THE IRAQ SURGE: WHY IT'S WORKING ...
By GORDON CUCULLU - the New York Post 20 March 2007

www.nypost.com/seven/03202007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/why_its_working_____opedcolumnists_gordon_cucullu.htm?page=0

March 20, 2007 -- 'I WALKED down the streets of Ramadi a few days ago, in a
soft cap eating an ice cream with the mayor on one side of me and the police
chief on the other, having a conversation." This simple act, Gen. David
Petraeus told me, would have been "unthinkable" just a few months ago. "And
nobody shot at us," he added.

Petraeus, the new commander managing the "surge" of troops in Iraq, will be
the first to caution realism. "Sure we see improvements - major
improvements," he said in our interview, "but we still have a long way to
go."

What tactics are working? "We got down at the people level and are staying,"
he said flatly. "Once the people know we are going to be around, then all
kinds of things start to happen."

More intelligence, for example. Where once tactical units were "scraping"
for intelligence information, they now have "information overload," the
general said. "After our guys are in the neighborhood for four or five days,
the people realize they're not going to just leave them like we did in the
past. Then they begin to come in with so much information on the enemy that
we can't process it fast enough."

In intelligence work - the key to fighting irregular wars - commanders love
excess.

And the tribal leaders in Sunni al Anbar Province, the general reports,
"have had enough." Not only are the al Qaeda fighters causing civil
disruption by fomenting sectarian violence and killing civilians, but on a
more prosaic but practical side, al Qaeda
is bad for business. "All of the sheiks up there are businessmen," Petraeus
said. "They are entrepreneurial and involved in scores of different
businesses. The presence of the foreign fighters is hitting them hard in the
pocketbook and they are tired of it."

A large hospital project - meant to be one of the largest in the Sunni
Triangle - had been put on hold by terrorist attacks when al Qaeda had
control of the area. Now it's back on track. So are similar infrastructure
projects.

The sheiks have seen that the al Qaeda delivers only violence and misery.
They are throwing their lot in with the new government - for example,
encouraging their young men to join the Iraqi police force and army. (They
are responding in droves.)

Petraeus has his troops applying a similar formula in Baghdad's Sadr City:
"We're clearing it neighborhood by neighborhood." Troops move in - mainly
U.S. soldiers and Marines supported by Iraqi forces, although that ratio is
reversed in some areas - and stay. They are not transiting back to large,
remote bases but are now living with the people they have come to protect.
The results, Petraeus says, have been "dramatic."

"We're using 'soft knock' clearing procedures and bringing the locals in on
our side," he notes. By being in the neighborhoods, getting to know the
people and winning their trust, the soldiers have allowed the people to turn
against the al Qaeda terrorists, whom they fear and loathe. Petraeus says
his goal is to pull al Qaeda out "by its roots, wherever it tries to take
hold."

Another change: an emphasis on protecting of gathering places like mosques
and marketplaces. "We initiated Operation Safe Markets," Petraeus said, "and
have placed ordinary concrete highway barriers around the vulnerable
targets." Car bombings have dropped precipitately - the limited access
thwarts them.

As a result, "The marketplaces, including the book market that was targeted
for an especially vicious attack, are rebuilding and doing great business.
It is helping the local economy enormously to have this kind of protection
in place." With jobs plentiful and demand growing, the appeal of militia
armies declines proportionally.

Nor is the Iraqi government simply standing aside and allowing U.S. and
Coalition forces to do their work. The Shia prime minister walked the Sunni
streets of Ramadi recently, meeting and greeting the people - "acting like a
politician," Petraeus said, without malice. "He is making the point with
them that he intends to represent all sectors of Iraqi society, not just his
sectarian roots."

Rules of engagement (ROE), highly criticized as being too restrictive and
sometimes endangering our troops, have been "clarified." "There were
unintended consequences with ROE for too long," Petraeus acknowledged.
Because of what junior leaders perceived as too harsh punishment meted out
to troops acting in the heat of battle, the ROE issued from the top
commanders were second-guessed and made more restrictive by some on the
ground. The end result was unnecessary - even harmful - restrictions placed
on the troops in contact with the enemy.

"I've made two things clear," Petraeus emphasized: "My ROE may not be
modified with supplemental guidance lower down. And I've written a letter to
all Coalition forces saying 'your chain-of-command will stay with you.' I
think that solved the issue."
Are the policies paying off? "King David" as Petraeus is known from his
previous tour of duty up near the Syrian border, is cautiously optimistic.
"Less than half the al Qaeda leaders who were in Baghdad when this [surge]
campaign began are still in the city," he said. "They have fled or are being
killed or captured. We are attriting them at a fearsome rate."

Virtually everyone who knows him says that David Petraeus is one of the
brightest, most capable officers in today's Army. "He is the perfect person
for the job," retired Major Gen. Paul Vallely noted.

Early signs are positive; early indicators say that we're winning. As
Petraeus cautiously concluded, "We'll be able to evaluate the situation for
sure by late summer." That's his job. Our job? We need to give him the time
and space needed to win this
war.
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Gordon Cucullu is a retired U.S. Army officer and a member of Benador
Associates. His book on Guantanamo is due out this fall.