US Military Acknowledge Failure in Baghdad
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV says that the US military campaign in Baghdad is failing.
In one of the most somber assessments of the war by American commanders…Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, said the campaign had been marked by increasing attacks on American troops and a spike in combat deaths. Attacks soared by 22 percent…during the first three weeks of Ramadan…[T]he number of American troops who have lost their lives in October rose to 73, representing one of the sharpest surges in military casualties in the past two years.
“The violence is indeed disheartening,” General Caldwell said. While the sweeps have contained violence in some areas, over all, he said, the campaign to gain control of the city “has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence.”
The American command’s statement on the faltering campaign signified a new and jarring stage in 18 months of efforts to bring peace to Baghdad, with one military plan succeeding another, and none achieving more than a temporary decline in the violence that has made Baghdad the most bloody theater of the war. Senior officers have spoken of the campaign in “make or break” terms, saying that there would be little hope of prevailing in the wider war if the bid to retake Baghdad’s streets failed.
