http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/pentagon-admits-plan-for-baghdad-has-failed /2006/10/20/1160851142236.html
Pentagon admits plan for Baghdad has failed THE Pentagon has admitted defeat in its strategy of securing Baghdad, deepening the sense that the US is trapped in an unwinnable war and further damaging Republican chances in congressional elections next month. A surge in sectarian killings has forced the Pentagon to review its entire security plan for the capital, Major-General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said on Thursday. "The violence is, indeed, disheartening," he said. The US has sent 12,000 additional US and Iraqi troops into Baghdad since August only to see a 22 per cent increase in attacks since the beginning of Ramadan on September 24. "Operation Together Forward has . has not met our overall expectations in sustaining a reduction in the level of violence," General Caldwell said. Civilians continue to suffer waves of attacks. On Thursday, 10 co-ordinated attacks erupting at 20-minute intervals in the northern city of Mosul killed at least 15. In Kirkuk, two suicide attacks killed a total of 18 people, while in Khalis, in Diyala province, a bomb in a crowded market killed 17. The US President, George Bush, acknowledged on Wednesday that the US may have arrived at a turning point in this war - comparing it to North Vietnam's Tet offensive that led to a massive loss of confidence in the US presence in Vietnam in 1968. Such comparisons had been fiercely resisted by the White House, which has insisted that the US would succeed in bringing stability to Iraq and democracy to the Middle East. Mr Bush's admission came during one of the deadliest months for US forces since the invasion. On Thursday the number of US troops killed in October rose to 74. US forces now lose an average of four soldiers a day and are on course to lose more this month than in any month since the battle of Falluja in November 2004. General Caldwell's blunt critique came as a United Nations document revealed that the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has instructed the Health Ministry to stop providing mortality figures to the UN, jeopardising a key source of information on the number of civilian war dead in Iraq. A confidential cable from the UN's top official in Baghdad, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, said Mr Maliki was seeking to exercise greater control over the release of the politically sensitive death toll. Mr Qazi warned that UN human rights workers would have "no guaranteed means to corroborate" figures provided by the Iraqi Government. Iraq's acting UN ambassador, Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi, said he was unaware of his Government's decision. The grim news from Baghdad coincides with reports that a study group led by a Bush family loyalist and former secretary of state, James Baker, could be drawing up an exit plan for US forces in Iraq. Such a strategy would once have been unthinkable for Mr Bush, who famously vowed to keep US forces in Iraq even if he was supported only by his wife, Laura, and dog, Barney. In more bad news for the President, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, showed that two-thirds of Americans disapproved of Mr Bush's handling of the war and 66 per cent said the war was going somewhat or very badly. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
