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| Iraq-Jordan |
| General: Less Combat in New Iraq Mission |
| 2004-06-11 |
| The U.S. military will consult Iraq's interim leaders before engaging in future offensives and is shifting its priorities from fighting guerrillas to training Iraqi troops and protecting Iraq's fragile new government. "Combat becomes a lower priority than it has been for much of the insurgent fight to date," said Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, who took command of the new Multinational Corps Iraq headquarters last month. Metz said American forces "certainly have the right" under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Tuesday "to conduct operations as we would like to." But decisions on U.S. operations will be made in concert with Iraq's incoming leaders, through liaisons sprinkled through coalition and Iraqi military units, Metz added. One of the first tasks Metz identified was to declare which militias and rebel forces are "the enemy." "I don't think we're going to conduct a lot of operations where we disagree with the Iraqi government on who is hostile or not," Metz told The Associated Press in an interview on the sprawling coalition base on the edge of Baghdad International Airport. "It's only to our benefit ... to get the support of the interim Iraqi government." Now, the U.S.-led command is focusing intensely on rebuilding the Iraqi military and police, appointing a three-star U.S. general to oversee the task and giving it a higher priority than defeating anti-American guerrillas. "Combat becomes a lower priority than it has been for much of the insurgent fight to date," Metz said. Metz said another top job is guarding Iraq's economic infrastructure - pipelines, electric pylons, roads - needed to resuscitate the economy, while protecting the fragile, fledgling government selected to run the country until January's elections. "There are very professional terrorists that would like to kill any number of those people," he said. Of course, as U.S. officers like to say, the enemy gets a vote. If rebels launch an offensive, perhaps timed to coincide with the June 30 transfer of some sovereignty to an Iraqi regime, Metz said the Army will shift back into counterinsurgency mode. Many have predicted a guerrilla attempt to disrupt the handover. But Metz said recent events have undercut the importance of June 30 as an insurgent target. The naming of an interim government headed by Allawi was one. And the resignation of the widely mistrusted Governing Council, hand-picked by the United States, was another. "It's turned out to be a pretty smart strategic move," Metz said. "It has given us time to educate those new leaders to the threat that we have and that the Iraqis have." Insurgent attacks in June have dropped to levels not seen since the relative calm of March. In another deviation from plans, Iraqi forces will not be brought into the 35-nation coalition. National troops will fall under their own command, which will operate separately while reporting to the U.S.-led coalition. Military officials have said the April uprising - and the collapse of U.S.-led Iraqi security forces, half of whom refused to fight - persuaded them to place Iraqi forces under an indigenous command. The move gives the Iraqi military more freedom of action than other coalition partners. "If their government wants to do an operation, they're a sovereign nation and they can go do that operation," Metz said. "We will certainly offer all the advice we can if we think it's not a smart operation or they don't have the right intelligence brief." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 This bodes so ill I can barely type. I trust our military to learn lessons... but not Foggy Bottom. How involved was State with the Viet Nam War? I see "military advisors" in Metz's statement. It strikes me that we are not nearing the end but just beginning. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-06-11 4:54:28 PM |
| #2 You've got that right, #1. Liason, in concert, sprinkled...State's words coming out of a Lt.Gen.'s mouth...scary for our GI's. But decisions on U.S. operations will be made in concert with Iraq's incoming leaders, through liaisons sprinkled through coalition and Iraqi military units, Metz added. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-11 10:39:55 AM |
| #1 State Department has taken over. Get ready for more casualties as the Diplomats tie our troops hands. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-06-11 4:22:02 AM |