Five more years in Iraq? "The Plan" - Col. Jeffrey Bannister

guerilla Notable Member

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/engelhardt/engelhardt304.html

Every week or so, the Department of Defense conducts a video-conference press briefing for reporters in Washington, featuring an on-the-ground officer in Iraq. On November 15th, that briefing was with Col. Jeffrey Bannister, commander of the Second Brigade of the Second Infantry Division. He was chosen because of his unit's successful application of surge tactics in three mainly Shia districts in eastern Baghdad. He had, among other things, set up several outposts in these districts offering a 24-hour American military presence; he had also made generous use of transportable concrete walls meant to separate and partition neighborhoods, and had established numerous checkpoints to prevent unauthorized entry or exit from these communities.

As Col. Bannister summed up the situation:

"We have been effective, and we've seen violence significantly reduced as our Iraqi security forces have taken a larger role in all aspects of operations, and we are starting to see harmony between Sunni and Shi'a alike."

The briefing seemed uneventful â€“ very much a reflection of the ongoing mood of the moment among American commanders in Iraq â€“ and received no significant media coverage. However, there was news lurking in an answer Col. Bannister gave to a question from AP reporter Pauline Jelinek (about arming volunteer local citizens to patrol their neighborhoods), even if it passed unnoticed. The colonel made a remarkable reference to an unexplained "five-year plan" that, he indicated, was guiding his actions. Here was his answer in full:

"I mean, right now we're focused just on security augmentation [by the volunteers] and growing them to be Iraqi police because that is where the gap is that we're trying to help fill capacity for in the Iraqi security forces. The army and the national police, I mean, they're fine. The Iraqi police is â€“ you know, the five-year plan has â€“ you know, it's doubling in size. â€¦ [We expect to have] 4,000 Iraqi police on our side over the five-year plan.

"So that's kind of what we're doing. We're helping on security now, growing them into IP [Iraqi police]â€¦. They'll have 650 slots that I fill in March, and over the five-year period we'll grow up to another 2,500 or 3,500.

Most astonishing in his comments is the least astonishing word in our language: "the." Colonel Bannister refers repeatedly to "the five-year plan," assuming his audience understands that there is indeed a master plan for his unit â€“ and for the American occupation â€“ mandating a slow, many-year buildup of neighborhood-protection forces into full-fledged police units. This, in turn, is all part of an even larger plan for the conduct of the occupation.

Included in this implicit understanding is the further assumption that Col. Bannister's unit, or some future replacement unit, will be occupying these areas of eastern Baghdad for that five-year period until that 4,000-man police force is finally fully developed.
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Who the hell is paying for this?

guerilla, Nov 30, 2007 IP

coolmanphp Peon

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i delegate bush and family fortune. & voters that voted for bush

coolmanphp, Nov 30, 2007 IP

smatts9 Active Member

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guerilla said: ↑

Who the hell is paying for this?
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You, open up that check book.

Seriously, I've opposed this war since day 1. We had no reason to go and it is a shame and it is draining us of a lot of moola.

smatts9, Nov 30, 2007 IP

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Five more years in Iraq? "The Plan" - Col. Jeffrey Bannister

guerilla Notable Member

coolmanphp Peon

smatts9 Active Member

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