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Sen. John McCin defended Bush's Iraq plan on Friday as a diffuculbut necessary move, parting company with lawmakers questioning the wisdom of the military build up. "I believe that together these moves will give the Iraqis and Americans the best chance of success," said John McCain, R-Ariz.... McCain also took a shot at Democrats who say the United States must bring some troops home within four to six months. I believe these individauls have a responsibility to tell us what they believe are the consequences of such a move would be, including civil war, he said...

A Kurdish army brigade from northern Iraq is undergoing intensive urban combat training for deployment to Baghdad, where it expects to take on the Mahdi Army Shiite militia, its commander said Saturday. In the northern city of Irbil, Brig. Gen. Nazir Assem Korran, commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division of the Iraqi army, said "we will head to Baghdad soon. We have 3,000 soldiers who are currently undergoing intensive training especially in urban combat and how the army should act inside a city." Later in the day, al-Maliki issued his first comment on the new Bush administration plan...

Here come the Kurds.... It is my understanding that there are actually two Kurdish brigades and an additional Shiite brigade that will be brought in to help the additional US 'surge' troops attempt to pacify Baghdad. A good tactical decision to use Shiites to suppress the insurgent Sunnis, and now use the Kurds to pacify the Shiite militias. These Kurdish brigades are mostly Kurdish militia (the Peshmerga) who have been rewrapped as units of the Iraqi army. The Kurds need the moderate Shiites and a unified Iraq to protect them from Turkey. The moderate Shiites need the Kurds to protect...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2007 – A plus-up of Iraqi soldiers is a component of President Bush’s strategy to stabilize Iraq’s capital city and parts of western Iraq, senior U.S. military officials said during a Baghdad news conference today. After conferring with top administration officials and senior Iraqi authorities, Bush last week announced a temporary increase, or surge, of about 21,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines to help dampen sectarian and insurgent violence in Iraq’s capital city and parts of Anbar province in the western part of the country. “This plan is different in that there is a strong political commitment...

Petraeus Sees Tough Time for Troop Surge Tuesday January 23, 2007 3:46 PM By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army general who would carry out President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq urged patience Tuesday and predicted ``tough days'' ahead. ``None of this will be rapid,'' Lt. Gen. David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee. ``The way ahead will be neither quick nor easy.'' Many in Congress, including some Republicans, oppose Bush's plan, which would send an extra 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq as part of a revised strategy for quelling sectarian violence in Baghdad and...

Three interesting things have happened since President Bush announced plans to "surge" U.S. troops. First, al Qaida appears to be retreating from Baghdad. A military intelligence officer has confirmed to Richard Miniter, editor of Pajamas Media, a report in the Iraqi newspaper al Sabah that Abu Ayyub al Masri, the head of al Qaida in Iraq, has ordered a withdrawal to Diyala province, north and east of Baghdad. Mr. al Masri's evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al Qaida, because the Fallujah campaign demonstrating the Americans have learned how to prevail in house to...

Many Mehdi Army fighters have melted out of sight About 600 fighters and 16 leaders of the radical Shia militia, the Mehdi Army, have been captured by security forces in Iraq, the US military says. The statement said 52 operations had been conducted in 45 days targeting the militia, which is loyal to Najaf-based cleric Moqtada Sadr. Sunni extremists were also the focus of the crackdown, the US military said. US and Iraqi forces are currently preparing for a broad offensive in the strife-torn Iraqi capital Baghdad. Criminal activities by these individuals propagated instability within Iraq US military statement...

While the MSM and Democrats are too busy gazing at their navels to figure out the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, things are moving very fast in Iraq. The famous "surge" started in December, a month before it was announced in public, and it is having concrete results. A battle has taken place in Baghdad's infamous Haifa Street, which used to be bandit territory. The challenge is to hold that territory. El Sadr's Mahdi Army is offering a cease fire and negotiations for fear of an American-Iraq Army assault. The challenge is how to tie Muqtada el Sadr's hands by...

Iraq's parliament has voted to back Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's new drive to improve security in Baghdad. Mr Maliki said operations would be under Iraqi control with US troops acting in support. The key bloc of MPs allied to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - which had boycotted parliament for two months - gave its backing to the plan. The vote came as a massive car bomb killed at least 22 people in the Karrada district of Baghdad. Several explosions were also heard in and around the heavily-fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad. Earlier on Thursday, six people were killed...

A new security plan for Baghdad aimed at clearing the streets of all militias and insurgents will be "100 per cent Iraqi," with the US military in a supportive role, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki insisted Thursday. Al-Maliki told the Iraqi parliament that it was the first time an operation of this size would be under Iraqi command. "The role of the US-led coalition forces would be "backing the Iraqi forces," he said. According to al-Maliki, the new plan to disarm all insurgents and militias was not directed towards any specific Iraqi group as it "neither targets Shiites nor Sunnis,"...