WASHINGTON — A key turning point in the U.S.-led war against the Iraqi insurgency came even before last winter's troop surge, FOX News has learned.
A map drawn by Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — who was killed last year by U.S. forces — turned up last December in an Al Qaeda safe house and essentially gave U.S. war planners insight into the terrorist group's methods for moving explosives, fighters and money into Baghdad.
Click here to see the map, which was obtained by FOX News (.pdf).
"The map essentially laid out how Al Qaeda controlled Baghdad. And they did it through four belts that surrounded the city, and these belts controlled access to the city for reinforcements and weapons and money," said Maj. Gen. Bob Scales, a FOX News contributor who recently visited Iraq.
"And [U.S.-led forces] simply made the decision to reduce these belts one at a time, and essentially what that did was it choked off Al Qaeda's access to the city. And once that was done, Al Qaeda had no alternative but to leave the city, to leave the belts and to retreat into the city of Baquba," Scales said.
It's a crude looking thing, the map is. But hey, one can't expect the likes of the Enigma machine from freaks who want to take the world back to the 7th century can one?
Question: Was the discovery of the map a Eureka! moment for the US military or an important confirmation of what was suspected? In other words, did US military planners have any knowledge of AQI's "belts" strategy before the map was captured? If not, its capture would be the turning point of a war we are now winning. Posted
3:14 AM
by Robert
| | |
NPod's response: The burden of proof of the Khomeinists' sanity does not rest entirely upon a single utterance by the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution and foreign policy realists who stake American and Israeli security and regional stability on hopes "the jumper can be talked down from the ledge" are just as irrational and dangerous as the "jumper".
Since the case I make both in my COMMENTARY article and in my book rests on much more than the two quotations from Khomeini and Rafsanjani, it would still stand even if those quotations were in fact “bogus” or “fabricated.” But the truth is that Khomeini and Rafsanjani did say what I said they said. Not that this will silence the growing number of foreign-policy establishmentarians who—having finally recognized that Iran’s nuclear program cannot be stopped by diplomacy and sanctions, but having ruled out military force even as a last resort—are now desperately trying to persuade us that “we can live” with an Iranian bomb. God help us all if the counsels of these apologists and appeasers disguised as “realists” should in the end prevail.
The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.
As a result, for the first time in nearly two years, people are moving with freedom around much of this city. In more than 50 interviews across Baghdad, it became clear that while there were still no-go zones, more Iraqis now drive between Sunni and Shiite areas for work, shopping or school, a few even after dark. In the most stable neighborhoods of Baghdad, some secular women are also dressing as they wish. Wedding bands are playing in public again, and at a handful of once shuttered liquor stores customers now line up outside in a collective rebuke to religious vigilantes from the Shiite Mahdi Army.
If only the New York Times editorial board would bother looking at its own newspaper's front page: "It has been two long months since Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, cowed Congressional Democrats into silence, championing President Bush’s misguided course on the war. We’re pleased to see that the effects of his briefing are finally wearing off. The bad news, as ever, is that Mr. Bush and his Republican allies continue to resist reason."
Update: Before the "surge", there was a soldier and a shaykh: Army Captain Travis Patriquin and Shaykh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. Their friendship seeded an awakening that is exploding across Iraq like kudzu.
We're in a difficult battle in Iraq. There is plenty of room for honest debate about the merits concerning the administrations actions post 9/11 in Iraq. But, when it's abundantly clear that the president's "surge" strategy has been stunningly effective - to the point of turning the war around in our favor - you would think the Democrats would hail that victory.
But, no! Because the "surge" could make the president look wise, and in Democrat circles, that's the ultimate no-no.
While the president fights to beat al-Qaeda and the spread of Islamofascism in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats fight Bush.
Seth's "mugged-by-reality" moment is here. Looks like he's "pressing charges" with this HuffPo piece. Posted
11:26 PM
by Robert
| | |
But, while the mainstream media have seen fit to report recent progress...(Latest numbers: Terrorist attacks in Iraq are at the lowest level since January 2006. Since June, civilian casualties in Iraq down 60 percent. The numbers are even better in Baghdad, where there's been a 75 percent decrease during the same period. And attacks against Iraqi security forces are down by 40%.)...leading Democrats continue to push the narrative of defeat and retreat.
Jim Hoft at Gatway Pundit links to a New York Timesreport from today ("must...grunt...subvert that...grunt...[mostly] positive piece") which quotes Democratic presidential candidate Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut saying that Congress should defund the war. Cut-and-run while winning. I'm sure Al-Qaeda high command is hoping for exactly that.
