The surge in Iraq was only successful because they got the Sons of Iraq (Sunnis) on the payroll to stop al-Queda. They latter sold the Sons out,
to the Shiites.
The Sons of Iraq were on the payroll for months before the Surge even started, yet there was no decrease in violence. The Surge worked because the number of combat brigades on the ground was increased by 33%, from 15 to 20, and the brigades were then split up and deployed in cities, towns and villiages. Although spreading out the forces and basing them among the population initially made the smaller individual units more vulnerable, it allowed them to gain intelligence about insurgents more rapidly which helped them to clear their area's of insurgents and prevent their return.
As more insurgents were killed and captured, the insurgents moved operations from Baghdad and Al Anbar to provinces like Salah Ad-Din, and Diyala. Over time, these area's were also cleared, with the growing and improved Iraqi military moving into Baghdad and Al Anbar to hold and build up area's cleared by US forces that had moved north to pursue insurgents.
The remainder of the Sunni insurgent and Al Quada movements moved all the way north to Mosul eventually and there are still elements there to this day.
The Sons of Iraq helped with security in their neighborhoods and prevented them from becoming area's where insurgents could go to and hide as well as providing intelligence for coalition forces. But the main strategy of the surge, which was to "clear, hold, and build" multiple area's throughout Iraq as well as pursue insurgents where ever they went was conducted by the US and Iraqi military forces. Thats why the surge worked. The Sons of Iraq was an important element, but the bulk of the work and pursuit of insurgents was done by the US military and Iraqi military.
Here is a look at Iraqi casualties during the time period:
2006
July - 1,280 -
SONS of Iraq or Anbar Awakening begins
August - 2,966
September -
3,539
October - 1,539
November - 1,864
December - 1,752
2007
January - 1,802
February -
3,014 -
1st Surge units start to arrive in Iraq
March - 2,977
April - 1,821
May - 1,980 -
major Surge operations under way, more surge units still coming
June - 1,345
July - 1,690
August - 1,674
September - 848
October - 679
November -
560 -
Surge peaks with 175,000 US troops on ground in Iraq
December - 548
2008
January - 554
February - 674 -
Iraqi military offensive in south against Sadr militia
March - 980
April - 744
May - 506
June - 450
July - 419
August -
311 -
last surge units leave Iraq
September - 366
October - 288
November - 317
December - 320
2009
January - 187
February - 202
March - 278
April - 347
May - 188
June - 367
July - 240 -
last US forces still based in Iraqi cities leave
August - 439
September -
158 -
lowest monthly Iraqi casualties of entire war. Civilian murder rate in Iraq is now LOWER than the murder rate in the UNITED STATES
www.icasualties.org
This is just one of the metrics that demonstrates the huge success of the surge in Iraq. Proper counterinsurgency and nation building strategy and operations, if given enough time and resources, will succeed.
Today, Iraq has a standard of living equal to Morocco where U2 just recorded much of their NLOTH album. The civilian murder rate in Iraq is lower than the rate in the United States. Achieving this would not have been possible without the continued US military committment to Iraq when Democrats were calling for all combat brigades to be out of the country by March 2008. It would not have been possible without the Surge of US troops in Iraq as well as the counterinsurgency strategies that were used, and the continueing training and building of Iraqi security forces.
Admiral Mike Mullen VS Obama on the Surge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJbsQ7oUQWw
I'm hoping Obama has learned some things over the past year in office while working with the military. He needs to pay attention to the ground commander in Afghanistan, General McCrystal, as well as the CENTCOM commander General Patreus.
There is no way of occupying and holding Afghanistan.
Thats not actually true, but its also not the US objective in Afghanistan. The objective is to protect and build the Afghan government and security forces, so they can provide security and stability throughout the country without the need for foreign troops on the ground to help them.
The Soviets did not have to worry about public opinion or elections. Even with their full commitment they could not keep Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union NEVER made a "full committment" in Afghanistan. They only sent in 4 divisions from their Southern military district which had a total of 30. Total Soviet manpower levels on the ground were never greater than 115,000. The total number of divisions in the Soviet Army at the time was 213, although most were positioned in Western Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Total Soviet military manpower at the time was over 5 million on active duty, with millions more in the Reserves.
Winter helped the Russians we helped countries to the west of them.
