Great blogging
Edit Copy has pulled together a collection of quotes from a bunch of sources trying to reconstruct the classified Devlin report (the recent report saying most notably Anbar has been politically lost to Al Qaeda.)
It's really good, and I'm quite sure it was a ton of work, so give 'em some love.
Edit Copy's main point as I read it, is that because the troops are being pulled out of the dire situation in Anbar to Baghdad, the situation must be perceived by the military as substantially dire there as well.
I would fully agree, but I would extend to say that Baghdad represents a strategic priority, because if Baghdad falls, there will be no more Iraqi government forces for Anbar or anywhere else in the longer term.
If the US loses Baghdad, the Iraqi government will extend its reach only to the green zone, any hope of turning anything over to the Iraqi government is gone and we're looking at warlord ridden Mogadishu circa 1993 with better troops, organization, and weapons.
It's really good, and I'm quite sure it was a ton of work, so give 'em some love.
Edit Copy's main point as I read it, is that because the troops are being pulled out of the dire situation in Anbar to Baghdad, the situation must be perceived by the military as substantially dire there as well.
I would fully agree, but I would extend to say that Baghdad represents a strategic priority, because if Baghdad falls, there will be no more Iraqi government forces for Anbar or anywhere else in the longer term.
If the US loses Baghdad, the Iraqi government will extend its reach only to the green zone, any hope of turning anything over to the Iraqi government is gone and we're looking at warlord ridden Mogadishu circa 1993 with better troops, organization, and weapons.
posted by mikevotes at
3:48 PM
2 Comments:
Agreed. Agreed. Thanks also.
Baghdad is the political center of gravity. The problems in al Anbar have spread to Baghdad. Instead of hitting at the source, they need to restore the center.
The very careful comments coming from commanders are very interesting
By
Bravo 2-1, at 4:44 PM
I've noticed the comments too.
Paraphrase: "We're not undermanned in Anbar because our goal is not to defeat the insurgency there."
"We have not abandoned Anbar, we're just lowering it in priority."
Also, making connections, I would argue that the US "suppression" efforts in Anbar is one of the main reasons for the violence in the south. The US is tying up a lot of Sunni fighters leaving the Shia to fight amongst themselves.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 6:24 PM
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