Peace Like A River


It was a wide river, mistakable for a lake or even an ocean unless you'd been wading and knew its current. Somehow I'd crossed it... Now I saw the stream regrouped below, flowing on through what might've been vineyards, pastures, orhards... It flowed between and alongside the rivers of people; from here it was no more than a silver wire winding toward the city. - Leif Enger, Peace Like A River

Friday, December 09, 2005

I guess these don't count

In his TKS blog, Jim Geraghty records some of Rep. Murtha's recent comments. Among them is this one that caught my eye:

When I said we can't win a military victory, it's because the Iraqis have turned against us. They throw a hand grenade or a rocket into American forces and the people run into the crowd and they — nobody tells them where they are.


Hmm. Nobody tells American forces where the terrorists are? I think the good Rep. Murtha just hasn't been keeping up on current events. The fact that the Iraqis are increasingly willing to give helpful intelligence to Coalition Forces is one of the more encouraging signs in Iraq lately.

Just today there was this report:

Iraqi security forces and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers continued to scour the streets of Baghdad during operations Dec. 3-7, hunting down terrorists, disabling roadside bombs and seizing stockpiles of weapons.

Some of the success of these operations can be attributed to tips received from concerned citizens who approached Iraqi and U.S. forces with information about the whereabouts of terrorists and weapons caches.


Shall we list just a few other reports as well?

How about this one:

A tip given by an Iraqi civilian led to the operation to nab the suspected terrorists who were responsible for harassing, threatening and intimidating local Iraqi civilian construction workers who are building a new prison facility.


Or this one:

Another weapons cache was seized in Kirkuk Dec. 6, after police received a tip from a local resident. Rockets, mortars, tank rounds, anti-aircraft rounds and artillery fuses were taken by Soldiers from 1st BCT and an EOD team for disposal.


Or this one:

U.S. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment conducted a raid in western Rashid based on information provided by local Iraqis. The raid resulted in the capture of two individuals.


Or this one:

A tip from a local citizen resulted in the capture of two terror suspects and the discovery of a large weapons cache in western Rashid Dec. 3.


Or this one:

Launching operations based on tips from Iraqi citizens and intelligence developed over time, Task Force Baghdad Soldiers captured 24 terror suspects in the Al Rasheed district during a 12-hour period Dec. 3-4.


Or this one:

Six terror suspects were detained in As Siniyah Dec. 2 after a concerned resident informed police about a vehicle-borne IED being built nearby.


Or this one:

With the help of tips provided to Coalition Forces by local residents, Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division detained five suspected terrorists Nov. 30.


Or this one:

A local citizen provided a potentially life-saving tip to the Iraqi Army in Sadr City Nov 26, alerting them to what appeared to be a bomb placed in the road.


Or this one:

An Iraqi tipster provided information about a roadside-bomb cell operating in western Rashid. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment responded to the tip and conducted the operation during the early-morning hours of Nov. 25, detaining three terror suspects.


Or this one:

Acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens, Coalition forces raided a suspected Jaysh al-Mujahideen terrorist safe house in Abu Ghurayb, west of Baghdad, Oct. 23.


Or this one:

A tip from a local citizen on the location of a weapons cache in the Tissa Nissan district of east Baghdad resulted in the destruction of the weapons Nov 23.


Or this one:

Acting on tips from local residents, Iraqi Army Soldiers confiscated a large number of terrorist weapons and bomb-making materials Nov. 20 in west Baghdad.


Or this one:

Coalition forces acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from concerned citizens raided a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist safe house in Baghdad Oct. 31 capturing an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist named Uthman Faruq Muhammad Abd-al-Hamid (aka Abu Ibrahim).


Or this one:

After receiving a tip from a local resident, Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division uncovered what turned out to be a large weapons cache west of Baghdad.


I'd go on but I have work to do. Have I made my point? Rep. Murtha, Iraqi citizens are pointing out the bad guys, and their deadly weapons caches. Are we universally loved by all 20-some million Iraqis? No. Are we winning a military victory? Absolutely. Are we gaining the help of the Iraqi people? Yes, and that's a good thing.

(Update: Here's another one from Steve at ThreatsWatch:)

The number three terrorist on the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (28th Infantry Division) High Value Individual list was detained today in the provincial capital of Ar Ramadi.

Amir Khalaf Fanus, an al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist in the Ramadi area, was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping. Today, local Iraqi citizens brought him to an Iraqi and U.S. Forces military base in Ramadi.


(Update: This is from Cliff May in the Corner on Friday)

The key phrase here may be "turned in by local citizens." I was talking by phone with an Army major in Iraq this week. He said the most encouraging metric of all may be the number of tips about terrorists now being provided by Iraqis – it’s way up, it’s in the thousands.


(Update: If you go back to this post of mine, about tracking facilitators killed in the western river towns, and look through the links there you'll find a few more examples of Iraqis providing tips and information.)

8 Comments:

  • At Fri Dec 09, 05:44:00 PM, Michael said…

    Fantastic listing of facts Jeff...

    Thank you for shining light on the truth of how well our troops are working with Iraqi citizens and the Iraqi Army.

