General Acknowledges Failure of Baghdad Effort

Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV expressed concern Thursday over the failure of the military’s new Baghdad strategy to curb mounting levels of violence in the city: “In Baghdad alone, we’ve seen a 22% increase in attacks during the first three weeks of Ramadan, as compared to the three weeks preceding Ramadan.”

BAGHDAD — The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that a much-touted security crackdown by American and Iraqi forces had failed to reduce violence in the capital and called the results “disheartening.”

With attacks in Baghdad having increased by 22% in the first three weeks of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in late September, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV said that military planners might have to go back to the drawing board.

“We’re obviously very concerned about what we’re seeing in the city,” Caldwell said. “We’re taking a lot of time to go back and look at the whole Baghdad security plan. We’re asking ourselves if the conditions under which it was first devised and planned still exist today, or have the conditions changed and therefore a modification to that plan needs to be made.”

Link