| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Kurt Nicklas" |
| Date: |
05 Nov 2007 06:59:45 PM |
| Object: |
#Winning Iraq |
Winning Iraq
By Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 05, 2007
If the old saw "no news is good news" has any truth to it, then things
must be going very well indeed in the Iraq war. Increasingly obvious
signs of success as a result of the "surge" under the able leadership
of General David Petraeus have all but rendered the mainstream media
speechless on the warfront. From the days of constant television
showing video of black smoke billowing from burning car bombs in
marketplaces, we have now reached a virtual blackout. When was the
last time you saw a detailed listing of U.S. and Iraqi casualties in
the top right column of the New York Times or Washington Post?
The media are not going to report good news, which leaves Americans
with the impression that the war is going as poorly now as it was a
year ago. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Friendly casualties are lower than they have been in years, across the
board: U.S. and allied forces, Iraqi security forces, and Iraqi
civilian losses are all at near-record lows. Contrasted to this time
last year, the comparison is staggering. And for all the recent
caterwauling from craven Foreign Service Officers about a tour in Iraq
being a "death sentence, and you know it," so far the State Department
has not lost anyone except contractors hired at extravagant cost to
protect its officers. (Can anyone say "Blackwater"?)
On the rise, however, are al-Qaeda In Iraq's losses, although you can
expect to see them falling in the near future, too -- not because
these foreign fighters are not being hunted down and killed, but
because AQI targets populations are declining. Fewer and fewer
recruits are coming through Syria into Iraq to join the fight.
Huge attrition rates have reduced AQI presence in Iraq dramatically.
Partially as a result of these high losses, the brightness of the al
Qaeda's appeal among foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia, Chechnya, and
other disturbed places around the region has dimmed. Yes, the
terrorist training camps in Syria are still functioning and Damascus
does little to impede foreign jihadists' travel through Syrian
territory. But it appears some radicals who prefer to fight the
infidel face to face are either waiting for another time (like after
the 2008 elections) or are seeking more accommodating ground. Hence,
the recent resurgence of fighting in Chechnya and Afghanistan.
According to Rear Admiral Greg Smith, spokesman for the Multi-National
Force-Iraq, this largely unreported good news is attributable to the
strategy General Petraeus brought with him on this his third tour of
duty in Iraq. "More than a majority in Anbar Province area have
morally and physically rejected al Qaeda," Smith reported in a
conference call on October 31. "The movement called Concerned Local
Citizens - often referred to as the Anbar Awakening - has now spread
across the entire country." This is decidedly good news for those who
love freedom and extraordinarily bad new for Al Qaeda Iraq.
"There are more than 120 separate Concerned Local Citizens groups
around the country," Greg notes, "Many in the predominately Sunni
areas that were former AQI strongholds." By rejecting the terrorists
and embracing a solution within the Iraqi government, tribal leaders
and sheiks - still the key opinion formers in the new republic - have
"tilted the kinetics" hard in the direction of a non-violent solution
to Iraqi problems.
This kinetic shift has enabled the military to take advantage of a
broader range of targets. "We continue to go after foreign fighters,"
Smith said, "and have expanded our targeting to include AQI propaganda
arm, money laundering and finance, and operations." According to Smith
"with the capture of the eighth AQI media cell, al-Qaeda's ability to
broadcast or make propaganda videos inside Iraq is severely degraded."
Forces on the ground are careful not to overstate this success. "We've
still got a long way to go," Smith affirmed. He was cautiously
optimistic about returning Iraqi provinces to the responsibility of
Iraqi security forces. "Eight of 18 provinces are now under Iraqi
control," he noted. "We expect two more to transfer shortly."
And as for the final eight provinces? "They won't be transferred this
year, although we had originally hoped to achieve that goal. However,
we expect that not far into 2008 the transfers will be complete."
How about the sectarian militias that media pundits have gloomily
characterized as portending a civil war? "Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered
his followers to support the Iraqi government," Smith noted. His
forces were among those considered most threatening to stability.
Jaysh al Mahdi (JAM) forces, under the titular control of Muqtada al
Sadr, were described in a report to Congress in August 2006 as
"increasingly linked to retaliatory violence." According to Smith, JAM
has now assumed a much diminished role. A returning British general
officer described JAM activities in Basra and the south of Iraq as
drifting increasingly into a criminal, mob-rule rather than one that
is ideologically Shi'a based. He characterized activities as more
"mafia-like" than religious or sectarian, and observed that from the
"glass-half-full" perspective the various organized crime gangs were
at least committed to keeping Iranian agents out of their business
affairs.
The secularization movement seems to be growing rapidly within JAM and
the Mahdi Army community. While controlling criminal gangs present
their own set of challenges, at least for the moment the threat of
civil war or partition of the country seems increasingly remote.
As Smith confirmed, "I have spoken with representatives high and low
from all over Iraq, and none favor partition or breakup. They all
identify themselves first as Iraq citizens and then as part of a
religious affiliation or tribe." This is, indeed, good news, at least
for those other than NBC, which pompously announced last year that
after "due consideration" it had decided "a civil war exists in Iraq."
On the infrastructure side, Smith explained that more power is being
generated than in pre-war Iraq -- though electric power requirements
still exceed supply. "Power shortages continue from time to time in
Baghdad," he elaborated, "but that is because in the old days Saddam
directed that most of the power be allocated to Baghdad. Now we are
spreading it across the entire country." He is now making up for
Saddam's previous policy of discrimination.
That's the good news from Iraq. Not violent, sexy, or especially
titillating, but strongly indicative of a rising confidence level and
improving security situation among a people who have lived far too
long with a knife at their throats.
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: KNICKKKERS Cites Scaife rag----YAWN |
05 Nov 2007 07:09:24 PM |
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On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:59:45 -0800, Kurt Nicklas
<nicklask@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Winning Iraq
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 05, 2007
If the old saw "no news is good news" has any truth to it, then things
must be going very well indeed in the Iraq war. Increasingly obvious
signs of success as a result of the "surge" under the able leadership
of General David Petraeus have all but rendered the mainstream media
speechless on the warfront
The media has proven that the "surge" success is bogus.
.
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| User: "Hillbilly Pimp, Bush Ali" |
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| Title: Re: KNICKKKERS Cites Scaife rag----YAWN |
05 Nov 2007 07:17:34 PM |
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<Click@Knicklas.com> wrote in message
news:dkfvi358m9m309nhmjbaj4g7h7ffv7pe60@4ax.com...
On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:59:45 -0800, Kurt Nicklas
<nicklask@bellsouth.net> wrote:
Winning Iraq
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 05, 2007
If the old saw "no news is good news" has any truth to it, then things
must be going very well indeed in the Iraq war. Increasingly obvious
signs of success as a result of the "surge" under the able leadership
of General David Petraeus have all but rendered the mainstream media
speechless on the warfront
The media has proven that the "surge" success is bogus.
What's to win, a civil war, rubble, scorpions?
We went to Iraq and all Bush got us was a debt we can never, ever pay back
in 3 generations of high taxes.
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