Military Intelligence Failure in Iraq.

This is an interesting story, but it is not of great importance. The British company involved is doing analytic work in support of a wide variety of US government connected reconstruction and logistical activities who need to have some organized group take available reports of incidents and government statements and produce analytic reports which tell them how dangerous any particular place or activity is on a given day. They want to know this so as to judge the risks of daily operations across the country. The media's egregious inability to call intelligence activity anything but "intelligence gathering" results in an aura of spookiness hanging over this analytic activity which is altogether unjustified. This is scholarship, folks. Don't let your uncle's desire to let you believe otherwise about his job in Iraq fool you. It is just scholarship.

read the rest at Sic Semper Tyrannis(Colonel W. Patrick Lang) 2007

Behroz Khan & David Montero | Islamabad | July 2

CSM - It's not only the Pakistani military and the occasional US Predator drone that has Pakistan-based Taliban looking over their shoulders these days. As a sharp internal rift emerges over attacks on civilians, some are now turning their guns on each other.

The incident highlights how the Taliban's ideological frontiers have changed as Pakistani militants have regrouped and realigned their allegiances, leading to internecine violence throughout the tribal belt.

[snip]

The Taliban's central leadership in Pakistan is weakening, experts say, and some factions have proven themselves all too willing to dispense with the ancient Pashtun codes of mercy and restraint – the kind that saw guests, women, and children as off-limits in war.

Lee Keath | July 2 | Baghdad

AP - Iran's elite Quds force helped militants carry out a January attack in Karbala that killed five Americans, a U.S. general said Monday. U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner also accused Tehran of using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a "proxy" to arm Shiite militants in Iraq.

The claims were an escalation in U.S. accusations that Iran is fueling Iraq's violence, which Tehran has denied, and were the first time the U.S. military has said Hezbollah has a direct role.

A senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative, Ali Mussa Dakdouk, was captured March 20 in southern Iraq, Bergner said. Dakdouk served for 24 years in Hezbollah and was "working in Iraq as a surrogate for the Iranian Quds Force," Bergner said.

The general also said that Dakdouk was a liaison between the Iranians and a breakaway Shiite group led by Qais al-Kazaali, a former spokesman for cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Bergner said al-Kazaali's group carried out the January attack against a provincial government building in Karbala and that the Iranians assisted in preparations. Al-Khazaali and his brother Ali al-Khazaali were captured with Dakdouk.

[Comment: Longer write through of a story posted on previous thread, with additional interesting detail. I must say they put a misleading hed on it. ~ JPD]

"Integrity does not mean rigidity, let alone singlemindedness; and conscience, every so often, involves an inner struggle within oneself. ~ John Lukacs

Iraq: Two Marines killed; US copter shot down

Posted: 03-07-2007 , 06:27 GMT

A U.S. helicopter was shot down near Baghdad on Monday but its two pilots escaped with only minor injuries, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. "An AH-64 Apache helicopter rescued (the) pilots after enemy fire brought down their OH-58D Kiowa Attack helicopter south of Baghdad," the military said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

It said a U.S. warplane destroyed the damaged helicopter with two large laser-guided bombs after the pilots were evacuated.

Meanwhile, two Marines died in a "non-hostile related" accident in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military said. The two died on Sunday in the accident, which took place while they were conducting operations in Anbar, the military statement said, according to the AP.

bit more
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/214703

UK Sunday Telegraph, Helen Power

The Iraqi government has begun preparing the groundwork for what could be one of the biggest privatisations of state-owned assets.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that officials from the government have recently held talks with banking and legal advisers in London. City sources said Iraq's minister for industry, Fawzi Hariri, was looking to appoint advisers to draw up a memorandum of understanding to sell off the country's non-oil assets, ranging from petrochemical plants to construction companies, hotels and airlines, as early as this month.

T. Christian Miller | July 3

LAT - The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, newly released figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war effort and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

More than 180,000 civilians — including Americans, foreigners and Iraqis — are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense Department figures obtained by The Times. Including the recent troop surge, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq.

The total number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on private corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq — a mission criticized as being undermanned.

