Almost one week has passed since Operation Thunder (also referred to as Operation Lightning) was executed on the heels of New Market in Haditha and Matador on the Syrian Border. The purpose of Thunder is to secure Baghdad, then expand operations and the presence of Iraqi security forces into the Sunni Triangle. Evidence surfaces that Thunder is freeing up forces in other areas of Iraq to pursue the offensive, and perhaps expanding operations outside Baghdad.
South of Baghdad in the Triangle of Death, a region delineated by the towns of Yusufiyah, Latifiyah and Mahmudiyah, Coalition and Iraqi forces conduct a sweep and arrested 108 suspected insurgents. In Mosul, the Coalition bags a senior aide of Zarqawi, who is thought to be high in the command structure of the terrorist group Ansar al-Sunnah. There are excess U.S. forces to spare in Mosul as well.
Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday arrested Mullah Mahdi and five other suspected terrorists -- Mahdi's brother, three other Iraqis and a Syrian…This week, the U.S. military increased its numbers in the province to about 4,000 troops and began a sweep of the area, looking for insurgents who might be using the remote region as a staging ground for terror attacks across Iraq.
US Marines continue to patrol the so-called "No-Go zones" of the Sunni Triangle and Western Anbar province in a series of "ongoing operations". North of Fallujah, they uncovered a massive complex of terrorist bunkers and weapons depots.
American marines have discovered an elaborate series of underground bunkers used recently by insurgents in western Iraq, with heavy weapons, a kitchen and fresh food, furnished living quarters, showers and even a working air conditioner…The bunkers were fashioned from an old rock quarry north of the town of Karma, an insurgent stronghold in hostile Anbar Province that lies near the city of Falluja, just 35 miles west of Baghdad. The quarry measures about 546 feet by 883 feet, and the series of bunkers is the largest underground insurgent hideout to be discovered in at least the last year, if not during entire guerilla war… the military did not say exactly when the bunkers were discovered, but that the find came as part of "ongoing operations" being conducted in Anbar Province in the last three days. During those operations, troops with the Second Marine Division located about 50 weapons and ammunition caches.
In Western Iraq, a "U.S. Army force on an unrelated mission" attacked a home after coming under fire. After killing two Saudis, an Algerian and a Jordanian and arresting two Saudis and a Moroccan, the soldiers discovered the body of Raja Nawaf Farhan Mahalawi, the kidnapped governor of the Anbar province and "son of a top sheik of Anbar's leading Albu Mahal tribe." The tribe is displeased:
After the killing, the governor's family had asked U.S. military officials not to intervene if tribe members attacked hideouts of Arab fighters they believed were somehow involved, said one relative, Omar Farhan.
Al Qaeda: ever eager to win the hearts and minds of those they most depend on – the Sunni tribes.
Speaking of the Sunnis, a fair measure of the effectiveness of Operation Thunder can be taken by the words of the pro-insurgency Muslim Scholars Association.
"I appeal to every official here in Iraq to stop humiliating people and [end] the raiding campaign," Sheik Mahmoud al-Sumaidie said in the Um al-Qura mosque, which also is headquarters of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars.
Operation Thunder appears to be moving towards its desired goals of rounding up suspected insurgents, seizing weapons caches and bomb factories and freeing up American forces for operations elsewhere. Security within Baghdad (carbombs detonated) is still an unknown factor, and this will doubtlessly be the metric by which the success of the operation is judged.
Back in the first week of March, the Iraqi 40th Army Brigade assumed control of 10 neighborhoods in Iraq, that included Haifa street and Aadamiyah.
In the middle of April, the 6th Iraqi Army Division assumed control over the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, and the plan is to have the Iraqi 41st Army Brigade take over security for additional neighborhoods east of the Tigris, including Sadr city.
There appeared to be some belief that there was a goal to have Iraqi's providing security for all of Baghdad by December 2005.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_brigade_030705,00.html
My questions, which might require a degree of speculation, are whether or not that December 2005 goal is a legitimate benchmark the Coalition/Iraqi's are shooting for and whether it is attainable?
And finally, I wonder how/if Operation Lightning will have any affect on that (ie. expediating Iraqi's assuming control, etc).
This is an interesting development in Tall Afar.
In neighboring Nineveh province, local authorities, tribal leaders, police and U.S. military officials met and negotiated an agreement designed to halt a spate of fighting in the town of Tall Afar.
The scene of frequent clashes between insurgents and U.S. forces in the past two years, Tall Afar has recently been rocked by conflict between its Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim inhabitants. Sectarian strife has increased in Iraq since a Shiite-led government was installed at the end of April.
Nineveh's deputy governor, Khisro Goran, said after the negotiations that the assembled groups publicly acknowledged the presence of insurgents in the town and agreed that Shiites and Sunnis should not fight over religion. If the pact is not honored, Goran said, the only recourse would be a major incursion by security forces.
U.S., Iraqi Forces Find Huge Bunker Network
Mixed Humor,
Sorry for the delay. And for the weak answer. There just isn't enough data to know if the December 2005 goal is attainable. But as you mentioned, segments of Baghdad are slowing coming under IRaqi control (and some of the worst neighborhoods, too). I would guess that if the Dec 2005 goal is something that is being activily sought, then Thunder certainly was designed to help this along, as well as free up troops for ops in Anbar. It must be remembered that Baghdad will not be fully secured until the terrorist logistic lines are compromised.
The arab way is the way of the tribe, the clan. Any true peace in Iraq must be compatible with the clan. This is seen as corrupt in the west, but it is the way of the middle east and must be honored. Only a crazy fool would insist that the new country of Iraq should be built on the western secular model. Yet your news media will certainly declare Iraq a failure if it incorporates elements of Islam and elements of the clan.
The arab way is the way of the tribe, the clan. Any true peace in Iraq must be compatible with the clan
Or - the Arab world must outgrow a tribal focus that is incompatible with modernity.
Al Muhaj,
The arab way is the way of the tribe, the clan. Any true peace in Iraq must be compatible with the clan.
I agree with this. My hope is that clans and tribes will somehow provide the basis of an Arab democracy, perhaps at the local level. I don't know how this will come about, and it may be my hopes are the dreams of the ignorant, but it is nice to hear someone else say this.
Just as lightning flashes through a window. Love flashes through the heart.