From Jules Crittenden on his Forward Movement blog - News Unfit To Print.

More than a week of intensive operations, up to 6,000 troops, often on foot, presenting themselves as targets everywhere, and only two Americans reported killed in the search area as of last night, out of two dozen Americans killed in Iraq in that time. That’s remarkable.

So much heat on al-Qaeda in the Triangle of Death they can’t get a jihadi video out. Hundreds questioned and/or arrested, several large weapons caches seized, a number of suspected insurgents killed in firefights. But mostly, it would appear, al-Qaeda gone to ground … after demanding that the searching stop.

So is anyone on the ground looking seriously at whether, absent as yet the safe return of the abducted soldiers, there is a payoff to this intensive search, something e that might be applied elsewhere...

In any case, I’d like to know if there is a dividend and perhaps some lessons about the pros and cons of rapidly launched, intensive sweeps to be learned at a time when there is a high demand for fast results. All-out, brigade-plus sweeps are draining but can they be effective? If the press won’t look at it, I hope the military does. What happens if this is tried in Diyala, for example, where Gen. Mixon was calling for more troops. Particularly if designed as hammer-and-anvil operations, or perhaps more more to the point beater-and-net, to catch them as they run...