A Clear Mission

Describing Operation Arrowhead Ripper:

"The end state is to destroy the al-Qaeda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people," according to Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding officer of the 25th Infantry Division. "That is the number one, bottom-line, upfront, in-your-face task and purpose."

Sounds pretty straightforward to me. In 30 to 60 days, al-Qaeda will no longer be a force in Diyala Province. I understand the mission and the definition of the expected success. I can support this mission on the premise that destroying any al-Qaeda capability makes the world a better place. I also understand that al-Qaeda is a supple and determined organization, capable of adapting to circumstances, able to use Arab and Islamic identity to good advantage against a foreign occupier.

Results may vary.


postscript

Juan Cole does not think the operation in Diyala will succeed in reducing violence there.

Diyala has a Sunni majority, and a lot of the problems in that province began politically in the first place because SIIC has dominated it politically. In the short term, this operation may 'pacify' Baquba. But likely it will inflict tremendous damage on the city, will cause a lot of the 300,000 or so inhabitants to flee and become refugees, and will likely not change the political situation, which is Shiite dominance of Sunnis along with some Kurdish separatist plans for parts of the province.