Spc. Luke McMahan, 22, of Mountain View, Ark., talks
to children gathered around his Humvee in the Baghdad
neighborhood of Ghazaliyah. By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
A front page piece by Jim Michaels in USA Today seems to tell a story of measured success in a neighborhood where the effects of the surge are finally starting to be felt. Michaels writes about a Coalition combat outpost in Ghazaliyah, in western Baghdad.
When this combat outpost, named Casino, was established in January, Ghazaliyah was a battleground. Shiite militias had pushed Sunnis from their homes in this predominantly Sunni neighborhood. That drove many Sunnis to al-Qaeda, concentrated in southern Ghazaliyah, for protection.
Streets were empty and stores closed. Gunfire crackled around the outpost each day. U.S. forces would find 15 bodies a day in the area, many of them victims of sectarian killings, said Joyce, of Garden City, N.Y.
"Now we have a bad day (when we) find one," Joyce said.
It's not all happy news. Michaels points out that "the outposts have made civilians safer but often have exposed American troops to more danger." But as far as reducing the level of sectarian violence, the piece provides anecdotal evidence--which is well supported by the numbers coming out of Iraq--that increased force levels are starting to make a positive difference on the security situation there. As to whether the Iraqis are able to capitalize on those improved conditions, James Nickolas, commander of the battalion that established the outposts in Ghazaliyah, tells Michaels "he's not sure that's been taken advantage of." But this new strategy was never a guarantee of political success, it was designed to create the kind of favorable conditions that might allow for such success. And it looks as if that is exactly what is happening.
