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Pulse Taken

USMC Vietnam vet, former asst secdef, counterinsurgency scholar and Dot homeboy Bing West, back from Anbar and Baghdad with some pointed observations and practical advice at Small Wars Journal. Here’s the quick regional roundup:   

1. In the South the U.S. is doing little. The energy sector funnels billions to corrupt officials, criminals, militias and insurgents. The Brits weren’t able to impose control. The hope is that the south remains a long-term mafia-type mess, and does not spill north to Baghdad.

2. In Anbar about 60% of the tribes are tilting toward the Marines and fighting the al-Qaeda types. Police ranks are swelling with tribal members. Anbar is improving, but how the Sunni tribes will work with the Iraqi Army, let alone the central government, is moot.

Prognosis for the next six months: Progress but no breakthroughs. The central government has to woo the sheiks and offer terms, figure out how police chiefs and Iraqi army commanders share power in the cities, and crack down on the insurgents captured in Anbar (put them away for life). Jails in Anbar are filling up, and the central government is not stepping up.

3. In Baghdad, as the Shiite ethnic cleansing advances, the front lines are easily marked by the blocks of abandoned houses. Checking the cleansing can be done by military means – barriers, patrols and the like. The Americans are likely to stop this and turn around the trend.

Read the rest here.

Topics: Iraq, military

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:14 am Comments (3) on Sunday, March 4, 2007

3 Responses to “Pulse Taken”

1. good information from Iraq at infotainment rules Says:
   March 4th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

   [...] Read the rest here. (via Jules Crittenden, who describes Bing West thus: USMC Vietnam vet, former asst secdef, counterinsurgency scholar and Dot homeboy [...]

2. Old War Dogs Says:
   March 4th, 2007 at 6:06 pm

   Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.04

   Some Bill’s Bites posts, some things I excerpted and linked but I’m sending you to the original post. I may rearrange the order of the items within this post as I add new things that I think belong above the

3. Bill's Bites Says:
   March 4th, 2007 at 6:08 pm

   Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.04

   Just read ‘em. Maybe I’ll find time to do more with ‘em later. (And some things that are too short to excerpt and too good to not mention.) Please feel free to use this post for comments and trackbacks not

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