The Hidden War
The news from Iraq centers around Fallujah and al-Sadr, but it looks likes the media is missing the big picture. Belmont Club, the master of piecing together seemingly unrelated pieces of the news, reports that a major operation is ongoing on both the Syria and Iranian border.
The last two weeks in Iraq have been characterized by almost continuous 'secret' combat, where quiet and low level operations have been continuously underway in Ramadi, Fallujah, on the outskirts of Najaf, in Kut and on the Syrian border. Although reported by the press as mere incidents, disconnected ambushes or random minings, over 80 US soldiers have died in what amounts to a widespread campaign of operations across the entire middle of the Land Between the Rivers.
I for one have never accepted that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps decided to sit back and allowed its soldiers to be attacked, with no response. In fact, the lack of news of any offensive operations in Iraq other than Fallujah is suspicious in itself.
Indeed, it is virtually certain that Al-Qaim, Ramadi and Fallujah and the road network from Baghdad constitute a single "front" centered on Syria, whose principal axis is the Euphrates itself. Operations in Fallujah cannot be understood without putting it in the context of the wider area. A more balanced assessment suggests that CENTCOM was aware of an offensive in preparation on the anniversary of OIF as strongly hinted by the reluctance by US commanders to rush into recovering the bodies of the mutilated contractors at Fallujah. It is very probable that CENTCOM has had a counteroffensive plan on the books for some weeks now, that while those plans did not entirely survive the first shock of contact with the enemy, they exist all the same.
The intelligence apparatus which has been built in Iraq will not be known for many years after this conflict is won. We are slaying jihadis, Ba'ath loyalist and al Qaeda members by the thousands in Iraq, yet the media cannot see Iraq as a central front in the War on Terror. The Forth Estate and the Democrats are so eager for President Bush to be discredited in Iraq that it cannot recognize the extent of the battle in Iraq, or its importance.
The last two weeks in Iraq have been characterized by almost continuous 'secret' combat, where quiet and low level operations have been continuously underway in Ramadi, Fallujah, on the outskirts of Najaf, in Kut and on the Syrian border. Although reported by the press as mere incidents, disconnected ambushes or random minings, over 80 US soldiers have died in what amounts to a widespread campaign of operations across the entire middle of the Land Between the Rivers.
I for one have never accepted that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps decided to sit back and allowed its soldiers to be attacked, with no response. In fact, the lack of news of any offensive operations in Iraq other than Fallujah is suspicious in itself.
Indeed, it is virtually certain that Al-Qaim, Ramadi and Fallujah and the road network from Baghdad constitute a single "front" centered on Syria, whose principal axis is the Euphrates itself. Operations in Fallujah cannot be understood without putting it in the context of the wider area. A more balanced assessment suggests that CENTCOM was aware of an offensive in preparation on the anniversary of OIF as strongly hinted by the reluctance by US commanders to rush into recovering the bodies of the mutilated contractors at Fallujah. It is very probable that CENTCOM has had a counteroffensive plan on the books for some weeks now, that while those plans did not entirely survive the first shock of contact with the enemy, they exist all the same.
The intelligence apparatus which has been built in Iraq will not be known for many years after this conflict is won. We are slaying jihadis, Ba'ath loyalist and al Qaeda members by the thousands in Iraq, yet the media cannot see Iraq as a central front in the War on Terror. The Forth Estate and the Democrats are so eager for President Bush to be discredited in Iraq that it cannot recognize the extent of the battle in Iraq, or its importance.
posted by Anonymous @ 9:40 PM
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