[MossadConspiracy]

Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says
By DAMIEN CAVE

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence had declined since a spike in June.

“Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak,” and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

General Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, the disruption of financing for insurgents, and, most significant, Iraqis’ rejection of “the rule of the gun.”

His comments, in a broad interview over egg rolls and lo mein in a Green Zone conference room, were the latest in a series of upbeat assessments he and other commanders have offered in recent months. But his descriptions revealed a city still in transition: tormented by its past, struggling to find a better future.

“The Iraqi people have just decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence,” he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced families are returning to their homes, but a majority of them are still afraid to go back to neighborhoods now segregated by sect. “Clearly,” General Fil said, “it will take some time for Baghdad to restore itself to what it was.”

He and other military commanders have maintained for months that the conditions for national reconciliation have been met. They argue that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is foreign-led, has been weakened. They cite in particular the rise of the American-supported citizen volunteers — 67,000 nationwide, according to military figures.

And though Sunni extremist groups could revive and “reinfest very quickly,” General Fil said, Iraq’s leaders should now have the peace they need to build a trusted, cross-sectarian government. But progress toward that, he said, has been “disappointing.”

Soon, General Fil said, there will be fewer troops for the Iraqis to rely on. “Already we are at a point where we’ll see that as the surge forces depart the city, we’ll see a natural decline in numbers, and I’m very comfortable where that comes to,” he said.

With less than two months to go before his division heads home, General Fil offered a mixed vision of the military’s role for the coming year. He said that if 2007 was the year of security, 2008 would probably be “a year of reconstruction, a year of infrastructure repair, and a year of, if there’s going to be a surge, a year of the surge of the economy.”

He acknowledged that dislodging Shiite militias from control of gasoline, government ministries and other sources of power would be difficult.

The biggest threat to Baghdad’s security is now Shiite militias, he said. Infrastructure weaknesses and unemployment are also serious obstacles, which American efforts at the local level cannot fully address because “these become national-level problems,” he said. Violence, meanwhile, despite recent declines in some areas, has moved to some degree to rural villages and towns from major cities, American and Iraqi commanders said.

On Wednesday, two children were killed when a roadside bomb exploded on a farm road in Wasit Province. South of Baquba, Iraqi army patrols found 17 bodies, blindfolded, handcuffed and decayed. Four were found headless about 200 yards away. It was the second mass grave discovered in a rural area this week.

American troops have recently focused more operations on the farm towns and dusty villages of the country, with the latest coming this week outside Kirkuk in the north.

The operations are aimed at maintaining what General Fil described as vital momentum. The greatest challenge of the coming months, he said, will be satisfying the delicate hopes and expectations of Iraqis, who see security not as an end, but just as a beginning.

Stability, General Fil said, “is within sight but not yet within touch.”

“Close, but not yet within touch.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/wo...wa nted=print

[Variable]

I wonder if people are just tired after 4.5 years.

[Anderson]

The war in Iraq has finally ended. WOOOHOOOO!

Mossad- you get the aircraft carrier.

Variable- I'm going to need you to stich up the President's name on a flight suit and while we're on the subject pick up a USAF flight uniform.

I'm going to need one of the dumb girls on here to bake a cake and design a banner- Iraq is spelt with a Q- we're saving the ones with an N for sometime soon.

This reminds me of the ending scene in Top Gun- Why'd the bastards kill Goose, why??

[GOTFIVEONIT]

too bad 'al-qaida' doesnt exist.

[AmroodWaala]

Originally Posted by Variable

I wonder if people are just tired after 4.5 years.

+ the continuous efforts to mitigate violence through negotiations.

from 2005:

U.S. Talks With Iraqi Insurgents Confirmed

The U.S. military in Iraq has been holding face-to-face meetings with some Iraqi leaders of the insurgency there, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the U.S. commander in charge of Iraq confirmed yesterday.

The talks are part of the military's revised campaign to drive a wedge between the Iraqi and foreign insurgents, according to U.S. commanders. Pentagon officials have acknowledged the new strategy but have not, until now, spoken openly about efforts to make contact with some Iraqi insurgent leaders.

...

Other parts of the U.S. government, including the State Department and CIA, have also been holding secret meetings with Iraqi insurgent factions in an effort to stop the violence and coax them into the political process, according to U.S. government officials and others who have participated in the efforts.

...

Gen. John P. Abizaid, who as commander of the U.S. Central Command is in charge of the war in Iraq, told CNN yesterday that "U.S. officials and Iraqi officials are looking for the right people in the Sunni community to talk to in order to ensure that the Sunni Arab community becomes part of the political process. And clearly we know that the vast majority of the insurgents are from the Sunni Arab community. It makes sense to talk to them."
.....

and 2007:

U.S. may negotiate with Iraqi insurgents

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials said Wednesday that a "joint campaign plan redesign team" is preparing a new diplomatic and military strategy for Iraq, which is expected to be approved by the end of the month.

