Rural hideouts new focus for troops in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Rural hideouts new focus for troops in Iraq
By Robert H. Reid - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 16, 2009 6:15:56 EDT

BAGHDAD — U.S. troops will focus on attacking insurgent supply routes and rural hideouts after combat troops withdraw from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June, a senior U.S. commander said Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim, a deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said the shift from the cities to large bases outside will help make the capital safer because U.S. troops can go after militants at the source: The countryside where they plan their attacks and load up on guns and bombs.

Rudesheim spoke a week after two separate suicide attacks killed more than 60 people in the Baghdad area, raising new concerns about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security.

“I want to leave it very clear that there’s no cessation of combat operations” after June 30, Rudesheim told reporters in Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone.

“We understand that we’re going to have the vast majority of our formations moving out of the city proper and moving to the rural belts,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_iraq_combat_ops_031509/%2e