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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Success in the Baghdad crackdown

The Baghdad security crackdown does seem to be having some impact in the four neighborhoods targeted, although alot of that violence has simply been pushed out of those areas of Baghdad, and the regions from which the troops were pulled are experiencing heavy upticks in their violence. (Basra/Mosul, elsewhere) (It should be noted that in a recent attack, rockets were fired from one of the neighborhoods being targeted. So there still is some activity.)

The two key questions are, what happens when the US troops move on from these small successes? Will these areas stay quiet or will they return to previous levels of violence?

And, the successes in these neighborhoods are being achieved primarily by the 172nd Stryker brigades that were pulled out of Mosul and have already been extended three months. They're are exhausted and done. Will other units and configurations be able to achieve the same successes?

4 Comments:

  • From what I can gather the 172nd Strykers are about as competent as they come. Mosul was a mess after Fallujah, but they did quite a job there, more or less.

    I wonder what it will be like when the IRRs start taking over.

    By Blogger Praguetwin, at 3:31 PM  

  • Let me add that the Stryker wheeled armored vehicle was constructed specifically for this type of operation, boosted by Shinseki after experiences in Bosnia.

    The IRR's will probably be going to Anbar, at least the much discussed current Marine callup. The Marines have been given the Sunni heartland as their task.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 4:39 PM  

  • Reminds me of the boy with his finger in the dike. If only there were just a single hole to be plugged....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:13 PM  

  • Agreed Bill. It's just that as critical as I have been, I thought I'd actually mention something that was sorta working. Although, again, it seems like alot of the violence has just been pushed elsewhere, and what happens when we get a different "finger?"

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:37 PM  

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