.Live Blogging an Embed in Ramadi
BAGHDAD – Weather permitting, I will be departing on Monday for a week-long embed with Marines at a forward operating base in Iraq’s Anbar Province, which lies west of Baghdad.
Throughout each day I’ll provide updates on the Baghdad Bureau blog that will explore the everyday lives of American soldiers who remain stationed in a region that is maintaining a fragile calm.
Anbar Province, an area that stretches from Baghdad to the borders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, was once the center of the Sunni insurgency. But after a decline in attacks the responsibility for the area was officially returned to Iraqi security forces in September. American soldiers who once led the fight against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia now take a back-up role to the Iraqi Army forces they have trained. And the number of U.S. forces here is on the decline.
The embed will officially begin with a helicopter ride that will take off from Landing Zone Washington in the Green Zone. From there I will be traveling to Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, where my hosts will be the Fifth Regimental Combat Team, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines. I will travel with Marine companies in and around the city.
While the level of violence in Anbar has dropped, in-fighting among Sunni factions has risen. It is something that the Marines are monitoring closely to ensure that the political disputes don’t lead to more violence.
The Sunni sect is chiefly represented in the Iraqi parliament by a coalition of three Sunni parties, one of which is the Iraqi Islamic Party. The I.I.P. also controls the local Provincial Council in Anbar, but they appear to be losing power.
It was Sunni tribal leaders outside the I.I.P. who formed the Awakening Councils, groups of fighters who were paid by the Americans to target Al Qaeda in Iraq. Although some of the Awakening Council guards were actually former insurgents, their main identity has been that they are tribal leaders and they are now competing for political power in the provincial elections, which are scheduled for the end of January 2009.
The I.I.P. fears that they could lose power in those elections. On Saturday, they suspended contacts with the U.S. after a raid near Falluja and appear to seeking support from Iraqis disillusioned with the continued American presence here.
If you have any questions for the Marines or myself submit them in the comment box below and I’ll try to find answers for as many of them as I can.
Baghdad Bureau
"The NYT's has left the building"
Throughout each day I’ll provide updates on the Baghdad Bureau blog that will explore the everyday lives of American soldiers who remain stationed in a region that is maintaining a fragile calm.
Anbar Province, an area that stretches from Baghdad to the borders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, was once the center of the Sunni insurgency. But after a decline in attacks the responsibility for the area was officially returned to Iraqi security forces in September. American soldiers who once led the fight against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia now take a back-up role to the Iraqi Army forces they have trained. And the number of U.S. forces here is on the decline.
The embed will officially begin with a helicopter ride that will take off from Landing Zone Washington in the Green Zone. From there I will be traveling to Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, where my hosts will be the Fifth Regimental Combat Team, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines. I will travel with Marine companies in and around the city.
While the level of violence in Anbar has dropped, in-fighting among Sunni factions has risen. It is something that the Marines are monitoring closely to ensure that the political disputes don’t lead to more violence.
The Sunni sect is chiefly represented in the Iraqi parliament by a coalition of three Sunni parties, one of which is the Iraqi Islamic Party. The I.I.P. also controls the local Provincial Council in Anbar, but they appear to be losing power.
It was Sunni tribal leaders outside the I.I.P. who formed the Awakening Councils, groups of fighters who were paid by the Americans to target Al Qaeda in Iraq. Although some of the Awakening Council guards were actually former insurgents, their main identity has been that they are tribal leaders and they are now competing for political power in the provincial elections, which are scheduled for the end of January 2009.
The I.I.P. fears that they could lose power in those elections. On Saturday, they suspended contacts with the U.S. after a raid near Falluja and appear to seeking support from Iraqis disillusioned with the continued American presence here.
If you have any questions for the Marines or myself submit them in the comment box below and I’ll try to find answers for as many of them as I can.
Baghdad Bureau
"The NYT's has left the building"
posted by madtom at 8:57 PM
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