European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Paqc20 stars and stripes july 2007 Thomas publisher Richard general Europe Stephen commander news and editorial Robb Grindstaff Doug Clawson executive editor managing editor Europe Sam Europe Bureau chief Joseph Mideast Bureau chief Marni assistant Bureau chief assistant managing editors Mary news Sean sports Brian features Christopher Patrick news editor Joe web editor addresses mail unit Apoate 09211 International mail Postrach 64345 Germany fax on 3498416 49 0 email news  letters  Central office 529 14th Street suite Washington do phone on 3127630900 or 1x202 fax 1x202 7610890 editorial director 529 14th suite do phone Dan 3127630945 or 1 202 How to Call us editor on 3498264 49 0 6155601264 letters Dan 3498237 49 0 sports Dan 3498225 49 0 circulation Dan 3498437 49 0 advertising Dan news bureaus Germany country code Bamberg Mark car 459 Box Apo a 091393703 Dan 4697957 0 w 5i02598 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at european and Pacific stars and stripes 2007 stars and stripes web site opinion gop senators too Quick to pan surge Jack Kelly sentence first verdict said the Queen of hearts in Alice in the Queen of hearts int a member of the but she has the temperament for last week Richard and George joined their democratic colleagues in declaring the troop surge in Iraq a fail this is curious be cause a the change in strategy has barely begun to be implement and b the initial signs Are the troop surge formally began 10 with the announcement that five addition Al army brigades would be sent to the last brigade did not arrive until what weve been doing so far is put Ting forces into said David Kil a former australian army officer who advises our new commander in David on counter insure in an interview two weeks we Haven actually started what i would Call the surge but the announcement of the surge and the arrival of the first units in it did have two immediate effects Al Aida opera Tives began to leave Baghdad for other parts of Iraq chiefly Dyala province Northeast of and sectarian deaths within Baghdad these Rose in but remain at less than half their pres urge violence is also Down significantly in Anbar which at this time last year was Alsaid As Foremost As one of its architects told the House foreign affairs committee on wednes the surge represents a repudiation of the strategy the Bush administration has followed in Iraq since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein that approach relied on keeping the american troop presence in Iraq As doonesbury Small As pushing unprepared iraqi Security forces into the Lead too rap and using political Progress As the principal Means of bringing the violence under Frederick Kagan the new strategy is to go on the Offen Sive against Al Aida and shiite extremists backed by with protecting iraqi civilians from the terrorists the Foremost All successful counter insurgent cies in the past succeeded by protecting the but protecting iraqi civil ians want even on the list of priorities for George the previous com Mander in As i write these several Divi Sion size offensives Are under Way in the most important of which is Arrowhead Ripper in Dyala these operations Are qualitatively Dif Ferent from what weve done Kil Cullen said in a Post on the Small wars journal web our concept is to Knock Over several insurgent Safe havens in order to prevent the terrorists from relocating their Infra Structure from one to unlike on previous we dont plan to leave these areas once there these Ops will run Over and the key activity is to stand up viable local Security forces to permanently secure Al Aida had made bad Cuba the Capi Tal of its islamic state of and officials had hoped to bag a lot of its Lead ers with Arrowhead but it appears that Many of them read the Tea leaves and fled before the operation got under this has caused some in the news Media to portray Arrowhead rip per As Kilcullen is the Ter rain we Are Clearing is human not physical he it is about marginalizing shiite extremist militias and other terrorist groups from the population they prey this is Why claims that 80 percent of Al Aida leadership have fled dont Overly disturb us the aim is not to kill every last a but rather to drive them off the population and keep them Progress toward the end state goal of Arrowhead Ripper turning Over bad Cuba to iraqi government control appears to be said Michael a former special forces Soldier who is now a freelance journalist embedded with the troops conducting the As after four years of we finally have a strategy that makes sense and shows Concrete signs of but now some Republican senators Are join ing democrats in attempting to strangle it in its and what is the new strategy that Lugar and Voinovich would have us Fol Low instead of the surge its the failed Bush strategy dressed up in new Kagan pushing for political benchmarks and a rapid draw Down of american forces is no More Likely to be successful now than it was political Progress is something that follows the establishment of not something that causes he Jack Kelly is the National affairs writer for the Pittsburgh pos Gazette and the Toledo Ohio a former Marine and Green he was a Deputy assistant Secretary of the air Force in the Reagan his column appears regularly in stars and Tell us what you think stars and stripes welcomes your comments on editorials and columns that Are published in the and values letters on topics of importance in the lives of our All letters must be and must include the writers address or base and Telephone please limit All letters to 300 we Reserve the right to edit letters for taste and Send your letters to mail stars and stripes unit 29480 Apoate 09211 International mail stars and stripes Postrach 1330 64345 Griesheim via fax country code 0 Dan 3498395 email  by Gail i Amft fihs m Lapel 6uhy in countries Pont do mob 90s sky 0flp it has 7db5mydreg6 want to germ pin of your pajama5 win in Iraq and kuouju5homb