U.S. Army Confirms 'Friendly Fire' Deaths
Canadian, American Shot in Afghanistan

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 4, 2007; A12

TORONTO, July 3 -- Fifteen months after a Canadian soldier and U.S. soldier were killed in Afghanistan, the U.S. Army has confirmed that both were shot from behind by a U.S. machine gunner in a "friendly fire" incident.

The confirmation, made after a Freedom of Information Act request by the Associated Press, means that six of the 60 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the last five years died from accidental fire by their U.S. allies. Two more of the fatalities are under investigation.

The cause of death of Canadian Pvt. Robert Costall, 22, along with Vermont National Guard Sgt. John Thomas Stone, 52, adds to Canadian resentment that began early in the conflict when four Canadian soldiers were killed in a mistaken bomb run by a U.S. fighter jet.

The Canadian Defense Department, which promised to investigate Costall's death, has said nothing publicly, despite requests Tuesday. At the time of the shooting, Canadian news reporters in the field with the forces were ordered out of the area and other soldiers were forbidden to talk about the incident.

According to a censored version of the U.S. Army report released to the AP, Costall was part of a Canadian special operations team working with U.S. forces near the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. On the cloudy night of March 29, 2006, they came under attack from the Taliban. The report said a U.S. soldier, whose name was blacked out, opened fire from behind with a heavy machine gun during the attack.

"I immediately realized [the gunner] was shooting at the Canadian position," the report quoted a first sergeant on the scene as saying. The sergeant whistled to the gunner to stop firing. The gunner then turned his weapon around, only to continue firing on another "friendly" position, the American compound, the report said.

The report does not indicate if anyone was disciplined. The U.S. Army's Central Command headquarters in Florida did not respond to a request for information Tuesday.

The report said Costall, the father of a year-old son, was killed by two shots in the back. Three other Canadian soldiers were slightly wounded and returned to duty

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Six NATO soldiers, Afghan interpreter killed in bomb blast

July 5, 2007 - 1:02AM

Six soldiers with the NATO-led force and their Afghan interpreter were killed when their vehicle struck a bomb in southern Afghanistan, the force said Wednesday.

AFP

Six Canadians killed by bomb in southern Afghanistan, military says

July 4, 2007 - 9:38 am

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Six Canadians soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

The names of the soldiers have not been released. An Afghan interpreter has also been killed in the blast. Military officials in Kandahar say the explosion happened shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday as the soldiers were returning to a forward operating base in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city.

The attack is the deadliest involving Canadians since Easter Sunday, when six other Canadian soldiers were killed in the Maywand district near the border with Helmand province.

Sixty-six Canadian soldiers have now lost their lives in Afghanistan.

The six soldiers killed today were due to complete their tour of duty in Afghanistan at the end of this month.

Construction Woes Add to Fears at Embassy in Iraq

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 5, 2007; A01

U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead.

A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy. The guards' base, which remains unopened today, is just a small part of a $592 million project to build the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

The main builder of the sprawling, 21-building embassy is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co., a Middle Eastern firm that is already under Justice Department scrutiny over alleged labor abuses. First Kuwaiti also erected the guard base, prompting some State Department officials in Washington and Baghdad to worry that the problems exposed in the camp suggest trouble lurking ahead for the rest of the embassy complex.

The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.

All the food from the old guard camp -- a collection of tents -- had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.

"Poor quality construction . . . life safety issues . . . left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.

Such challenges with construction contracts inside the fortified enclave known as the Green Zone reflect the broader problems that have thwarted reconstruction efforts throughout war-torn Iraq.

The "fairly serious problems" noted in the cable indicate that First Kuwaiti's work fails to meet basic safety standards, said an administration official who was not authorized to speak to the news media. But the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), which oversees construction of the new embassy, has kept a "close hold" on the project, making it difficult for anyone else in the government to gauge progress. "We are suspecting we will find the same issues in the new embassy," resulting in months of delays, the official said.

The embassy cable prompted a stinging response from James L. Golden, OBO's managing director for the embassy project. In a cable dated June 8, he berated personnel in Baghdad for sending their message over an open embassy system, rather than keeping the complaints in-house. He defended First Kuwaiti and accused the embassy and KBR -- a Texas-based company that runs many facilities in Iraq and discovered the wiring problems -- of making false claims to deflect attention from their own errors.

