Report: New U.S. strategy seeks to purge Iraqi government while keeping troop levels high

Above: The major players -- Nouri al-Maliki, Tariq al-Hashemi, Moqtada al-Sadr, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani

Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy, laying out military and political goals and endorsing the selective removal of hardened sectarian actors from Iraq's security forces and government.

The classified plan, scheduled to be finished by May 31, is a joint effort between Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American general in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker...

The plan anticipates keeping U.S. troop levels elevated into next year but also intends to significantly increase the size of the 144,000-strong Iraqi army...

The plan has three pillars to be carried out simultaneously -- in contrast to the prior sequential strategy of "clear, hold and build." One shifts the immediate emphasis of military operations away from transitioning to Iraqi security forces... toward protecting Iraq's population in trouble areas, a central objective of the troop increase that President Bush announced in January...

Finally, the campaign plan aims to purge Iraq's leadership of a small but influential number of officials and commanders whose sectarian and criminal agendas are thwarting U.S. efforts.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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