Dribble vs. Drain
As the US adds a brigade here and a brigade there, the Brits will be subtracting a couple. Should the US actually pursue the Mahdi Army(ies) in earnest, the combination of troop movements means Shiite militias will now get to participate in the Whack-a-Mole school of insurgent warfare.
UPDATE: In comments downblog, Fester has already suggested another scenario:
The plan seems to be to put five additional US brigades into Baghdad and potentially draw more US forces up from the south and down from the north to increase the troop density in the central region of the country. Â If this is the case, the supply lines are extraordinarily vulnerable, for the reserve brigade that the US has been keeping in Iraq will now be in Baghdad (from the 82nd Airborne), and the foreign contigents are getting smaller and smaller. Â So the northern reaches of the main supply routes may be quickly counterattacked upon, but if there is a general Mahdi Army offensive the southern end of the supply route will be closed for a week or more.
Fester, you should note, is smart.
Comment by MinorRipper —
January 12, 2007 @ 11:40 am
Not sure if everyone has seen these videos of the US military in Iraq or not, but they are pretty amazing: Hopefully our ’surge’ will not include too many of these types…
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/winning-hearts-and-minds-part-three.html
Comment by Eric Martin —
January 12, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
Should the US actually pursue the Mahdi Army(ies) in earnest
Fine use of the plural Jim. I’ve been a plural hawk (insurgencies, civil wars, etc.) when discussing Iraq, and this suits me fine.
Comment by Gary Farber —
January 14, 2007 @ 12:39 am
“…for the reserve brigade that the US has been keeping in Iraq will now be in Baghdad (from the 82nd Airborne)….”
I think that’s intended to be “in Kuwait”; am I wrong?
Comment by fester —
January 15, 2007 @ 11:00 am
Gary — you are correct, I have this bad habit of typing a couple of seconds out of sync with my brain.
mea culpa.
Fester