Wearing the Black Flag (3)

The story began here. Latest chapter here.

Speaking of the Petraeus report....

It seems that those who routinely feed from the various toilets along the left wing information sewer are currently being instructed how to feel about said upcoming report. (Not think, mind you, but feel. Feel might not be exactly the right word either, but it's closer to it than thinking, which is an altogether different process.) It's a pretty slick trick - once again begging the question "are the people who write this stuff ignorant, or do they just think their readers are?"

The answer, of course, is inconsequential.

Which explains this:

A majority of Americans don't trust the upcoming report by the Army's top commander in Iraq on the progress of the war and even if they did, it wouldn't change their mind, according to a new poll.

Flashback:

A Tactical Operations Center in Iraq is a place where the oldest of military "technology" meets the newest. In some locations it's actually located in a building, in many others it's a tent - a wood floored, air conditioned work space for a lot of folks whose job it is to monitor everything happening in their battlespace 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Communications feeds from a dizzying amount of sources run via wireless and wire into a multitude of computers and viewing systems, and from there through the eyes and into the protein data banks of highly trained and specialized individuals who will further process the data and determine what of all this does the boss need to know?

It's a big tent.

Source one: Man down. Location.

Source two: We are ready to respond.

Source three: Weather is below minimums.

"How bad is it? Will it clear soon?"

In a corner a computer screen displays a satellite view, one tweaked to reveal the spread of dust just above the surface of the earth. It will not improve for hours - but it won't get worse either. How bad is it? Doable - just barely - but bad enough that authorization must come from higher.

Elsewhere: A group of Americans clusters around a fallen member of their team. They've done what they could for him - stabilized him to the best of their training. Started an IV. Moved to a location where a helicopter can land. Now they wait. Minutes pass like hours.

The battle Captain makes the call to higher. Higher consults a staff weather officer. Higher gives okay.

It's now up to the crew. They can declare the situation too risky at their discretion at any time during execution. They make their own final and very brief check with the weather guy. He tells them nothing reassuring - just the facts.

Then they very quickly go. Did you think it would be otherwise? Minutes after they leave the TOC the sound of helicopters pounding the air into submission can be heard. They lift off, lights on, but only for the brief amount of time they are in "friendly" air space.

There is one thing "good" about flying in such conditions - you aren't sharing air space with any other craft. So you don't have to worry about the other guys buzzing in from nowhere and accidentally bumping you to the ground.

Because you'd have to be crazy to be out flying at a time like this.

They pass over the wire about 10 seconds after launch, and the lights wink out. The noise of the rotors fades.

Back in 2004, as U.S. forces preparred to clear Fallujah, the New York Times took great pains to point out that the Real Problem was Ramadi:

RAMADI, Iraq, Oct. 21 - The American military and the interim Iraqi government are quickly losing control of this provincial capital, which is larger and strategically more important than its sister city of Falluja, say local officials, clerics, tribal sheiks and officers with the United States Marines.

Major General Rick Lynch, Commanding General, Multi-National Division Central:

General Odierno has charged Task Force Marne with securing the areas south and east of Baghdad and stopping the flow of weapons and violence through those areas. We're committing troops to these neighborhoods, and with the help of the Iraqi army and the police, demonstrating to the Iraqi people that we're not leaving until they have security and they're capable of maintaining it through their own efforts.

And that's what's happening as we work these surge operations. We get to an area, the locals there, the first question they ask is, "Are you staying?" And once they're convinced we're staying, the question then becomes, "How can we help?" What we see as a result of that commitment is Iraqi citizens are coming forward and they're indeed saying, "What can we do to help?"

Over the last four months, we've seen an interesting shift. Iraqi citizens are coming to us to provide information. These citizens are speaking up about what they've seen, they're talking about what they've heard and about any activity that jeopardizes the rebuilding of their country.

From that, we're now having concerned citizens programs operating in both Sunni and Shi'a areas alike, with local Iraqis manning checkpoints and giving us important information on insurgents and weapons caches, and that's led to a dramatic turnaround in the security situation in some areas; not all the areas, but in some areas.

