Iraqis will fill US troop withdrawals: Petraeus

Khaleej Times Online reports that Iraqis will take over as US troop withdrawals occur.

“It is very important to remember that our surge is dwarfed by the Iraqi surge that is taking place,” said Petraeus, on one of his trademark “battlefield” tours, accompanied by a small group of reporters. “The official Iraqi security forces has increased by something like 110,000 or so in the past year — during which (time) our surge was 30,000,” he said after visiting the rural village, reaching it on foot by crossing a floating bridge the US military has constructed across the Euphrates. “There are also 70,000 plus concerned local citizens who are now helping our forces and our Iraqi partners,” he added, referring to members of powerful anti-Qaeda fronts being formed across the country by the US military.

This fact is one that is typically lost among most people. Our surge of 30,000 troops is but a small part of The Surge. The 110,000 increase in Iraqi Security Forces this year and the added 70,000 CLCs is what is allowing both US and Iraqi forces to clear, hold, and begin executing reconstruction activities in Iraq. Something glossed over by this article is even more important than the surge of forces.

Speaking on Wednesday in Owesat village on the banks of the Euphrates, about 25 kilometres (17 miles) southwest of Baghdad near the town of Yusufiyah, Petraeus vowed no quarter would be given in the fight against Osama bin Laden’s extremist network, blamed for much of the violence in Iraq. (emphasis added) “We cannot let up — they are much more on the defensive right now than they have been in years and that is where we have to keep them,” Washington’s top general in Iraq said as he declared the village of Owesat, just months ago a hotbed of Sunni insurgency, now secure.

This is precisely why The Surge has worked. Al Qaeda cannot be reasoned with and therefore "no quarter" with Al Qaeda can be allowed. This organization needs to be summarily destroyed in Iraq and elsewhere in the world. Iraqis now realize this fact and now have the forces to ensure it occurs. General Petreous realized this fact and built his tactics around this principle. Americans need to realize this fact or we are doomed to fight Al Qaeda again in a different place and a different time.