B36 News - 26 September 2006

A couple days ago I was reading a post on Days of My Life, a blog written by Sunshine who is an Iraqi teenager. In this post she describes her experience while a gun battle took place near her house and one passage in particular made me nearly pop with pride:

I remembered the old days when we used to hide under the stairs or stand near the corner for 5 and 6 hours , everyone was praying for the policemen, national guards, and the neighbors safety, and that the good guys win the fight against the bad, and that’s what happened , after an hour our policemen and national guards with the help of the US troops who came after an hour with many helicopters defeated the terrorists.

This is exactly what we're here for, to protect Sunshine, her family, and every other Iraqi who just want's to live free and peacefully.

Baghdad Violence
There are those who would hold up continuing violence in Baghdad as proof that Operation Together Forward has failed. I would say that these people need to understand that unlike your microwave, we can't just turn a knob, wait two minutes, and have a murder-free city. The bad guys don't want to lose and they're going to do what they can to avoid losing, this means shifting their operations to uncleared areas and killing people there.

I've been saying this since OTF started, and now you're hearing it from MG Thurman, commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad:

Why are we seeing an increase in attacks? Well, we have twice as many forces operating throughout the city now. We're challenging the anti-Iraqi forces where they live and operate. We anticipated the enemy would push back as we moved into their sanctuaries, but we are disrupting and defeating them by forcing them to fight on our terms.

Bad men with guns don't just quit. We have to find and kill or capture them and guess what, get ready now, this may be a suprise; sometimes killing or capturing bad guys gets a bit violent!

MG Caldwell's 'Winning in Iraq'
A while back I published my article, "Winning in Iraq", in an attempt to help portray the ground truth of our successful campaign here in the desert. Yesterday, MG Caldwell released his explanation for our impending victory here in Iraq. I'd recommend you read the whole thing, but allow me to post the highlights:

• Three years ago, there were virtually no security forces in Iraq. Today - Iraqis are standing up military and police forces that number over 300,000. In coming months, the Coalition and the Iraqi government will reach the goal of 325,000 trained and equipped force members.
• Quality is improving with quantity. In April 2004, almost all Iraqi forces fled in the face of a militia uprising in Najaf. This August, when militia attacked an Iraqi Army outpost in Diwaniyah, the Iraqi army counterattacked and killed 50 militiamen in the ensuing battle.
• By the end of August, Iraq’s special-ops brigade, with U.S. combat advisers, had netted 1,320 detainees in 445 operations all over the country this year, including three senior militia leaders and 20 most-wanted individuals.
• This month, Iraqi forces provided a safe environment for more than four million Shiite pilgrims celebrating the birth of the 12th Imam.
• And it was Iraqi forces operating independently who recently captured a major Al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Hammam.
• A functioning command structure. This month, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki became commander-in-chief of Iraq’s military in more than name only. That is, the Ministry of Defense and the Joint Headquarters –who report to the prime minister—assumed operational control of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command, Navy and Air Force. Before Sept. 7, Coalition Forces exercised control of all of Iraq’s military. Now, two of Iraq’s 10 Army Divisions fall under this command structure. More will soon follow.
• Of Iraq’s 10 Army divisions, six division headquarters are “in the lead” in their areas of responsibility, which means they are capable of coordinating, planning, and executing security operations independent of Coalition forces.
• Twenty-six brigades and 88 battalions have this operational lead as well.
• In Baghdad, several hundred Iraqi civil society representatives renounced violence this past weekend at the second of four conferences that are part of Prime Minister Maliki’s overall 24-point national reconciliation and dialogue plan.
• On Sept. 21, the governor of the southern province of Dhi Qar took over civilian responsibility for security from Coalition Forces. Dhi Qar is the second of 18 provinces to take over civil control, and several more should meet the transition criteria before the year’s end.
• The Iraqi government met with representatives of neighboring and European countries to form an “International Compact,” aimed at getting help to transform Iraq's economy. At the Sept. 10 meeting, Iraq pledged economic reforms in exchange for greater international support.
• Several hundred companies from over 20 different countries attended the third annual international expo, held last weekend in Erbil aimed at promoting international investment.

Oh yeah, this is quite a 'quagmire' we're losing over here. Getting tactical with the MSM and defeatists for a second:

SUCK IT!

Sadr - "Roger, Got It."
It would seem that the infamous Muqtada al-Sadr got the message. First off, a quick history lesson for this guy: Sadr is a radical Shiite cleric who commands the Mahdi Army, widely recognized as an illegal militia. The Mahdi Army has had repeated conflicts with the Coalition and the Iraqi government, most recently in Diawaniya where 24 policemen and 50 militiamen were killed.

Now, as Operation Together Forward closes in on Sadr City, his stronghold in Baghdad, the guy is starting to talk some sense:

[Wage a] peaceful war against them and not to shed a drop of blood, so fight them by popular, peaceful war. Do raise your voices to get them out, boycott them and ask a government you have elected under the occupation and terrorism to do the work for you, and not to leave your enemy on your land.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that this guy is hating on us, but I am happy that he's starting to get the message that Iraq's future is rooted in the rule of law, not muscle. It's likely that this isn't the end of this guy's fight, but at least now he's talking rather than shooting. Let's just hope we can beat him as handily with words as we can with bullets.