to those areas of Iraq in what became known as a “surge.” Gates said it has created new promise for long-delayed political reconciliation. “We clearly are hoping that the reconciliation and improvement in the political environment that has taken place at the local and provincial level over the past number of months will now meet further progress coming at the national level,” Gates told a Pentagon news conference.
“I oppose an escalation of U.S. troops, which I do not believe will contribute to long-term success in Iraq.” Senator Hillary Clinton January 18, 2007
Gates ticked of a list of statistical indicators of recent security improvements in Iraq. He did not mention the plan to return Anbar to Iraqi control in March, but did say the province has seen a remarkable turnaround on the security front over the past year. “Anbar province, once considered a stronghold of al-Qaida, has been reclaimed for the Iraqi people,” Gates said. Having been largely driven out of Anbar, insurgents shifted first to Baghdad and more recently to the northern provinces of Diyala and Ninewa. Gaskin said that a provincial security committee under Anbar’s governor has been established and has rehearsed procedures for handling any security crisis that might develop.
“The violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from al-Qaida said to these tribes, ‘We have to fight al-Qaida ourselves.’ It wasn’t that the surge brought peace here.” Senator Chuck Schumer September 4, 2007
Under a plan accepted by the Iraqi government as well as the top two American authorities in Iraq — Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus — the U.S. military will transfer control of Anbar to provincial authorities in March, followed by a ceremony in April, Gaskin said. “We all agree that, based on the requirements, Anbar will be ready by that time,” Gaskin said, speaking from his Multi-National Force West headquarters in Fallujah, about 25 west of Baghdad. Click HERE for the entire article.
Discussion Area | Leave Feedback