Choosing Victory - Bush Plan For Iraq
December 19, 2006 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Critics of the war in Iraq will not be happy when President Bush unveils the long anticipated changes in his war fighting strategy. Ditto those who thought that GOP losses in November's elections would end American military involvement in the Middle East.
This is because rather than the thinly veiled abandonment of the war on terror's most significant battle to date - as suggested by the Iraq Study Group, much of the mainstream media along with nearly every significant leader in the Democrat party - Mr. Bush will accept only one thing.
American victory in Iraq.
The buzz in DC is that the plan will be very close to that co-produced by General Jack Keane [Ret] whose last position was Vice Chief of Staff of the Army in the current Bush administration and military historian Frederick W. Kagan, a former West Point instructor who is currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Keane/Kagan plan is really quite simple.
The majority of sectarian and al-Qaeda spawned violence is located in Iraq's largest city, Baghdad. Securing it is therefore of primary importance and that can be done with an infusion of approximately 50,000 additional American troops who will then be deployed in clear and hold operations which will, as the plan's executive summary states stabilize and normalize the city:
"1. We must change our focus from training Iraqi soldiers to securing the Iraqi population and containing the rising violence. Securing the population has never been the primary mission of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, and now it must become the first priority.
2. We must send more American combat forces into Iraq and especially into Baghdad to support this operation. A surge of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments to support clear-and-hold operations starting in the Spring of 2007 is necessary, possible, and will be sufficient.
3. These forces, partnered with Iraqi units, will clear critical Sunni and mixed Sunni-Shi'a neighborhoods, primarily on the west side of the city.
4. After the neighborhoods have been cleared, U.S. soldiers and marines, again partnered with Iraqis, will remain behind to maintain security.
5. As security is established, reconstruction aid will help to reestablish normal life and, working through Iraqi officials, will strengthen Iraqi local government. This approach requires a national commitment to victory in Iraq."
The entire report can be accessed via the AEI website here Choosing Victory
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