U.S., insurgents locked in stalemate in Anbar

[quaoar]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/12476559.htm

By Tom Lasseter
Knight Ridder Newspapers

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Insurgents in Anbar province, the center of guerrilla resistance in Iraq, have fought the U.S. military to a stalemate.

After repeated major combat offensives in Fallujah and Ramadi, and after losing hundreds of soldiers and Marines in Anbar during the past two years - including 75 since June 1 - many American officers and enlisted men assigned to Anbar have stopped talking about winning a military victory in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. Instead, they're trying to hold on to a handful of population centers and hit smaller towns in a series of quick-strike operations designed to disrupt insurgent activities temporarily.

"I don't think of this in terms of winning," said Col. Stephen Davis, who commands a task force of about 5,000 Marines in an area of some 24,000 square miles in the western portion of Anbar. Instead, he said, his Marines are fighting a war of attrition. "The frustrating part for the (American) audience, if you will, is they want finality. They want a fight for the town and in the end the guy with the white hat wins."

That's unlikely in Anbar, Davis said. He expects the insurgency to last for years, hitting American and Iraqi forces with quick ambushes, bombs and mines. Roadside bombs have hit vehicles Davis was riding in three times this year already.

[bemildred]

1. U.S., insurgents locked in stalemate in Anbar

FALLUJAH, Iraq - (KRT) - Insurgents in Anbar province, the center of guerrilla resistance in Iraq, have fought the U.S. military to a stalemate.

After repeated major combat offensives in Fallujah and Ramadi, and after losing hundreds of soldiers and Marines in Anbar during the past two years - including 75 since June 1 - many American officers and enlisted men assigned to Anbar have stopped talking about winning a military victory in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. Instead, they're trying to hold on to a handful of population centers and hit smaller towns in a series of quick-strike operations designed to disrupt insurgent activities temporarily.

"I don't think of this in terms of winning," said Col. Stephen Davis, who commands a task force of about 5,000 Marines in an area of some 24,000 square miles in the western portion of Anbar. Instead, he said, his Marines are fighting a war of attrition. "The frustrating part for the (American) audience, if you will, is they want finality. They want a fight for the town and in the end the guy with the white hat wins."

That's unlikely in Anbar, Davis said. He expects the insurgency to last for years, hitting American and Iraqi forces with quick ambushes, bombs and mines. Roadside bombs have hit vehicles Davis was riding in three times this year already.

SanLuisObispo.com(Knight Ridder)

[bemildred]

2. Mods. pls combine with quaoar's. nt

[Frederik]

3. "I don't think of this in terms of winning"

Says it all. Bring them home, now.

[rodeodance]

7. whow --what a statement!!

[William Bloode]

8. That does speak volumes.

It show moral is very bad, and they are loosing hope, if they have not lost it already.

[rzemanfl]

4. "Strategic hamlets!" I've seen this fucking movie before, it ends

with: we lose, then have rampant inflation followed by astronomical interest rates and foreclosures up the wazoo. Viet Nam redux.

[quaoar]

9. The title of the movie is

Apocalypse Deja Vu

[NYC]

5. Permawar.

...5,000 Marines in an area of some 24,000 square miles...

...He expects the insurgency to last for years...

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. "for the (American) audience"

That's right, it's chimp andd the freepers who insist on "finishing the job"

[bribri16]

6. Those damn unpatriotic, non-troop-supporting military officers!

Maybe Mr. Qualls will challenge one of them to a debate?

[quaoar]

11. I'm sure that none of them

will be invited to join the American Legion.

[IndianaGreen]

12. "But look at Vietnam. We killed millions, and they kept coming"

"If it were just killing people that would win this, it'd be easy," said Marine Maj. Nicholas Visconti, 35, of Brookfield, Conn., who served in southern Iraq in 2003. "But look at Vietnam. We killed millions, and they kept coming. It's a war of attrition. They're not trying to win. It's just like in Vietnam. They won a long, protracted fight that the American public did not
have the stomach for. ... Killing people is not the answer; rebuilding the cities is."

There is another analogy to Vietnam: the grunts knew the war could not be won, and the Pentagon kept giving happy news!

[leftchick]

13. U.S., insurgents locked in stalemate ( Anbar Province )

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Insurgents in Anbar province, the center of guerrilla resistance in Iraq, have fought the U.S. military to a stalemate.


After repeated major combat offensives in Fallujah and Ramadi, and after losing hundreds of soldiers and Marines in Anbar during the past two years - including 75 since June 1 - many American officers and enlisted men assigned to Anbar have stopped talking about winning a military victory in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. Instead, they're trying to hold on to a handful of population centers and hit smaller towns in a series of quick-strike operations designed to disrupt insurgent activities temporarily.


"I don't think of this in terms of winning," said Col. Stephen Davis, who commands a task force of about 5,000 Marines in an area of some 24,000 square miles in the western portion of Anbar. Instead, he said, his Marines are fighting a war of attrition. "The frustrating part for the (American) audience, if you will, is they want finality. They want a fight for the town and in the end the guy with the white hat wins."


That's unlikely in Anbar, Davis said. He expects the insurgency to last for years, hitting American and Iraqi forces with quick ambushes, bombs and mines. Roadside bombs have hit vehicles Davis was riding in three times this year already.


"We understand counter-insurgency ... we paid for these lessons in blood in Vietnam," Davis said. "You'll get killed on a nice day when everything is quiet."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/12476559.htm

[leftchick]

14. The Marines are comparing it to Vietnam...

<snip>

"If it were just killing people that would win this, it'd be easy," said Marine Maj. Nicholas Visconti, 35, of Brookfield, Conn., who served in southern Iraq in 2003. "But look at Vietnam. We killed millions, and they kept coming. It's a war of attrition. They're not trying to win. It's just like in Vietnam. They won a long, protracted fight that the American public did not have the stomach for. ... Killing people is not the answer; rebuilding the cities is."


Minutes after he spoke, two mortar rounds flew over the building where he's based in Hit. Visconti didn't flinch as the explosions rang out.

[Binka]

18. Ben is Going To Ramadi in9 Days

Stay safe Baby. Come on home to your loving Mom OK?

:cry:

[bemildred]

15. It's a dupe LC, I duped it too. nt

[leftchick]

19. thanks

too late. I hate when that happens.

[geckosfeet]

16. The theocon administration lied to get us in there.

I don't think the anyone has any doubt that Americans have the stomach to do whatever needs to be done. Whats hard to stomach is the lies that we have been fed. Destroying a centuries old country, deposing its dictator then stealing their countries natural resources was not on the countries to do list until the Theocons put it there.

To make this story more sordid, our leaders lied again and again to put a face on their plan to fatten their corporate cronies that America would be able to stomach, at least till the damage was done. They used fear and appealed to a base sense of superiority and cultural righteousness to cow the country and cause us to pause in confusion just long enough for them to land 200,000 troops in the middle east.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

17. I think most US soldiers have given up on "war" & want to come home now.

Who can blame them, they want to survive and get away from the idiot's war in one piece. What a waste of life and money.