The fighting in Iraq is changing, as the Sunni Arab homeland (central and western Iraq) are more aggressively patrolled by American and Iraqi forces, ... who are taking more casualties this year as they attack into the Sunni Arab areas, and shut down the previously "safe zones" where terrorists could recruit, train and build bombs.
This is not a sign of quagmire. It is a sign of advancing into enemy areas.
And we are still on the offensive in the west to try and keep the enemy rocked back on their heels in order to secure the December elections:
The offensive of about 2,500 Marines, soldiers and sailors in the town of Husaybah will remove insurgents from the western province of Anbar ahead of Iraq's parliamentary election on Dec. 15, the military said. An unspecified number of Iraqi forces were taking part.
The offensive is part of a larger ongoing U.S. military operation designed to deny al-Qaida in Iraq the ability to operate in the Euphrates River valley, which stretches through Anbar province, and to establish a joint permanent security presence along the Syrian border.
The article says multiple-battalion sized Iraqi units are involved. Pulling Iraqis in our wake to control what we take is key out there. As more Iraqis are organized, equipped, and trained, we are able to move Iraqi security forces out of the highlly populated areas and insert them into the enemy strongholds out west.
We continue to advance. This is what progress looks like.
