Re: Baghdad security plan 'failing'

["Allan Waghalter" <awaghalter@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Graham,
We don't need to see this stuff twice.  If you want to cross post to home
automation, I can't begin to imagine why, just post there without sending it
back to this group for a second time.
Thanks,
Allan

PS:  Are you going to the Bass (Not related to RLB) Courtesy Day here at
noon?  If so, give me a call and we can meet up.

"G. Morgan" <alarmpro@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6ikgj21e2ris57mn9cqcqsfm644nipq4vi@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:18:57 -0400, "Robert L Bass"
> <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>The US military has said a security initiative aimed at reducing violence
>>in Baghdad has failed to meet expectations and is being
>>reviewed. Military spokesman Maj. Gen William Caldwell said there had been
>>a "disheartening" 22% rise in attacks in Baghdad since
>>the end of last month. His comments came as a wave of bombings across Iraq
>>killed at least 41 people.
>>
>>President George W Bush has said the surge in Iraq may be equivalent to
>>the US experience in the Vietnam War. Mr. Bush acknowledged
>>that the escalation of violence "could be" comparable to the 1968 Tet
>>Offensive against US troops, which helped turn public opinion
>>against the Vietnam War. But, speaking on ABC News, Mr. Bush denied that
>>the rising number of Iraqi and US military deaths in Iraq
>>meant the campaign there was failing.
>>
>>Deadly month
>>
>>Launched in June, Operation Together Forward is a joint US and Iraqi
>>security drive in which thousands of extra troops have been
>>deployed in Baghdad. The operation was seen as key to asserting the
>>authority of the Iraqi government over all of the capital and
>>eventually the rest of the country, paving the way for the withdrawal of
>>US forces. But Gen Caldwell said attacks on US troops and
>>Iraqi forces in Baghdad has risen significantly in the first three weeks
>>of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in the
>>last week of September.
>>
>>"Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but
>>it has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a
>>reduction in... violence," he said. Gen Caldwell said 73 US soldiers had
>>been killed so far in October, which was heading towards
>>becoming the deadliest month for US forces in Iraq for two years.
>>
>>The senior US commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey, has now ordered a
>>review of the strategy. The gloomy assessment by the US
>>military will add to growing pressure on the Bush administration for some
>>shift in strategy in Iraq, says the BBC's James Westhead
>>in Washington.
>>
>>But the White House dismissed reports that it was preparing for a change
>>of course, with spokesman Tony Snow describing them as a
>>"bunch of hooey".
>>
>>Curfew
>>
>>The US comments came on another day of violence in Iraq. In Mosul in the
>>north there were six separate suicide bomb attacks on
>>Thursday alone. In the deadliest attack, an explosives-laden fuel lorry
>>blew up at a police station in the city. Civilians bore the
>>brunt of the attack, as many of the casualties were motorists waiting to
>>buy fuel at a nearby petrol station.
>>
>>Shortly after the blast, insurgents fired mortars and small arms and
>>triggered more explosions in Mosul, killing at least three more
>>people. The violence prompted authorities to impose a six-hour curfew
>>until calm was restored.
>>
>>Correspondents say Mosul has witnessed a recent escalation of violence,
>>with Sunni Arab insurgents battling US troops and the
>>Shia-led government in Baghdad. Attackers also struck in Kirkuk, killing
>>12 more people and wounding 70 when a car bomber targeted a
>>crowded bank. The blast tore though a crowd of soldiers who had gathered
>>there to collect their salaries.
>>
>>Elsewhere, at least 10 people were killed when a roadside bomb ripped
>>through the Shia market town of Khalis. Meanwhile, police in
>>Baghdad said at least two officers and two passers-by were killed in the
>>south of the city after a double roadside bomb attack on a
>>police patrol.
>>
> --
>
> -Graham
> (remove the double e's to email)