Speaking of blowing the crap out of Iraq for no reason, Stephen Biddle
- top adviser to General Get Out Of My Dreams Get Into My Car Petraeus
- was out and about last week, bragging to reporters about the success
of George W. Bush's Manly Surge.

All went well until Biddle accidentally told the truth.

Q:

Well what do you attribute this whole change on the ground to? Is this
due to what is called "the surge," or good diplomacy by the U.S.
military, or just luck?

BIDDLE:

All of those things have some role but I would put "luck" as probably
the biggest.

I can see why the administration isn't pushing that angle - "the luck
is working" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

But perhaps there's another option that Bush & Co. haven't
considered...http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/15/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Basra.php

Attacks against British and Iraqi forces have plunged by 90 percent in
southern Iraq since London withdrew its troops from the main city of
Basra, the commander of British forces there said Thursday.

The presence of British forces in downtown Basra, Iraq's
second-largest city, was the single largest instigator of violence,
Maj. Gen. Graham Binns told reporters Thursday on a visit to Baghdad's
Green Zone.

"We thought, 'If 90 percent of the violence is directed at us, what
would happen if we stepped back?'" Binns said.

Britain's 5,000 troops moved out of a former Saddam Hussein palace at
Basra's heart in early September, setting up a garrison at an airport
on the city's edge.

Since that pullback, there's been a "remarkable and dramatic drop in
attacks," Binns said.

"The motivation for attacking us was gone, because we're no longer
patrolling the streets," he said.

Wow, so removing occupying foreign forces from Iraq actually reduces
violence there?

Gee, who could have predicted that, apart from everybody with a brain?
But let's be realistic about this.

We can't pull the troops out now - not while there are still billions
of taxpayer dollars to be stuffed randomly into the pockets of Bush's
corporate cronies.

By EarlG
Democratic Undergroundhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/

Harry

Speaking of blowing the crap out of Iraq for no reason, Stephen Biddle
- top adviser to General Get Out Of My Dreams Get Into My Car Petraeus
- was out and about last week, bragging to reporters about the success
of George W. Bush's Manly Surge.

All went well until Biddle accidentally told the truth.


We can't pull the troops out now - not while there are still billions
of taxpayer dollars to be stuffed randomly into the pockets of Bush's
corporate cronies.

By EarlG
Democratic Undergroundhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/

Harry