9 January 2007
I think I’ve become a wimp in my old age. I had a tooth pulled yesterday and wasn’t up to writing my blog. I’m back with a vengeance today. Yesterday a major secret offense fell short as insurgents fled the first villages U.S. military entered. The attack took place in Diyala Provence, the most active area for insurgents. Details of the attack were kept from the Iraqi army but many telltale activities alerted the enemy and off they went. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and several injured. Today a house that troops were going to check out exploded and six more soldiers were killed.
The insurgents may have been tipped by leaks or by the visible movements of troops, helicopter flyovers and machinery that precede such operations. American commanders say it is necessary to slow down the extremists to maintain recent security gains. The commander of the Iraqi Fifth Army Division in Diyala was aware of the intended target and American units carried out smaller decoy operations in other towns farther south, to mislead extremists about where the actual operation would take place. I feel that success of the “surge” is tenuous at best.
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