An Australian Interview With General Petraeus
Sneak Peek At The Surge Report
An Australian interview with General Petraeus:
THE US troop surge in Iraq has thrown al-Qa’ida off balance and produced a dramatic reduction in sectarian killings and a drop in roadside bombings.
David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said the build-up of American forces in Baghdad since late January had produced positive outcomes. These included the killing or capture of al-Qa’ida fighters, causing the terrorist group to lose influence with local Sunnis.
The strategic gains against insurgents would lead to a changed and possibly longer-term role for Australian troops, shifting from security operations to a focus on training Iraqi soldiers and police.
General Petraeus told The Australian during a face-to-face interview at his Baghdad headquarters there had been a 75 per cent reduction in religious and ethnic killings in the capital between December last year and this month, a doubling in the seizure of insurgents’ weapons caches between January and August, a rise in the number of al-Qa’ida “kills and captures†and a fall in the number of coalition deaths from roadside bombings.
“We say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we can to build on that progress and we believe al-Qa’ida is off balance at the very least,†he said.
General Petraeus’s overview comes a fortnight before he is due to present a crucial report on military progress in Iraq to the US Congress and President George W. Bush.
Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, after being briefed by General Petraeus in Baghdad, said he now had a clear picture of progress in Iraq. He said John Howard and Mr Bush would discuss future military requirements for the conflict when they met at the APEC summit in Sydney next week.
Australia’s 550-strong Overwatch battlegroup, based at Tallil in Dhiqar province, is likely to complete its mission by the middle of next year, following a British troop drawdown from southern Iraq.
Dr Nelson said it was “fair to say we will continue to look for increased opportunities for training†for Australian forces into next year.
General Petraeus said the surge strategy, involving the deployment of an extra 20,000 troops in Iraq, would continue for a few months before the troop level in the country was phased down. But the objective was to hold all the gains that had been made so far…For Full Story, Please Continue At: Pat Dollard