Bushs New Plan of Action
By: Jessica Bunke

In early January, showing nationwide to Americans, President Bush announced a new plan of action in the War on Terror. This plan is to be implemented in Iraq, since current attempts to secure the country have been proved to be fruitless.
The plan will be focusing on the capital of Iraq, Baghdad, since about eighty percent of the violence has been noted to take place within thirty miles of the city. Bush explained that securing Baghdad had failed in the past, because there were not troops on the ground to remove terrorists and other resisting forces, hence the need to send 20,000 more American troops to support existing Iraqi and American forces.
Using this new battle strategy, Iraqi troops will be expected to take the lead in combat with American troops acting as support. The plan follows a basic method of clear, hold, and rebuild. A battalion of six-hundred American troops will be deployed into each district of Baghdad and there they will clear out any remaining insurgents. Afterwards, American and Iraqi forces will hold their ground against retaliation of returning insurgents trying to reclaim their lost territory. Then, once the area is more secure, they will begin rebuilding services and building structures for the citizens in the district.
To ensure this happening, troops will be remaining in the neighborhoods for up to a year instead of the regular period of two months. Also, they will be living amongst the locals, day and night, and not returning to the safety of their base. The U.S. Government is also working to help create jobs for young Iraqi men in hopes to lure them away from violence.
The U.S. Forces had been using this same strategy for a long time in Iraq, but never had the numbers of troops needed to stay within the neighborhoods all the time to keep it secure from insurgents. Also, this serves as an opportunity for training for Iraqi forces to improve their performances and effective as combat forces.Finally, it also serves to encourage cooperation between Sunnis and Shiites.

