PDA

View Full Version : Conway says ‘surge’ won’t be in Anbar



thedrifter
01-09-07, 02:27 PM
January 15, 2007

Conway says ‘surge’ won’t be in Anbar

By Kimberly Johnson
Staff writer


Marines in western Iraq will not see a surge of U.S. troops into the region, the Corps’ top officer said while touring Anbar province in late December. But a key Republican lawmaker says Anbar is where troops need to go.

“I can only speak for what I’ve seen in Al Anbar,” Commandant Gen. James Conway said during a visit with Marines in Fallujah on Dec. 26, according to his spokesman. “I will say they could probably use a few more troops. I don’t think that a surge in a strict sense of putting a number of additional battalions in here is what they seem to need right now,” he said.

“If you look for the identifiable military objectives in Al Anbar that would justify a surge there, I don’t know if [commander of Multi-National Force-West Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer] could give one at this point,” Conway said.

The Marine chief’s comments come as President Bush prepares his new plan for Iraq, expected to come mid-January. One option Bush reportedly is considering is surging as many as 20,000 additional U.S. troops.


The number of troops sent to Iraq could be partially achieved by extending Regimental Combat Teams 5 and 7 already deployed in Anbar province, The New York Times reported Dec. 29. Military officials, however, would not comment.

“In terms of surging,” or going in to crush the enemy, “that’s not what it’s all about right now,” said Lt. Col. T.V. Johnson, explaining that Marines are finding the “slow and steady” approach in the province is working. “Tribal elders are turning our way,” he said.

That vision of progress isn’t shared by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is calling for troops to surge in Marine territory in western Iraq.

“I believe we can still win this war, and I believe we can do it by significant increase in troops,” McCain said in an NBC interview Jan. 4. “I believe if you leave, as some advocate, that chaos will ensue.”

McCain, who admitted he had not seen surge plans, called for up to 30,000 more troops. “I would advocate two additional combat brigades in Anbar province, four in Baghdad with one in reserve. That’s around [30,000],” he said.

“To make it of a short duration and small size would be the worst of all options to exercise, in my view,” he said.

Adding troops to the war won’t accomplish anything without a comprehensive plan to establish security in Iraq, said Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Sending more troops to win temporary tactical victories — including adding a few brigades or regimental combat teams in Anbar province — without broader plans for political reconciliation, economic aid, or developing security forces and reducing sectarian tensions within them “simply serves no purpose,” Cordesman said.

Surging could even backfire.

“It may well mean too few troops for too short a time to do more than ‘win’ temporary victories where the insurgents and militias are forced to remain quiet, disperse or shift their operations to other areas, but can easily outwait a temporary U.S. presence,” he wrote in a report released Jan. 4.

“This is a high-risk, extremely experimental process where you find out what you need by seeing the results of your actions,” Cordesman told Marine Corps Times. “All of these historical parallels break down when you get into the details. The truth is, nobody has done this before.”

Ellie