U.S. Force Pulling Back in the North (Iraq)

MOSUL, Iraq, Oct. 22 -- The senior U.S. military commander in northern Iraq said Wednesday that he was beginning to reduce his soldiers' presence in this northern city and turn their security duties over to Iraqi police officers and troops as local government takes root and life slowly returns to normal.

Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, also said he thought it would be possible for the Pentagon to reduce the number of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, without adversely affecting security when fresh forces replace his 20,800 troops in late February or early March.

Petraeus said he was reducing the division's footprint in northern Iraq's largest city by pulling troops out of small camps scattered throughout Mosul and consolidating them at larger bases on the outskirts. This contrasts sharply with recent moves by U.S. commanders to increase troop strength in parts of Baghdad and surrounding areas in response to attacks by groups opposed to the U.S. occupation.

But Petraeus's action is in keeping with plans now being discussed by top U.S. commanders to reduce the U.S. presence in Iraq from about 130,000 troops to less than 100,000 by the middle of next year, and to withdraw troops from Mosul, the southern city of Basra and parts of Baghdad. If those troop cuts succeed without undermining Iraqi stability, commanders will aim to further reduce U.S. forces to about 50,000 by mid-2005, several senior Army commanders said last week.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2709-2003Oct22.html

I believe this will be an equally successful "strategery."

Larger bases will mean more sophisticated guerilla attacks... which means much greater casualties and bloodshed. Boom! More bang for your buck...

Isn't this a complete contradiction of Rummy's concept of an integrated network of numerous smaller, light artillery operations spread throughout the occupied territories? (Actually, the Romans dreamed it up first)

(on edit: Finally, isn't this evidence that the numbers don't add up, and our forces are stretched way too thin with no real way to address the problem... without bringing back the draft?)

He seems to know what he's doing and what needs to be done and has managed not to alienate the locals. He's done this by making all his men understand local custom and how not to insult muslims. According to the article he has a doctorate in International Relations from Princeton so maybe he learned how not to screw everything up.

From the article:

We have not overstayed our welcome yet," Petraeus said in an interview, "but we know that's going to happen. We are in a race to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, and we've got to maintain a very rapid tempo in this race. The most important result is the soldier who is not killed because people are embracing him."

Petraeus said his troops were still conducting three to five raids and making an average of 11 arrests each day, with the aim of rooting out Hussein loyalists and others attacking U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies. But all the raids are designed not to alienate Iraqis who live in the neighborhoods where they take place. Engineers, lawyers and other soldiers from a group called Task Force Neighborhood visit such areas on the morning after raids, Petraeus said, to talk to residents and take claims for any damaged property.

<snip>

Chief among them were local elections held two weeks after his division's arrival on April 22. Local people chose a governing council for Ninevah province through a process that Petraeus devised, selecting 270 delegates from the multiethnic region that includes Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Yezidis and Shabaks.

"Nobody told us to do that, but nobody told us not to do it, either," said Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, the division's assistant commander for operations.

Sounds like he knows what he's doing.

...he's creating the buffer zone the Turks will need when they start to occupy Northern Iraq. After all, aren't the Kurds part of Al Qaeda? If not, they will be soon.

It sounds like this man takes his job seriously.
He's not out there just slogging along like some would
have us do. He's liberating Iraqis.

......for a change.

recruiting offices right now...signing up to defend America....

IMO, there's not going to be a lot of new recruits wanting to sign up for Northern Iraq duty....

Turkey now has a free run at the oil fields and there is little to stop the Kurds from "cleansing" the Iraqis out of their land. Then the Turks and the Kurds can begin the begin and the Iranians wait to see who gets to through the semis to the main event.