Fox has a facinating story on the strategy the U.S. military used to flush out and destroy Al Qaeda in Iraq. The way Fox tells it, the whole thing may have turned on the discovery of a hand-drawn map made by Abu Musab al-Zarkawi. This may have been the most useful find since Union forces found a couple of Robert E. Lee's cigars, wrapped in his battle plans. Using the map, the U.S. cut off all avenues of resupply to al Qaeda forces in Baghdad. They were forced to flee to Baquba, where they were easier to surround. And by then the tribes were turning against Al Qaeda, which made them easier to find. Once the fighters were flushed out into the desert, they had no cover.
Whatever else comes of this war, the U.S. military is learning a lot about desert warfare. One can only hope that the good news keeps coming. Naturally the story is so far only on Fox. See here for Zarqawi's map: Download Baghdad_Belt.pdf .
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