Commander says northern Iraq still dangerous, supports Gates’ strategy

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Commander says northern Iraq still dangerous, supports Gates’ strategy
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, February 12, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — Attacks on U.S. troops in northern Iraq leveled off in December but remain high as the 1st Armored Division continues its offensive to flush insurgents out of the cities and into desert hide-outs, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Monday.

In a video teleconference with Pentagon reporters, Army Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling said that there are 20 to 50 daily attacks within his four-province area “depending on the circumstances, the weather and how sporty the enemy feels he can be on that given day.”

With its 136 tribes and seven religions, the situation in the north is far more complex than it was in the ethnically homogenous Anbar, Hertling said.

Even so, he said, it is possible that the security situation “could do the same thing in our area,” Hertling said. “We’re pushing it toward that.”

It is precisely because things change so quickly in Iraq, Hertling said, that he approves of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ cautious approach to withdrawing U.S. troops from the country.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52395