Teresita
2008-07-29 06:33:51
Still another line of argument was that the Anbar Awakening occurred prior to and independently of the Surge.
Sorry Wretchard, but that line of argument has weight. Here’s a briefing on the Anbar Awakening given by a colonel months before Bush even announced the 2007 Surge, let alone sent troops there (who were mainly to stabilize the Baghdad situation anyway, not Anbar)
This is a different phenomena that’s going on right now. I think that it’s not so much the insurgent groups that are fighting al Qaeda, it’s the — well, it used to be the fence-sitters, the tribal leaders, are stepping forward and cooperating with the Iraqi security forces against al Qaeda, and it’s had a very different result. I think al Qaeda has been pushed up against the ropes by this, and now they’re finding themselves trapped between the coalition and ISF on the one side, and the people on the other.”
