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2007.05.26 Iraq/Iran Roundup
See previous: 2007.05.25 Iraq/Iran Roundup
Below the fold (newest items at the top):
- White House Is Said to Debate ’08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50%
- A tortured silence
- The Free and the Brave
- 16 'directly related' to troop abduction held
- U.S. Raids Radical Anti-American Cleric's Baghdad Stronghold
- U.S. says suspected cell leader linked to Iran arrested
*** *** *** Fold (but please don't spindle or mutilate) *** *** ***
White House Is Said to Debate ’08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50%
By David E Sanger and David S Cloud
WASHINGTON, May 25 — The Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst of the internal debate. ...
The concepts call for a reduction in forces that could lower troop levels by the midst of the 2008 presidential election to roughly 100,000, from about 146,000, the latest available figure, which the military reported on May 1. They would also greatly scale back the mission that President Bush set for the American military when he ordered it in January to win back control of Baghdad and Anbar Province.
The mission would instead focus on the training of Iraqi troops and fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, while removing Americans from many of the counterinsurgency efforts inside Baghdad.
Still, there is no indication that Mr. Bush is preparing to call an early end to the current troop increase, and one reason officials are talking about their long-range strategy may be to blunt pressure from members of Congress, including some Republicans, who are pushing for a more rapid troop reduction.
The officials declined to be quoted for attribution because they were discussing internal deliberations that they expected to evolve over several months.
Officials say proponents of reducing the troops and scaling back their mission next year appear to include Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They have been joined by generals at the Pentagon and elsewhere who have long been skeptical that the Iraqi government would use the opportunity created by the troop increase to reach genuine political accommodations. ...
Allahpundit and Ed Morrissey have thoughts here and here.
Don Surber puts it in perspective: Recycled news
A tortured silence
Don Surber
Not to be a one-trick pony about this, but two days have passed since the Smoking Gun broke the story and the major newspaper have yet to pick up on it.
The story: MAY 24–In a recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like “blowtorch to the skin” and “eye removal.” Along with the images, which you’ll find on the following pages, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters.
Hmm. That seems newsworthy to me.
But search the Washington Post for “torture” and all you get are allegations about the United States: ...
Search the New York Times for “torture” and all you get are allegations about the United States: ...
Search the Los Angeles Times for “torture” and all you get are allegations about the United States: ...
Al-Qaida torture? Never heard of it.
It is the same with U.S. fatalities. ...
Read the whole thing, and don't miss these older posts I should have linked to earlier:
The Free and the Brave
Greyhawk
Over in America, home of the free
Land of unlimited opportunity
People in the streets protest whatever they can
While over in Iraq and Afghanistan
The brave, far from home, are standing tall
toeing the line, so they can have it all
Some like to complicate it but it's simple to me
They're making noise, we're making history ...
16 'directly related' to troop abduction held
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi troops have detained 16 people they say are "directly related to the attack" on May 12 in which three U.S. soldiers were apparently abducted, a U.S. military official said.
The three men disappeared after insurgents attacked a U.S. military observation post in the Mahmoudiya area, in a stretch known as the Triangle of Death.
Four American soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were found dead at the scene of the ambush.
The body of one of the three missing soldiers was found floating in the Euphrates River on Wednesday.
An intense search continues near the river for the other two men, Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Michigan.
Troops have detained scores of people during the two-week hunt, and have released all but 100, who remain in U.S. and Iraqi custody.
On Friday, hundreds of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment Stryker Battalion, searched fish farms in a swampy area 11 miles south of Yusufiya, the military said.
They found 14 weapons caches and 3,000 pounds of explosives and ammunition, much of it buried in 55-gallon drums, the military said. The fish farms were not operational. Two main canals feed into the area.
Elements of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment and Iraqi soldiers searched along the Euphrates River on Friday, two miles south of where the attack took place, the military said.
The location may have been a crossing point to transport the missing soldiers from one side of the river to the other, the military said. ...
U.S. Raids Radical Anti-American Cleric's Baghdad Stronghold
BAGHDAD — A day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resurfaced to end nearly four months in hiding and demand U.S. troops leave Iraq, American forces raided his Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes Saturday.
U.S. and Iraqi forces called in the air strikes after a raid in which they captured a "suspected terrorist cell leader," the U.S. military said in statement.
The statement claimed the captured man was "the suspected leader in a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training."
EFP's are deadly roadside bombs that hurl a fist-size slug of molten copper that penetrates armor, a weapon that has been highly effective against American forces over the past year.
The militia fighters were killed in air strikes on nine cars that were seen positioning themselves to attack American forces after the raid, the military said. ...
U.S. says suspected cell leader linked to Iran arrested
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi and coalition forces killed five suspected terrorists in raids in Baghdad on Saturday and detained a "suspected terrorist cell leader" who is linked to Iran's weapons and training network, the U.S. military said.
The capital's Sadr City was raided after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr made his first public appearance in four months on Friday, leading prayers at the mosque in the holy Shiite city of Kufa.
Sadr City, a densely populated Shiite neighborhood, is a stronghold of his Mehdi Army militia.
The cleric, thought to have been in Iran in recent months, reiterated the need for a foreign troop withdrawal timetable, ordered his militia members to refrain from fighting Iraqi security forces and reached out to Sunnis, who have been locked in bloody sectarian struggles with Shiites in Iraq.
The person arrested on Saturday in Sadr City, according to the U.S. military, was suspected leader of a terrorist cell "known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training."
After the arrest, the military said nine vehicles moved into the area and positioned themselves to "block and ambush Iraqi and coalition forces."
Iraqi and coalition forces called in an airstrike. All nine vehicles fought and five terrorist suspects were killed, the military said. ...
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