US says 60pc of Baghdad not controlled

Let's stay positive here. This means that 40% of Baghdad isn't a festering hellhole of rampant violence like the other 60% of the city...and the rest of the country.

Security forces in Baghdad have full control in only 40 percent of the city five months into the pacification campaign, a top American general said Saturday as U.S. troops began an offensive against two al-Qaida strongholds on the capital's southern outskirts.

We came, we saw, things got out of control, we surged...that didn't help either.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said American troops launched the offensive in Baghdad's Arab Jabour and Salman Pac neighborhoods Friday night. It was the first time in three years that U.S. soldiers entered those areas, where al-Qaida militants build car bombs and launch Katyusha rockets at American bases and Shiite Muslim neighborhoods.

So it's not that we don't know where they are. Damn, if only they would hang out in the 40% of the controlled area, we'd be able to handle it.