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Al-Qaida Devastated by U.S. Offensive
The U.S. military's recent offensive in western Iraq has had a devastating impact on the al-Qaida-backed insurgency, with coalition forces killing over 700 terrorists and capturing 1,500 in the last two months alone. "It's been very successful," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told a briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, referring to a series of security offensives conducted by U.S. and Iraq forces in Anbar province since September 28. Though media reports suggest recent U.S. casualties are due to deteriorating security conditions in Iraq as a whole, most were incurred during the new offensive - dubbed "Operation Steel Curtain." In quotes picked up by Reuters, Gen. Lynch noted that despite the heavy combat, U.S. troop casualties had fallen more than 30 percent in November compared with last month. During the November 2004 assault on Fallujah, the monthly casualty rate was nearly twice what it is now.
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The Anbar operations, and others in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, have been focused on foreign fighters and militants linked to al-Qaida's chief of operations in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Gen. Lynch said. Noting that Zarqawi was nearly captured last week, Gen. Lynch said the close call was a result of the terror group's deteriorating position in the country. "We come close to Zarqawi continuously," the top military man explained, adding, "At one point in time in the not too distant future, we will capture or kill him." Editor's note:
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