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| Iraq-Jordan |
| 15,000 hard boyz captured or killed in 2004 |
| 2005-01-26 |
| U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed or captured 15,000 people over the past year in their fight against an insurgency ravaging Iraq, the commander of U.S. forces in the country said Wednesday. In the past month alone, they had seized around 60 leaders of the various Islamist and Baathist groups trying to drive the Americans from the war-torn country, General George Casey said. Speaking on the deadliest day for U.S. troops since the invasion in 2003, Casey said the insurgency was limited to just four of Iraq's 18 provinces. But he conceded that the number of car and suicide bombs had increased and that Iraqi security forces were not capable of dealing with the violence themselves. "If you look back over the last year we estimate we have killed or captured about 15,000 people as part of this counter-insurgency," Casey, the only four-star American general in Iraq, told reporters. "Just in this month we have picked up around 60 key members of the Zarqawi network and key members of the former regime," he said, referring to the group led by al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The level of violence in 14 of the 18 provinces in Iraq is four incidents or arrests a day," said Casey, who commands 150,000 U.S. troops. "It is primarily confined to four provinces. It has not spread to 80 percent of the population." He said the level of violence had subsided since its peak in November last year -- the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein began. Casey, whose father was the most senior U.S. general to die in the Vietnam War, said he expected further attacks Sunday, when Iraq goes to the polls in a historic election Zarqawi and his followers have vowed to disrupt. "I would see most of the violence in the Sunni areas and a good part of it in the Baghdad area," Casey said. "I would expect low levels of violence in the Shi'ite areas." He said that while Iraq had 130,000 trained and equipped soldiers and police officers, they were not ready to take over from the Americans. "Are they (the Iraqis) capable of taking over the counter-insurgency campaign today? The answer is no," he said. "And if you ask the Iraqis, they understand that." Casey described the insurgents as an assortment of Islamists, Saddam loyalists, common criminals and foreign fighters -- although he said the foreigners numbered less than 1,000. He scotched rumors, fueled by the refusal of the interim government to confirm or deny them, that Zarqawi had been captured. "I don't have him," Casey said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 "I don't have him" could also mean, "My people don't have him." It doesn't speak to the CIA, or even a special interrogation unit offsite somewhere (Ghost Jet, anyone?). |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-26 8:21:11 PM |
| #4 of the 15,000, does anyone have a handle on how many have been released (even better, how many were released and rearrested) |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-01-26 7:49:49 PM |
| #3 Since we're starting to play capture and release, the meaningful number is how many are deaders. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-26 5:13:59 PM |
| #2 Seems like he would have said "We don't have him" if he intended to include the iraqi's. Of course, he could just be having fun with the press. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-01-26 4:39:55 PM |
| #1 "I don't have him" at its broadest means "he's not in the custody of American forces". It could mean "he's still on the loose", "the Iraqis have him", "some other country has him", or even "he's gone to hell". It does not constitute "scotched". |
| Posted by: Dishman 2005-01-26 1:43:53 PM |