The team, led by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, is laying out a new course for how to proceed in the four-year-old war, the officials told CNN.

One element of the plan is to try to identify groups of people -- including possibly Sunni extremists and militia groups -- with whom U.S. officials feel they can do business, such as negotiating power-sharing and cease-fire agreements and granting economic aid, the sources said.

But those with whom officials feel they cannot do business -- such as determined suicide bombers -- will remain targets of military forces, the sources said.

The officials cited an inability to maintain current troop levels into the summer as a reason for the changed course.

"We have been focused too long on defeating the enemy," one official said. "We need to bring them to the negotiating table."

The announcement is an acknowledgment that the traditional war-fighting stance of trying to capture or kill all insurgents is failing, that the country may have devolved into a civil war, and that the only way to proceed is to use military force sparingly and attempt to bring many insurgents into the fold.

CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker

[Variable]

Originally Posted by Anderson

This reminds me of the ending scene in Top Gun- Why'd the bastards kill Goose, why??

Iceman: Maverick - you can be my wingman any time.

Mav: [No way], you can be mine.

[AmroodWaala]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

too bad 'al-qaida' doesnt exist.

US has spent millions of dollars on propaganda to amplify the role of al qaeda in iraq when majority of the resistance comes from iraqis themselves. The recent calm may be due to negotiations with the local insurgency.

Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi
Washington Post 2006

It is difficult to determine how much has been spent on the Zarqawi campaign, which began two years ago and is believed to be ongoing. U.S. propaganda efforts in Iraq in 2004 cost $24 million...

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters
Report by US think tank says only '4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

The US and Iraqi governments have vastly overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, and most of them don't come from Saudi Arabia, according to a new report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). According to a piece in The Guardian, this means the US and Iraq " feed the myth" that foreign fighters are the backbone of the insurgency. While the foreign fighters may stoke the insurgency flames, they make up only about 4 to 10 percent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents.

[MossadConspiracy]

It came from the USA capitalizing on in-fighting between sunni tribal groups that had aligned with Al-Qaeda at one point but then broke away from them because of their fanaticism and attempts to usurp local control from them. Then there was the "citizen guard" programs which armed these sunni tribal forces and gave them authority, security, and freedom of action. Finally, there was the desperation and weariness among the local sunni people

When Al-Qaeda was defeated in their home bases in the west, and Baghdad was secured by tens of thousands of extra troops, it became much more difficult for them to conduct operations

Whether these gains can be maintained has yet to be seen. Security can deteriorate suddenly and overwhelmingly, with just one huge attack. And its probably too late for the improved situation to really have a major effect on the oucome of the Iraq conflict. But one never knows

[Variable]

Originally Posted by AmroodWaala

The US and Iraqi governments have vastly overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, and most of them don't come from Saudi Arabia, according to a new report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). According to a piece in The Guardian, this means the US and Iraq " feed the myth" that foreign fighters are the backbone of the insurgency. While the foreign fighters may stoke the insurgency flames, they make up only about 4 to 10 percent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents.

Honestly I've never taken US media sources to paint the picture that the insurgency is made up almost entirely of foreign fighters, simply that they are a key element of it.

[MossadConspiracy]

Foreigners lead some key terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and make up some of the fighters and bombers. But the rank and file fighters are Iraqis across the board

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

Foreigners lead some key terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and make up some of the fighters and bombers. But the rank and file fighters are Iraqis across the board

hahahaha of course the govt is going to claim that. do they want the american public to know that they are facing an iraqi rebellion after being taught from childhood the american revolution?

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

It came from the USA capitalizing on in-fighting between sunni tribal groups that had aligned with Al-Qaeda at one point but then broke away from them because of their fanaticism and attempts to usurp local control from them. Then there was the "citizen guard" programs which armed these sunni tribal forces and gave them authority, security, and freedom of action. Finally, there was the desperation and weariness among the local sunni people

When Al-Qaeda was defeated in their home bases in the west, and Baghdad was secured by tens of thousands of extra troops, it became much more difficult for them to conduct operations

Whether these gains can be maintained has yet to be seen. Security can deteriorate suddenly and overwhelmingly, with just one huge attack. And its probably too late for the improved situation to really have a major effect on the oucome of the Iraq conflict. But one never knows

ya but just one problem, 'al qaida' doesnt exist.

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

hahahaha of course the govt is going to claim that. do they want the american public to know that they are facing an iraqi rebellion after being taught from childhood the american revolution?

most of the insurgent groups are led by iraqi, as we recently saw when they switched sides and began killing al-qaeda members and driving them out of the Iraqi west

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by GOTFIVEONIT

ya but just one problem, 'al qaida' doesnt exist.

yeah, i heard it all

[GOTFIVEONIT]

Originally Posted by MossadConspiracy

most of the insu