Email from Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War
I am a fierce supporter of this Institute and the work of Kimberly Kagan. She gave a powerful speech last year at GOE III in Washington DC. I hosted the film from C-span on my blog last spring. Here is a replay: (With a few minutes of editorial commentary put together by yours truly)
And her email:
Dear Institute Supporters –
We’re approaching another critical juncture in the debate over Iraq and the courses of action available to the United States. As many of you know, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will be testifying before Congress in early April. With this in mind, we are working hard to produce detailed and informational reports to contextualize the situation on the ground and help shape that debate. There are a number of products on the ISW website to check out in advance of their testimony. Here are a few of the highlights from www.understandingwar.org:
While al-Qaeda in Iraq networks have largely been degraded in central Iraq, the fight against al-Qaeda continues in the north. The city of Mosul, in Ninewah province, has been central to the fight, as U.S. and Iraqi Forces are preparing for a large offensive. Eric Hamilton’s commentary, Targeting the AQI Networks in Southeast Mosul, details the preparatory operations in Mosul from January to March. Elsewhere in Iraq, Coalition Forces have continued to batter al-Qaeda networks under Operation Phantom Phoenix, the follow-on to the successful Corps offensives of late 2007.
Last month, General Ray Odierno redeployed from Iraq. As Commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq from late 2006 to early 2008, he played an integral role in designing and implementing the successful 2007 campaign plan. In their recent article, The Patton of Counterinsurgency, ISW President Kimberly Kagan and Frederick W. Kagan detail his success in reducing violence in Iraq over the last year.
In early March, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Iraq, in what was the first visit by Iranian leadership since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Yet, his visit highlighted the growing Iranian influence in Iraq and the region. ISW has produced several research products on the issue of Iranian activity. Marisa Cochrane’s backgrounder on the Growing Threat of Special Groups in Baghdad details the spike in the destabilizing activity of Iranian-backed militias in the capital since January 2008. She has also created an interactive Map of Special Groups Activity, which charts incidents of Iranian-sponsored activity throughout Iraq over the last year. For a comparative study of Iranian activity in the region ISW President Kimberly Kagan, Frederick W. Kagan, and Danielle Pletka have co-authored a report on Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The role of Sons of Iraq groups has also received much attention in recent weeks. Farook Ahmed details the importance of these local security volunteers throughout Iraq and some of the controversy surrounding them in his backgrounder on the Sons of Iraq and Awakening Forces. Farook has also commented on the recent protests by Sons of Iraq Groups in Diyala Province, where they have clashed with the Iraqi Security Forces in the area. ISW will continue to cover the issues surrounding these groups because, as Coalition Forces draw down troops in the next few months, the Sons of Iraq will become increasingly instrumental in augmenting the Iraqi Security Forces and maintaining security gains.
Finally, we have added new reference materials to our website that are certainly worth a look. Nathaniel Rabkin’s Arabic News Summaries are updated weekly and provide reporting, analysis, and insight on relevant stories in the Arabic press. For the latest data on violence trends, check out the Iraq Statistics Reference-March 2008.
You can find all of ISW’s products on the site: the lengthy and fully documented Iraq Report, which narrates the most important developments in the campaign; backgrounders, which are shorter essays on narrower aspects of the war; static and interactive maps developed by ISW to help readers navigate the war; webcast interviews with U.S. commanders in Iraq; historical background on earlier phases of this ongoing conflict; geographic and thematic overviews that aid learning about the war; and the monthly order of battle describing the disposition of Coalition forces.
We encourage all of you to take time and visit.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Kagan
President
Institute for the Study of War
1900 M Street NW, Suite 810
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 293 – 5550
kkagan@understandingwar.org
www.understandingwar.org
Kimberly Kagan
Here is the second half of the Gathering of Eagles III rally in Washington DC
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