thedrifter
11-28-06, 08:16 AM
Unable to win in west Iraq, Marines say
Thomas Ricks, Washington
November 29, 2006
THE US military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report.
"The fundamental questions of lack of control, growth of the insurgency and criminality" remain the same in the troubled Anbar province, a senior US intelligence official said.
The report describes Iraq's Sunni minority as "embroiled in a daily fight for survival", fearful of "pogroms" by the Shiite majority and increasingly dependent on al-Qaeda in Iraq as its only hope against growing Iranian dominance across Baghdad.
"From the Sunni perspective, their greatest fears have been realised — Iran controls Baghdad and Anbaris have been marginalised," the report says. Moreover, most Sunnis now believe it would be unwise to count on or help US forces because they are seen as likely to leave Iraq before imposing stability.
Between al-Qaeda's violence, Iran's influence and an expected gradual US withdrawal, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that US and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar". At least 90 US troops have died in Anbar since September 1.
The report paints a stark portrait of a failed province and of the country's Sunnis — once dominant under Saddam Hussein — now desperate, fearful and impoverished. They have been increasingly abandoned by religious and political leaders who have been assassinated or who have fled the country.
And unlike Iraq's Shiite majority or Kurdish groups in the north, the Sunnis are without oil and other natural resources. The report notes that illicit oil trading is providing millions of dollars to al-Qaeda while "official profits appear to feed Shiite cronyism in Baghdad".
The Iraqi Government, dominated by Iranian-backed Shiites, has not paid salaries for Anbar officials and Iraqi forces stationed there. Anbar's resources and its ability to impose order are depicted as limited, at best.
"Despite the success of the December elections, nearly all Government institutions from the village to provincial levels have disintegrated or have been thoroughly corrupted and infiltrated by al-Qaeda in Iraq," or a smattering of other insurgent groups, the report says.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said this week that Iran would do whatever it could to help provide security to Iraq amid warnings the country was on the brink of civil war.
Mr Ahmadinejad made his pledge to help Iraq at the start of a visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
"The Iranian nation and Government will definitely stand beside their brother, Iraq," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
The five-page US Marines report — written by Colonel Peter Devlin, a senior and seasoned military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force — is marked secret, for dissemination to US and allied troops in Iraq only.
The report, State of the Insurgency in al-Anbar, focuses on conditions in the province that is home to 1.25 million Iraqis.
Colonel Devlin describes al-Qaeda in Iraq as the "dominate organisation of influence in al-Anbar", surpassing all other groups, the Iraqi Government and US troops "in its ability to control the day-to-day life of the average Sunni". WASHINGTON POST
Hezbollah training Baghdad militia
A SENIOR American intelligence official says the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia based in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
The official said that between 1000 and 2000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militia groups from Iraq had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon, mostly in small groups. The US official said that a small number of Hezbollah operatives had also visited Iraq to help with training there.
Iran had helped with the links, the official said, and Syrian officials had also co-operated, though there was debate among intelligence officials about whether it had the blessing of Syria's senior leadership.
Ellie
Thomas Ricks, Washington
November 29, 2006
THE US military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report.
"The fundamental questions of lack of control, growth of the insurgency and criminality" remain the same in the troubled Anbar province, a senior US intelligence official said.
The report describes Iraq's Sunni minority as "embroiled in a daily fight for survival", fearful of "pogroms" by the Shiite majority and increasingly dependent on al-Qaeda in Iraq as its only hope against growing Iranian dominance across Baghdad.
"From the Sunni perspective, their greatest fears have been realised — Iran controls Baghdad and Anbaris have been marginalised," the report says. Moreover, most Sunnis now believe it would be unwise to count on or help US forces because they are seen as likely to leave Iraq before imposing stability.
Between al-Qaeda's violence, Iran's influence and an expected gradual US withdrawal, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that US and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar". At least 90 US troops have died in Anbar since September 1.
The report paints a stark portrait of a failed province and of the country's Sunnis — once dominant under Saddam Hussein — now desperate, fearful and impoverished. They have been increasingly abandoned by religious and political leaders who have been assassinated or who have fled the country.
And unlike Iraq's Shiite majority or Kurdish groups in the north, the Sunnis are without oil and other natural resources. The report notes that illicit oil trading is providing millions of dollars to al-Qaeda while "official profits appear to feed Shiite cronyism in Baghdad".
The Iraqi Government, dominated by Iranian-backed Shiites, has not paid salaries for Anbar officials and Iraqi forces stationed there. Anbar's resources and its ability to impose order are depicted as limited, at best.
"Despite the success of the December elections, nearly all Government institutions from the village to provincial levels have disintegrated or have been thoroughly corrupted and infiltrated by al-Qaeda in Iraq," or a smattering of other insurgent groups, the report says.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said this week that Iran would do whatever it could to help provide security to Iraq amid warnings the country was on the brink of civil war.
Mr Ahmadinejad made his pledge to help Iraq at the start of a visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
"The Iranian nation and Government will definitely stand beside their brother, Iraq," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
The five-page US Marines report — written by Colonel Peter Devlin, a senior and seasoned military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force — is marked secret, for dissemination to US and allied troops in Iraq only.
The report, State of the Insurgency in al-Anbar, focuses on conditions in the province that is home to 1.25 million Iraqis.
Colonel Devlin describes al-Qaeda in Iraq as the "dominate organisation of influence in al-Anbar", surpassing all other groups, the Iraqi Government and US troops "in its ability to control the day-to-day life of the average Sunni". WASHINGTON POST
Hezbollah training Baghdad militia
A SENIOR American intelligence official says the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia based in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
The official said that between 1000 and 2000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militia groups from Iraq had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon, mostly in small groups. The US official said that a small number of Hezbollah operatives had also visited Iraq to help with training there.
Iran had helped with the links, the official said, and Syrian officials had also co-operated, though there was debate among intelligence officials about whether it had the blessing of Syria's senior leadership.
Ellie