Posted on 05/11/2007 10:48:59 AM PDT by ASC2006
The U.S. commander in northern Iraq said Friday that he doesn't have enough troops for the mission in increasingly violent Diyala province.
Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon also said that Iraqi government officials are not moving fast enough to provide the "most powerful weapon" against insurgents - a government that works and supplies services for the people.
Mixon commands the area that includes Diyala province, north of Baghdad. It was a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency before the start of the Baghdad security crackdown and has worsened since militants fled there to avoid the increased U.S.-led operations started in the capital in February.
"I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala province to get that security situation moving," Mixon said. "We have plans to put additional forces in that region."
He declined to give details but said he has asked Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, for more forces.
"I laid out a plan for General Odierno on the numbers of forces that I would need," Mixon told Pentagon reporters by video conference from Iraq. "We have made progress ... we have taken terrain back from the enemy. General Odierno intends to give me additional forces as they become available."
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Is it wise to tell the terrorists exactly where a weak spot is?
I don’t understand why this is allowed to be made public the way it is.
The enemy already knows, that’s why he is there.
“Is it wise to tell the terrorists exactly where a weak spot is?”
NYT calls it baiting
Is this the Northern Command with the Kurds? Wasn’t this a pretty peaceful area before a recent report of Turkey now attacking the area?
Diyala is north of Baghdad, but not Kurdish area. The Kurdish area is the most northern three provinces of Iraq.
Then Diyala will never get extra troops because the suicide bombers coming into Baghdad are being equipped and sent from Diyala.
We need to start building tribal ERUs in Diyala.
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