SeekerBlog

The invaluable Bill Roggio just posted an excellent analysis on this topic
at his The
Fourth Rail. For the in-depth researcher, Bill has included a host of links, including a map keyed to towns that are now under Coalition security control. Excerpts:

The media’s portrayal of Iraq as a miserable failure proceeds apace…

The claims the insurgency is increasing in strength are not supported by
the facts. The only metrics the news outlets seem to be using are the number
of attacks, and the casualties incurred by al Qaeda mass casualty attacks.
But what is not explained is why the number of attacks is increasing. Coalition
forces are moving further into the heart of the insurgency’s area
of operations in Western Iraq and the Anbar province (click on the map
for cities and towns in Western Iraq that have come und Coalition control;
Global Security has a list of basing, but this does not reflect movement
into Rawah and other areas).

The recent deployments to Rawah, Hit, Ramadi and Haditha is placing pressure
on the insurgency, forcing them to attempt to eject Coalition forces from the
region or lose their established bases. The mass casualty attacks in Baghdad
and the kidnapping of foreign diplomats are an attempt to destabilize the regime
and place pressure on the US and allies to withdraw from Iraq before the constitution
can be completed and the next round of elections are held.

If the claims the insurgency is growing in strength are true, then why are
Coalition forces moving deeper into Anbar, with what in military terms are
essentially little resistance? If what the Sunday Herald claims is true, why
would Zarqawi redeploy his foot soldiers when his rear area is in danger of
slipping from his grasp? The advance of US forces in Western Anbar would only
provide Zarqawi with a target rich environment – more US infidel solders to
kill and a greater opportunity to humiliate the Great Satan. Like much of the
media’s flawed analysis of the situation in Iraq, the reasons to believe Zarqawi
is shifting forces from Iraq as his area of operations decrease and his targets
of opportunity increase are bourn out of a failure in logic, the need to proclaim
failure, or both.