Iraqi military to take control of Anbar province

Great news! Importantly this is taking from the British approach in the south which has lead to them handing over all of their provinces to Iraqi security forces....something which in no short measure contibuted to the Shia ceasefire from the south which has gone on to save allied lives across the country.

From an early stage the British approach was not to carry Iraq but to ween it. The insurgency was an Iraqi problem that Iraqis should deal with. The British saw their goal as training the ISF and being able to handover - at the same time the US forces went with the surge. As violence erupted elsewhere the British, not without hitting potholes along the way, were handing over provinces ASAP, seeing it as an Iraqi problem to be dealt with by Iraqis as soon as possible. When Petraeus gave his assessment last September even the architect of the surge accepted an emphasis should now be put on training and progressively handing responsibility back to the Iraqis - exactly what the British forces in the south had been doing; an antithesis of the surge.

It is not to score hits on which strategy was best: the important thing to draw is that Iraqis through the ISF forces are now beginning to take responsibility for themselves. A government has been set up, the absence of WMDs accepted and Saddam Hussein vanquished.

Surely the time is right for identifying a window for our departure. Mission Accomplished? That could only be answered if we had known what the mission was, it changed with the seasons. Mission Finished: let's settle for that!

- Albionshores
- added 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)
Great news! Importantly this is taking from the British approach in the south which has lead to them handing over all of their provinces to Iraqi security forces....something which in no short measure contibuted to the Shia ceasefire from the south which has gone on to save allied lives across the country.

From an early stage the British approach was not to carry Iraq but to ween it. The insurgency was an Iraqi problem that Iraqis should deal with. The British saw their goal as training the ISF and being able to handover - at the same time the US forces went with the surge. As violence erupted elsewhere the British, not without hitting potholes along the way, were handing over provinces ASAP, seeing it as an Iraqi problem to be dealt with by Iraqis as soon as possible. When Petraeus gave his assessment last September even the architect of the surge accepted an emphasis should now be put on training and progressively handing responsibility back to the Iraqis - exactly what the British forces in the south had been doing; an antithesis of the surge.

It is not to score hits on which strategy was best: the important thing to draw is that Iraqis through the ISF forces are now beginning to take responsibility for themselves. A government has been set up, the absence of WMDs accepted and Saddam Hussein vanquished.

Surely the time is right for identifying a window for our departure. Mission Accomplished? That could only be answered if we had known what the mission was, it changed with the seasons. Mission Finished: let's settle for that!
- (0 Kudos received)
- DarkNemesis618
- added 2 months ago
@Albionshores definitely, this is what we need to see more and more of, let the Iraqi forces take control of Iraq and just have America there as consultants or the like...one step in an apparent right direction
- (0 Kudos received)