I love a good visual image. General Odierno, the commanding general of Multinational Corps Iraq, gave a press briefing in Baghdad 1/17 to provide an update on the progress of expelling Al Qaeda from Iraq. And he supplied some great visual images. In the chart above, dark red indicates Al Qaeda's operating areas, and light red indicates transit routes. Al Qaeda remains active in regions near Miqdadiyah, Mosul, Hawijah, Samarra, and southeast of Baghdad in the Arab Jabour region.
The 2nd chart shows the situation in December 2006, prior to to announcement of the surge. The dark red areas show that Al Qaeda had wider areas of operation. Early in 2007, Iraq was "caught in a cycle of bloodshed under the dark cloud of al Qaeda," said Odierno. With the 2007 surge and the Awakening, Al Qaeda in Iraq was ejected from its strongholds in the cities to the rural regions of Iraq. Summary from Bill Roggio:
"Although the group remains a dangerous threat, its capabilities have been diminished," said Odierno. "Al Qaeda has been pushed out of urban centers like Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Baqubah, and forced into isolated rural areas. Many of their top leaders have been eliminated, and finding qualified replacements is increasingly difficult for them." Multinational Forces Iraq also estimates it has significantly degraded al Qaeda's ability to fund operations by dismantling its financier networks and leaders.
Press conference transcript here. A link to all the graphics here. The great Bill Roggio has the best article covering these developments.