This upswell of almost 10,000 concerned citizens has enabled our soldiers to go in and restore normalcy as much as possible to these communities. With our help, the Iraqis are starting to realize that they can establish order and accountability in their lives.
<...>
we're continuing to take the fight to the enemy throughout our area. On August the 15th, we've launched -- we launched Operation Marne Husky to disrupt extremists who fled our earlier offensive and moved into the Tigris River Valley south of Baghdad. This is an area that hasn't seen coalition troops in over two years. Think about that. And this is a result of the surge.

We did Marne Torch starting on the 15th of June, shifted to Marne Avalanche on the 15th of July, and now we're doing Marne Husky, so the enemy's got no place to hide and he's continuing to be on the run. The area we're fighting in now was an extremist safe haven, and we indeed have the enemy on the run in those areas.

All those previous operations I talked about -- Marne Torch, Marne Avalanche -- drove these bad guys out of areas like Arab Jabour and Iskandariyah. And now we're pursuing them, not letting them resettle and regroup. Because if they don't have the time to breathe, they don't have time to attack the Iraqi people or our troops. This is tactical momentum and it's in our favor. And we're pressing our advantage around Baghdad, and that's a good position to be in.

And that brings me to another topic: the effect of the troop surge in my area of responsibility. As I said before, we assumed this mission about four-and-a-half months ago. My last brigade combat team closed in as part of the surge into Iraq in early June. Since we arrived, we've been implementing the plan, and what's been accomplished so far has been surprising in its implications.

Residents of former al Qaeda safe havens have flipped to the side with the coalition forces against the enemy. And with the security that's resulted, we've seen the Iraqi people benefit from a window for reconstruction and the growth of local leadership. Overall attacks are down by 26 percent in Multinational Division-Center. Civilian casualties have decreased by 36 percent.

Since the 15th of June, we have killed or captured 16 high-value individuals throughout our battlespace. Removing these leaders not only weakens the enemy network but also keeps pressure on the remaining elements and shows them we will continue to hunt them down if they continue their activities. In addition to that, we have either killed or captured now 1,000 of the enemy insurgents.

In the absence of violence, growth has taken place at the local level. And with the nurturing of the concerned citizens groups, the Iraqi people are helping us consolidate our gains in security by stepping up and taking responsibility for securing their own town.
<...>
Some final thoughts before I take your questions. I'm proud of the contributions our soldiers have made helping Iraqi citizens have a future filled with hope and opportunity and not with oppression and despair. This is not easy and not for certain, but it is possible. And working together, it could all be a reality. Our soldiers continually rise to the occasion, putting their heart and their soul on the line for their brothers in arms and for freedom. Every day, they commit extraordinary acts of valor, and you should be so very proud of them.

Of course, the new Real Problem is the Iraqi Government...

Levin, while saying military progress was being made, said the troop build-up could not be considered a success because its purpose was to make way for political reconciliation, and that hasn't happened.

"The only hope is if they take the responsibility onto themselves and we end the open-ended military commitment," Levin, of Michigan, said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."

Reed, a Rhode Island senator who visited Iraq last month, said there's been tactical momentum, but it "has yet to translate itself into real political momentum, which is the key, I think, to progress."

Durbin, an Illinois senator who is traveling this week with Pennsylvania Sen. Casey, told CNN on Wednesday that "naturally" troops are routing out al-Qaida in parts of Iraq, but then explained there's no evidence of the government in the areas.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, told CNN in an interview Thursday that the surge in Iraq "has not accomplished its goal," and the first item on her agenda after the recess will be the war in Iraq.

When the House reconvenes in September, Pelosi says Iraq will be "front and center."

Q And the second one is, there's been some confusion about the whens, hows, wherefores of the Crocker-Petraeus testimony to Congress. Can you say when they're going to testify before Congress and under what conditions?

MR. JOHNDROE: Yes. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will testify in open hearings on the Hill. Administration officials are reaching out to Hill leadership today to discuss with them the potential dates for that testimony. Given the tight schedule leading up to September 15th and the congressional recess with Rosh Hashanah coming up, the likely dates for testimony are September 11th and 12th.

The story continues here.