US hands over Anbar

[loveisdead]

Do you guys consider this a huge step in the right direction?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7591111.stm

[Skadrist]

The US military is turning security in al-Anbar Province (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080901/ts_nm/iraq_awakening_dc_1) over to a largely Shiite government and army that "hates" the Sunni Awakening Councils that now provide much of the bulwark against radical Salafi fundamentalist guerrillas. Nevertheless, the Iraqi government is slated to take over payments to 55,000 of the Awakening Council fighters in October. Some doubt that this process will go smoothly.

One little-noted aspect of the struggle between the central government and the Awakening Councils is, as Sawt al-Iraq reports in Arabic (http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnews.php?id=25319), the conflict between the Iraqi Islamic Party (the Iraqi branch of the Muslim Brotherhood). Awakening leader Sheikh Mu'ayyad al-Hamishi complained Sunday that the Iraqi Islamic Party had attempted to piggy back on the Awakening movement by forming its own Awakening Councils, some of whom he implied were indisciplined and damaged the reputation of the movement as a whole. The Iraqi Islamic Party and its fundamentalist allies have 44 seats in Parliament and control several Sunni-majority provinces, and the IIP fears that the Awakening Councils as a political force will displace it in the upcoming provincial elections. -Juan Cole, Informed Comment

[open mind]

Do you guys consider this a huge step in the right direction?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7591111.stm

it's just a symbolic gesture designed to give the impression of great progress as there will be no reduction of u.s. troops in the province for awhile yet.

[saysmydoctor]

it's just a symbolic gesture designed to give the impression of great progress as there will be no reduction of u.s. troops in the province for awhile yet.
This is somewhat false. The Marines were the ones who were generally stationed and they have pretty much pulled out of the province.

[becauseyouwant2]

Step in the right direction? Very slight. Will this even last? Probably not.

[loveisdead]

it's just a symbolic gesture designed to give the impression of great progress as there will be no reduction of u.s. troops in the province for awhile yet.
Wasn't there an agreement signed that we would be pulled out by 2011?

[becauseyouwant2]

Wasn't there an agreement signed that we would be pulled out by 2011? Could be, but it sounds very delicately worded and unofficial.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/07/08/us.iraq/index.html

[open mind]

This is somewhat false. The Marines were the ones who were generally stationed and they have pretty much pulled out of the province.

uhh....no

from the article linked in the first post.

"A top US commander in Iraq, Marine Maj Gen John Kelly, told the Associated Press that US troop levels in Anbar would come down, but there would not be an instant or dramatic reduction.

The marine force [in Anbar] will be smaller soon. I don't think it will be overnight. I think it will happen incrementally."

The US military currently has 28,000 soldiers in Anbar, down from 37,000 in February, according to US figures, while the number of Iraqi soldiers and police has reportedly risen to 37,000, from 5,000 three years ago."

[saysmydoctor]

uhh....no

from the article linked in the first post.

"A top US commander in Iraq, Marine Maj Gen John Kelly, told the Associated Press that US troop levels in Anbar would come down, but there would not be an instant or dramatic reduction.

The marine force [in Anbar] will be smaller soon. I don't think it will be overnight. I think it will happen incrementally."

The US military currently has 28,000 soldiers in Anbar, down from 37,000 in February, according to US figures, while the number of Iraqi soldiers and police has reportedly risen to 37,000, from 5,000 three years ago."
Well, I'm just going by what my father has told me about troop deployments. He worked for the office that trained the forces that went to the province. He has told me that reductions would be gradual.

[open mind]

Well, I'm just going by what my father has told me about troop deployments. He worked for the office that trained the forces that went to the province. He has told me that reductions would be gradual.

even your dad didn't tell you that they had "pretty much pulled out" then.

edit:sorry if that came off in a prickish manner....i've had a rough couple of days.

[Lueda Alia]

even your dad didn't tell you that they had "pretty much pulled out" then.

edit:sorry if that came off in a prickish manner....i've had a rough couple of days.
Cheer up! Your Governor might end up being America's VP!

[saysmydoctor]

Fuck.