Together Forward
A few military officials are confident their new plan to win the battle for Baghdad will succeed. Those officials say they've learned some hard lessons from Operation Together Forward the most recent unsuccessful offensives to secure Baghdad.
Operation Together Forward was highly touted, when it was announced last summer. Within just a few months, this highly touted joint U.S.-Iraqi plan to take back Baghdad, was an acknowledged failure.
Major General William Caldwell acknowledged; “Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence.”
Despite committing close to 10,000 additional U.S. troops, including a Stryker brigade moved to Baghdad instead of being sent home, violence in the Iraqi capital only got worse. U.S. commanders concede the flaws in the Together Forward plan were: too few Iraqi troops to keep the peace after U.S. forces did the heavy fighting, and too much focus on the Sunni insurgents while ignoring Shia death squads.
The top ground commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno said: "We overestimated the availability of Iraqi security forces. We were able to clear areas, but we were not able to hold the areas. This time our troops will have a more balanced approach, going after both Sunni and Shia extremists. And U.S. troops will stay to protect the people.” General Odierno told reporters recently that he thought the U.S. would have to be there for several more years.
Frederick Kagan is an outside adviser that Bush has been listening to. Kagan predicts it's going to have to be at least 18 months and says: “We're talking about a longer-term operation where we stay in the neighborhoods that we've cleared, partnered with Iraqi units. It's a very different concept than Together Forward.”
Why should Americans have any more faith in the predictions of Frederick Kagan or any other carefully selected outside military adviser?
Operation Together Forward was highly touted, when it was announced last summer. Within just a few months, this highly touted joint U.S.-Iraqi plan to take back Baghdad, was an acknowledged failure.
Major General William Caldwell acknowledged; “Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence.”
Despite committing close to 10,000 additional U.S. troops, including a Stryker brigade moved to Baghdad instead of being sent home, violence in the Iraqi capital only got worse. U.S. commanders concede the flaws in the Together Forward plan were: too few Iraqi troops to keep the peace after U.S. forces did the heavy fighting, and too much focus on the Sunni insurgents while ignoring Shia death squads.
The top ground commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno said: "We overestimated the availability of Iraqi security forces. We were able to clear areas, but we were not able to hold the areas. This time our troops will have a more balanced approach, going after both Sunni and Shia extremists. And U.S. troops will stay to protect the people.” General Odierno told reporters recently that he thought the U.S. would have to be there for several more years.
Frederick Kagan is an outside adviser that Bush has been listening to. Kagan predicts it's going to have to be at least 18 months and says: “We're talking about a longer-term operation where we stay in the neighborhoods that we've cleared, partnered with Iraqi units. It's a very different concept than Together Forward.”
Why should Americans have any more faith in the predictions of Frederick Kagan or any other carefully selected outside military adviser?
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