And here's one I haven't seen before: Congressional Dems, who never supported the "surge" and who - if they'd had their way - would have had us out of Iraq months ago, are unwilling to get behind the stunning turnaround in Iraq but yet are positioning themselves as having been solely responsible for victory in Iraq if we win (stability, reconciliation) or having been the only ones to have truly tried to prevent defeat in the event it all falls apart.
Some [Democrats], including Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Democratic conference chairman, argue that Congressional Democrats are the only ones putting real pressure on the Iraqi government to end sectarian violence and stabilize the country.
There are ten's of thousands of Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq fighting bravely alongside the US military and Iraqi Army to take back their lives and their country from terrorists. I'm sure, if given a chance, they wouldn't hesitate to deliver a few choice words to Democratic Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois. For that matter, I imagine our servicemen and women, military commanders and Congressional Republicans would also take issue with Rahm Emanuel's disgustingly transparent display of opportunistic conceit. Posted
9:28 PM
by Robert
| | |
Earlier on Monday, Afghan soldiers foiled an attempted bus bombing in the capital Kabul, preventing a would-be suicide bomber detonating his explosive-laden jacket, the Afghan defence ministry said.
Soldiers became wary when a man they did not recognise tried to get on an Afghan army commuter bus, ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told AFP.
"They realised that an unfamiliar person was trying to get on the bus," he said.
Some of the worst suicide bombings in Afghanistan have been on security forces' buses in the capital.
On September 29, a suicide bomber in an army uniform blew up a military bus in an attack that killed about 30 people and wounded many more.
A similar explosion on a bus taking police trainers to the police academy in mid-June killed 35 people.
Brian De Palma's Iraq war drama "Redacted" debuted at $27,475 from 14 theaters in key markets for a per-screen average of just $1,962, underscoring again that auds are resisting politically themed fare this fall. Film is distribbed by Samuel Goldwyn Films/IDP.
Ten bucks a pop for a ticket works out to less than 30,000 viewers nationwide (2,000 per screen) over a three day period. At five screenings per day, that works out to 133 asses in seats per screening.
Think the numbers devastating? Check out Michael Medved: "I honestly was close to vomiting when I saw the film." Newsbusters has the audio and transcript of Medved's review.
Libertas Blog also has some numbers: "America, we are now 5 for 5 in the hurry-up-before-we-win films being humiliated department, and it just doesn’t get any better than that." Posted
11:41 PM
by Robert
| | |
we may be witnessing one of those radical, unforeseen reversals in America's wars that have often changed our history.
The White House was burned by British forces in late August 1814; a little more than four months later, the British were routed at New Orleans. During the Civil War, the Union army was on the ropes in July 1864 yet outside Atlanta by September. The Germans were driving through France in March 1918, but fleeing toward the Rhine by August. The communists took Seoul in early January 1951, yet were pushed back across the Demilitarized Zone a little more than three months later.
Of course, we don't know the final outcome in Iraq, given the remaining problems of Shiite militias and diehard al-Qaidists - and the question of our own remaining resolve.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps may well soon stabilize the Iraqi democracy once deemed lost. Or perhaps, in the manner of Vietnam between 1973-5, the public may have become so tired of Iraq - despite the improvement - that it simply wants it out of sight and out of mind.
Either way, history is now being made while we sleep.
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's Nov. 10, Gaurdian piece "Meet Abu Abed: the US's new ally against al-Qaida" first introduced Abu Abed to the world as the crazed, paranoid, short-tempered leader of the "Ameriya Knights"; a group of US-backed concerned local citizens (militia) that, alongside American soldiers, recently killed Al-Qaeda in bunches and reclaimed Amiriyah.
You're looking at 00.43 into the clip for our hero-slash-thug describing how he killed an Al-Qaeda leader known as the "White Lion".
Can't explain why Ghaith describes him as squat and chubby. The Fox News Abu Abed is skinny and wiry.
Ghaith gets other features right though; close-cropped hair, thin goatee and moustache, wraparound sunglasses.
Heh. Somebody get this man to the Abu Risha finishing school for former insurgents turned Al-Qaeda fighters.
Sorry, Ghaith, but counterinsurgency ain't pretty.
Update: The US Army has issued a written response to the inaccuracies in the Guardian article. Bob Owens has it here. Posted
2:30 AM
by Robert
| | |
"The war we are fighting today," says Dr. Michael Doran, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, "is an information war - a global conflict of perception."
Here's an excerpt from Dr. Doran's testimony given yesterday at the House Armed Services hearing on strategic communications and countering ideological support for terrorism.
