U.S.: Insurgents denied important power base

Results of a riad in Diyala in December

TURKI, IRAQ — U.S. and Iraqi forces have denied Sunni Arab insurgents an important power base in a lawless region east of Baghdad, the commander of a joint offensive said Friday.

The challenge now, U.S. Lt. Col. Andrew Poppas said in an interview, is to ensure that the militants do not return to the region in the eastern province of Diyala. When U.S. forces conducted previous large operations, insurgents often returned as soon as the military withdrew.

Poppas plans to open a patrol station in the area, which until recently had been a virtual no-go zone for Iraqi security forces. U.S. soldiers were scouting possible sites Friday as they slopped past adobe farmhouses in bone-chilling rain and ankle-deep mud.

The Iraqi army has dedicated a company to the new patrol station, which will be paired with a U.S. company until it is ready to stand alone, Poppas said. The military also will work with local authorities to improve conditions, including providing clean water, regular electricity and new roads.

The strategy is part of stepped-up efforts to train Iraqi forces to assume security control so U.S. forces can start going home.

Nearly 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops have swept through more than 77 square miles of farmland in the last week, combing isolated hamlets and pushing insurgents toward the canal system outside Turki village, where the advancing forces surrounded them, Poppas said.

Read the rest at the LA Times

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