| Topic: |
Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
| User: |
"Perseid" |
| Date: |
27 Sep 2006 08:28:46 PM |
| Object: |
Iraq engulfed by tide of violence - Complete US victory in Iraq may be out of the question, argues John Simpson. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5371394.stm
By John Simpson
World affairs editor, BBC News
Torture is at appalling levels in Iraq
Manfred Nowak, the UN's chief anti-torture expert, captured
the headlines round the world when he suggested that torture
could be worse in Iraq now than it was under Saddam Hussein.
Torture is indeed at appalling levels in Iraq. Everyone, it
seems, from the Iraqi forces to the militias to the anti-US
insurgents, now routinely use torture on the people they kill.
Each day, bodies are found with appalling injuries, particularly
in Baghdad.
At the Baghdad mortuary, I was told that more bodies now
showed signs of torture than of a clean death.
But new figures show that the picture is worse in other ways.
The number of violent deaths for July and August reached a
total of 6,600 - 13% higher than the figure for the previous
two-month figure.
'Too late'
They come at a time when 147,000 American soldiers are deployed
in Iraq, the majority of them in the area around Baghdad. In
recent months, reinforcements have been brought in to try to
curb the violence.
The figures seem to indicate clearly that the US forces simply
do not have the answer to the basic problem. The same applies
to the British forces in Basra and the south, where the
situation is also deteriorating.
Some 147,000 soldiers may seem a large number, and it is more
than the US Department of Defense had been hoping to deploy in
Iraq by now.
But the overwhelming majority of them are not out on the
streets, stopping the bombings and kidnappings and murders.
The total number of fighting soldiers in the American force
is probably about 18,000 - quite a small number, given the
area they have to cover and the size of the problem.
Even so, more troops does not seem to be the solution. It is
probably too late now to introduce different tactics, but in
policing hostile towns and cities there is no effective
alternative to the foot patrol.
A well-trained platoon can control quite a large area,
making it hard for their opponents to gather together and
carry out attacks. Of course, armoured vehicles can cover
more ground, but as soon as they have passed, the insurgents
can come out of hiding again.
The Americans have never put enough foot patrols in the streets,
and they long ago lost control of many towns and cities as a result.
Rise in hostility
The US Department of Defense has now provided another measure
of the problem it faces. Its latest opinion poll carried out
in Iraq indicates that, among the five million Sunni Muslims
there, about 75% now support the armed insurgency against the
coalition.
This compares with 14% in the first opinion poll the Defense
Department carried out back in 2003. It is a catastrophic
loss of support, and there is no sign whatever that it can
be effectively reversed.
The rise in hostility to the US forces is clearly linked to
the onslaught against the town of Falluja in 2004.
This, we are told, was ordered directly by the White House
and the Department of Defense after the bodies of four
American defence contractors were hung from a bridge in
April 2004.
The ferocity of the attack by the US marines persuaded
large numbers of Iraqi Sunnis that the Americans were
their enemies.
The situation in the country as a whole has never seriously
improved since then, and Falluja itself has still not been
entirely subdued.
Last year, President George W Bush said he would accept
nothing less than complete victory in Iraq. For many months,
as the situation there deteriorated even further, he went
quiet about his promise.
But earlier this month, before the fifth anniversary of the
attack on the twin towers, he repeated it.
That presumably had more to do with American politics than
with the situation in Iraq.
But the latest crop of figures indicate that complete victory
for the US, whatever that might mean, is now out of the question.
.
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| User: "John Lemke" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq engulfed by tide of violence - Complete US victory in Iraq may be out of the question, argues John Simpson. |
27 Sep 2006 10:53:00 PM |
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"Perseid" <eidpers@anti-spam.comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Xns984BC627F1419rrfkwrantispamattbic@216.196.97.136...
Randy, let me put this in it's proper perspective for you.
These are not people fighting for their freedom. These are not people
engaged in civil war trying to establish dominance.
These are really terrorists killing each other because we're in Iraq. That's
why we have to keep our troops there. Stay the course. Eventually when
everybody's dead we'll be able to establish a stable democracy in Iraq.
.
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