NPR: Commanders in Iraq Prepare Plan for Next Two Years

Commanders in Iraq Prepare Plan for Next Two Years

The New York Times headline reads "U.S. Is Seen in Iraq Until at Least '09." But the real news in reporter Michael Gordon's story is the American command's new two-year plan to restore security in Iraq.

The plan, known as the Joint Campaign Plan, is the brainchild of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Its first aim is to restore security in localized areas around the country by the summer of 2008 and then to build on that to restore security nationwide by 2009.

Military officials, as is to be expected, aren't willing to guarantee success, considering the fate of other plans in Iraq -- especially former commander Gen. George Casey's plan to train Iraqi soldiers to take over responsibility from U.S. troops. We all know how well that one turned out.

The k/o blog notes that The Washington Post reported in late May that Petraeus and Crocker were working on a new plan that would emphasize the political over the military in terms of moving conflicts to the local level so they could be solved more easily. k/o writes that the plan "extends for at least two years into the future the fig leaf of the Iraqi government or military taking any action for or by itself without significant United States intervention."

Shaun Mullen at The Moderate Voice blog writes that the mere fact that this plan was shared with a Times reporter "shows how concerned commanders, and presumably the White House, are that ... public support for the war has eroded severely."

1:54 PM ET | 07-24-2007 | permalink

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