Thread: ‘Last gasp' of Iraq's violent extremists or new beginning?

Originally Posted by 1947

al queda may still keep attacking but i dont believe the people of iraq are to keen on visiting the atrocities they committed around 2006 /2007

There are so many variables to this, I can't even begin to describe what could/will happen in Iraq. First test will be after US pulls back to FOBs outside of the cities.

Make no mistake, this is about power and money for the Iraqis that are trying to run the country. My hope is that the Kurds get Kirkuk (they will, referendum or not), stay away from Baghdad and grow the Pesh strong enough to protect themselves. I see them as (more than already) significant future allies.

This withdrawal into cantonments is a mistake and I'd wish for once that everybody concerned would get out in front of this. If B. Obama has now received an appropriate wake-up call to the harsh realities of terrorists incarceration/rendition, may he also receive a pre-emptive bolt of lightning from God to his noggin' on this lil' pet project.

Iraq has CIVIL WAR written all over it. More so with each passing day. We're still the "big dog on the street" and the common denominator to fair play in an unfair Iraqi world.

Heaven help the airforce and log pukes left behind to continue the development of, oh, small matters like a sustainable and paid army and an air force that can someday again control it's skies-all projects years to a decade away.

Rude to say, Mr. President, but you're expected to lie about campaign promises to get elected and then sober to the harsh realities behind the veiled presidential screen once in office and apprised of the ground truths. It's all after-the-fact and reflecting the changed conditions since your campaign.

In this case, it would be utterly accurate to do so.

the US needs to be putting much more strings on what it gives out to the iraqis, now that the government has shown it has some control over the situation. i'm getting nervous about SoI integration- that absolutely has the potential to blow up if maliki continues to play sectarian games.

The insurgents are using every means in their fights. They have been using women suicide bombers. Now they are also using child and teenager bombers.

Insurgents use teenagers in attacks in Iraq

6 June BAGHDAD, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi insurgents have increasingly used teenagers in their attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

A military statement provided details about five teenagers between 14 to 19 who have been involved in grenade attacks and suicide bombings.

It said the teenage attackers are "part of a growing trend of children carrying out attacks on Iraqi security and U.S. forces" in Kirkuk province in northern Iraq.

In the town of Hawijah, some 30 km west of Kirkuk, a teenage boy was seen on Thursday throwing a grenade at a joint U.S. and Iraqi police patrol, but the grenade failed to detonate, the statement said.

Days earlier, two teenagers, aged between 14 to 16, separately attacked two joint patrols in the same town, one of the attackers was captured, the statement said.

The military also said that a boy possibly aged 14 was the driver in a suicide car bombing that killed five Iraqi policemen in oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Also in Kirkuk, a 19-year-old man was captured by Iraqi police while attempting to detonate his explosive vest at a Shiite mosque on May 1, it said.

Col. Hugh McNeely, the deputy commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based near Hawijah, said the "terrorists actively recruit them (teenagers) to risk their lives for goals that the child probably doesn't even understand." ...

The U.S. military frequently said that al-Qaida in Iraq network was recruiting children and women to carry out insurgent activities, including suicide bombings.

Al-Qaida organization uses female suicide bombers as Muslim women can not be body-searched by the male police according to Islamic culture and they could easily escape security frisking. Children could also easily pass the security checks because of their apparent innocence.

Mike Mullen insists the al Qaeda activites in Iraq have declined and their leadership may shilft from Iraq to Somalia. The pullout is on track.

Qaeda activities in Iraq down: top US army chief

6 June Al Qaeda's activities in Iraq have declined and the organization's leadership may shift from Iraq to Somalia, United States chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest position in U.S. military told the pan-Arab station Al Arabiya TV in the first exclusive interview with an Arab satellite station.

Despite the evident increase in violence in some parts of Iraq, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff assured Al Arabiya that al-Qaeda's presence has decreased in the country and insisted that the pullout of American forces from Iraq is on track.

"The U.S. military is committed to withdrawing from Iraqi cities at the end of this month according to the agreement reached with the Iraqi government," Mullen said in the interview that will be aired on Saturday at 16:00 GMT.

"Iraq's security forces are capable of meeting these security developments," Mulled added and said that the U.S. military and the Iraqi forces have collaborated on a "security plan" to ensure the upcoming transition.

Violence sparked by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has calmed since 2007 but since April, there has been a renewed spike in deadly attacks.

Baghdad recently enduring a series of deadly bombings targeting crowded civilian areas, making April the bloodiest month in Iraq since September, with 355 people killed.

However the bombings have raised doubts about security gains in Iraq and the ability of Iraqi security to contain the violence as insurgents have shown themselves capable of carrying out large-scale bombings. Yet both Iraq and the U.S. Iraq have insisted that they will stick to a deadline for American troops to withdraw from cities by June 30.

Mullen refuted these doubts and stressed that "the activity of al-Qaeda in Iraq is concentrated in Baghdad and Mosul," and that Iraqi security forces are able to deal with the remnants of the organization. ...