"Gates Visits Birthplace of Iraqi Turnaround" VOA

"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Western Iraq Wednesday, the place where U.S. troops and local tribal leaders began an effort four years ago that helped turn the tide of the Iraq war.  Gates stopped in al-Anbar Province on his way to Baghdad to mark the formal end of U.S. combat operations in the country.  

The secretary's military 747 jumbo jet touched down at al-Asad Air Base shortly after sunrise - a moment reminiscent of his last visit here, when he came in on a military combat jet and was joined by then-President George W. Bush in his 747, known as Air Force One.

At that time, almost exactly three years ago, Mr. Bush and Gates were marking the Anbar Awakening, the decision by local tribal leaders to reject al-Qaida and join forces with the U.S. Marines, who had been struggling to establish security in the province. Wednesday, he was asked whether, with the new "advise and assist" mission, the United States is still at war in the country."  VOA

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This was the real and effective "surge," this and the forced decision of Muqtada al-Sadr to "go political" or face the alternative of annihilation of the leadership cadres of his movement.  The additional US troops were useful but not the critical elements in the improvement in the situation after 2007.  pl 

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Gates-Visits-Birthplace-of-Iraqi-Turnaround-as-Combat-Mission-Ends-101960498.html

Comments

[Jake]

"At that time, almost exactly three years ago, Mr. Bush and Gates were marking the Anbar Awakening, the decision by local tribal leaders to reject al-Qaida and join forces with the U.S. Marines, who had been struggling to establish security in the province. Wednesday, he was asked whether, with the new "advise and assist" mission, the United States is still at war in the country." VOA"

The Boyd Principle of Maneuver Conflict!

http://dnipogo.org/strategy-and-force-employment/boyd-and-military-strategy/

Of Course Colonel Lang you and your peers wrote the paper on this one as well. Wonder if the Marines will name a hall after you guys?

[William R. Cumming]

WOW! As long as the "victory' word avoided all acting like a victory. Eye of beholder I guess.

[dh]

'U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Western Iraq Wednesday.'

Does this mean it's now safe to come out of the Green Zone?

[R Whitman]

The additional troops were essential for the egos of Kagan, Nagl and Petraeus. We now have "real heroes".

[Adam L Silverman]

dh: depends were you are. In 2008 while out with a patrol to do a market walk through and site inspection of an archeological site (which we were able to make sure was preserved) the Sons of Iraq leader showing us around offered us lunch- not an uncommon occurrence. After checking with the patrol leader that we had time, we accepted the offer. He took us to a local restaurant, which was in what passed for a strip mall almost right next to the patrol base we were working from. We were no where near the green zone. The SOI and our security detail set up in the parking lot, we went in, dropped our armor against the wall, and had a very nice lunch. The SOI leader had his wasta bolstered and the proprietor could now claim it was safe enough in his restaurant for the brigade commander's advisor to eat lunch without his armor. Had we been in another part of Iraq we probably wouldn't have been able to do this. Our operating environment was comoaratively stable. Many then and now still aren't.

[Kerim]

Not directly related to this thread, but thought pepole here would be interested in Chas Freeman's speech yesterday in Oslo.

http://justworldnews.org/archives/Freeman-Norway-Sept-1-2010-b.htm

It's actually perfectly timed, with the doomed peace circus starting today in Washington.

[dh]

Thank you Adam. My own memories of Iraq include evenings by the river in Baghdad (beer and fish) and picnics with friends among the palms near Basra.

[Adam L Silverman]

dh: didn't ever see beer, though our OE had the remains of one of the old breweries... I did have freshly grilled, brilliantly seasoned carp several times. Our OE once had lots of fish farms, especially along the rivers, which also was where things were still green (once you got about ten kilometers inland everything got real dry real fast). When I was there in 2008 some fish was still being farmed, but the industry was a shadow of it's former self. By and large the fish was being imported, from either other parts of Iraq or like much of the produce - Iran and Turkey. Being served fish was a great honor as our hosts were looking to show us they could still provide guests with the best of delicacies.

[Jackie]

Kerim,
Thanks for the Freeman link. I wish I could have heard the speech instead of reading it. I liked it.