November 22, 2008 7:23:18 AM CST
(Newser) – It's time for the US to carve out a practical strategy in Iraq, David Ignatius argues in the Washington Post. At a cost of $400 million a day, the war is draining America's economy—precisely what Osama bin Laden hoped for. The solution will not be quick, simple, or easy, but rather "ambiguous, messy, occasionally in the shadows."
The US needs to scale down its presence in Iraq and cut behind-the-scenes deals with unlikely allies including Iran, Ignatius writes in laying out a plan. The soldiers that remain in the country should help train the Iraqi army and hunt al-Qaeda. "We need to focus on what General Petraeus has called 'sustainable security,'" says someone who helped write the general’s Iraq plan.
Source Washington Post
Nov 18, 08 1:44 AM CST The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is "comfortable" with the new US-Iraq security pact scheduling the start of an American troop pullout next year, but believes some major hurdles still exist, the Washington Post reports. Admiral Michael Mullen cautioned that the US has huge amounts of equipment and thousands of troops within the country, and it will likely take up to three years to get everything out of the nation safely. More »
Oct 25, 08 7:56 AM CDT The new security agreement negotiated with Iraq could leave the US military with 5,000 tough problems, the New York Times reports. US forces currently hold 17,000 Iraqi prisoners—including 5,000 considered dangerous radicals. Under the latest draft of the deal, the US would lose the right to either arrest or hold suspected insurgents after Dec. 31. But Iraqi officials acknowledge they are nowhere near ready to deal with the prisoners. More »
Oct 4, 08 7:35 AM CDT The US has killed a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest bombings in Baghdad, the AP reports. Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, allegedly directed the cell responsible for a series of blasts that killed more than 200 people in 2006, as well as car bomb and suicide attacks this week targeting two Shiite mosques that killed 2 dozen. More »
Sep 1, 08 6:30 AM CDT The American military is finally handing over control of Anbar province, once the center of the Sunni insurgency, to Iraqi forces today. Once one of Iraq's most dangerous regions, Anbar was transformed as Sunni militants allied themselves with the US. The transfer of Anbar, delayed several times, brings the number of provinces under Iraqi control to 11 out of 18, reports the BBC. More »
Aug 22, 08 10:40 AM CDT The US's preliminary agreement with Iraq to withdraw most combat troops by 2011 would have been unthinkable even a few months ago. Declining levels of violence, a ceasefire with the Mahdi Army, and the about-face of Sunni leaders have all helped, the Wall Street Journal reports, but for the administration, one factor trumps all others: the strengthening of the Iraqi army from ragtag force to legitimate operation. More »
Iraq • Iraq war • Iran • al-Qaeda • US military • military • Iraq exit strategy
