Al Qaeda-Linked Militant Held in Iraq-US
Baghdad (Reuters)
Despite all the doom 'n gloom MSM reports, the US coalition and Iraqi forces are indeed making headway. This past week has brought news of many Zarqawi-led captures... the latest a terrorist who had assumed command of "terrorist operations" in the northern city of Mosul. Hopefully US and Iraqi forces are hard at work, getting intel before the ACLU shows up to thwart their interrogation efforts.
But the terrorists are still hard at work on their intimidation campaign. They kidnapped three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who worked for the U.S. military and killed at least four others.
Despite barbarous efforts to thwart Iraqi freedom, the Sunni clerics are divided, giving mixed messages to their flock.
"We want all the Iraqis to participate, we also insist on holding the elections as scheduled and to put these elections behind us as a way to end the conflict in Iraq," Saadr Aldeen al-Qubbanji, a leader of a prominent Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said in the southern city of Najaf.
"We all want elections, but we are seeking fair and free elections," Sheik Mahmoud Al-Somaidie of the Sunnis' Association of Muslim Scholars said in Baghdad. "Those of us who are calling for postponement are seeking that for the benefit of the country. Elections have to be an Iraqi demand, not the demand of the foreign countries."
Good news is both Sunni clerics are pro-election participation. Bad news is that one supports delay, and the other doesn't.
Regardless of their clerics' opinions, I suspect that as the US-Iraqi forces continue to make significant dents in the terrorists' network, more and more Sunnis will recognize the value of the elections held on time, and take part. To not do so affords them no advantage.
Our Commander in Chief remains consistant in his belief that elections should remain on schedule - no surprise from a man who means and does what he says.
Our military leaders, ever adapting to on the ground changes, are sending a review task force to Iraq, headed by retired 4-star General Gary Luck (former head of U.S. forces in South Korea), to find what can be done to improve the Iraqi training program and increasing their performance.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Luck would chiefly assess progress in the training of Iraq's new security forces but also look at overall U.S. operations in the guerrilla war.
Senior defense officials said the trip was a sign of high-level worries about the training of Iraq's fledgling security services, branded by insurgents as collaborators with foreign occupiers.
Most Iraqis have little faith in their new security services, which seem hardly able to protect themselves from an insurgent onslaught that has killed hundreds of officers. U.S. commanders say Iraqi forces must develop into a viable fighting force before American troops can go home.
One U.S. official said Luck would also study troop levels in Iraq, which stands at about 150,000 after being raised from 138,000 early in December to improve security for the election.
I'm not sure what Matt Spetalnick, author of the above fodder, uses as a foundation for his "most Iraqis have little faith" statement. He's either assuming a conclusion (most likely) or he's out doing non-scientific polls.
But Iraqi perception aside, the Iraqi troops could use more of everything... more time, more confidence, and more experience before they too can be "the best that they can be". It might come as a surprise to journalists with no military experience, but this kind of skill just doesn't happen overnight. It boggles the mind that so many reporters think a new army - indeed even a new democracy - can be expected to perform at peak capacity in such a short amount of time.
Ahh... the luxury of being an armchair general. Dole out the criticism and offer no constructive solutions.
In the meantime, the American military took firm control over intel and strategy leaks by stupid reporters when they gave five embeds the boot for passing on secure information. Long overdue action, IMHO. Safety of troops and citizens trumps an overzealous journalist and his self-import any day of the week.
"They were all for operational security reasons, (revealing) something that would have been of use to the enemy," Maj. Kris Meyle, who runs the embed program, told E&P from Baghdad this morning. "Generally, it gets done very quickly. Usually it was something that was not done intentionally by the reporter."
(snip)
She also warned that those seeking slots in an effort to get close coverage of the Iraqi elections later this month may be wasting their time. "We are telling people who request an embed during elections that they will not necessarily be near a polling place," Major Meyle said. "That is not our role."
Meyle also stressed that all embeds remain under restrictions against releasing information that is deemed sensitive or a threat to military security.
The bootees and their publication affiliations have been kept under wraps. Too bad. It would behoove the rest of us to know who they are. Their commentary must be considered suspect, and riddled with an agenda.
Or else they are too stupid to be given a moment of time.
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