In a major effort to quell the violence in Iraq, U.S. military forces
joined with Iraqi forces to establish security in Baghdad with an
operation called "Operation Together Forward II," which began in
August 2006. Under Operation Together Forward II, U.S. forces are
working with members of the Iraqi Army and police to "clear, hold, and
build" in Baghdad, moving neighborhood by neighborhood. There are
roughly 15,000 U.S. troops in Baghdad.
This operation--and the security of Baghdad--is crucial to security in
Iraq more generally. A capital city of more than 6 million, Baghdad
contains some 25 percent of the country's population. It is the
largest Sunni and Shia city in Iraq. It has high concentrations of
both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias. Both Iraqi and American
leaders told us that as Baghdad goes, so goes Iraq.
The results of Operation Together Forward II are disheartening.
Violence in Baghdad--already at high levels--jumped more than 43
percent between the summer and October 2006. U.S. forces continue to
suffer high casualties. Perpetrators of violence leave neighborhoods
in advance of security sweeps, only to filter back later. Iraqi police
have been unable or unwilling to stop such infiltration and continuing
violence. The Iraqi Army has provided only two out of the six
battalions that it promised in August would join American forces in
Baghdad. The Iraqi government has rejected sustained security
operations in Sadr City.
Security efforts will fail unless the Iraqis have both the capability
to hold areas that have been cleared and the will to clear
neighborhoods that are home to Shiite militias. U.S. forces can
"clear" any neighborhood, but there are neither enough U.S. troops
present nor enough support from Iraqi security forces to "hold"
neighborhoods so cleared. The same holds true for the rest of Iraq.
Because none of the operations conducted by U.S. and Iraqi military
forces are fundamentally changing the conditions encouraging the
sectarian violence, U.S. forces seem to be caught in a mission that
has no foreseeable end.