I guess you missed this part of a previous post:
Until now, our efforts have always been piecemeal, stop-start affairs. Even our success in the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004 went unexploited.
Things have changed. And terrorists, not just Iraqi civilians, are dying.
The 10,000-man operation reported in the Baquba area is only one part of a broader effort. In the words of a well-placed officer in Baghdad, "Operations like that are going on around Fallujah, Salman Pak, in Eastern Anbar, the belts around Baghdad, in Arab Jabour, outside of Taji and throughout the Diyala River Valley."
This widespread offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorists is part of a carefully developed, phased plan. The first step as the troop surge proceeded was to establish livable conditions in key neighborhoods of the capital.
So OK, he's excited, but what does it all mean?
LTG Ray Odierno briefed reporters at the Pentagon today via teleconference from Iraq. He described the operation like this:
Operation Phantom Thunder is a corps-level offensive operation that began on 15 June to defeat al Qaeda insurgents and extremists, deny enemy safe havens, interdict movement, logistics and communications. It is an open-ended operation that will extend through the summer and will be done in conjunction with civil-military operations to support political and economic efforts.
It consists of carefully synchronized simultaneous operations at division and brigade level to clear al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents and Shi'a extremists in, near and around Baghdad. It also includes aggressive shaping operations by our Special Operations Forces focused on al Qaeda in Iraq and other special groups.
These operations are intended to eliminate accelerants to Baghdad violence from enemy support zones in the belts that ring the city.
Some important points about the operation that make it different from others conducted there to date. First, Operation Phantom Thunder is the umbrella name for a number of 'carefully synchronized simultaneous operations". That's important to understand. Instead of piecemeal or isolated operations which may secure a particular area but simply displace the terrorists, the purpose of these operations is to secure the area and kill the displaced terrorists before they can find another area to infest.
Being wrong by stupidly parroting the quagmire meme regardless of evidence to the contrary is pathetic.
The tell here is that the libs don't care what happens to the Iraqi's at all. They are ONLY concerned with political advantage.
Do you want the Iraqi's to achieve a politically stable country?
