Troop Surge, Iraqis’ Anger Puts al Qaeda ‘On the Run’

A combination of unceasing pressure by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and citizens’ anger at al Qaeda in Iraq’s brutal tactics have put the terror group “on the run,” a senior U.S. military officer said today.

“The surge in operations centered in Baghdad and the surrounding belts and up in the Diyala River Valley have driven much of al Qaeda into the rural areas and has caused them to flee northward,” Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference yesterday.

The recently launched Operation Iron Hammer is designed to prevent fleeing al Qaeda operatives from re-establishing safe havens and networks, Smith said. Three U.S. brigade combat teams and three Iraqi Army divisions are participating in the large-scale offensive, which stretches across four provinces in northern Iraq, he said.

Previous operations resulted in the capture of (35) al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) insurgents in October, Smith reported, noting six of those detainees are senior terrorist leaders.

“The targeting of (AQI) leadership and their networks has contributed to the downward trend in violence we are seeing across Iraq,” the admiral said.