OPERATION WHACK-A-MOLE CONTINUES

Major General Benjamin Mixon, the head of our northern-based forces in Iraq, had a press conference yesterday and made two points the BushBots don't seem to get: (1) the insurgency is mostly locals and sectarian, not Al Qeda; (2) we still don't have enough troops.

Q General, Carl with ABC News. Two questions. One, who do you think is behind the increase in violence in Diyala? Is this al Qaeda in Iraq? Is this, you know, Ba'ath Party, Sunni -- homegrown Sunni insurgency? Who's behind it?

GEN. MIXON: First of all, in MND-North it is a Sunni-based insurgency without a doubt. We do have some sectarian violence. There is a fault line in Diyala that both the Shi'a and Sunni extremists are trying to control, but it is a Sunni-based insurgency.

We have seen a few groups that call themselves different names in Diyala. One was called the Council. We destroyed most of their fighters in a battle south of Balad Ruz. You may recall we killed over a hundred of their fighters and captured at least 25 or 30. We now control that terrain with a combat outpost that is there with an Iraqi company and a U.S. platoon that is located there 24/7.

We have other elements there that certainly are a part of the former regime. There is no question about that. And there have been elements of the 1920s Revolution that are there and other ones. They change their name sometimes, so it's hard to track. But without a doubt, it is principally a Sunni-based insurgency.


Note that Mixon did NOT mention al Qaeda.

Q Sir, this is Joe Tabet with Al Hurra. My question is about the Diyala province. Do you think you have enough troops there to face the current situation?

GEN. MIXON: Well, as I mentioned, without disclosing the details, I have moved additional forces and capabilities into Diyala over the last couple of weeks, as we begin larger offensive operations in Baqubah and other portions of the surrounding area.

Could I use more forces in Diyala? No question about it. And I'm in discussions of that with General Odierno as he attempts to balance the requirements in Baghdad.

But we are making progress in bringing security to Baqubah. That's our number-one priority. Once I have done that, I am -- I will move out into some of the other areas, particularly that fault line I described earlier, to prevent the sectarian violence that can occur along those Sunni-Shi'a fault lines.