Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Thursday, July 10, 2008 8:29:00 PM
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.
A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.
Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.
Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.
Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.
American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.
Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.
“They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”
The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda’s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.
Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “We’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.”
Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”
Excellent reporting from the Sunday Times of London; something you won't see in American media. According to the American commander of northern forces in Iraq, we have reached a point of no return in success against al-Qaeda. For all the liberals here at home hiding under their desks so they don't have to report on progress in Iraq; this is what victory looks like.
It's time to tell your friends and families that amazing success in Iraq has been achieved. Our soldiers are on the virge of victory thanks to leaders who refused to retreat from our enemies in order to appease liberals back in the States. The Democrats' push for a Vietnam-like defeat failed miserably. That may have worked before, but not this time. Even Americans who have not been satisfied with the war in Iraq over the years refused to support retreat, and it has paid-off more so than we could have imagined at the time. The liberals failed, and American soldiers have sent the vast majority of al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters fleeing from Iraq.
The only way we could have lost Iraq would have been to see a victory for liberals and Democrats in America. It never happened, and for that I am thankful beyond description. Our military can achieve victory and complete any task, all we have to do is support their mission and allow them to do their jobs.