May 05, 2008

Increased Casualties are Result of Fighting Mahdi Army

Uh Duh! Michael Yon points out that taking the fight to Jaysh al-Mahdi is the resaon behind increased U.S, casualties for the month of April.

Via NY Daily News: April saw 49 U.S. casualties in Iraq, the highest total in seven months. Does this mean, as some insist, that the enormous progress we have made since the start of the military surge is being lost?

As one who has spent nearly two years with American soldiers and Marines and British Army troops in Iraq - having returned from my last trip a month ago - here's my short answer: no.

We are taking more casualties now, just as we did in the first part of 2007, because we have taken up the next crucial challenge of this war: confronting the Shia militias.

In early 2007, under the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, we began to wage an effective counterinsurgency campaign against the reign of terror Al Qaeda in Iraq had established over much of the midsection of the country. That campaign, which moved many of our troops off of big centralized bases and out into small neighborhood outposts, carried real risks.

In every one of the first eight months of 2007, we lost more soldiers than we had the previous year. Only as the campaign bore fruit - in the form of Iraqi citizens working with American soldiers on a daily basis, helping uncover terrorist hideouts together - did the casualty numbers begin to improve.

Now we are helping the Iraqis deal with a much different problem: the Shia militias, the most well-known of which is "Jaysh al-Mahdi," known as JAM, largely controlled by Moqtada al-Sadr.

Yons later point about the Mahdi Army eventually becoming unpopular as it turns from a protector of Shia areas to a rouge militia focusing on implementing strict Sharia law in areas it controls i s proving to be correct.

In case you have not heard. The current operations against the Mahdi army are dividing Sadr City in two. A line of barricades are being built and the Iraqi Army and US forces plan to implement a type of "West Berlin" strategy in the southern portion and begin to deliver services and aid to Iraqis there. Leaving the northern portion for later.

So far as I can tell they hope that if they can improve life in the southern sections enough that support for al-Sadr will diminish. This depends on out performing the Mahdi Army in both combat and providing for the Iraqis.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

By Howie at 01:19 PM | |