Pat Dollard | Young Americans

I’ve been reporting about the re-Baathification of the Iraqi Army in Al Anbar, as well as our new and improved military alliances with the province’s key Sunni tribes. The crowning moment of this reorganization process was when we won the military partnership of the province’s most powerful clan, the Jaburs. We deftly put this union together with the diplomatic and financial intervention of the House of Saud. A succesful military campaign then unfolded, during which the increasingly desperate Al Qaeda resorted to desperate measures. These included the indiscriminate use of gas attacks and suicide bombs, both of which took a horrific toll on the local Sunni population. The Sunnis finally had it. They were tired of watching their innocents killed and their community beaten into the ground. This war has seen a long history of violence between Al Qaeda and their erstwhile tribal allies, but nothing at the level we’ve seen in the last weeks. Sitrep? We kicked ass, and outside of sectors of Ramadi, Al Qaeda has effectively been thrown out of their Al Anbar Province home.

This is why Baghdad has been blowing up for the last week. After fleeing Al Anbar and regrouping in Diyala, angry and with much to prove, the Al Qaeda orcs have descended on Baghdad and it’s southern Triangle of Death environs. This is precisely the phenemenon that occured after the fall of Fallujah, except that Ramadi had also become an Al Qaeda point of retreat, and ultimately replaced Fallujah as the home ranch. We’re basically watching a cornered animal do all it can to escape and reassert itself. This is why in just one week we’ve had the massive Karbala shrine bombing last night, two major Baghdad bridges have been blown up, the Parliament ( which is actually outside of the Green Zone ) cafeteria served up a tragic lunch, etc. ( Casualty update: The current official report is that only one person was killed in the cafeteria blast, not 8 as earlier reported ). And of course, the Karbala shrine was targeted in a classic attempt to make the Shiites mad at the local Sunnis, even though the foreign interlopers of Al Qaeda were the culprits. Expect more for hopefully a short time. The enemy is wounded, rootless and savage with desperation. And, they’ve had a little short-term luck. After the chlorine gas attacks, it was feared that Al Qaeda would strike oil pipelines in order to create an environmental disaster. As a result, thousands of troops were pulled from the Baghdad area to guard pipelines. It’s my understanding they are on their way back. They will be used to clampdown on the enemy now that they have revealed themselves.

And soon, the final clearing of Ramadi will commence as well.