(Updated) New Baghdad Security Sweep Is Underway
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki may have been the last to know, but Operation Baghdad, the new security sweep promised in President Bush’s “surge” strategy is officially underway.
The New York Times reports that:
“It is ongoing as we speak,� said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, a spokesman for the American military. “The implementation of the prime minister’s plan has already begun, and will be fully implemented at a later date, having all the parts and pieces that he wants.
“It is not going to be a sudden effort, it will be a gradual effort,� the general added. “People have to be patient. “Portions are already being put in place, and we’ll continue to put more into place as the forces arrive and the assets become available.�
More here.
Explains Bill Roggio at The Fourth Rail:
Technically, the operation actually began in Late December when President Bush ordered additional troops to Iraq. The deployment of additional forces and the building infrastructure for the Baghdad piece of the security operation has just begun. Only a few thousand of the 17,500 U.S. soldiers have moved into Baghdad. Iraqi brigades are still moving into position.
Only two of the many planned Combat Outposts have been set up in Baghdad – one in Doura and another in Ghazaliya. Iraqi Army, police and U.S. soldiers will be stationed in the outposts to secure individual neighborhoods. Iraqi Army and police units are just beginning to take up positions around Sadr City. Most of the opening moves have occurred in the North of Baghdad. The U.S. and Iraqis still have plenty of assets to put in place, assets that likely won’t be fully in place until March or later.
Al-Maliki had denied that the sweep was underway, but did acknowledge that his government had stumbled in its efforts to carry out the new security plan and that the delays and mounting violence were hurting its credibility with the Iraqi people.
More here.
6 Responses to “(Updated) New Baghdad Security Sweep Is Underway”
Shaun – Tim at BJ, and other bloggers, brings up another issue to consider, another helicopter crashed today. Iraq maynot be Vietnam, can you say Afghanistan and Stingers. The new saying is “Saudi Arabia Russian Strela”.
http://www.fas.org/asmp/campaigns/MANPADS/MANPADS.html
Strelas gotta new groove, and MANPADS isn’t about NYC metrosexuals.
If our helicopters can’t fly in support, the Surge will fizzle like the NORK Pu dud.
Rudi:
The ability to ding U.S. choppers pretty much at will would indeed be a mission killer and it appears that a surface-to-air missile brought down the Sea Knight today.
But I have yet to read anything that states flat out that the insurgency has entered a new era with these kinds of weapons. They have, after all, been around for many years and choppers have been periodically shot down since Day One of the war. We may simply have a “cluster” of such incidents.
Rudi might be on to something, Shaun.
Remember how Bush only flew to Jordan to meet the Iraqi leadership a few months back, as flying into Baghdad was too dangerous?
I was surprised at this, as Bush had flown in several times before.
Perhaps there is Intel of increasing numbers of missiles in Iraq? If so, as you say, a “mission-killer” for sure.
Marlowecan:
I asked a blogger of some repute who embeds in Iraq to look into this. He said he will. I’ll let you know what he finds out tomorrow.
Komrad Marlow(Shaun),
Here is some links I chased down on the subject. While it isn’t a slam dunk, as Marlow stated W flew into Jourdan and avoided Iraq.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-08-saudis-sunnis_x.htm
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003252.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17021136/
“The U.S. and Iraqis still have plenty of assets to put in place, assets that likely won’t be fully in place until March or later.”
If at all:
THE IRAQ WAR | Kurdish soldiers want no part of the sectarian conflict in Baghdad
Desertions weaken Iraqi army
The loyalty of the Kurds is to their homeland and its peshmerga militia, not to Iraq.