The guard base "has been constructed to the approved design specifications," Golden wrote, adding that "none of the issues raised in the cable has merit" and that "it appears [the embassy] and KBR simply do not want to operate the camp for other reasons."

KBR said its concerns were justified. "Safety remains KBR's top priority," said Heather L. Browne, the firm's director of corporate communications. "Our initial assessments determined that the issues identified were not linked to KBR's work and in fact inspection reports from the [State Department] confirm that KBR was not responsible for the safety issues identified."
Tensions Over Deadline

The tough exchanges between Baghdad and Washington reflect some of the tensions as the State Department rushes to complete the embassy this year. Originally, the new guard base -- estimated to cost about $22 million -- was due for completion in January, but deadlines were missed. OBO certified that the camp "meets and exceeds" its contract requirements in a letter signed April 14 and provided by First Kuwaiti. The new delay in moving the guards may affect plans to build temporary housing for maintenance workers and contractors hired to help run the new embassy, which is scheduled to be completed in the fall.

An embassy spokesman declined to comment, referring calls to Washington. Pat Kennedy, director of the State Department's Office of Management Policy, said that the embassy cable was a "frank discussion" of its concerns but that the embassy now "is satisfied with the process we have put in place to address these issues." He said he was "not prepared to make the large leap" that concerns about the guard base might also apply to the larger embassy project.

Retired Maj. Gen. Charles E. Williams, the director of OBO, who was formerly with the Army Corps of Engineers, declined to be interviewed. "It is internal business," said his special assistant, Phyllis A. Patten-Breeding.

First Kuwaiti's labor practices are already under investigation by the Justice Department amid allegations that foreign employees were brought into Iraq under false pretenses -- such as being told that they were to work in Dubai -- and then forbidden to leave because the company had confiscated their passports. First Kuwaiti has called those accusations "ludicrous."

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2 soldiers killed on Independence Day

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 5, 2007 7:54:13 EDT

BAGHDAD — Two U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday in separate incidents, including one who died when a helicopter “went down” in Ninevah province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military reported.

The second soldier was killed during combat operations in south Baghdad, the military said without giving further details.

A brief statement by Multi-National Corps-Iraq said another soldier was wounded in the helicopter incident and was transported to a U.S. military hospital.

The statement did not explain why the helicopter went down or whether it was involved in combat operations.

However, a statement posted on a Web site for an al-Qaida front organization called the Islamic State of Iraq said the crash occurred during fighting along the road between Baghdad and Mosul.

“God blinded a pilot of an Apache who hit the high-voltage electric wires and the helicopter crashed in pieces,” the statement said.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/07/ap_2dead_070705/

Al-Qaida: the unwanted guests

As the arc of chaos grows from Afghanistan to Somalia by way of the Middle East, the region’s states are growing weaker and their armed groups gaining in power. But in this battle for competing visions between the US and al-Qaida, the Sunni resistance is now opposing al-Qaida in Iraq, as are the Taliban in Afghanistan.

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

There is a widening split between armed Islamists, as two recent incidents show. In March the local Taliban in the Pakistani tribal zone of South Waziristan killed foreign fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Almost simultaneously, infighting broke out between the Islamic Army in Iraq and the local branch of al-Qaida. The confrontation between the two strategies – and two different ideologies – of the Islamist struggle is getting more violent.

Many of the foreign volunteers who have flooded into Pakistan and Iraq since 2003 are Takfirists, who regard “bad Muslims” as the real enemy (see ‘Takfirism: a messianic ideology’). Indigenous Islamic resistance groups have reacted uncomfortably to the growth of this near-heresy within al-Qaida which, by waging war against Muslim governments, has brought chaos to the populations it claims to defend.

