Iraqi army moves into Diyala breadbasket to stay

Washington Times:

U.S. military forces say they have largely completed combat operations and are working to consolidate their gains after a six-day push into the so-called "Bread Basket" area of Diyala province.

Clearing operations still are under way in the area, military authorities said, but day-to-day security will be handed over increasingly to Iraqi army and police units. A network of Concerned Local Citizens groups — an armed neighborhood-watch organization — also will be buttressed and expanded.

"Although decisive, the combat operations will likely not have as great of an effect as the next phases," said Lt. Col. James Brown, executive officer of 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division.

He said efforts would focus on establishing stronger connections between villages surrounding the city of Muqdadiyah and Iraq's central government.

The Bread Basket, an area of about 110 square miles in the northern Diyala River Valley, had long been an al Qaeda stronghold and was dubbed the Islamic Republic of Iraq by the militants. Militants had been centered in Baqouba, the provincial capital about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

When the surge of U.S. forces pushed al Qaeda out of Baghdad last year, the organization retreated to Baqouba; when pushed out of Baqouba, it retreated to the Bread Basket, where villagers now describe having gone through a reign of terror.

"As we transition into the next phase, you will essentially see a planting of the Iraqi flag in the northern [Diyala River Valley]," Col. Brown said.

"You will start to see Iraqi army and Iraqi police, which up until this point had not patrolled in this area, and here shortly, you will see the linkage between the provincial leaders and the local leaders."

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Al Qaeda is running out of places to run to in Iraq. This is another example of the success of the surge that has zero to do with Sen. Clinton's position on the war in Iraq. Her recent bogus claims of credit for the improved situation in Iraq stand logic and truth on its head. Her statements on Meet the Press Sunday give new meaning to the term cynical politician.

It is the troops who deserve the credit and not the politicians who did not want to give them an opportunity to finish the job in Iraq. The positions on the war taken by most Democrats in teh last year should be a shame and blemish on the party for a generation.