Top Pentagon officials to update Iraq progress

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=3524906

Top Pentagon officials to update Iraq progress

PENTAGON Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General George Casey, the commander of U-S troops in Iraq, meet with reporters later today to deliver a progress report on military operations in Iraq.

The briefing comes on the eve of the first anniversary of the transfer of power from the U-S led Coalition Provisional Authority to an interim Iraqi government. And it comes one day after Rumsfeld confirmed that Iraqi leaders have held informal meetings with people connected to the less violent elements of the Iraqi insurgency.

A Pentagon spokesman says the meetings are "a concerted effort to reach out broadly to the varying groups in Iraq" and they are consistent with the goal of creating "an inclusive, not an exclusive government" there.

<</SNIP>>

[Roland99]

1. Who here just *loves* having smoke blown up their ass?

[swag]

2. They must think they finally got their story straight.

[saigon68]

3. The progress in Hue is great-- OOPS WRONG WAR

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. And we've halted their major supply route along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

[maddezmom]

4. Casey: insurgents are responsible for 450 to 500 attacks a week

Pentagon Stresses Political Action in Iraq

Tuesday June 28, 2005 1:16 PM


AP Photo DCHG103

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top U.S. military officials are increasingly emphasizing political solutions rather than military ones to Iraq's insurgency, a shift acknowledging the difficulty they and the Iraqi government face in stopping the violence.

Gen. George Casey, the U.S. commander of the multinational coalition in Iraq, told reporters on Monday that the worst-case estimate of the size of the Iraqi insurgency is less than one-10th of 1 percent of the country's population - that is, a top end of 26,000 people supporting the insurgency.

The insurgents are responsible for 450 to 500 attacks a week around the country, Casey said during a Pentagon press conference. It's a pace on the level with much of last year, although officials reject any notion the fight has become a quagmire.

The violence has done away with much of the euphoria that arose after the Jan. 30 elections. While attacks ebbed for a time, they have since increased. That has military leaders now offering sober assessments of the insurgency, even as the Bush administration this week marks a year of Iraqi sovereignty by trying to highlight progress there.

more:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5103932,00.html