     
  • At Fri Dec 09, 07:31:00 PM, Anonymous said…

    There should be a law against anyone spending more than 30 years inside the Washington, D.C. beltway. Maybe someone should email him this stuff. Good job making the point.
    Point-Blank

     
  • At Fri Dec 09, 08:23:00 PM, Leo Pusateri said…

    Way to go, Jeff...

    This should be must reading for everyone in Congress..

    I can always count on you to get to the skinny of what is going on in Iraq.

    Thanks!

     
  • At Fri Dec 09, 09:47:00 PM, Karlo said…

    Were these some of the false reports that were planted by the U.S. military who has paid Iraqi newspapers to run such stories or were these legitimate? Myself, I have a hard time believing the insurgency could remain anywhere near as strong as it is if it didn't have wide support from the Iraqi public.

     
  • At Sat Dec 10, 04:05:00 PM, R. Stewart said…

    Jeff -
    Way to go...TKS picked this post up.

    I appreciate the yeoman's work you do in trying to balance the MSM's perspective, which leads many people here to believe that things are worse than they are. It's bad enough (I mean, people are dying), but the war is both (a) less dangerous for U.S. troops than past wars have been, and (b) much more successful than the MSM would make you believe if you relied only on them for your information.

     
  • At Sat Dec 10, 04:18:00 PM, Jeff said…

    As for Rep. Murtha's example of someone throwing a grenade and running into the crowd, and the crowd not revealing who the bad guys are, that kind of thing has happened.

    The bad guys are known to watch crowds like this, and watch who talks to the Americans. Anyone seen talking to the US military might receive a visit later from the bad guys after the Americans leave, and be killed.

    So, there can be reluctance to speak publicly in plain view. Because of the danger, it is even more encouraging that Iraqis are increasingly willing to help the Coalition Forces.

    Yes, the insurgency does have support in segments of the population. Some of the change in US focus is dealing with that problem. I just think it is worth realizing there are encouraging trends.

     
  • At Sat Dec 10, 08:36:00 PM, Bill W said…

    Now, is there a way to get this into Murtha's hands and have him acknowledge it? And have him acknowledge that his "80% of Iraqis want us out of there" is based on BS?

    I won't even ask the impossible - that any of the MSM talking heads actually acknowledge it or challenge him the next time he spews this crap.

     
  • At Sun Dec 11, 02:13:00 PM, Anonymous said…

    Right on. as usual, the MSN cannot or will not attempt to make sense of all the myriad complexities here.(in fairness, limited time(its money after all for a business)does not allow cbs or cnn to explain dozens of competing factions all with lots of intertwined histories, bias', and agendas. and given what i have seen of most journalists, they are not intelligent enough to figure it out anyway, much less explain in a coherent and cogent manner)
    I do not know the mind of the congressman but his statements are in the main, opinions, and often not based on fact.
    I have not had time to send an update recently, but his recent comment 'the troops have done all they can' is simply untrue and wildly inaccurate. I will clarify and explain later.
    In addition, depending on the area, tribe, village, past interaction with US troops, other influences, amount of competent local Iraqi security forces, clan loyalties, etc(you see how complicated this is quickly becoming...) a general statement about Iraqis not supporting the US mission is misleading.
    True, at least simple majority of Iraqis of nearly any group wants to the US gone and soon(you would too if you were being occupied) but the follow on opinions are much more complicated.
    Most also realize that if the US allows a precipitous withdrawl a larger civil conflict may result with possible other foreign intervention and also if we leave too soon some groups may lose their guarentee'or of at least some sense of fair play.
    main example, the sunni tribes. Most despise the US and want us to leave however they also know if we leave the Kurd and Shia groups will marginalize them so they in some way relying on the US to make the others play ball.
    Stewart: you are correct.
    Karlo: you are incorrect in stating the US military planted "false" stories.(a misinformation campaign is another story...I shall go there for now)
    In this particular case, the US is struggling to put out a more balanced view of our mission, however, we are days late and dollars short! if you will.
    You are correct in that an insurgency maintains only and because of public support(I will send a detailed update to Peace soon when I get a chance and explain the nature of an Insurgency type of warfare)
    However, given the crushing deficit the US is operating against here(al jazeera type media which is hardly fair and balanced, as well as other entrenched sentiments etc) and the catch up factor, they have been desperate to try more extreme measures to get the word out.
    Is is the right thing to do?
    Was discovery of their tactic ultimately worth it now that they are having to explain themselves?
    PYSOPS, a term for tactics (that often has negative connotations in the average opinion folk in the US) IS a part of the modern battlefield. Ignoring it will not make the issues associated with its importance or relavance go away, nor will it win you the support of those you need to continue your cause much less the folk who can help or hinder your mission in the area you operate in.
    Oversimplified view; there is nothing wrong, nefarious, subversive or false about trying to put out your side of the story.
    Given the constraints of what we are operating under(where the positive elements of our accomplishments are often underreported, or NOT at all!, or ignored by those in the media who have an agenda(that never happens right?)...
    perhaps you can see how and why some of these decisions to take more unconventional measures came to pass.
    I am not saying it was right or even a wise gamble given its negative connotations.
    Knowing what I see and hear, our commanders desperate to get our sides story out can lead them to make bold decisions with calculated risks.

     

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