Re: Baghdad security plan 'failing'

[Robert <Robert@xxxxxxx>]

Robert L Bass 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.
>
>