The Army general in charge of day-to-day operations in Iraq said Friday that with all combat troops now in place that were deployed in the Bush administration’s buildup of forces, the U.S. military will more forcefully push a new offensive to root out insurgents in and around Baghdad.
Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno insisted the new push differs from previous assaults against guerrillas in the capital because the higher troop numbers will allow the U.S. and Iraqi military to occupy neighborhoods once they are cleared of insurgents and to protect civilians as the areas are rebuilt.
“With the amount of forces that we have now, we will be able to stay in these areas … where we’ve had either no or very little capability to do this previously,” he said from Iraq through a videoconference with reporters at the Pentagon.
Parts of the new offensive have been described by military officials as it got under way last week. By formally unveiling the overall strategy Friday, however, Odierno appeared to differentiate it from military actions taken over the previous four months. For the first time, he said, all forces devoted to the so-called surge were taking part in a coordinated offensive throughout Iraq’s midsection.
“We are beyond a surge of forces and we are now into a surge of operations,” Odierno said.
The new offensive, which will run throughout the summer, includes the highly publicized move of 10,000 U.S. troops into the northeastern province of Diyala and its capital, Baqouba, where sectarian violence has risen as insurgents fleeing Baghdad and western Anbar province have poured in. But Odierno said the operation now involves all 20 brigades in Iraq, including five brigades — about 17,500 soldiers — inside Baghdad and at least that many ringing the capital.
Odierno also suggested that the surge may need to be extended into spring. He noted that key to the operation’s success would be the ability of Iraqi forces to take over the task of securing and rebuilding Baghdad neighborhoods and said he did not believe they would be fully capable to perform those duties for several months.
“I think if everything goes the way it’s going now, there’s a potential that by the spring we would be able to reduce forces and Iraqi security forces could take over,” Odierno said, adding that only after such transitions would a decision be made on reducing U.S. troop levels.
Odierno suggested that though the rebuilding of some Baghdad neighborhoods already is under way, attempts to secure and normalize areas currently under assault are not likely to begin until August.
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