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Iraq shift might be felt here

Jan- 6-2007 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT , 4/2 SBCT

The News Tribune

The selection of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus to serve as the senior U.S. commander in Iraq signals an important turn in U.S. strategy.

Petraeus is expected to back a rapid five-brigade expansion, in sharp contrast to his predecessor. And having overseen the recent rewrite of the military’s counterinsurgency manual, he also is likely to change the U.S. military operation in Baghdad.

U.S. forces can be expected to take up positions in neighborhoods throughout the capital instead of limiting themselves to conducting patrols from large, fortified bases in and around the city.

The new commander also will have a significant impact on the 4,000 Fort Lewis troops operating in Baghdad and 4,000 more expected to go in the spring.

Petraeus’ appointment will be a reunion of sorts for many of the Stryker soldiers and officers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division working now as the main strike force in Baghdad.

They were with the brigade when it replaced Petraeus’ 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq back in early 2004.

It wasn’t always a happy transition as the 4,000-soldier brigade replaced the 20,000-soldier division.

There were clashes over tactics. Some of Petraeus’ officers thought some Stryker troops were too aggressive for the low-key, dollars-not-bullets approach the 101st was taking in Mosul.

And some 3rd Brigade veterans resent the implication that they were to blame for security conditions deteriorating in Mosul – a city of 2 million and the traditional home of the Iraqi officer corps – in the months that followed the 101st’s departure.

They note they had far fewer troops and significantly less money than the millions Petraeus’ division was paying out for civil affairs, public works and other projects. When the money started to dry up, the insurgency flared.

But that’s history. The 3rd Brigade works for Petraeus now. [...]


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