Troops leaving Iraqi cities

The U.S. military in Iraq is abandoning – deliberately and with little public notice – a centerpiece of the widely acclaimed strategy it adopted nearly two years ago to turn the tide against the insurgency.

Now the Americans are reversing direction, consolidating in larger bases outside the cities and leaving security in the hands of the Iraqis while remaining within reach to respond as the Iraqi forces require.

They’re moving to places like LSA Anaconda (now called Joint Base Balad), a place I wrote about here.  Permanent duty station, here we come!

Fantasy conversation in my head between a new Army recruit and their recruiter:

Recruiter:  “You have a few choices of permanent duty station, please pick two:  Landstuhl in Germany, Osan Air Base in South Korea, or Joint Base Balad in Iraq.  You choose.”

Recruit:  “hmmm…  they all have Burger King’s.  Tough choice.”

Regardless, it’s nice to FINALLY receive news that troops are pulling out of outlaying Iraqi towns and cities and moving back to garrisons in a relatively peaceful fashion.

Oh, and P.S.:  Afghanistan here we come.

The shift is not explicitly linked to U.S. plans for increasing its military presence in Afghanistan, but there is an important connection: The logistical resources needed to house and supply a larger and more distributed U.S. force in Afghanistan have been tied up in Iraq. To some extent that will be relieved with the consolidation of U.S. forces in Iraq onto larger, outlying bases that are easier to maintain.

The U.S. military is investigating a report that an airstrike that occured last Monday, November 3rd, hit a wedding party killing nearly three dozen innocent Afghan people.

The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karza, responds:

“This is my first demand of the new president of the United States — to put an end to civilian casualties,”

I’m sure he’ll get right on that.

It’s something we’ve suspected all along and finally we have confirmation that Iran has been supplying militants across the Middle East including Lebanon and Iraq:

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran is supplying weapons to “liberation armies” in the Middle East, a top Revolutionary Guards commander said, offering the first official confirmation the country provides weapons to armed groups in the region.

Gen. Hossein Hamedani, deputy commander of a volunteer militia that is part of the elite Revolutionary Guards, did not provide specific details in the report on the state-run Borna news. The U.S. military has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias in Iraq, and Iran is widely believed to provide weapons to Lebanon’s militant Shiite Hezbollah group.

“Not only are our armed forces self-sufficient, liberation armies of the region get part of their weapons from us,” Hamedani said, according to the report on Borna’s Web site late Sunday.

In the past, Iran – a majority Shiite country – has denied arming Hezbollah, saying it only provided political and financial support. The Iranian government has also denied providing weapons or financial support to Shiite militants fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

But the U.S. military has said it has evidence that elements of the Mahdi army, an Iraqi militia loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have been armed by Iran.

Next on Americas “to do” list is a cross border Iranian raid.