Between 2003 and 2006, across the war zone that is the two Waziristans, Afghanistan and Iraq, the complexity of the situation reinforced al-Qaida’s doctrinaire thinking and reduced indigenous groups to silence. The consequence of Takfirist influence was the emergence in the two Waziristans of a self-styled Islamic state that challenged the writ of the Pakistan government within its own boundaries and fuelled the spread of armed conflict to major cities. The aim was to provoke armed insurrection against the pro-western military regime.

The fierce response of the Pakistani army led to the deaths of hundreds of non-combatants, including women and children, and fuelled the anger of Takfirist ideologues. But many Taliban leaders privately felt that the Takfirists had lost touch with reality and were distorting the sharply focused anti-western strategy developed during the 1990s by Osama bin Laden. The war of national resistance against foreign occupying forces had been transformed into one aimed at Pakistan’s military establishment.

On the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leading Takfirist, arrived from Waziristan to emerge as the frontline resistance leader. He publicly pledged allegiance to bin Laden and became the rallying point for the foreign militants who coalesced into the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida. The situation in Iraq soon came to resemble that in the two Waziristans and Afghanistan.
Resistance was slow

Resistance in post-Saddam Iraq was slow to mobilise. The realignment of the tribes, fragmented religious groups, former Ba’athist party elements and officers from the defunct republican guard into combat units took several months. Meanwhile, foreign fighters who had streamed into Iraq from the Muslim world to gather beneath the black banners of al-Qaida formed a coordinating majlis al-shura (council). They proved more effective than the leadership of the internal Iraqi resistance, who were left with little scope to express their reservations about the arrivals’ Takfirist ideology. It was left to individual elements within the indigenous groups to deplore the excesses of al-Qaida, which had begun to concentrate on diverting the struggle against occupying forces towards attacks on Shia religious centres.

When, in 2006, al-Qaida announced the formation of an ideologically pure Islamic emirate, the strategy of the indigenous resistance groups became subservient to al-Qaida’s Takfirist ideology and divisive global agenda. A war against foreign occupation had turned into a nightmare of sectarian strife. The seeds had been sown for an eventual break between the international combatants and the indigenous resistance.

Understanding this split requires an examination of the specific circumstances that led to the ideological transformation of al-Qaida during and after the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

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ANALYSIS-Western forces hooked on air power in Afghan war

By Mark John

BRUSSELS, July 5 (Reuters) - Western forces are unlikely to curtail the use of lethal air power against Taliban forces in Afghanistan, despite a wave of civilian casualties threatening support for the mission, analysts and military sources say.

An aversion in NATO capitals to allied casualties, plus all-too-frequent shortages of ground troops, have forced commanders to turn to the sky in efforts to beat insurgents still going strong six years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Despite repeated criticism of Western tactics by President Hamid Karzai, and pledges by NATO and U.S. officials to review procedures, few expect an overhaul of strategy by the 50,000 international troops there any time soon.

"We are aware this problem has grown and we must redouble our efforts. But there will be no overnight transformation," an alliance source said on condition of anonymity.

The Afghan government, rights and aid groups say over 300 civilians have died this year from Western operations, mostly when air power is called in to get allied troops out of trouble.

While NATO officials point to surveys showing a majority of Afghans still in favour of their presence, the deaths tarnish the image of the Western-backed Karzai and have triggered protests demanding the exit of foreign troops.

NATO's top operational commander, U.S. General John Craddock, announced a review of procedures in May. Days later President George W. Bush pledged with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to try to reduce the casualties.

Yet the deaths keep coming. Afghan officials say 45 civilians were killed last weekend by an air strike in the south -- a figure the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says is inflated.

TOO FEW TROOPS?

De Hoop Scheffer has urged better coordination on the ground between NATO forces, the separate U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops. He also wants faster investigations of incidents and more humanitarian relief for victims.

While coordination with Afghan forces has been messy, alliance sources are broadly happy with ties between ISAF and the U.S.-led coalition.

The coalition has focused on aggressive counter-terrorism operations, whereas the 40,000 ISAF troops have a peacekeeping mandate, but the line between the two has been blurred by the mounting insurgency.

Some say more aid and faster probes of accidents might limit the public relations damage from incidents, but would not in themselves reduce casualties.

