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Oh, about that reduction in Iraqi violence argument
We've had a few posts here by our wonderful newbie, LatinLover, about how terrific the SURGE! has been and why it's gone so gosh darn well. I've argued in those threads about the fact that the primary issue of the SURGE! stated by our Administration was to clear the path for the political process and reconciliation in the Iraqi government to go forward.
That hasn't gone as planned, not by any stretch.
Nevertheless violence has gone down, and by both the darn librul media and the conservative blogs, it would appear that all is owed to the increase in troop levels. So they have all collectively swatted each other on the ass (it's not gay, Senator Craig, if you say "Good job!" after the swat), and felt so incredibly vindicated by the idea of the SURGE! that was created by a neocon warmongerer at the uber-neocon conservative think tank chairman, Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute.
But there's something that our darn librul media and our conservative "friends" seemed to have overlooked. If we cast our minds back to the beginning of August, we see this article in the NYTimes that says this:
| quote: | Attacks on American-led forces using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the American military.
The devices, known as explosively formed penetrators, were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by the American-led forces, according to American military officials.
"July was an all-time high," Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in an interview, referring to strikes with such devices.
Such bombs, which fire a semi-molten copper slug that can penetrate the armor on a Humvee and are among the deadliest weapons used against American forces, are used almost exclusively by Shiite militants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/w...08military.html
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Now keep in mind that this was the deadliest summer in Iraq our troops have ever gone through. And those bombs were almost exclusively used by Shiite militias, the same militias according to that article that are members of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
Three weeks later, it was reported that 50 Muslim pilgrims were slaughtered in the violence in Karbala. As a consequence, al-Sadr announced that he was going to suspend offensive operations for 6 months:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...30/wiraq130.xml
and it took everyone by surprise:
| quote: | The surprise statement regarding his notorious Mahdi army, which is responsible for much of Iraq's sectarian blood-letting, not only caught British and American commanders off-guard but appeared to have surprised Baghdad officials too. Mowaffak al-Rubbaie, Iraq's national security adviser, said Baghdad would only welcome the move if Sadr's lieutenants stop attacks and their attempts to "blow up" the Iraqi government.
"I will see on the ground what is going to happen," he said. "It is good news if it is true. If it happens it will reduce violence in the country a great deal." |
Then on September 15, our military stated how incredibly important this news was:
| quote: | "Muqtada al-Sadr's declaration holds the potential to reduce criminal activity and help reunite Iraqis separated by ethno-sectarian violence and fear," the U.S. military said.
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An end to Mehdi Army "would also be an important step in helping Iraqi authorities focus greater attention on achieving the political and economic solutions necessary for progress and less on dealing with criminal activity, sectarian violence, kidnappings, assassinations, and attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces," the military said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast...main/index.html |
From then on, the numbers of troop deaths began to decrease fast, from 84 in August, to 65 in September, and last month down to 38. Our military argued for months on end about the Iranian-supplied Shia fighters were the most serious threat to the U.S. forces, and now that threat stopped fighting on its own.
Then just a few days back, the WaPost had this to say:
| quote: | The number of explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) that have been detonated or found in Iraq has dropped by nearly half in recent months, from a peak of 99 in July to 53 last month, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander in charge of day-to-day military operations in Iraq, said yesterday in a vihttp://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/11/mccain-in-south.htmldeoconference with Pentagon reporters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...7110102362.html |
But of course that's not what the neocons and Bushies tell. Instead, they give the credit to something else altogether:
No mention about our biggest threat quitting on their own.
And of course our dumbshit president had this spin down as well:
| quote: | At the graduation ceremony, the president said that since the troop increase reached full strength in June, the number of roadside bombs had been cut by half. He said U.S. military deaths were at their lowest in 19 months.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...ack=1&cset=true |
Again with no mention of al-Sadr's army manning down on its own accord.
So can we attribute ALL reductions of troop deaths to the SURGE!? Can we honestly attribute ANY reductions of troop deaths given the fact that our enemy stepped down all on it's own?
And what will happen when al-Sadr decides to start back up again? What will happen when we are forced to redeploy the SURGE! troops because their 15 month tours are coming to an end? Oh, I'm sure Bush will think of something clever, right?
___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
Last edited by MisterOpus1 on Nov-06-2007 at 00:03
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Hey if thats the case Im going to tell my neighbors dog to start posting here. Trust me he wont be bright... the dog will be a genius if Opus is bright
