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"The Anbar Campaign," by Bill Roggio, The Fourth Rail, 4 August 2005, http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/08/the_anbar_campa.php.

Is "the Iraq War" now really a name for operations in Anbar province, the Sunni Arab rejection portion for the country? Is our focus really just subduing a small violent minority?

That is one impression of a detailed post over at The Fourth Rail, arguing that recent Coalition offensives are all focused on the Euphrates River in Anbar province.

Map of Battles:



List of Battles:

Operation River Blitz
February, 20 2005 to Present
Ramadi, Hit, Baghdadi and Hadithah.
Iraqi Security Forces and elements of the 1st Marine Division

Operation Matador
May 7, 2005 - May 14, 2005
Western Iraq
2nd Regimental Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division

Operation Squeeze Play
May 23, 2005
Baghdad
Two battalions from the 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division; two battalions from the 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force; three battalions from the 2nd Brigade Special Police Commandos; and Soldiers from Task Force 2-14, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

Operation New Market
May 25 to Present, 2005
Haditha
Marine Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division; a company of the Iraqi Security Forces

Operation Thunder/Lightning
May 25-29, 2005
Baghdad
Upwards to 40,000 Iraqi and Coalition soldeirs

Operation Veterans Forward:
June 16, 2005
Tal Afar

Operation Spear
June 17, 2005
Karabilah
Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division and Iraqi Security Force

Operation Dagger:
June 19, 2005
Thar Thar
1,000 Marines and Iraqi troops

Operation Sword
July 6, 2005
Hit
Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division and Iraqi Security Force

Operation Scimitar
July 9th, 2005
Zaidan about 20 miles southeast of Fallujah
3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team-8, a company of Iraqi soldiers

Rawah
July 18th, 2005
Elements of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division’s Stryker Brigade Combat Team

Let's hope so. The Iraq War has been a skilled combination of encircling, subverting and co-opting the most important state in the region: Iran.

The correlation of forces is constantly improving. If we can remove the Sunni Arab threat to the free Iraqi Government, the Kurdish-Shia government can be a force for liberation in neighboring dictatorships and one of the greatest achievements of the Bush Administration.