The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have tentatively agreed to keep a joint base on the edge of Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, maintaining an American presence in a strategic area even after the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat troops to pull out of the capital.
The base — Joint Security Station Comanche — is one of about 14 joint facilities that U.S. officials say privately that they would like to keep in flashpoint neighborhoods after the deadline.
Comanche is the most significant because it controls the area where Shiite militants poured rocket fire onto the Green Zone during the last major fighting in the city in 2008. Militants are believed to be trying to regroup in the area.
"We consider that critical," Brig. Gen. Mike Murray, a deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
We really don't want to see rockets striking the Green Zone again. Our presence will be a great help. The Iraqi government has an interest in keeping the heart of their capital quiet, too.
While in general it is good that we are turning over more of the fight to the Iraqis, which is COIN 101 stuff, defending the Green Zone, where any explosion will draw disproportional press coverage, is wise.
I'll always remember that in Detroit, Devil's Night (the night before Halloween) was for a long time an arson magnet. Detroit eventually put on a full court press to suppress the fires, since it started to draw international news coverage. One year, before media interest died out in light of the success of efforts to squelch Devil's Night, one tiny fire had a cluster of cameramen around it getting nice close ups. Somebody took a picture of that, too. The picture of the media roasting Detroit over an open fire was better than the fire pictures they got. A solitary rocket landing in the Green Zone would get the full treatment and allow the press to discuss the "spiraling violence" in Iraq a little more.