Others blame the small size of the troop presence -- less than a third of that in Iraq for a country 1.5 times as big -- for what they see as excessive reliance on air power

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10-foot-deep trench will protect Iraqi city of Karbala
By Hussam Ali and Mike Drummond | McClatchy Newspapers

KARBALA, Iraq — A now-dead plan to ring Baghdad with a trench to keep out insurgents has found new life in Karbala, a predominately Shiite Muslim city 50 miles south of the capital.

Iraqi construction crews this month will begin digging a 12-mile-long trench to the west and south of the city of 1.4 million residents to help prevent car bombs and protect two holy Shiite shrines.

U.S. and Iraqi officials shelved plans announced last year for a bigger trench to surround Baghdad. Instead, they've focused on conducting military operations in the provinces and raiding car-bomb shops.

The Karbala trench will create a 10-foot-deep crescent, buttressing approaches from the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Ramadi, about 70 miles northwest of Karbala, to the main highway running south to Najaf. Police towers will punctuate the trench, which will funnel traffic to checkpoints outside the city center.

Local officials think that the trench will offer another layer of protection from insurgents, even though it won't surround the city.

"Farms on the other sides of the city will prevent terrorists" from entering, said Abdul Aal al Yasiry, the president of the Karbala Governorate Council. He added that the trench will allow the city to concentrate guards in towers and checkpoints, rather than patrolling miles of open desert.

Residents welcome any plan to make Karbala safer.

"If the trench will prevent car bombs, let them make a thousand trenches," said Haider Abdul Razzaq, 39, who runs a hotel for pilgrims. "But I'm afraid the trench wouldn't stop the terrorists from their plans to kill civilians if they couldn't reach the shrines."

On March 6, two suicide bombers killed at least 90 Shiite pilgrims in Hilla by exploding themselves in a crowd that was heading to a holy Shiite shrine in Karbala. Scores of others have died in such attacks on pilgrims.

The shrine is the burial ground of the Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, said to have died in a battle for control of Islam in 680. The battle was one of the key historical events that led to the violent Sunni-Shiite split, which has claimed thousands of Iraqi lives over the past year.

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Six US soldiers killed in Iraq

US casualties have been rising in Iraq in the past few months
Six American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in recent days, the US military has announced.

Officials say four soldiers were killed in Baghdad when roadside bombs exploded near their patrols - three on Friday and one on Thursday.

Two Marines died in combat in the western Anbar province on Thursday.

American casualties have been rising in Iraq in the past few months with more troops drafted in to try and stop the sectarian violence in Baghdad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6279770.stm

Two British soldiers die in Iraq

A British soldier in Iraq has died during fighting in Basra involving 1,000 troops, the MoD has said.

Soldiers came under attack from machine gun and rocket-propelled grenades, and encountered several roadside bombs.

The dead soldier - in a Warrior vehicle patrol in the Tuninah district - was hit by an improvised explosive device. Next of kin have yet to be informed.

Meanwhile, a soldier from 4th Battalion The Rifles died on Friday in an accident at the Basra Palace base.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6259352.stm

Iraq market truck bomb kills 105

A deadly truck bombing in a busy market in northern Iraq has killed 105 people and injured 240, police say.

The morning blast destroyed the market in the small town of Amirli, south of Kirkuk, killing many people instantly and trapping dozens among the rubble.

It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since April, correspondents say.

It came as 29 people were killed in separate violence, including 22 people who died overnight in Diyala province when a suicide bomber hit a cafe.

Kirkuk referendum

The truck bomb struck Amirli on a busy shopping morning, destroying several buildings around the heart of the market, police said.

Rescuers were forced to move injured people to Tuz Khurmato, the nearest major town, some 45km (28 miles) away, and some casualties were said to have died on the way.

Others were taken on to Kirkuk, the largest city in the region, for more intensive treatment.

"I heard the cries of my child, then I heard nothing else until I woke in hospital," housewife Sukaina Abdul Razak told AFP news agency in Kirkuk.

"I don't know the fate of my husband and my family. They were all in the kitchen, but I was in my room."

Correspondents say the market bombing could have been linked to political developments in the region, where a referendum on the status of Kirkuk province is due to take place by the end of this year.

