What a surprise! Surely no one could have foreseen that Rebels, both Sunni and Shi'a, would refuse to get mowed down in Baghdad by a superior force, and would instead decide to tear up a less well-defended area.
BAQOUBA, Iraq (AP) -- Sunni insurgents have been streaming out of Baghdad to escape the security crackdown, carrying the fight to neighboring Diyala province where direct fire attacks on Americans have nearly doubled since last summer, U.S. soldiers say.
Rebels Threaten U.S. Forces in Diyala
Although guerillas and insurgents have avoided conflict with concentrated forces in favor of attacking weaker areas for only the entire length of recorded history, and just a couple of dozen times since the Attack on Iraq in 2003, apparently nobody in the White House had a clue that it would happen again.
The Course has, indeed, been stayed.
I'm diarying this mainly to make sure the story doesn't disappear unnoticed. It will be a big story in days to come if it isn't tomorrow. Because it has all the features of the Bush pattern of failure all over it.
It's a long article so I can afford a couple of more quotes I think
"I was here in 2004 and I don't remember them ever attacking tanks in open daylight, but now that's exactly what they're doing, ...in the last month or so it's been pretty violent," said [Capt. Paul] Carlock...
...Even before President Bush announced last month that he was sending in 21,500 more soldiers, mostly to Baghdad, violence had been steadily increasing in Diyala, ...It is unclear how many insurgents have entered the province over the last month. But U.S. officers believe the numbers must be substantial because of the sharp spike in violence.
Last July, U.S. soldiers came under 90 direct fire attacks - meaning weapons aimed straight at them. Last month the number of such attacks was up about 70 percent, to 157 attacks
...."You've got more than 20,000 more American troops piling into Baghdad, so these insurgents are going to go somewhere," Goins said. His battalion has lost 17 soldiers since it arrived in Iraq in October.
...All this has been disappointing for the U.S. command, which had great hopes for Diyala a year ago.
There's a lot more meat in this article, but you should go read it direct.