US military lowers profile in Iraq

[seemslikeadream]

from the June 30, 2004 edition

US military lowers profile in Iraq

In wake of the June 28 handover, the military is moving convoys at night and scaling back its offensive operations.

By Ann Scott Tyson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

MOSUL, IRAQ – With its 15-month occupation now history, the 138,000-strong US military force in Iraq is attempting to sharply lower its profile, scaling back offensive operations and narrowing target lists while encouraging Iraq's fledgling forces to take the lead.
Top US commanders have acted immediately to minimize the visibility of their forces. In a very public statement that Iraqis are now in charge, they have ordered US Army convoys as well as low-flying helicopters to move at night whenever possible. And symbolically, in a break with the occupation, the military "coalition" became "multinational forces" upon the June 28 transfer of power.



The thrust of US military activity will now be threefold, commanders say: to target terrorist networks, protect and consolidate US forces, and conduct joint operations with Iraqis aimed at weaning them completely from US support. By pulling back, they hope both to diffuse Iraqi insurgents fighting the occupation and force Iraqis to take their destiny into their own hands - a strategy also likely to save American lives.

"They now have the lead," says Col. Michael Rounds, commander of the largest US ground unit in northern Iraq, a Stryker brigade that is part of a 20,000-strong multinational task force. "In our last meeting we said 'OK, it's yours now.' "

To be sure, questions persist here and nationwide over whether the newly created Iraqi defense forces and police - still plagued by shortages of equipment and possessing only rudimentary training - are up to the task. "That's one area we've fallen on our face," says Colonel Rounds, referring to lack of equipment.

more
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0630/p01s02-woiq.html

[Worst Username Ever]

1. Scaling back

and yet activating ready reserves! War is peace! Goodbye, I must be staying!

[asjr]

3. You read my mind! The whole "turnover" is a farce.

n/t

[louis-t]

5. Nothing has changed, no difference,it's all a mirage....

shrubco can't really make anything happen except death, dying, and pilfering so they have to fool everyone. I told you they should never have shown that "Inside Secrets of the World's Greatest Magicians" to shrubbie.

[shraby]

2. "That's one are we've fallen on our face"

Seems to me that's a huge vital area. Not like forgetting to brush your teeth.

[enough]

4. Is there a word for retreating without actually leaving?

That's what this sounds like.

I can think of a good way "to protect and consolidate US forces" -- get them the hell out of there.

[tlcandie]

6. They are scaling back to build the bases!!!

They need all the man-power and energy to build them and the embassy! Does anyone have a map of that SPECIAL base that is within minutes (jet time) of Israel, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries per chance?

I bet this is the FIRST base to be finished out! It was called Sadaam's folly I believe or something like that. It had a tower already built and some dirt roads cleared for smoother landings.

I'm sure the US is ready to get on to bigger and better things!! Oil and more power!!!

[cliss]

7. Right. Can you believe

they are building a HUGE American Embassy in Baghdad, the world's largest with 3,000 people. At the top of the Dung Heap will be --- None other than John Dimitri Negroponte.

Like everyone else said on this thread: don't believe it.

[frylock]

8. iraq is the tactical pivot;

Saudi Arabia the strategic pivot; Egypt the prize.

[seemslikeadream]

9. from your link

:wow:


The PowerPoint That Rocked the Pentagon
The LaRouchie defector who's advising the defense establishment on Saudi Arabia.
By Jack Shafer
Posted Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002, at 4:49 PM PT


Diplomatic china rattled in Washington and cracked in Riyadh yesterday when the Washington Post published a story about a briefing given to a Pentagon advisory group last month. The briefing declared Saudi Arabia an enemy of the United States and advocated that the United States invade the country, seize its oil fields, and confiscate its financial assets unless the Saudis stop supporting the anti-Western terror network.

The Page One story, by Thomas E. Ricks ("Briefing Depicted Saudis as Enemies: Ultimatum Urged To Pentagon Board," Aug. 6), described a 24-slide presentation given by Rand Corp. analyst Laurent Murawiec on July 10, 2002, to the Defense Policy Board, a committee of foreign policy wonks and former government officials that advises the Pentagon on defense issues. Murawiec's PowerPoint scenario, which is reproduced for the first time below, makes him sound like an aspiring Dr. Strangelove.

Just who the hell is Laurent Murawiec? The Post story and its follow-up, also by Ricks, do not explain. The Pentagon and the administration insist that the presentation does not reflect their views in any way. The Rand Corp. acknowledges its association with Murawiec, but likewise disavows any connection with the briefing. (Neither Murawiec nor Rand received money for the briefing, Rand says.) According to Newsday, Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard N. Perle, a former Pentagon official and full-time invade-Iraq hawk, invited Murawiec to brief the group, so Perle can't exactly distance himself from the presentation. But he can do the next best thing—duck reporters' questions. Murawiec also declined reporters' inquiries, including one from Slate.

The first half of Murawiec's presentation reads calmly enough, echoing Fareed Zakaria's Oct. 15, 2001, Newsweek essay about why the Arab world hates the United States. Its tribal, despotic regimes bottle up domestic dissent but indulge the exportation of political anger; intellectually, its people are trapped in the Middle Ages; its institutions lack the tools to deal with 21st-century problems; yadda yadda yadda.

But then Murawiec lights out for the extreme foreign policy territory, recommending that we threaten Medina and Mecca, home to Islam's most holy places, if they don't see it our way. Ultimately, he champions a takeover of Saudi Arabia. The last slide in the deck, titled "Grand strategy for the Middle East," abandons the outrageous for the incomprehensible. It reads

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Yes Obi Wan

you are wise in the ways of the PNAC doctrine.

[whatelseisnew]

10. talk about transparent bs

And symbolically, in a break with the occupation, the military "coalition" became "multinational forces" upon the June 28 transfer of power.

give me a break please

[markses]

12. The better to set up rocketing positions with

These Bushista assholes are all about appearance. So, they send the troops on less offensive operations (didn't we hear the same thing in late March, right before the worst turn in the Iraq debacle?), giving the insurgency more capacity to set up and run operations, including mortaring US bases, disrupting supply lines, and killing Iraqi police by the hundreds. Or, they go out on offensive operations, literally offending everybody in sight, and adding three seething Iraqis to the insurgency for every one insurgent they kill or capture (we are not factoring in, of course, the hundreds that they arrest for being young, Iraqi, and male). Here's a clue, Bushies: It's a no win situation. You've put the military in a no win situation. Staying in the basecamps is not a win. Leaving them contributes to defeat. Double bind, and checkmate.

1) Withdraw US troops from Iraq now.
2) Fire the international terrorist John Negroponte immediately.
3) Relinquish all contracts and void all long term agreements made throughout the course of the occupation (the only agreements that would remain operative would be short-term contracts that are deemed absolutely necessary for transition to proper government and commerce, none of which should exceed three-months in effective duration).
4) Demand UN and Arab League involvement in exchange for a complete US/UK hands-off policy, to be enforced by international sanctions, if necessary, after
5) Restitution is settled on by an independent UN auditor, agreed upon by all parties, and paid to the Iraqi people from the US/UK and
5a) any US/UK/Coalition companies that have profited off the occupation.

That's the only win, and the Bush's can't complain about its quality, since they got us into this mess.