Reed says time running out on surge

2007-07-07

Source: Providence Journal

"Time is running out" for the tactical gains from President Bush's surge strategy to produce lasting political progress in Iraq, Sen. Jack Reed said from Baghdad yesterday, as one of this year's deadliest insurgent bombings hit north of the capital city. On a three-day tour of the region, Reed said his talks with top U.S. officials and his meetings with reconstruction and fighting units have deepened his belief that U.S. troop withdrawals should begin this fall, as a starting point for a shift to a markedly smaller and more modest mission in the war by spring.

The Rhode Island Democrat, who spoke in a conference call with reporters, said U.S. commanders and diplomats were aware of the waning public support for the war as the Senate prepares to renew debate about troop withdrawals this week.

Reed said yesterday's suicide truck bombing, which killed more than 105 people in a farming town about 100 miles north of Baghdad, was fresh proof that insurgents "still have the capacity to mount - not as often, but often enough - these spectacular, high-profile attacks."

Reed said Mr. Bush's surge strategy has produced some limited "tactical success" in reducing the insurgent attacks in certain areas, particularly around Baghdad.

Reed said he visited a fighting unit outside Baghdad that has been "very effective at stopping the transit of insurgents" in and out of the capital city.

In the city of al-Hillal, Reed said he met with a provincial reconstruction team - one of the groups of U.S. civilians charged with helping to rebuild Iraq's public works and to strengthen its local political institutions. "Their effort is under way," Reed said, but "they still have not turned the corner," especially in areas of poor security from violence.

Reed also pointed to significant military progress in the largely Sunni province of al-Anbar in the west of Iraq, where tribal leaders have turned against al-Qaida and begun to cooperate closely with U.S. and Iraqi government forces.

But Reed said these hopeful signs from this year's surge of 28,000 U.S. troops - putting the total near 160,000 - cannot offset two countervailing forces: the Iraqi government's failure to move toward a reconciliation of the nation's warring forces, and the limited U.S. ability to sustain its force in Iraq.

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