Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
As we all know today, it's wasn't really the "Surge" that started the reduction in violence but the fact that Sunni's started taking their future more seriously led by the Anbar Awakening which began the year before. The extra troops certainly helped provide extra security though, and it's a combination of factors that have let to the conditions today.
-spence
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The Anbar awakening was fueled by our marine counter-insurgency which inspired even further Al-Qaeda stupid killings of Iraqis. The Iraqis in general and the Sunnis in particular, were "awakened" to the obvious fact that it was Al-Qaeda and the "insurgents" who were killing Iraqis and trying to destroy their elected government, and it was not Americans doing that killing and destruction. And the surge, in combination with embedding our troops with the locals, not in separate bivoucs, was absolutely essential to provide the confidence and security to allow that "awakening" to flourish.