Phantom Thunder and Phantom Strike are the names of the military operations of the U.S. troop surge in and around Baghdad. As Bill Roggio describes, Phantom Thunder is focused on clearing al Qaeda and Iranian-backed extremists from the major population centers in Baghdad and the Belts regions, while Phantom Strike is designed to strike at al Qaeda and Shia terror bases in the rural regions around Baghdad.
Phantom Thunder has had a noticeable effect on the security situation in Baghdad and beyond. “Total attacks are on a month-long decline and are at their lowest levels since August of 2006,” Odierno said. “Attacks against civilians are at a six-month low, IED attacks are a two-month decline and have a 45 percent found and cleared rate.” Inside Baghdad, civilian deaths are at the lowest levels since February 2006, when al Qaeda in Iraq destroyed the dome of the Golden Mosque in Samarra and incited the year-plus-long wave of sectarian reprisals, driven by brutal attacks by al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army.
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