Kirkuk lies outside Iraqi Kurdistan but is claimed by many Kurds for their national capital.

Officials in Diyala said the bomber who struck on Friday night targeted a busy cafe used by the Shia Kurdish community.

The small village is close to the border with Iran.

In other violence, police said a family of seven sleeping on a Baghdad roof died when a mortar hit the building.

The dead reportedly included a couple and their four children, aged nine to 17, as well as a relative.

Many Iraqis choose to spend hot summer nights sleeping on the roof of their home because of frequent electricity failures.

more http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6279864.stm

in the Atlantic Monthly here

the comments in the thread are pretty funny, if you are in the mood for black humor......

_{"George Washington did not cross the Delaware for Capitalism," Shmuley Boteach}

Iraq outposts plan may be flawed

Some troops say the shift of forces to Baghdad neighborhoods is not achieving its goal: to increase street patrols and build trust.

By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writer
July 8, 2007

BAGHDAD — The neighborhood outposts that the U.S. military launched with great fanfare in Baghdad early this year were supposed to put more American patrols on the streets and make residents feel safer. But some soldiers stationed at the posts and Iraqis who live nearby say they are doing the opposite.

The outposts, along with joint U.S.-Iraqi security stations, form a cornerstone of the current Iraq strategy. Following a classic counterinsurgency tenet, military planners are trying to take U.S. forces out of their distant, sprawling military bases and into the day-to-day lives of Iraqis.

Although senior U.S. commanders and mid-level officers say they believe the bases are starting to work, many soldiers stationed at the outposts are doubtful, arguing that the burden of protecting the bases means they spend less time on the streets.

"They say we are spending more time 'in sector,' which we are doing — we live here," said Spc. Tyrone Richardson, 24, a member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry, that operates in the east Baghdad neighborhood of Ubaidi, outside Sadr City. "But we aren't spending the time patrolling."

Iraqis who live nearby say they feel less safe now, because many of the bases have quickly become magnets for rocket and mortar attacks. When attacks miss the troops, they often hit Iraqi civilians.

For some, the risk of rocket attacks might be worth it if the Americans were driving away Shiite Muslim militias that many say act as death squads. But some junior soldiers say that Al Mahdi militiamen loyal to anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr are able to conduct more "patrols" of the area than can the U.S. Army.

"The Mahdi army goes around to the houses more than we do," said Pfc. John Evans, 21, a member of 1-8 Cavalry's Alpha Company.

When advocates of the current troop buildup pushed the U.S. to more aggressively adopt counterinsurgency tactics, their main criticism was directed at the sprawling bases where troops were stationed.

Moving soldiers to smaller bases inside Baghdad, according to the counterinsurgency experts, would allow them to spend more time interacting with the population. Regular contact with U.S. troops would make people feel safer, the main mission of counterinsurgency operations.

In practice, however, the outpost strategy has a key flaw: As many as half of the soldiers there at any one time are dedicated to protecting the outpost.

"In my tactical opinion, the combat outpost hasn't worked," said one junior officer stationed in east Baghdad. "It's not a bad idea, but we are doing it wrong. We have a bigger presence but we have less boots on the ground. You only have one platoon that can maneuver tactically at a time."

Many of the soldiers interviewed asked to speak anonymously because senior officers disapprove of noncommissioned officers and junior officers questioning military strategy.

Many of the large bases outside the city are protected by support soldiers or security units not available for the outposts.

Before the outposts were created, some companies maintained a constant presence on the streets, with each of their platoons doing two eight-hour patrols a day.

"Before, we would do two patrols a day, of six to eight hours a day. There was almost always a patrol on the street. Now we patrol just 12 times in a month," an experienced noncommissioned officer said. "That's not a lot of interaction with the people. And it's problematic if the intent of this strategy is to interact with locals."

As a result of the decrease in the number of patrols, some officers say, they are not even able to keep militia elements out of the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the outposts.

"I just know it's not much different than it was seven months ago," said one junior officer in east Baghdad. "We are retaking the same ground every day."

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WaPo

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08sun1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Editorial

The Road Home

Published: July 8, 2007

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.