Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Int report: Al-Anbar out of U.S., Iraqi security forces control
Security
U.S. forces can neither crush the insurgency in western Iraq nor counter the rising popularity of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in the area, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing a secret Marine Corps intelligence report.
The five-page report, written in August, focuses on the largely Sunni Iraqi province of Al-Anbar. As of mid-November the problems remained the same, a senior U.S. intelligence official told the Post. "The fundamental questions of lack of control, growth of the insurgency and criminality" remain the same, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the report, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar," the Post reported.
The secret report was written by Marine Colonel Peter Devlin, asenior military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force in the region. According to the Post, it did not appear to have been shared with Iraq's military. The report describes Al-Qaeda in Iraq as the "dominate organization of influence" in the province, more important than local authorities, the Iraqi government and U.S. troops "in itsability to control the day-to-day life of the average Sunni."
The five-page report, written in August, focuses on the largely Sunni Iraqi province of Al-Anbar. As of mid-November the problems remained the same, a senior U.S. intelligence official told the Post. "The fundamental questions of lack of control, growth of the insurgency and criminality" remain the same, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the report, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar," the Post reported.
The secret report was written by Marine Colonel Peter Devlin, asenior military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force in the region. According to the Post, it did not appear to have been shared with Iraq's military. The report describes Al-Qaeda in Iraq as the "dominate organization of influence" in the province, more important than local authorities, the Iraqi government and U.S. troops "in itsability to control the day-to-day life of the average Sunni."
