Military planners chose a name for the fierce assault on Al-Qaeda strongholds that recalls twin American combat operations separated by forty years.  But unlike the Vietnam-era Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign that failed to defeat the insurgency, this is war with the grunts on the ground.

“The surge is in full swing,” said General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, when asked for comment on Operation Phantom Thunder by ON Point.

“Operation Phantom Thunder is a country-wide, synchronized, coordinated operation involving both joint and solo missions,” said Coalition spokesman LtCol Christopher Garver in phone call with ON Point.  Joint and solo missions refer to those that American forces are, or are not, doing with the Iraqi Army.

The plan involves three major operations, but only two are, in military parlance, “kinetic.”  The largest, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, is an assault on the city of Baqouba, which is located north of Baghdad in Diyala Province.  According to Associated Press reporters, American and Iraqi troops have sealed access to the city and are not letting anyone come or go.

Simultaneously, the 3rd Infantry Division -- dubbed “Task Force Marne” in recognition of their historic role in the pivotal 1918 battle at the end of World War I -- is blocking the routes south from Baquoba into Baghdad.  “We want to keep the bad guys from getting into the city,” LtCol Garver said.

The smallest, or least kinetic, is the continued operation in Anbar.   A battalion of Marines, the 13th MEU, was recently “surged” north of Fallujah and Karmah.  There is little activity in Anbar, however, beyond the normal routine of patrolling with Iraqi soldiers and policemen.

According to 1stLt Shawn Mercer, a public affairs officer with Marines in Anbar, extra forces are “positioned along the belts between Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and the cities along the Euphrates to kill or capture terrorists trying to move into those population centers.”  Mercer also said that he did not expect to see major spikes in combat in western Iraq.  “We’re past that,” he said.

Located 50 miles northeast of Baghdad along the Diyala River, Baqouba has, in recent months, become a refuge for Al-Qaeda terrorists. Over the fall and winter of 2006 and into the spring of ’07, Al-Qaeda militants were forced out of safe havens in Anbar by Iraqi tribal leaders who rebelled against their tyranny and pledged their support to American forces. 

From the Syrian border to Fallujah, Al-Qaeda has sustained one defeat after another in western Iraq.  Since their goal is to continue attacking Baghdad, relocating to Baqouba as an operational base appears to have been their only option.

It’s this option that Coalition forces are hoping to deny Al-Qaeda, and that’s what Operation Phantom Thunder is all about.  According to LtCol Garver, the extra manpower from the surge is making a big difference.

“No time was wasted from getting all the promised troops until we pushed off," LtCol Garver said. “The Coalition now has the ability to conduct simultaneous joint missions anyplace we want.  We are hitting them, and we are killing and capturing them.”