Scraps From The Blackout

Continuing campaign coverage in the US is creating a dearth of useful information about Iraq, but there are a few things worth taking note of right now.

The first, and arguably the most important, is that the US Army is working on a new combat manual:

"The new guide is seen as a major development that draws on lessons of the wars being fought by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq."

As soon as it is published, I'll find a PDF copy and link to it in the Required Reading section, after reading it myself. The change in the command atmosphere and personnel that General Petraeus has created is inevitably going to influence it, so it will be interesting to see how it develops as well as being critical to understanding how soldiers are going to be expected to conduct themselves. Much of Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy stands to be augmented by an intelligent manual, as it tends to be very human-oriented in many respects.

Second is a memo written by Manuel Miranda that is very critical of State Department conduct in Iraqi affairs. Read the whole memo, bearing in mind that it is only one opinion but it's a valuable one to have. What I found most interesting was that he restricted his criticism to the State Department, and lauded the Military on it's progress and it's commitment to the commanding general's efforts. If he's right, it would seem that State could learn a thing or two from the Military about execution. Not that this should be a revelation.

Lastly is a remark at the bottom of a non-story at Al-Jazeera. Al-Sadr has responded to internal pressure by reiterating that the current JAM stand-down will not be lifted early, but the interesting comment is this:

"US commanders have said they are confident that al-Sadr, the son of a revered Shia cleric killed under Saddam Hussein, would extend the freeze, although US and Iraqi forces continue to target "rogue" Mahdi Army units."

I wouldn't have expected anyone to be confident of that, but this once again makes me very happy that there are people in charge who know much more than I do. JAM still stands to threaten the peace in Iraq, and if they start rolling again it'll be the ISF that has to take them on, which now includes Basra province. The Iraqi street doesn't like JAM where they've been responsible for violence already, but whether that will stop someone who's fanatical enough to try to be rubber-stamped as an Ayatollah is doubtful.

It comes down to this one consideration: if the freeze is extended, we can keep moving the ball forward. If it gets called off, we may very well be starting again from scratch in the wake of whatever violence JAM is capable of generating. As long as command is confident that particular bull won't be released in the china shop, then our approach doesn't need to change.