One Utah

This morning, I watched the confirmation hearing for LTG Petraeus, who will be taking over the command of ground forces in Iraq. Although the plan to secure Baghdad is not as new and original as it has been presented, there will be a change in tactics that threatens to increase casualties because more American soldiers will be in exposed positions. Petraeus said to secure Baghdad’s population, “forces must locate with and live with that population.”

In practice, the plan will create 27 high visibility “Joint Security Stations,” essentially small isolated positions in Baghdad neighborhoods that will be permanently occupied. One has just been set up in a cluster of fortified houses in the middle of Ghazaliya, a flashpoint for clashes between Sunni and Shiite gunmen. It’s garrisoned by C Company, 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry. The Americans stuck there are already calling it The Alamo.

“I’m a juicy target they [the insurgents] are just trying to figure out,” said Capt. Erik Peterson, 29, the commander at the outpost.

During the week, the soldiers also received their first glimpse of the green Iraqi forces who will share the mission and eventually, they hoped, take it over. The soldiers talked about them with a mixture of bemusement, disdain and mistrust.

“You could talk about partnership, but you would be lying,” said one soldier who asked that his name not be used, for fear of punishment by his superiors.

The idea is pacification in place, or a lockdown starting with the Sunni areas of western Baghdad. The new operation will be difficult, according to an analysis by Robert Pelton on IraqSlogger, “since the insurgents can simply go dark, patiently waiting for the operation to end.” If insurgents attack the small fortified outposts, our forces can call in air strikes and artillery fire– with results already seen in places like Fallujah.

General Petraeus gave the Senate Armed Services Committee an honest assessment of what’s coming:

“The situation in Iraq is dire. The stakes are high. There are no easy choices. The way ahead will be very hard.”

If Petraeus is successful, then America will be trying to keep a lid on the Iraqi civil war (at least in Baghdad and its suburbs). How long can we do this? The Pentagon says the cost of occupying Iraq will soon reach $8.4 billion a month. Eventually our soldiers will go, and the Iraqis will resume fighting right where they left off.

This entry was posted Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Iraq, This Blog, War. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.