New offensive against al Qaeda car bombers in Baghdad area

AP/NY Times:

The U.S. military, which just days ago completed its latest troop buildup in Iraq, has launched a large offensive operation in several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad, the top U.S. commander said Saturday.

Gen. David Petraeus said the operation began in the last 24 hours, and will put forces into key areas surrounding Baghdad that, according to intelligence, al-Qaida is using to base some of it car bomb operations.

Petraeus, who met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a morning breakfast, also said that while he doesn't have all the American troops he might want, he knows he's got all he's going to get.

''There's never been a military commander in history who wouldn't like to have more of something or other -- that characterizes all of us here,'' he told reporters traveling with Gates. ''The fact is frankly that we have all that our country is going to provide us in terms of combat forces. That is really it right now.''

He said the buildup of nearly 30,000 additional forces that has just been completed allowed him to launch the latest assault. The move, he said, is allowing him to send operations for the first time into ''a number of areas around Baghdad, in particular to go into areas that were sanctuaries in the past of al-Qaida.''

He added, ''Our job now, frankly, along with the job of our Iraqi counterparts ... is to do everything that we can with the additional forces that we have.''

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It appears that the US is taking advantage of intelligence gathered by forces during the recent surge. Having the troops on the street particularly with the Iraqi troops usually results in a significant jump in intelligence from locals as well as increased calls to the tip lines that are usually manned by Iraqis.

The best way to defeat the car bombers is to stop them at their source. Going after the bomb factories forces al Qaeda on the defensive too. Al Qaeda is already under a lot of pressure because of the loss of its rat lines from Syria through Anbar.

Update: The NY Times has more on the latest offensive against al Qaeda.

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The new emphasis on attacking the insurgent cells and bomb-making factories outside the capital is expected to be a sustained one, involving tough fighting. But creating lasting effects from such pushes has been challenging; in the past, insurgents have repeatedly been driven from one location only to resurface in another.

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The scope, timing and details of the new American operations are classified. But one sign of the stepped-up activity was apparent in a recent operation reported by the Third Infantry Division, which is operating in the Sunni Arab belts south of the capital. In that case, American attack helicopters and Iraqi forces attacked an insurgent cell, killing several and capturing others.

The decision to mount more attacks in the Sunni belts is a trade-off in a military sense as it will limit the number of American forces that are available to secure neighborhoods inside the capital....

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The key to success is not just the clearing of the al Qaeda operatives, but preventing their return. Having to buy the same real estate more than once is a sign of an inadequate force to space ratio.