US general wants more troops for volatile province(Diyala)

[maddezmom]

US general wants more troops for volatile province
09 Mar 2007 18:13:52 GMT
Source: Reuters

Background
• Iraq in turmoil


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By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. commander for northern Iraq has asked for more troops to clamp down on insurgent attacks and sectarian violence in the volatile province of Diyala, he said on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said he had moved additional forces from his own area into Diyala and requested extra troops from elsewhere in the country from Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq.

"Could I use more forces in Diyala? No question about it and I'm in discussions about it with Gen. Odierno as he attempts to balance the requirements in Baghdad," Mixon told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Iraq.

Despite opposition from Democrats who want a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, President George W. Bush has already ordered more than 20,000 additional troops into battle, most of them to help stabilize Baghdad. There are currently about 140,000 U.S. troops in the country.

Religiously mixed Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, has witnessed some of the worst sectarian violence in Iraq between Shi'ites and Sunnis. A suicide bomber killed 30 people in a cafe in a town in Diyala on Wednesday.


more:http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09385699.htm

[genie_weenie]

1. Awesome. The Infinite Unending Surge Plan

Gee you Dummies can't you see the surge is working so well we need to make a surge of 40,000 troops every few months into Iraq part of the permanent strategy. Yeesh! You think you would give the infinite unending surge plan a chance???

[Eugene]

2. Meanwhile, 10 policemen missing after insurgent raid in Hibhib, Diyala

(Reuters)

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, March 9
09 Mar 2007 18:55:40 GMT
Source: Reuters

March 9 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1845 GMT
on Friday:

* indicates new or updated item

* HIBHIB - Ten Iraqi policemen were missing after insurgents attacked a police
station north of Baghdad, killing one policeman and wounding three more, a police
source said. The source said a group of insurgents stormed the police station
in Hibhib, in Diyala province.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09338891.htm

I'd say the Sunni insurgents have their own surge going.

[maddezmom]

3. Went missing?

deserted or kidnapped? :shrug:

[DeepModem Mom]

4. WP: General Seeks More Troops for Northern Iraq: Rise in attacks as forces focus on Baghdad

General Seeks More Troops for Northern Iraq
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 10, 2007; Page A14

The U.S. commander for northern Iraq called for reinforcements yesterday, citing a rise in sectarian attacks and other violence in his region as Iraqi and American forces focus on securing Baghdad.

Attacks have risen 30 percent recently in Diyala province, a mixed Sunni and Shiite region that extends from Baghdad to the Iranian border, as militia fighters and insurgents have flowed in from Baghdad and the Sunni stronghold of Anbar province, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon said yesterday.

Diyala's capital, Baqubah, is a "sectarian fault line," Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, said yesterday in Baghdad, calling the city "an area of concern right now."

Meanwhile, some U.S. ground commanders in Baghdad are predicting that U.S. troop levels in the Iraqi capital will have to remain elevated until at least the spring of 2008, in order to secure volatile neighborhoods and to prevent them from being reclaimed by insurgents. The comments are a further indication that Petraeus's counterinsurgency strategy is likely to lead to a longer, larger troop increase than Bush administration officials have predicted.

The Pentagon is deploying five Army brigades to Baghdad. Mixon said the need for more troops extends beyond Iraq's capital....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901972.html

[rodeodance]

5. Can we really kill them all---that is the plan isn't it??

[UpInArms]

6. U.S. general wants more troops for volatile province

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2938594

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. commander for northern Iraq has asked for more troops to clamp down on insurgent attacks and sectarian violence in the volatile province of Diyala, he said on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said he had moved additional forces from his own area into Diyala and requested extra troops from elsewhere in the country from Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq.

"Could I use more forces in Diyala? No question about it and I'm in discussions about it with Gen. Odierno as he attempts to balance the requirements in Baghdad," Mixon told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Iraq.

Despite opposition from Democrats who want a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, President George W. Bush has already ordered more than 20,000 additional troops into battle, most of them to help stabilize Baghdad. There are currently about 140,000 U.S. troops in the country.

...more...

[genie_weenie]

7. Surge! Surge! Surge!

Victory is right around the tunnel, the light is at the end of the corner. With maybe a few more hundred thousand troops victory can be "ours"...

[krispos42]

8. Call up the Brits

I understand they recently freed up some guys in Basra...

[dkofos]

9. Have they figured out what causes that yet??

Patraeus says we can't win and he wrote the book.

Time to tell the soldiers to pack up the gear and

COME HOME NOW!!