The recent successes of General David Patraeus and his Iraqi allies have dramatically demonstrated to us the primacy of politics in CIST. Gen. Petraeus has taught us that we must coordinate our statements and our actions in an effort to influence an internal Iraqi debate about legitimate political authority in that country. Iraqi perceptions of American intent and capabilities are of paramount importance for the success of our efforts.
The key to the CIST mission is influencing a primarily intra-Muslim conversation, with the goal of undermining the intellectual and perceptual underpinnings of terrorism. Much of the appeal of terrorist groups rests on a collective sense of victimization, a sense of an impending existential threat. Terrorist leaders actively foster the perception that the global Islamic community is under threat of extinction. To counter the terrorists, we must inject critical doubt among key populations about the terrorists' singular vision of hate and fear. It is important for us to realize that this sense of threat often derives from internal Muslim political processes as much as it does from perceptions of American intent.
We associate this vision of hate and fear primarily with al-Qaida. An examination of Arabic-language media, however, shows that key elements of that vision are echoed and reinforced by the media of Iran, Syria, and other opponents of US policies. The fatalist destructive narrative that we commonly associate with al-Qaida is but one tool that our opponents use to thwart the development of democratic political systems, individual rights and, not least of all, the ordinary hopes and dreams that spell danger for dictatorships. For their vision to have any credibility, terrorist groups seek to foster a sense of doom--that “midnight” is fast approaching. In nurturing this sense of threat, al-Qaida, Iran, and others, argue that the United States and our allies are somehow placing the global Islamic community in peril.
To counter this narrative, we must chip away at the bleak picture of helplessness and vulnerability that support it. Our enemies foster a culture of blame to foment anger, hatred and a sense of victimization. Then, they offer themselves and their violence as the only solution to the challenges of today. The DoD attempts to counteract these responses by promoting a sense of individual responsibility, common human values across religious divides, empowerment, and a desire to fix current problems in a cooperative spirit rather than through a resort to violence.
For CIST to be successful, it must focus on the self-perceptions of key audiences rather than perceptions of America. Its message must outline an alternative future that is more attractive than the bleak future offered by terrorists. The positive narrative that explains these differences must contain more than just anti-terrorist rhetoric. It must include elements that will impact the future everyday lives of Muslims everywhere – fairness, justice, opportunity, liberty, health, education, and hope. To promote these objectives, therefore, we cannot simply focus on "getting our message out," or on writing better talking points. To be sure, public diplomacy and public affairs are vital tools for CIST, but it primarily requires taking actions that make the alternative narrative real, and building partnership capacity among our Muslim allies. Thus, other key components of an effective CIST program include civil affairs, security, education reform, establishing the solid rule of law, and opening economic opportunity for all. In Iraq’s al-Anbar province we are beginning to see the process of CIST done right.
More from Noah Shachtman and Matt Armstrong who aren't nearly as impressed with Duncan MacInnes (Principal Deputy Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs) as they are with Dr. Doran.
Dr. Doran is the author of "Somebody Else's Civil War", one of the most important pieces on radical Islam published in the months following the 9/11 attacks. Posted
7:55 PM
by Robert
| | |
And yesterday, at St. John the Baptist Chaldean Catholic Church, a mass was celebrated in Dora for the first time since April, 2007, when elements of Al-Qaeda, having redeployed there after being run out of Anbar province, tore down crosses from neighbohood churches then ordered Christians to convert to Islam, pay the jizya (a tax imposed on non-Muslims), leave with no personal possessions or die.
Michael Yon, who snapped the iconic image of the cross being placed back atop St. John's dome last week, was back at the church again yesterday where a small number of Chaldean Catholics were joined by dozens of Sunni Muslims carrying a message for their Christian brothers and sisters who fled Al-Qaeda's terror: Come Home.
Today, Muslims mostly filled the front pews of St John’s. Muslims who want their Christian friends and neighbors to come home. The Christians who might see these photos likely will recognize their friends here. The Muslims in this neighborhood worry that other people will take the homes of their Christian neighbors, and that the Christians will never come back. And so they came to St John’s today in force, and they showed their faces, and they said, “Come back to Iraq. Come home.” They wanted the cameras to catch it. They wanted to spread the word: Come home. Muslims keep telling me to get it on the news. “Tell the Christians to come home to their country Iraq.”
Michael Yon is truly an American treasure.
His reporting on Al-Qaeda's defeat in Iraq by the US military and Sunni tribal forces made the mainstream media sit up and take notice.
The war is not won yet, folks. But a corner has been turned.
And as reconstruction kicks into high gear and reconciliation gains momentum, we're gonna need to keep Michael in Iraq and his reporting in the mainstream media's face.
